Lentil Curry

Lentils. I have to confess that the thought of eating lentils has never filled me with glee. Mostly I find them bland and vaguely repulsive – suitable only for vegans who have already sold their taste buds to the devil in exchange for a sallow, unhealthy appearance. 

But, people argue passionately, they are so high in fiber and protein! And nutrients! 

To which I reply with an emphatic, “whatever.” Because no matter how excruciatingly healthy something is, I’m not going to actually eat it unless it tastes good.

This story has a point (and a recipe) somewhere, I’m pretty sure.

I’ve had a bag of green lentils in my pantry for about six months. My sister gave me a sausage and lentil soup recipe that I’ve been meaning to try but as it is summer here in the US, I’m not in a raging hurry to fix soup for dinner.

Instead, I stumbled upon a lentil curry recipe that I had at least half of the ingredients for. And Oh.My.Gosh you guys. This is amazeballs. You can find the actual recipe here (which I imagine is pretty good). The following recipe is what I actually did.

I guess the moral of this story is, don’t judge a food by its terrible vegans.

And the other moral would be, go easy on the cayenne or you’ll kill your children mouths.

And the final moral goes a little something like: seriously, make this and get it in your face asap!

LENTIL CURRY

Serves 8

1 bag (about 2 ½ cups) lentils, rinsed well

1 medium onion, diced

3 T butter (or oil)

1 ½ T garam masala

2 generous T cumin

A few good shakes of cayenne pepper (next time I will do one gentle shake)

1 T minced garlic

1 t sea salt

1 can tomato sauce

1 can coconut milk

Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnishing

Rice for serving

1. Cook lentils according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. Melt butter in large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until fragrant and golden. Add all the spices (garam masala, cumin, cayenne, garlic and salt) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes (add a little vegetable oil if it looks too dry). Add the tomato sauce, stir and simmer until smooth.
3. Add the lentils and the coconut milk. Stir to combine and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro.

As with all curries, it is even better the next day!

Curry (Korma)

I realized after Jimmy commented on my rabbit curry, that I've never posted the recipe here.  Since I was gathering some of my favorite recipes for a potential church cookbook, I decided it was high time I added it to the blog!

Picture credit goes to Jimmy - Cause I almost always forget to take one!

Ingredients

-          2 tablespoons vegetable oil

-          2 teaspoons curry powder

-          1 pound boneless beef or lamb (you can also use venison or rabbit) – cut into one inch cubes

-          ½ large yellow onion – peeled and chopped

-          3 large potatoes – peeled and cut into one inch pieces

-          1 green bell pepper (optional) – chopped

-          Frozen broccoli (as much or as little as you’d like)

-          1 teaspoon salt

-          1 teaspoon paprika

-          1 teaspoon garlic powder

-          ½ teaspoon chili powder (more or less to taste - depending on how spicy your family likes things...I keep it really mild and let people spice it up at the table since two of us are not fans of spicy things)

-          1 can of chopped tomatoes

-          1 cup sour cream (or to taste)

Directions

Heat oil in a large skillet or soup pot (depending on how much you’re making).  Add the curry powder, meat, and onions.  Cook 3 or 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the meat has browned.  Add the potatoes, bell pepper, broccoli, salt, and spices, with only enough water to cook the vegetables.  (I normally splash in an inch or so of water and then add more if it boils off.  Better to need to add more then to have too much water!!)  Cook over medium heat 15 to 20 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the vegetables are cooked.  Just before serving, add tomatoes and sour cream.  Cook over low heat just until heated through. 

Serve over rice.

Optional: top with your favorite chutney, chopped peanuts, French fried onions, and/or chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Thai Massaman Curry - in the Crock Pot!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I can't believe it is 2014 already!  Where does the time go?

**

This was so good!  I have not mastered curry yet.  I have made one amazing curry that was not in the crock pot but it took me ALL DAY LONG!  I love a good crock pot curry because it takes all day to cook, it just doesn't take me all day!

I used this recipe ... I didn't change it ... the credit is all theirs!

1 tablespoon peanut oil
750g beef chuck steak, trimmed, cut into bite size pieces
1 onion, halved, thinly sliced
1/4 cup thai massaman curry paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6 cardamom pods, bruised
1 cinnamon stick
2 kaffir lime leaves, vein removed, chopped
270ml can coconut milk 
500g potatoes, peeled, cut into same size as beef
2 large carrots, peeled, thickly sliced
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
Rice, cooked (I do ours in the rice cooker)

Chopped dry roasted peanuts and coriander leaves, to serve 

Brown the beef in batches in 1/2 tablespoon peanut oil.  Put in crock pot.

