Recipe: Curried yellow split peas

I've thought for a while that it would be fun to have my own food blog but I'm quite sure I wouldn't have enough material to keep it going for very long. If I did have such a blog, however, it would feature recipes that are (1) vegetarian (2) calling for easy-to-find and inexpensive ingredients that are (3) healthy and (4) require little preparation or clean-up -- my idea of the four cardinal virtues of any recipe. Some of my friends and acquaintances blog about their cooking adventures (Mind your Peas and Cukes, Cafe Liz) and I also enjoy reading blogs of people I don't know (Fat Free Vegan). However, I'm pretty sure that a project on that scale is not for me. So, with no plans to make it a regular thing, I figured I would post a recipe I made over the weekend to scratch the itch. Essentially, it is a vegetable curry but I dumped legumes and rice right into the curry to make a one-pot meal with plenty of protein.

Curried Yellow Split Peas

Ingredients (in order of use):

• 1 T neutral oil (add a pat of butter for an extra rich taste)
• 1-inch piece of ginger, diced
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 tablespoons of your favorite curry powder
• 6 carrots, diced
• 1 lb yellow split peas (or dal, if you have access to an Indian grocer)
• 1 c brown rice
• 1 can chick peas 
• 1-2 potatoes, diced
• 1/2 package of creamed coconut or 1 can of coconut milk
• 1-2 tablespoons salt
• 1 bag frozen cauliflower florets
• cayenne pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Before you start, set up an electric tea kettle to heat 8 cups of water.
2. In a very large pot, saute the onion and ginger together in the oil until the onions are translucent.
3. Add the curry powder and diced carrots and keep sauteing for 5-10 more minutes.
4. Add the yellow split peas, brown rice, can of chick peas (along with the water in the can - why not?), diced potatoes, coconut, and the 8 cups of water.
5. Bring the whole mixture to a boil and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. Check on water levels, as well. You can add more for a thinner dish or boil some off for a thicker dish. Make sure the split peas are cooked before continuing to the next step.
6. Stir in the frozen cauliflower, salt, and cayenne and then turn off the heat (the cauliflower needs almost not time to cook so it will bring your dish down to eatable temperature and cook all at once). Adjust the seasoning. When in doubt, add more salt or curry powder.
7. Serve with plain yogurt.

Variations:

•  You can add any vegetables you like; these are just the ones I had at home. I think mushrooms and frozen peas would be good additions. Mushrooms would go in with the carrots or shortly thereafter and peas at the very end with the cauliflower. 
• I didn't have any available, but sauteing a handful of fenugreek seeds along with the onions and ginger would probably have been a good variation.