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cutting corners March 17, 2010

Posted by molly in : curry, thai , 2comments

all weekend and the beginning of this week, i’ve been feeling as though i’m coming down with a cold. you know that feeling you get in the back of your nose and throat? when it’s kind of scratchy and sore? that’s how it’s been for 4 days. but luckily (knock on wood) it hasn’t gotten any worse. still, last night, i wasn’t really in the mood to make an elaborate meal for phil and i. it was the perfect time to try out the sainsbury’s freefrom thai green curry sauce that was in my goodie bag from the freefrom dinner party a few weeks ago.

it was the perfect amount for the two of us, mixed with some thinly sliced red chilis, some cooked and peeled king prawns, and a spritz of lime juice.

now, ordinarily i find that thai curry sauces are usually okay for those of us with dairy, egg, and soy allergies. occasionally, they might add some soy sauce (rare) – or crack an egg on top. but with the abundance of coconut milk in thai dishes, and the use of fresh vegetables and loads of yummy spices, it’s normally pretty safe.

the thing i do like about this packaged sauce is its ingredients. check it out:

Water, Coconut Cream (13%), Green Chilli, Garlic, Cornflour, Sugar, Galangal (2%), Ginger Puree, Lemongrass (1%), Sea Salt, Lime Leaf (1%), Coriander

(from sainsbury’s online)

i recognize all of those things!

the other good thing about this sauce is that it is VEGAN. there is no fish sauce (another common ingredient in thai curries) – while phil and i both do eat fish, this would be really helpful for someone who wanted to do a tofu or veggie green curry (and didn’t want to bother with making their own sauce).

my only criticism is that there is an overwhelming garlic flavor to this sauce. it almost takes away from what is an otherwise perfectly good curry. sooooo i’ll give it 4 out of 5 stars!

here is our final product, served with a huge mound of brown basmati rice:

simple!

tastes like burning February 26, 2010

Posted by molly in : curry , add a comment

it’s good to challenge yourself in the kitchen. some recipes are pretty straightforward, but if you can add something to the mix that’s unusual or beyond your comfort zone, all the better. case in point: dinner last night. on the menu was a simple lentil curry (sort of a dal but not really) involving root veg and red lentils – a side of brown rice – and that was it. so to mix things up, we decided to try our hand at cooking up poppadums and not using a ready-made variety. hmmmm.

here’s what we should have done:

but instead we followed the weird instructions on the packet that said something about being healthier and cooking them directly over an open flame. we used one of the hobs on our stove, thus burning the poor little poppa to smithereens. another suggestion involved the microwave. with a paper towel and some oil. another ignition, another burnt poppadum. we gave up after 3 failed attempts.

next time: go the unhealthy route and cook them properly in hot oil!

ah well. plenty of leftovers for lunch today, so i’m not too concerned about a lack of crackers.

easy-peasy lentil curry

from 101 best ever curries

the particulars:

  1. heat the oil in a large pan. add the onions and cook for about 8 minutes. stir in the curry paste for a minute, then pour in a little of the stock so it sizzles. pour in the rest of the stock.
  2. stir in the vegetables, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. add the lentils and simmer for a further 20 minutes, or until cooked.
  3. season the curry, toss in the raisins and parsley, then serve with brown rice or poppadums and mango chutney or naan. yum.

lesson learned: this curry has a lot of liquid in it, in order to properly cook the vegetables (which can be any root veg by the way, not just carrots and sweet potatoes). so make sure to strain a bit before serving.

not quite curry February 25, 2010

Posted by molly in : curry , 2comments

well i’ve had an interesting morning! last night i did something bad to my big toe – i iced it up when i got home, but it hurt more than ever when i woke up this morning. and because i’m a huge worrier, i decided to take myself to the hospital, just to make sure it wasn’t broken. and of course – after an hour and a half of waiting rooms – it isn’t broken. but at least now i know! i can hobble around the flat with peace of mind. and i’ll be hobbling to the shops later to pick up cupcake cups. it’s a beautiful image, isn’t it?

speaking of beautiful images… the photo from the sainsbury’s dinner i promised has already arrived!

pak choy + hairnet + lab coat = yikes. so much fun though!!

other news of interest:

right, on with dinner. this seems like so long ago, but it was super tasty and worth talking about. although i found the recipe in the 101 best ever curries book, it is more of a stir-fry than a curry. i absolutely love the combination of sweet and spicy here – all totally adjustable based on individual taste. give it a try if you’d like some interesting flavors on your table for dinner! we served ours with leftover toasted baguette, but obviously some naan or chapatis would be better.

