Posts Tagged curry

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Curry

The last few years, I’ve had relatively rotten luck with my garden. First, there are the evil crows in my neighborhood that take great delight in eating all my seeds and sprouts. (And these crows are smart! So smart, in fact, that I’m a little paranoid that they might read this blog post and punish me for it.) In addition, all the neighborhood cats think my raised beds are giant litter boxes. And, to be quite honest, I just don’t have the gift of a green thumb. I can grow herbs, greens, zucchini, and tomatoes. That’s about it.

Last year, I planted an heirloom pumpkin in my backyard. It was a gorgeous blue pumpkin, and it grew phenomenally well. It was the first time I’d planted pumpkin, and I was shocked. However, one day I came home to find that my beautiful blue pumpkin had met an untimely death. Our landlords had hired someone to trim the hedges in our backyard, and the trimmers somehow managed to stomp my poor pumpkin to death. There was no salvaging the plant or the fruit, the pumpkin was gone. I was crushed.

After the great pumpkin debacle of 2013, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to attempt growing pumpkins again. But, I decided to give it one more shot. I planted one little sugar pie pumpkin plant in my front garden (nowhere near the hedges!). Despite my best attempts to kill my garden (read: it was a very hot summer and I was very pregnant), I did manage to grow a few things this year, including one adorable little pumpkin.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with my one adorable little pumpkin. I probably should have made a pie with it – after all, it is a sugar pie pumpkin – but, pies just aren’t my strong suit. And I wanted to make something out-of-the-ordinary. Something unexpected. So, I made curry with my one little garden pumpkin. And you know what? Pumpkin curry was a great decision. It was everything I hoped it would be — sweet, savory, and spicy. It was rich and comforting, and the perfect meal for a chilly fall evening. (And we ended up with plenty of leftovers that I froze for post-baby meals! Win!).

The moral of the story is: when life hands you a pumpkin, make curry. The end.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Curry

Adapted from Table for Two Blog

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) of coconut milk
2 cups pumpkin puree**
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon sambal oelek (red chili garlic paste, or sub Sriracha hot sauce)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 red potatoes, washed and cubed
3 chicken thighs
1 cup frozen peas
Optional garnishes: Cilantro, plain yogurt, Sriracha

Instructions

In the bowl of your slow cooker, mix together the coconut milk, stock, sambal, fish sauce, pumpkin puree and spices. Once combined, add in the garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and whole chicken thighs.
Cook on low for 6 hours, or the vegetables and chicken are cooked all the way through and the curry is thick and rich. (The chicken should be tender and fall apart on its own, or you can help it along and shred with a fork.) Add in the peas 15-20 minutes before serving, stirring to combine. Allow the peas to heat all the way through before serving.
Serve curry with basmati rice, and garnish with Sriracha, cilantro, and plain yogurt if desired.
Note: After 6 hours in the slow cooker, the curry liquid was still a little thin for my liking, so I transferred it to a Dutch oven and finished it on the stovetop. I cooked it over medium-high for 15-20 minutes and let it reduce until it was quick thick. It turned out perfectly!

Notes

**To make your own pumpkin puree, simply cut a small pumpkin in half. Remove stem and scoop out the seeds (leave the skin on). Brush pumpkin flesh with olive oil. Roast (flesh side down) on a lined baking sheet in a 400(F) oven for 35-45 minutes, or until pumpkin is soft and roasted all the way through. Scoop the roast pumpkin out of the skin and puree in a food processor or blender until smooth.

http://rosemarried.co/2014/10/12/slow-cooker-pumpkin-curry/

Curried Potato Salad

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t planning on posting this recipe.

(I’m not sure what my problem was, since this potato salad is really damn delicious.)

It’s just that potato salad is a funny thing. It’s not a particularly sexy dish, it’s a bit kitschy and old fashioned, and it certainly doesn’t look good in photographs. But good grief, it sure tastes great. But it doesn’t matter how Stepford-wife I feel when I show up to a BBQ with a bowl full of potato salad, it always gets eaten. Every last bite.

