Many years ago I had chili with cream and ginger added.

[alfredo]

Have you ever heard of that? It was a Canadian woman that made it.

[grasswire]

1. beans?

Or no?

Was it an Indian style dish?

[alfredo]

5. Yes, it had kidney beans. Not sure if it was Indian influenced.

[Callalily]

2. Gosh no! But it sounds

intriguing, and something I'd be willing to try.

My all-time favorite chili recipe calls for a cup and a quarter of merlot! ;-)

[supernova]

3. I'd try that.

I love ginger. Can't get enough of the stuff.

I've heard of coffee and chocolate as add ins too. Think I'll try that with my next batch.

[The empressof all]

4. Sounds like a chili bolognese...

Was it served with pasta?

The ginger addition sounds intriguing .... Did it have a strong ginger taste or just a hint?

[alfredo]

6. She put the ginger in there to counter the hot peppers.

I don't remember how pronounced the ginger. I think you are right about the ID.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolognese_sauce

I don't remember pasta. There might have been some in the bowl.

[grasswire]

7. I suspect it is most likely an Indian dish

...and the fact that it was made for you by a subject of the British Commonwealth is a likely indicator. Here's a recipe that contains the ingredients you mention, and it looks like chili in the picture.

A cup of black gram lentils (whole or sabut urad dal)
1/3 cup of kidney beans
3 medium tomatoes
Olive oil or vegetable oil (your choice of cooking oil)
1 tablespoon grated ginger or 1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon minced garlic or 1 tablespoon garlic paste
1/3 cup heavy cream, or more to taste
Red chilli pepper powder to taste
1.5 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 heaped teaspoon cumin powder
1 heaped teaspoon coriander powder
A few cilantro leaves, to garnish (if you want to be that fancy)

http://bitesandsips.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/dal-makhani/

?w=300&h=225

[grasswire]

8. here's another recipe for it

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Dal_Makhani

[alfredo]

9. That looks good. The inclusion of beef took it out of the

Indian subcontinent somewhat, but the Brits are pretty good at adapting ideas from other cultures.

I will try that recipe. I wonder if they soak the lentils too?

I just finished a red lentil soup. This is an Egyptian dish.

Red Lentil Soup

1 large onion, finely chopped 


1 3/4 cups (350 g) split red lentils

7 1/2 cups (1 3/4 liters) meat or chicken stock or water

Salt and pepper 

1 teaspoon cumin

juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon 

Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle, to taste.

In a saucepan put the onion, lentils, liquid, a little salt and pepper, and simmer 1/2 hour, or until the lentils have disintegrated. Add water if soup needs thinning. Stir in cumin and lemon juice and adjust seasoning ( note - this really needs salt and lemon in generous quantity). Let people help themselves to a trickle of olive oil.



I put crushed red peppers in the soup to give it a bit of sassiness.


Serve with Chapati or Naan.

[tigereye]

10. wow, that sounds really good!