Sweet Potato and Aubergine Curry

I had sweet potatoes leftover after making the pancakes I posted the other day, so I thought I’d make a curry with them. I also had an aubergine that was verging on too old, so I decided to use it up. I wasn’t sure how well they’d go together, but luckily, it actually did work out quite well. The sweet potato tasted great with the spicy curry sauce and I would like to try it with courgette as well some time.

Ingredients:

1 aubergine

1 sweet potato

oil

1-3 tbsp red curry paste, depending on taste

1 tin coconut milk

rice

water

Instructions:

1. Wash and dice the aubergine. Peel and chop the sweet potato. If you want, you can boil it for 5-10 minutes first, to soften it.

2. Stir-fry the vegetables in oil until soft, then add some red curry paste and a bit of the coconut milk. Continue cooking.

3. Cook the rice in water. When it’s almost done, add about 1 tsp of the curry paste to flavour it and some of the coconut milk.

4. Add the remainder of the curry paste and coconut milk to the vegetables.

5. Serve the vegetables over the rice.

Hearty Barley and Black-Eyed Pea Stew

As the weather gets chillier, my mind (and my stomach) turns to heartier food. Actually, I made this dish at the very end of August, after a cold weekend in which M and I had gotten drenched in a rain-and-hailstorm. But I’ll be making it again now that it’s even colder.

This was not M’s favourite meal, but it was very healthy and filling.

You can vary this with any grain and any legume and any spice combination and any added vegetable/s; be creative.

Ingredients:
about 100 g black-eyed peas
water
about 150 g pearl barley
about 100 g spinach (fresh or frozen)
tomato purée
green curry paste
olives
soy cream or yogurt

Instructions:
1. Soak the black-eyed peas overnight in water.
2. Boil the barley in water, then leave to simmer for about an hour, checking and stirring every so often (check the instructions on the package as well).
3. Drain the black-eyed peas and then bring them to a boil in fresh water. Leave them to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.
4. Add the spinach, tomato purée, and green curry paste to the barley.
5. Slice the olives and add them.
6. Stir the black-eyed peas into the barley, then swirl in some soy cream or yogurt. Serve with another dollop of cream or yogurt.

Red Vegetable Curry

M pronounced this “very, very lovely”, which I think means it’s a winner of a dish. It’s simple and healthy and it’s really easy to vary according to your tastes and what’s in season.

Ingredients:
oil
red curry paste
1 tin coconut milk
vegetables (I used purple sprouting broccoli and asparagus, because they were in season)
tofu or other protein
lime leaves
Thai sticky rice
water

Instructions:
1. Warm the oil and add 1 tbsp each of curry paste and coconut milk. Warm so the paste releases its fragrance.
2. Add the vegetables, a few lime leaves, and the tofu, and stir fry.
3. Meanwhile, boil the sticky rice according to directions in the water. I use half the amount of water and half coconut milk.
4. Add more curry paste according to taste (I usually use 3-4 tbsp, as M doesn’t like it too spicy) and the rest of the coconut milk to the vegetables. Cook for a few more minutes.
5. Serve the vegetables over the sticky rice.

Cauliflower, Lentil, and Paneer Curry

Okay, so this isn’t a traditional curry by any stretch of the imagination. It combines Indian elements – lentils and paneer cheese – with Thai ones – coconut milk and curry paste – and with other ones – cauliflower and fennel. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t good nonetheless. The flavours all work well together and the dish is very healthy, if a bit flatulence-inducing. So don’t eat it before a romantic evening.

Incidentally, paneer is great to use in cooking. It softens when cooks and takes on all the flavours you throw at it. Plus, it’s completely vegetarian.

