Onions have volume
Even self-evident things need to be experienced to be truly learned. I'm still locked in masoor dal mode this week, and if it weren't for writing this blog, I would really be tempted to rest on my laurels and make the same thing the exact same way every day, and occasionally cheat by getting extra-budgetal momos. But I am writing this blog, so I felt pressure (which is the whole point of writing) to try to do something different and to seem like I'm learning something.
It stands to reason that if 2/3 cup of dry dal made one big full bowl of cooked dal, 2/3 cup of dry dal added to a pot that already has 1 large whole onion will make more than one big full bowl of dal + onion. I mean it cooks down a little, but ONE WHOLE ONION doesn't just evaporate. Increasing the volume of porridge by even one half a big onion is still significant.
But I was still surprised and trying to figure out where all the extra lentil volume came from. "What could be different?" I asked in wonder, "the only difference is that this time I added an onion the size of my hand."
The way I try to fudge the undeniable real volume of an onion before cooking it is very similar to the way I have of fudging expenses. Did you pay a $3.50 ATM fee but then return your glass milk container to Whole Foods for a $2 refund? Well then, that really turns that into only a trivial $1.50 fee, if you think about it... You (I) can follow this "logic" a long way and still be mystified why you have no money at the end. Mysterious how canceling out all those charged in your head with "free" money you receive or, more delusional yet, merely save, still ends in less money than you had before.
Money has value as surely as onions have volume. Lesson for the day.
I went to 7:15 Mass this morning for St. Joseph's feast day, so I couldn't have a breakfast before I left, so I took 4 medjool dates with me, and thought about, while walking to the subway, texting somebody "lined up four dates for today!" with a picture of my dates arranged in a line. Haha. Easily amused.
I toasted another mediocre pita in butter until it became, as hoped, Magic Buttery Pita, then put peanut butter on it, and had it for my midday collation. It was actually kind of amazing.
Then for dinner I made, as described, so much masoor dal, and tried something different, cooking the onion in the pot first, then the garlic, etc., then adding the lentils and water and cooking it all together. It was delicious and felt super filling. So far I have been eating much better vegetarian meals than when I was actually vegetarian a decade ago!