tamarind chickpeas

serves 2

the particulars:

  1. heat the oil in a pan, fry the fennel seeds for 10 seconds, then add the onion and cook gently for 8-10 minutes.
  2. mix in the tomatoes, chilis, sugar, paprika, turmeric, and chickpeas. bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. stir in the tamarind and coriander. add the spinach leaves and stir gently until they’ve just wilted.
  3. serve with naan or chapatis and yogurt (to cool down the spices if you wish).

lesson learned: before serving, drain out some of the excess liquid. this dish benefits from a good strong simmer to reduce down the liquid.

fresh and fragrant January 30, 2010

Posted by molly in : curry , 2comments

i reorganised my spice cabinet yesterday. it needed it. i realised this when i was looking over a recipe and didn’t remember which spices i actually had – so i made a nice list of everything and taped it to the inside of the cabinet door. solved!

then i got to work on a really simple and fragrant fish curry – it uses loads of whole spices and yet isn’t spicy at all. i recommend only making this if you have FRESH fish. i picked up some fresh pollock fillets at my local fish shop yesterday and it was beautiful.

this is modified from an anjum anand recipe that i found in delicious magazine. this happens to be the perfect amount for two.

fragrant coconut fish curry

serve over your favourite type of rice – i used a wild rice blend.

the particulars:

  1. heat the oil in a pan. add the cinnamon, cloves, mustard seeds and peppercorns, and cook until the mustard seeds start to pop. add the curry leaves and the onion and cook until soft. add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute, adding a splash of water if it looks too dry. add the turmeric and season with salt.
  2. add 1/2 cup of water and simmer for 7 minutes until reduced. add the coconut milk, bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. adjust the seasoning and check the amount of sauce in the pan. it should be creamy but not thick; add more water if too thick.
  3. stir in the lemon juice, then add the fish in 1 layer and gently simmer for 4-5 minutes, shaking the pan from time to time. when cooked through, serve over rice.

lesson learned: the key to this is the fresh fish. a very nice, light and simple dish – we barely used the tiny bit of sauce left after serving the curry with a slotted spoon and still got all the nice flavours of the whole spices. be careful not to eat the whole cloves or peppercorns!

veggie curry love January 24, 2010

Posted by molly in : curry , 1 comment so far

if you’re about to head out on the town on a saturday night, you need the proper fuel. something that will keep your energy up, so you can party all night long and rock ‘n roll with the rest of them. my friend suzanne came over for dinner last night, where i made two curries and phil made his onion bhajis with a new dipping sauce. we also had some chappatis and naan. perfect fuel! but we also had a couple of glasses of red wine. ENERGY FAIL.

we were like a couple of old grandmas at the rock show last night – it was really unfortunate! but we still managed to muster up enough energy to have a great time while it lasted :)

still, dinner was pretty good, i have to say. the veggie curry i made wasn’t so much a curry as a soup, so i served the veggies with the liquid strained away – it was even less like a curry by the time it reached the plate. but it had curry powder in it, so i’m still calling it a curry. say curry more.

other elements to the meal: a third dal from mark bittman, and i’d rank this one second out of all three. i still have two more to try, but i don’t see either of them beating the clear winner.

also, phil made up some lovely onion bhajis and put together his own dipping sauce, which was tangy and delicious. i don’t have a recipe for you, but it did involve goat’s yogurt (obviously you could substitute here with plain or soy yogurt), lemon juice, mint leaves, mango chutney (yep, just the good stuff from a jar), and turmeric. he’s a culinary genius!

but onto the main course….

puy lentil dal with curried root vegetables

find the dal recipe here at the ny times website

the particulars:

  1. in a large pot, fry up the onion and garlic in a little olive oil.
  2. add 2-3 tbsp of the curry powder and cook for a couple of minutes. add the chopped up veg and cook for 6-7 minutes, until slightly browned and softened.
  3. add the veg stock until everything is just covered. cook for 15-20 minutes, until the veg is softened and cooked through. feel free to add more curry powder and some chili flakes to taste. season with salt and pepper.
  4. strain and serve with lentils or rice and fresh coriander.

lesson learned: this curried vegetable recipe would also work as a standalone dish if you added lentils to the pot and cooked in step 3. the sweet potato makes this wonderfully warming and decadent. but it worked great alongside the french lentils in the dal, since that was such a simple dish.