: Rijstaffel
The heart of a Rijstaffel dinner is the curry, a main dish provided by the host of a potluck shared by officers of the British India Army. Several toppings added interest and the nutrition of fruits and vegetables to a plate of a curry served over rice. Each guest had his servant boy carry in something to top the curry. The dishes of toppings were called "boys" because the boys brought them.
Someone in the Brit soldier group must have visited Indonesia because the name 'rijstaffel' which translates "rice table" is Dutch and the dish's flavor reminiscent of the Spice Islands, Ternate and Tidore, in the northern Moluccas. It's said that when the Portuguese sailors who discovered those Islands were still miles out to sea, they could smell the cloves on Ternate, and knew they'd found the source of what had been a super-expensive imported ingredient for desserts and spiced mulled wine.
The other night we entertained a dinner guest who is a vegan, so I made Rijstaffel with this lentil curry as the main dish. Don't let the fairly long list of ingredients scare you. It's really the easiest of company dinners to make. Also it's thrifty, nutritious, delicious, and exotically gourmet!
LENTIL CURRY
6 servings
Cook slowly for 30 minutes, covered:
1 cup brown lentils soaked overnight or slightly spouted
1 /2 Tablespoons butter or light olive oil
1/2 Tablespoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds, optional
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1 teaspoon dill seeds
1 teaspoon celery seeds
Add and stir fry until onions are shiny and semi-transparent:
1 large yellow onion wedge-cut in 1/4 inch slices
3 or 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon powdered cloves
1 to 2 teaspoons curry powder (I used 2)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
Add the onion and spice mixture to the lentils. Cover and cook slowly for 1 hour more, until the lentils are very soft. Stir. Serve over rice.
Let each diner top his or her rice-covered curry with choices from several side dishes, the "boys."
BOYS: sunflower seeds, raisins, pineapple bits, minced parsley, chopped roasted peanuts, slivered almonds, chopped green onions, and/or chopped hard-boiled eggs.
Ours was a 5-boy curry: We had all the above list, sans the slivered almonds.
Often a dish of plain yogurt is also offered here in America, but we stuck to the traditional, vegan menu.
Non-vegans might choose a chicken curry or, if nobody at the dinner is Hindu nor vegan, a beef curry. Yogurt cools the mouth after a spoonfyl or forkful of spicy-hot curry.
Bon appetite!
Marj
