Tag Archives: curry

Cauliflower Curry

23 Monday Apr 2012

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Cauliflower Curry

Since I tried fennel for the first time in February (now one of my favorite dishes) I’ve been wondering what else in the produce section has been missing from my life. Last night’s experiment: cauliflower.

Why have I been overlooking it? Maybe it’s because we’ve been so conditioned to avoid white foods. But cauliflower is the exception to that rule. In fact, it’s packed with nutrients: vitamin C and folate for immune defense, phytonutrients to fight cancer, and heart-healthy benefits to boot.

It’s also quite satisfying, with a dense texture that fills you up like bread or meat would. All that to say, I’ll be working cauliflower into my cooking more often moving forward. Here’s how I prepared it last night (the flavor was even better for lunch today!).

Cauliflower Curry Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup Indian curry paste
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1/2 head cauliflower, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into half-inch pieces
  • 10 brussel sprouts, cleaned and quartered
  • 2 roma tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 can (14 oz) garbanzo beans, rinsed
  • 1/4 cup grape seed oil
  • 2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 cup water or vegetable stock, plus more as needed

Instructions

  1. Heat oil over medium in a large stew pot.
  2. Sautee onions for 1 minute.
  3. Add curry paste and tomatoes, stirring until incorporated and tomatoes get smashed.
  4. Add sweet potatoes and water or stock, simmering for 5 minutes covered.
  5. Add cauliflower and salt, simmer for another 5 minutes covered. Add a little more water/stock if necessary to keep ingredients simmering and not sticking to bottom.
  6. Add brussel sprouts and garbanzo beans, simmer covered for 5 to 10 minutes until all ingredients are tender but still holding their shape.
  7. Serve over basmati rice.

Substitutions

  • Frozen peas instead of brussel sprouts
  • Carrots instead of sweet potatoes
  • Lentils instead of basmati rice

Curry Butternut Squash Soup

25 Sunday Mar 2012

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Curry Butternut Squash Soup

This has been a family favorite for years. It’s a beautiful soup course to accompany holiday meals, but also hearty enough to be a main course served with salad and bread any time of the year.

One large butternut squash will yield enough meat, or use a regular sized one and supplement with a small acorn squash. You can either peel the squash and put raw chunks in the pot, or cut it in half and roast it until you can more easily scoop out the meat and then reduce the time in the pot. Of course, this recipe becomes significantly easier if you purchase pre-chunked squash, but the tradeoff is no seeds for garnish.

No matter how you cut it (Ha! Ok sorry.), this is a really wonderful dish. You can easily substitute oil instead of butter for a vegan version – but if that’s not your thing the butter does add richness.

Curry Butternut Squash Soup Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups Butternut Squash, peeled and seeded and cut into half-inch chunks – save the seeds
  • 2 cups Onion, diced
  • 2 cups Apple, peeled and cored and cut into half-inch chunks
  • 4 cups Vegetable Broth
  • 4 tbsp Butter
  • 1 tbsp Grape Seed Oil (for the seeds)
  • 4 tsp Curry Powder
  • 1 tsp Salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper, plus more to taste

Instructions:

  1. In a large stew pot, melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the curry powder, salt and pepper. Then add the onions and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. In the meantime, rinse the squash seeds until clean, pat dry and toss them in grape seed oil plus a little salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven at 300° until golden brown.
  3. Add the squash, apples and broth to the curry and onions. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the squash is tender through. Remove from heat.
  4. Use an immersion blender directly into the pot to blend all the ingredients until creamy. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can also use a regular blender or food processor – it’s just messier and takes several batches.
  5. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Serve soup garnished with toasted seeds.

Homemade Indian Curry Paste

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

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Curry Paste

Homemade Curry Paste

This is a flavorful base that you can use for many different Indian curry dishes to take advantage of the ingredients you have at home or are craving. You can adjust the different spices to your own taste. For example, this recipe has enough cinnamon to be noticeable so dial that back if you like less.

Ingredients:

  • .25 tsp fenugreek seed
  • .25 tsp fennel seed (optional)
  • .25 tsp cinnamon powder
  • .75 tsp mustard seed
  • .75 tsp chili powder
  • 1.25 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1.25 tsp cumin powder
  • 1.5 inches ginger root, peeled and chopped
  • 10 cloves garlic
  • 1-2 tbsp grape seed oil – enough to pull other ingredients together
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional here, I add to my curry separately)

Curry Paste Ingredients

Toast the fenugreek, fennel and mustard seeds in a dry pan over medium heat until they become fragrant and darken in color, maybe 5 minutes.

Transfer seeds into food processor and pulse several times.

Add all other ingredients except oil and tomato paste and process until a consistent texture.

Add oil and tomato paste and process again to achieve the desired texture.

Here’s an example of how to use – Curried Lentils:

  • Heat 3 tbsp grape seed oil in large pot over med heat.
  • Season oil with 2 bay leaves, 15 peppercorns, .25 tsp crushed red pepper (or more if you like, or use finely chopped jalapeno), and 2 tsp Celtic sea salt
  • Add 2 finely chopped onions and cook 5 mins
  • Stir in curry paste from above (and the tomato paste if not incorporated)
  • Add .5 cups water, 3 chopped carrots, 1 chopped red bell pepper
  • Add 1.5 cups water and .5 cups lentils
  • Cook until lentils are done
  • Remove from heat, serve over basmati rice if you like, and sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro
  • Consider including tofu, mushrooms or sweet potatoes. Try serving over spinach instead of rice