really good vegetarian food that does not involve stir-fry

If I ever became a vegetarian, the first thing I would do would be to run out to the store and buy an Indian cookbook. And then I would get fat.

I totally swiped these recipes from Nigella Lawson's prissy little column in the New York Times' pretentious food section. (Her writing style makes me want to hit her, but I like her recipes.)

( Red Lentil Dal )

( Bright Rice )

( Cucumber and Cilantro Raita )

At my mother's suggestion, we had whole wheat pita bread with this meal. I stuffed most of my dal into the bread, sometimes with the raita. It is truly, truly awesome. We also ate it with our home-made chutneys (tomato and a "mango" chutney that's actually made out of under-ripe peaches. I don't have those recipes on hand, and my father made the peach chutney, which means he probably winged most of it. He was worried about over-cooking this batch, so he stopped cooking it while it was still soupy, but that was actually better with the raita, because the yogurt mixed into the syrup. I have tasted heaven). Everything except the raita and the store-bought pita bread takes forever to make, but it is absolutely worth it, and unless you're feeding a lot of people, there will be leftovers.

I might also point out that if you left out the raita, this is a vegan meal.