I usually don’t think too much about garnishing in general.
Don’t get me wrong… if I didn’t care how my food looked, I wouldn’t be running a food blog, now would I? But when I arrange food for pictures, I usually think about how to make it look interesting and, more importantly, welcoming. My mother taught me that putting food in a bowl that is slightly too small makes it look plentiful, and I tend to work around this idea when taking my food pictures, making sure that it always looks bountiful.
That said, I think that garnishes can, occasionally, be done very well, but only if they serve a purpose. In other words, they have to add something to the food. This can be flavor-wise, or, even more interestingly, at least to me, it can tell the diner a story about the food.
I tend to make a lot of dishes that are rather stew-like: chilis, curries, soups etc. Sometimes, being handed a big bowl of something that is all vaguely one color (usually red: canned tomatoes will do that) is not terribly appetizing. That is why one of my favorite garnishing tips is to take a little bit of whatever made up the base of the soup, keep it raw, and serve it on top.
Food Fanatic is hosting an Indian food garnishing event, and I’m happy to participate with this trick. To illustrate, I’ve been inspired by a Chunky Dal Lentil Soup I found over at Running with Tweezers, something that Tami found in Cooking Light. Of course, I riffed my own version, and I’m not sure this even vaguely resembles what Tami made.
I used canned lentils instead of fresh, but where I really went crazy was with the base of the soup: I used this recipe as a way to clear out my produce drawer, adding a red pepper, a jalapeño and a carrot to the simple base of onion and garlic, and I also used it as a canvas to perk up the spices: I ended up adding a mix if curry powder, garam masala, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, paprika and ginger.
What surfaced was a bright red bowl of deliciousness, which I garnished with some reserved raw chopped red pepper, carrot and jalapeño (I love that mix of bright colors). I placed the aforementioned garnish on a dollop of yogurt so that it would stand out, and added a sprinkle of chopped cilantro. All of the elements of the garnish either hinted at what was in the soup (the trio of vegetables) or added to the final dish (yogurt and cilantro). This is definitely not a restaurant sprinkle of parsley: see? Garnishing can be fun!
To participate in this blogging event, head over to Food Fanatic for the details. You can enter your own dish until March 15th!
Chunky Dal Lentil Soup
Note: Although this recipe is advertised as a soup, I ended up eating it more as a curry with brown rice. To make it more soup-like, add some water or chicken stock when you add the legumes and tomatoes in order to get it to the consistency you like.
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 red pepper, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 jalapeño, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. coriander
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. garam masala
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes
1 28 oz. can garbanzo beans
1 28 oz. can lentils
1 tsp. harissa
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
cilantro, yogurt (optional)
Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add the red pepper, carrot and onion, reserving a handful of pepper and carrot for the garnish. Cook until the onion becomes tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeño and the spices, reserving a bit of the jalapeño. Stir until fragrant, about one minute, and then add the tomatoes, beans and lentils. Season with salt to taste.
Turn down the heat and allow to simmer on low for 30-minutes to an hour. When ready to serve, stir in the harissa and lemon juice, and garnish with yogurt, cilantro, and the reserved vegetables.