Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

I read today that 80% of charity soup kitchen customers in the UK are not actually impoverished, but are simply too lazy to bother cooking… I guess they see it as an easy way to give in to Belphegor while avoiding purging ones on the fourth terrace of purgatory. Outside of the issues of embezzlement, I really think they're missing out on something positive by skipping preparing their own meals.

On that theme, here's what I made for lunch today. It's garlic-fried okra and zucchini on a bed of whole wheat couscous with a sour and spicy raspberry sauce and a garnish of sprouts. Total preparation and cooking time is about ten minutes.

I made the sauce first in my spice grinder. It's a mix of about five different kinds of chiles including a chipotle smoked pepper, almonds, sesame seeds, garlic, and brown sugar. After powdering it, I filled it out with a little oil, some fresh squeezed lime juice, and raspberry wine vinegar. I know it's obvious if you read this page much, but I really love making sauces and spice pastes, and this is one of a number of variations on a theme that I've been playing with lately.

The okra and zucchini are just fried in a touch of oil with fresh garlic for about six minutes (the sauce is added afterwards, not during the cooking), and there's not really much to tell about the couscous (mix fifty-fifty with boiling water and let sit for eight minutes, duh). Anyway, it was delicious.