cooking

Recipe: Eight Cup Curry

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So before I go into detail about this recipe, let me give it to you first.  Essentially I repurposed a recipe to make a general curry, it needs work, but it’s a start.

So here you go:

Ingredients:

  • 1 large tomato, diced (about a cup)
  • 1 Tablespoon crushed garlic (about 3 cloves)
  • 2 Tbsp curry powder (S&B Curry)
  • 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp ground red pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp lime juice
  • 4 cups assorted diced non-starchy vegetables
  • 4 cups assorted frozen or cooked legumes
  • Around 1/2 cup of water
  • Cilantro if needed.

Instructions:

  1. Place tomato and garlic in pot, with just enough water to cover the bottom.  On high heat stir and mash until it forms a paste, adding water if needed.  The goal is to keep just enough water to make it into a paste but not dry-fry it.  This takes around 5 minutes.
  2. Add any vegetables or frozen vegetables that need cooking to soften like carrots or peppers or cauliflower (some frozen vegetables are cooked then frozen so pay attention).  Add a bit more water, enough to have the bottom of the pot covered.  Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, stirring every few minutes until they start to soften.
  3. Add legumes and any vegetables that don’t need to be cooked, just defrosted, mix thoroughly.
  4. Add spices and stir thoroughly.
  5. Cook until heated through.
  6. Serve alone or with a grain, with cilantro if desired.

So this is a repurposed version of a green pea and yam curry I had that was very simple but tasty, so I wondered if it could be remade to a general curry.  If I could get a general curry recipe that’d let me use most anything I had, it’d be very useful and tweakable.  It also would create a general recipe that would let me, or anyone else, use whatever was lying around, or use a few frozen vegetables grabbed at a store.

The name comes from the fact it’s designed to use eight cups of food – half legumes, half other vegetables.  The original recipe worked that way too.

How did it come out?  Decent.  It was a bit too hot (an issue with the original recipe) and sour, but still quite good – one of those things that I can critique while still noting it’s good.  At the core of it is a solid curry powder and simple ingredients, which works.  I was put in mind of a kind of curry at a good buffet – you might not be thrilled if it came as a prepared meal, but it’d be acceptable in that situation.

I think I can make it work with a few changes – something sweet (an apple or raisins in the sauce), perhaps a bit less lime juice, maybe cut the red pepper.

One thing that stood out in this meal is what the mix did – I had four different vegetables (carrot, red pepper, cauliflower, green beans) and two legumes (green peas and black eye peas), plus I served it on barley (my preferred grain).  Every bite was a mix of flavors, each chew revealed more – all wrapped in strong sauce.  Once I get this right, this is going to be a great meal.

Also note it’s rather balanced.  Combine this with a grain and fruit for desert and you’ve got just about every kind of vegan nutrition there is.  Or eat two servings for a full meal.

Not a vegan or vegetarian?  I think substituting 1-2 cups of meat for an equivalent amount of vegetables may work.  Not sure beef would work on this – chicken or turkey is probably best.

I’m going to keep working on this one.  Done right I get something that’s fast, shareable, and good – and because it’s based on proportions I can scale it up easily (even if that’d technically be sixteen cup curry or twenty-four cup curry).  A great way to make a lot of meals at once or a lazy way to stock the freezer for a lot of food fast.

 

Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Rooster Sauce: Take 2

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My second go at making Sriracha.  This version is now almost too hot, but has a far more complex and satisfying taste than the all jalapeño version.  Using multiple forms of pepper, and probably more garlic, really added a lot to the dish.  Really all I think I have to do now is adjust the heat, which probably means halving the habanero and adding one more red pepper.

Note when the mash ferments, the scent changes radically over time – initially it had a sharp and rather unappealing scent, but it mellowed and matured into something far more unified in scent and, obviously, taste.

Please note when chopping peppers – wear gloves and goggles.  Yes, goggles – I keep a pair of goggles for when I cook with irritating foods.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lbs red chili peppers; Fresno, jalapeño, or Serrano
  • 4 habanero peppers
  • 1 red pepper
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 8 Tbsp crushed garlic cloves garlic (24 cloves)
  • 1 Tbsp salt
  • ½ cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  1. Remove stems and split jalapeño and habanero peppers. Dice the red pepper.
  2. Puree all ingredients but red wine vinegar and soy sauce in blender/food processor into a coarse mix.
  3. Place mix in airtight jar. Leave for seven days, stirring once a day with a wooden spoon.
  4. Place mixture into pan with vinegar, bring to boil, simmer 5 minutes, let cool. Stir.
  5. Place mixture into a strainer over a bowl. Press mixture with wooden spoon repeatedly to drain all the liquid.
  6. Add soy sauce to drained liquid. Pour liquid into bottle via a funnel.
  7. Store in refrigerator. It should keep for three months, maybe as long as six.

 

Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Canal House Lentils

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Yep, been on a cooking roll lately.  Three good recipes in one week!

This is actually a kind of breakfast lentil, originally a Japanese one. It’s pretty satisfying while being light. You can use it for more than breakfast – I had it for dinner with some polenta and cowpeas.

The 3 servings proposed are hearty servings more akin to a dinner. For a light breakfast break it into 4-6 servings.

Makes 3 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium leek, white and light green parts, chopped.
  • 3 cloves garlic (1 tbsp) crushed.
  • 1 medium tomato, seeded, finely chopped.
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup green or brown lentils.
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • black pepper
  • scallions
  1. Place leek, garlic, and tomato in pot and dry sauté, mashing the tomato as you stir. Add water as needed to keep ingredients from sticking.
  2. Continue sauté and mashing until the leeks are soft and the tomato is well mashed.
  3. Add water and lentils. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.
  4. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally until lentils soften (depending on the kind you use it can be 25-40 minutes), but are still al dente.
  5. Remove from heat. Stir in soy sauce.
  6. Serve. Sprinkle with scallions and black pepper to taste.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.