Ingredients:
½ cup puy lentils (or other lentils according to preference)
water
rice (I usually go for brown basmati)
1 head cauliflower
1 fennel (onion would be fine too)
oil
4-6 tbsp red curry paste (depends on how hot you like it)
1 container paneer cheese
1 tin coconut milk
onion seeds or mustard seeds (depends on the seasoning you want; I have been having an onion seed kick lately), optional

Instructions:
1. Wash the lentils and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes. Wash the rice and cook over low heat for about 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, wash and chop the cauliflower. Dice the fennel. Fry lightly in oil for about 10 minutes, then add the curry paste.
3. Dice the paneer cheese and add it to the pan as well. Fry for another 7-9 minutes, then add some of the coconut milk. Add a dash of coconut milk to the rice as well.
4. When the lentils are ready, add them to the cauliflower mixture. Season with onion seeds, if desired.
5. Add the rest of the coconut milk to the curry and cook for another few minutes.
6. Serve the curry over the rice.

Thai Green Curry over Barley

As part of our quest to eat less wheat, I’m trying out new carbohydrates. So I got some pearl barley, which is a lovely, toothsome, gently nutty grain. I decided to use it as a bed for a spicy green curry. It could also be used instead of oats in a heartier porridge, or with beans or chickpeas, but do note that it takes over an hour to cook.

You can choose how much curry paste to add according to your taste. I add some of it to the barley and some of it to curry mixture to create more of an integrated taste, but many people prefer to only add the paste to the curry mixture. The same goes for the coconut milk. You can experiment with how much curry paste and how much coconut milk you use and whether you add those ingredients to the rice/barley/whatever other starch you use or to the protein mixture. You can also vary which protein/s and vegetables you use.

Ingredients:
80 g pearl barley
water
3 carrots
2 courgettes
oil
1 jar green curry paste
100 g spinach
tofu or other protein, as desired (chickpeas would also go well here)
1 tin coconut milk

Instructions:
1. Cook the pearl barley in the water in a pot according to the instructions on the packet. Note that it usually takes over an hour to cook, so start this part of the process in plenty of time, and not just when you are getting hungry.
2. Peel and slice the carrots into coins. When the barley is about 10 minutes from being cooked, add the carrots to it.
3. Slice the courgettes and fry them lightly in the oil. Add a few tablespoons of the curry paste and some of the spinach, and continue frying.
4. Add the rest of the spinach and more curry paste to the barley.
5. Add the tofu or other protein to the frying pan.
6. When the barley and carrots are almost ready and the water has cooked away, pour the coconut milk into the pot. Add more curry paste to taste.
7. Serve the courgette mixture over the barley.

Rogan Josh Curry with Carrots, Okra, and Brussels Sprouts

Once I realised that Brussels sprouts aren’t all bad, I wanted to try cooking with them even more. When a jar of rogan josh curry sauce caught my eye, I decided to make a curry with the sprouts and other vegetables. Curries can be varied quite easily; any curry paste you want to use works just fine, and you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. I happened to have okra (also called lady fingers, appropriately enough for our dykey household!) and carrots, so that’s what I went with, but I’ve made curries with broccoli, cauliflower, peas, corn, and chickpeas, among other things. Sometimes I add tofu, too. In this case, I also included some coconut milk, which I like even though it isn’t necessarily traditional in Indian curries. And I served it all over brown basmati rice. The curry was lovely on an evening when we’d done a bit of shopping and then gotten caught in the unpleasant, snowy, slushy weather. It was nice to come home and warm up with curry, sitting on the sofa next to my beloved M.

Ingredients:
100 g brown basmati rice
1 bag Brussels sprouts (about 20)
1 bag okra (about 10)
2-3 carrots
oil
4-6 tbsp rogan josh curry paste
1 tin coconut milk

Instructions:
1. Wash the rice and boil it over low heat for about 30 minutes.
2. Shred or finely chop the Brussels sprouts, then dice the okra, and peel and dice the carrots.
3. Stir-fry the vegetables in a little oil, then add a tablespoon at a time of the curry paste, stirring it in well.
4. After the vegetables have cooked, add most of the coconut milk to the pan (leave about 2 tbsp). Add the remaining milk to the rice.
5. Serve the curry over the rice.