Saute onion in remaining 1/2 tablespoon peanut oil until soft.  Add curry paste and garlic.  Cook for a minute ... until it smells amazing.  Put in crock pot. 

Add cardamom, cinnamon, lime leaves, coconut milk, potato, carrot, fish sauce and sugar.  Cook on low - 8 hours, or until beef is tender.

When finished, pick out the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick.  Add lime juice.  Serve on top of rice, sprinkled with peanuts and coriander.

Jamie's Rogan Josh

i was given Jamie's Ministry of Food for Christmas. I've had this cookbook from the library a couple of times and I love it ! I love the concept behind it ... If you haven't read it, you should see if your library has it and check it out ...

Anyway ... I decided to try the Lamb Rogan Josh the other night ... only I did it with chicken. You can buy a Rogan Josh paste or you can make Jamie's paste. I made Jamie's. I had a bit of an issue though. I went to my favorite fruit and veg shop to get fresh coriander and the shop was closed ! So ... I went to the grocery store and they were OUT ! By the time I discovered it, the store was closing (early since it's the holidays) so I couldn't even run out to another grocery store to get it. So ... that was missing. Bummer. I thought I had some of the dried stuff at home which I was going to substitute but it turned out I didn't ... I will for sure have to use that next time.

The ingredients for the paste are :
2 cloves of garlic ... I used 4
fresh ginger, about an inch
75g roasted peppers - Jamie says from a jar but I just roasted my own
1 TBLS paprika
1 TBLS smoked paprika
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 TBLS peanut oil
2 TBLS tomato puree
1 fresh red chilli
small bunch of fresh coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns

Toast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black pepercorns over med/high heat til fragrant. Throw them in the pestle and mortar and grind until fine. At this point, Jamie says to transfer to a food processor but I just kept adding the ingredients to the pestle and mortar til I had a nice paste.

For the curry: (As I made it ... )

800g chicken breast, chunks
1 big onion
1 red chilli
fresh ginger, 1 inch
peanut oil
spoonful of butter
4 bay leaves
salt and pepper
2 TBLS balsamic vinegar
400g tin chopped tomatoes
800g chicken stock (I used a litre and it was too much)
paste (see above)
2 handfuls of red lentils
There should also have been a small bunch of fresh coriander but I didn't have it ...

Chop the onion, slice the chilli, peel and chop the ginger, chop coriander. Heat a heavy bottomed pan on med/high heat. Add butter and oil Add onion, chilli, ginger and coriander. Cook 10 minutes til onions are softened and golden. Add the chicken. Salt and pepper. Cook until lightly brown. Add balsamic vinegar. Cook 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, stock and curry paste. Stir in lentils. Bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer with the lid on ... about an hour.

Serve with rice. And greek yoghurt. And naan. Oh ... and coriander on top ... but again, didn't have it.

The naan was good the first night but today when we had it again ... using the dough I made the other night that had been in the fridge for two days, it was even better. Look how much it puffed up under the grill !

Garam Masala

Making homemade Garam Masala!

1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup cumin seeds

1/3 cup corinader seeds

1 rounded tablespoon green cardamom pods

1 rounded tablespoon black peppercorns

2 teaspoons whole cloves

1 whole dried red chilie

1/8 teaspoon ground mace

Combine the cinnamon, bay leaves, cumin, coriander, cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, and red chilie in a frying pan and toast over medium heat. Stir constantly until cumin turns brown. Around 5 minutes.

Grind in a spice grinder (or cleaned out coffee grinder) and grind to a powder. Stir in mace (we have been known to leave out this ingredient...) and store in airtight container.  For up to 4 months...

The Most Amazing Beef Curry

My husband loooooves curry ! I could take it or leave it. This one though ... I'd definitely take. It was delicious ! I found the recipe here. I made it exactly as the recipe said and am just cutting and pasting the recipe here. All the credit goes to them ....

For the Beef :
1 tablespoon Homemade Curry Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces

Toasted spices:
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
3 whole cloves
1 (1-inch) cinnamon stick, broken
2 dried hot red chiles
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt

Remaining ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
3 cups vertically sliced onion
3 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup minced garlic
2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
1 1/2 cups low-salt beef broth
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro stems
1/2 cup tomato puree

Preparation

To prepare beef, combine first 3 ingredients; rub evenly over beef. Cover and chill 2 hours, tossing occasionally.

To prepare toasted spices, heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add coriander and next 6 ingredients (coriander through bay leaves); cook 1 minute or until fragrant, shaking pan constantly. Place coriander mixture, sugar, cardamom, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a spice or coffee grinder, and process until finely ground.

