Revisiting Old Favorite Recipes

Last week, One Hot Stove turned 21. 🎉 I should be celebrating with a cocktail since we're of drinking age now ;) Instead, I re-read my 20 year post, and everything I said then still stands. I'm grateful to still be here, blogging away every week or two. 

There are so many recipes buried in the blog archive- too many to keep track of. This month I unearthed a couple of them. The first is one that you find on most North Indian restaurant menus, dal makhani. I posted this recipe 17 years ago. It was adapted from a blog that is no longer publicly available, and after all those years, most of the links and pics on this post are defunct. The recipe, however, is stellar and I am glad I posted it so that it is still available to me and to you. 

I have all the ingredients on hand (three dals are required) and have now made this recipe twice in two weeks. It is a great meal prep recipe; I usually double it:

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  Being portioned into lunches

  I start by soaking the kidney beans overnight. 
• The next morning I soak the other two dals together. 
• Later in the day, I rinse all three legumes and place them together in the instant pot and cook for about 12 minutes. 
• Meanwhile I heat a small pot and make the tempering, ginger garlic, tomato (I eyeball everything but probably less tomato than my 2009 recipe calls for) and the rest of the stuff in step 2.
• Then I add this mixture to the cooked lentils in the instant pot, and bring it to a boil by turning on saute mode.
• Add the stuff in steps 4 and 5. Done.

Last weekend, I had a big pot of dal makhani made and cooling on the counter. My daughter's friends were visiting (our house is overrun with kids on the weekends), and from the next room I could hear the friends whisper-wheedling to my daughter, "can you pleasssseee ask your mama if we can taste the stuff on the counter" and she, being indifferent to curries, was ignoring them. When I overheard this, of course I filled bowls with steamed rice and dal makhani and brought them over to the sheepish but very appreciative teens. I hope you will try this recipe for yourself and see what you think. 

Baked it this time

Here's another recipe I had almost forgotten- walnut taco filling. I've blogged this recipe 2-3 years ago but haven't made it too often since then. I really should! It is such a breeze to put a few common ingredients (cauliflower, walnuts, chipotles in adobo) in the blender, and in a minute you get a versatile filling that you can enjoy raw or baked, in tacos or taco bowls, etc. 

This recipe is worth a try if you missed it when I first wrote about it.

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A memorable movie: I whisked my friend K away to see an independent film with me last weekend- Withdrawal, a 2025 feature film debut by the director Aaron Strand. It was shot here in our town, and went on to win awards at several film festivals. The story is a serious one- a law student meets a struggling artist, they fall in love, and into a co-dependent, harrowing heroin addiction. The girl faces an ultimatum from her parents- get clean or get cut off. What a hard-hitting film, raw and gritty. I felt myself drawn into the story and on the edge of my seat, rooting for this young couple. 

K and I met in the theater lobby 30 minutes before the film started to grab a drink. The screening that evening was sponsored by one of my friends/neighbors, and she spotted us and came over to chat. The director was around as well; she called him over and introduced us, and we chatted for several minutes. K and I were laughing later that this sort of thing would never, ever happen to us in NYC (where we have both lived at some point in our lives). But in a small town, hey, you can go to a movie and chat with the director and know half the audience. Heck, K even knew one of the extras in the movie! We do love the big talent in our little town. 

We stayed for a bit of the post-movie Q&A and learned how there are very few actual independent movies made any more. Most of what are called indie movies these days are vanity projects for big names, bankrolled by major studios. Well, this one was made on a shoe-string budget and shot in 15 days! The actors rehearsed for months in the director's living room. It was a fascinating evening.

Recent books: Thanks to Bek for recommending this book in a blog comment some time ago- The Names by Florence Knapp (published in 2025). I read it last week and loved it. The premise of the book is that a woman, Cora, is choosing a name for her newborn son. She could choose a whimsical, non-traditional name, or go with the solidly traditional name that her domineering husband prefers, or go with a third choice that is a compromise of sorts. The book follows three names (essentially, Cora's three choices) with three parallel narrative threads about three wildly different outcomes of this family's life. 

The book is engrossing and drew me in immediately. The difficult part is reading about the severe domestic violence faced by Cora, while her abusive spouse maintains a careful facade as a beloved family physician. So many complexities, so much trauma. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a story that asks "what if?" (isn't that true for all of us- life could go in many different directions) and an emotionally gripping story. 

Being in a healthy and loving relationship, having mental peace, experiencing emotional safety on a daily basis- those are the true luxuries in life. Books and movies like these remind me never to take it for granted. 

I started reading yet another popular novel, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. It has great reviews and is touted as a warm and uplifting piece of fiction, but so far, I'm finding the characters annoying and I don't understand the plot line. Sometimes, I am just not in the right headspace for a particular book. This book may end up being a DNF (did not finish) for me...

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Sewing has been up and down in the last couple of weeks. I used some fun quilting cotton to make a tote bag from a pattern I randomly found on YouTube (this creator has amazing bag-making videos, dozens of them). It was a bit fiddly to make with the bias binding on the inside, but it turned out quite nice. Every project is a learning experience.

I love the happy kids printed on the fabric and plan to give this bag to my son's wonderful (truly, truly wonderful) teacher at the end of the year, stuffed with treats, and with a note and gift card tucked in.

This winter, I wanted a lounge set for myself- a sweatpants/sweatshirt duo- and decided to make it myself with my "(over)confident beginner" sewing skills. Unfortunately I seem to have flown too close to the sun. The pattern is nice enough (I liked view B with the fabric tie in front), but the fabric I bought was not stretchy. 

Thus started my downfall. A sweatshirt's neckband and cuffs need to be constructed with stretchy rib-knit material so that head/hands can go in and out of the garment. I went to the thrift store to find a rib-knit garment to poach fabric for the neckband and cuffs. Then I spent 2 hours (my entire weekend sewing time) trying to sew the rib knit pieces, only to have the sewing machine "eat the fabric" and stall. I did not get a single seam in. I've tried all sorts of tricks, and nothing is working. So, now this project is bundled up and put away in timeout until I can solve the problem. 

Every few days, I fall in love with a new sewing pattern, and my latest crush is the nature top and nature dress from Thread + Sprout. The nature-inspired wavy piecework of these linen garments is adorable. Maybe I should practice seaming curves so I can make one of these later this year. 

Tell me what you are up to!