My girlfriends all implored me to post this recipe on the blog, despite the fact that it photographs like an ugly, yellow bowl of mush. (It doesn’t taste like an ugly bowl of mush, I promise.) I’ve always loved the combination of curry and potatoes, and it works just as well in this context. This potato salad somehow still tastes like the one you remember from your childhood, but with more adult flavors: curry, cilantro, and cumin.

Since Memorial Day is right around the corner, it does seem like an appropriate time to post a recipe for the ultimate BBQ side dish. Funny enough, I’m actually making this potato salad for my family’s Memorial Day BBQ, which means I’ll make this recipe 3 times in one week. Thankfully, I happen to really like this salad. And I kind of can’t wait to eat it again.

If you’re looking for something to eat alongside a giant bowl of potato salad on Memorial Day, check out my “What to Eat: Grill Edition” over at Plate & Pitchfork’s blog. I posted a little bit of everything – grilled kebabs, pizzas, veggies, meats, and more!

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

CURRIED POTATO SALAD

Ingredients:
6-10 small Yukon Gold potatoes (or other small waxy potato), cut into 1″ or 2″ cubes (skins left on)
1/4 cup Greek Yogurt
1.5 Tablespoons mayo (I used Kewpie mayo)
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt & pepper to taste
2-3 stalks celery, diced
1 small shallot, finely diced
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

Method:
Bring a medium-large pot of water to a boil. Carefully add the cubed potatoes to the water and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and cooked all the way through. (I test them with a fork or knife tip after 15 minutes).

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain the hot water using a colander or strainer. Rinse the potatoes with cold water and set aside to continue cooling. (Optional: I like to sprinkle a bit of red wine vinegar over the potatoes at this time, as it absorbs into the potatoes and gives them an extra tang.)

In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, mayo, red wine vinegar, curry powder, coriander, cumin, and salt and pepper. Taste, and adjust seasonings to your liking. Set aside.

Once the potatoes have cooled to room temperature, gently toss them with the diced shallots and celery. Gently stir in the yogurt mixture, to coat. Once the potatoes are coated in the yogurt mixture, gently stir in the chopped cilantro. Chill in the refrigerator for at least a half an hour before serving. Just prior to serving, garnish with more fresh cilantro and a dash of curry powder.

Curried Carrot Soup with Orange and Lemongrass

I’m going off the grid for a few days.

However, I’m not actually going anywhere. I’m staying put for the holidays. My holiday plans include a lot of eating, enjoying a few glasses of good Oregon wine (namely, my favorite Oregon wine: Remy), sleeping in, spending time with family, watching ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ (it’s tradition!), and working on crafty Christmas things.

Oh, and I’m also going to roast a duck.

Why? Because I bought a duck. I bought a duck because I was depressed about the fact that I wasn’t going to have any turkey leftovers (my mom is cooking the turkey this year). But then I saw fresh, whole ducks at the Montavilla Farmer’s Market and they were beautiful and surprisingly affordable. And then it dawned on me: duck leftovers > turkey leftovers. Duck breast and cranberry sandwiches? Yes, please.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about four days off.

But, this week can’t be all turkey (or duck!) and cranberries and mashed potatoes. In fact, after days of eating such things I usually feel pretty gross. And when I feel gross, I want to eat something healthy. Something that isn’t heavy, something that is bright and refreshing. This soup is all of that and more.

I must admit, however, that this is not a new post. In fact, Curried Carrot Soup was one of my very first posts. I posted this recipe back in the dark ages of my blog, when I didn’t know how to take a good food photograph to save my life. I’ve grown a bit as a writer and photographer since those early days, and thought this soup deserved a second chance. I make this recipe often, and since I don’t have every recipe committed to memory (shocking, I know!), I have to refer to my own recipe whenever I make this soup. And every time I pull up the recipe, I get annoyed at the photo and how it doesn’t do this soup any justice. So, I decided to take new photos. And I decided to re-post the recipe. It’s an oldie but a goodie, and I highly recommend it.

