<3 Adass 3 ways

“I was in the 1st grade. We were told to stick lentils into damp cotton in bowls, and then label those bowls with our names. Like magic, they sprouted.” 

The first time I learnt how to germinate anything, I was in the 1st grade. We stuck tiny disc shaped lentils onto damp cotton pads that lined little trays, and we then labelled them with our names. Like magic, they sprouted. To this day, the smell of damp lentils in an already stuffy 1st grade classroom has never left me. My mother hails from Bangladesh, and that could be why, although lentils are a staple in the Middle Eastern pantry, we had lentils served up in different ways at least everyday. The Bangladeshi’s have a way with vegetables that is infinitely inspiring, and yet, in my home in Jordan, a comment that lingered from those visiting us for lunch was - how do you not bloat? And another, more amusing one was, is this carb free?Lentils, though so warming and nurturing had also earned themselves a slightly gastric reputation. With that, I was inspired to really unpack just how versatile this pulse is. They are, after all, the world’s oldest cultivated pulse.

Nahla Al Tabbaa @nahlatabbaa is an artist, a voracious experimenter in the kitchen and a trail navigator with food tourism company Frying Pan Adventures @fryingpanadventures. Her commitment to daily cooking and slow-living stems from a spiritual and meditative promise to herself to honor her ancestors and her travels and inspirations. Al Tabbaa has this appetite and urgency to preserve the recipes of her life experiences, but in a way that is industrious, resourceful and a little unapologetic. She completed her MA in Curatorial Practice from Bath School of Art and Design in 2012 and her BFA in Sculpture at Central Saint Martin’s College in 2009. Her cooking experience is completely informal and was honed under the hands of her university friends teaching her to survive.

Good things come in three, and Nahla is sharing with us how lentils can be a great ingredient to play around.

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