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add half of beef mixture; sauté 5 minutes or until browned on all sides. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and beef mixture; remove from pan. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and ginger to pan; cook 6 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Add the toasted spice mixture, garlic, and paprika; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add beef, yogurt, and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the beef is tender.

Channa Dal (Curried Chickpeas)

The recipe in the book was much more labor intensive. It involved dried chickpeas, toasting several different spices and whatnot. I simplified it a lot by using canned chickpeas and my nice curry powder - it had all of the spices the recipe called for and then some. Anyway, this is SO simple and quick to make and YUMMY!

1 14oz can chickpeas
4 tsp curry powder
1 cup chopped onion
2-3 cloves pressed garlic
1 T grated ginger
3 T butter
1-2 T chopped fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add onion, garlic and ginger and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until onions are soft and golden. Add curry.

Add chickpeas and a 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low until liquid is reduced to a nice sauce (feel free to turn up the heat if you get impatient!).

Place chickpeas in a serving dish and sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves.

Chicken and Potato Curry

I got the base recipe for this out of a magazine years ago.
Don't know which one.
Don't make it like they said to anyway ...

I didn't actually cook this the night we had it.
Rory did.

I have cooked it once, a long time ago.

1 tbls vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbls grated fresh ginger
400g chicken ... we use breast, chopped
2 tbls korma or mild curry powder
potatoes, how ever many take your fancy
1 and 1/2 cups water
chicken stock cube
400 ml coconut cream
mushrooms
rice

Heat oil in large pan. Cook onion and ginger til soft. Add chicken and brown. Add curry powder and potatoes. Stir til fragrant. Stir in water, stock cube and coconut milk. Bring to the boil. Cover and simmer 20/30 minutes or til potatoes are just tender. Add the mushrooms. Simmer, uncovered about 10 minutes.

Serve with rice and Great Grandma Templin's Chutney.
That recipe will follow soon !!

PS ... I think Rory may have added carrots to this too ... there's something orange in the photo !!

Vegetarian Curry

I was watching my favorite cooking show the other day (America's Test Kitchen) and they made the yummiest looking vegetarian curry. So I pulled out my notebook and a pen and wrote down what they did as they did it. We made it last night and it was amazing! Enjoy!

Vegetarian Curry

1 or 2 T curry powder
1 T garam masala
Oil
1 med onion, chopped
3 or 4 medium potatoes
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced
1 T fresh ginger, grated fine
1 T tomato paste
1/2 head of cauliflower, in bite sized pieces
14 oz. can of diced or crushed tomatoes, run through a blender (I guess you could sub tomato sauce)
1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1 t salt
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1/4 c. heavy cream

Toast the curry powder and the garam masala in a dry pan on high heat for a minute or two until it smokes. Remove from pan and set aside.
Heat some oil over medium heat and add the onions and potatoes. Let fry for about 10 minutes until they get some nice color.
Add in a little more oil. Throw in the ginger, garlic, chili, tomato paste and the toasted spices. Let the spices bloom for a bit in the oil then add in the cauliflower. Made sure the cauliflower gets coated with the spices. Add in the blended tomatoes, about 3/4 cup of water (more or less depending on how much sauce you like and how thick you prefer it to be), the chick peas, and the salt.
Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat until the veggies are done.
Add the frozen peas and the cream.
Take off heat.
Done.

Serving suggestions: Serve with basmati rice and your favorite chutneys or relishes. We had sag paneer and nan with our curry and rice.

Madras Beef Curry

This recipe came from Taste.com.au

Rory halved the amount of chilli powder this time as it was quite hot last time !

2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chilli powder (optional) - we only used 1/2 tsp this time
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1kg chuck steak, cut into 2.5cm cubes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup beef stock
steamed basmati rice, raita and mint leaves, to serve (we skipped the mint leaves)

Combine coriander, cumin, turmeric, pepper, chilli, garlic, ginger and lemon juice in a bowl to form a paste. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add half the beef. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until browned. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining oil and beef.

Reduce heat to medium. Add spice paste. Cook for 1 minute. Return beef to saucepan. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute, or until meat is coated with paste. Add tomato paste and stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover. Cook for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until beef is tender.

Remove lid. Cook, uncovered, for a further 15 minutes, or until sauce has reduced and thickened slightly. Serve with rice and raita. Top with mint leaves.

~~

And this is the recipe for the Cucumber Raita. It made heaps.
I will only use a small yoghurt next time !!

Natural yoghurt - 500 ml
1 Lebanese cucumber - diced
1 tsp cumin
Pinch Salt
Fresh Coriander

Whisk the yoghurt.
Add the cucumber, salt and cumin powder.
Mix well with the chopped coriander leaves.

~~

Served as well with Naan ... homemade ! ( our first attempt !! ) You can find that recipe here.