To the two people who actually remembered that I’ve already posted this recipe, I apologize for the repeat. :)

Curried Carrot Soup with Lemongrass
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 red Thai chili, deseeded and chopped in half
1 tablespoon curry powder (or more!)
8-10 organic carrots, trimmed and sliced
2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed and bashed* (*Bashing the stalks brings out the most flavor. Lemongrass can be hard to find in the grocery store, but you can find frozen lemongrass in most Asian food stores.)
2 large strips of orange zest
1 can coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock
A few dashes of soy sauce
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot or dutch oven. Add in onion, garlic, ginger, and red chili. Cook for 3-5 minutes over medium heat (until soft). If the grated ginger is sticking to the pan too much, add more oil and turn the heat down. Add in curry powder, making sure all ingredients are coated with it. Add in carrots, lemongrass (or lemon zest), orange zest and sautée for a couple minutes.

Next, add in the vegetable stock and coconut milk – ensuring all vegetables are covered in liquid – and cook over high heat until it comes to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer until the carrots are soft all the way through.

Remove the zest pieces and lemongrass stalks (dont forget this part!) and then use an immersion blender or food processor to blend until the soup is smooth. Once blended, stir in soy sauce and/or salt to taste. Depending on your preferences, you can add more coconut milk or vegetable stock if you find that the soup is too thick.

Happy Lent: Curried Apple Quinoa Salad

Happy Lent, everyone.

(*Yes, I know Lent started a week ago, I just hadn’t gotten around to writing about it until now!)

For those of you who know me (or those who were reading my blog during this time last year), you may remember that Nich and I participated in the Orthodox tradition of Great Lent.

Meaning: for Lent last year, we gave up meat, dairy and alcohol. At first, I was apprehensive. Really, I was terrified. I vowed to give up the things that I loved for a tradition that was not my own. I just wasn’t sure I could do it.

And yet, here I am, a year later…and I’m jumping headfirst into Great Lent.

Why?

I can’t really explain it. But I loved it. Mostly, I loved that Nich and I went on a journey together. It wasn’t necessarily an easy journey, but it was good one. We learned, we grew, and we did it together. It was a really fantastic experience. So much so, that I’ve been looking forward to Lent ever since.

I will say, I know that Lent isn’t for everyone. This is simply a choice my husband and I have made for ourselves. I’m not asking you to join us on this journey, but I am hoping that you can support us in ours.

Because, let’s be honest….we could all do with a little less meat and dairy in our lives. So, even if you’re not into the religious component of Lent, I think we can all agree that a little abstaining could do us some good. (On this same note, there’s a great Huffington Post article called “Ash Wednesday is For Everyone.” Very interesting read.)

So, I hope that you can bear with me for the next six weeks while I adhere to my Lenten fast. Don’t you worry, the blog isn’t going anywhere. Of course, I’ll still post new and exciting recipes, they just won’t incorporate meat or dairy! If I can get by without eating these things, you can get by without reading about them. I think that’s only fair. ;)

So, here’s to Lent and the wonderful journey that it is. I’m excited for the challenge! And, I hope that you are, too.

(And in case you’re wondering: I miss cheese the most!)

Love,
Lindsay

p.s. The following is a recipe I made up last week, using various ingredients I had around the house. This ‘salad ‘was a wonderful way to transition into my new diet – its bright, flavorful, and filling.

Curried Quinoa and Apple salad

1 Granny smith (or other tart apple), cored & diced
1 cup dry quinoa
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries (raisins would also work well)
4-5 green onions, diced

For the dressing:
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup coconut milk
The juice of 1 lime
1.5 tsps curry powder
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 garlic clove, smashed

Cook quinoa according to package instructions (1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water). Once quinoa is fully cooked, set aside to cool.

Toast slivered almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Set almonds aside.

Once the quinoa is cooled, toss with dried cranberries, diced apple, green onions, and toasted almonds.

Whisk all dressing ingredients together (or shake in an airtight container); taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Pour over cooled quinoa mixture. Stir, and add an extra squeeze of lime juice over the top of the salad. Chill before serving (the longer the salad rests, the more the flavors meld together).