Three Curry Soups

The best thing about soup is that you can make it out of just about anything. This post is evidence of that, and I hope that it inspires you to make your own delicious curry soup. It's a great time of year for it, with the cold weather and all. I've made these three blends throughout this fall and winter but never got around to posting them.

These soups are all Indian inspired, but if you don't like spicy, you obviously have other options. I also make a mean potato leek soup. Two of these three involved the use of a pressure cooker, but you can easily do without one when cooking anything. It just takes a bit longer. Two of the soups also require the use of a blender. If you don't have one, buy one.


Lentil soup, which you can see pictured above, is one of my favorites. At some point, I will do a full post on this recipe, which I am fairly sure is legitimately Indian. An Indian friend usually eats it with rice, but I find that's unnecessary. It's already so tasty, filling and healthy. A little yogurt is fine, since I make it fairly spicy.


This bowl of goodness is the result of an old squash that sat around my apartment for a week or so. I knew I had to use it soon, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Curried squash soup was a perfect fall solution. I used many of the same ingredients as I would in the lentil soup, but I just added them to pureed acorn squash, which I baked first.


My last soup of 2009: Carrot Tomato Soup. This one was quite a bit lighter and less spicy than the previous soups. Basically, I pressure cooked the veggies and pureed them. I then sauteed some onion, black mustard seeds and cumin seeds. I added the veggies with some chili powder and turmeric. It was quite good with crackers.

Bahamian Macaroni

As I carefully maneuvered through snow and ice on my way home tonight, my mind wondered to a friend who is currently sailing across the Caribbean. She recently gifted me the neat turtle spoons (that you can see pictured above) and a few recipes. This is one of them.

Nea, I very much enjoyed your gift. Everyone should check out her awesome sailing blog! Everyone should also try a variation of this recipe, which is better than Wisconsin mac and cheese but can still be eaten with ketchup.

Ingredients:
Most of a box of elbow macaroni noodles (I used whole wheat)
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 habanero peppers , diced.
1 green bell pepper, chopped coarsely
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 Roma tomato, chopped coarsely
Salt to taste

Start by boiling the macaroni and sauteing all of the peppers and vegetables until they are softened, about 5 minutes. Combine strained macaroni and veggies in a greased baking dish. Add the butter before this cools and mix. Add the eggs, cheese, Worcestershire and salt. Mix and distribute evenly in dish. Pour the cream on evenly. Top with more grated cheese. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.



**A few notes about this recipe: First, I did not label this post "vegetarian," because there are so many animal products in this recipe. I also used a small amount of cream instead of the 2 cans of evaporated milk that the recipe lists. The tomato was totally my idea, and I used some fancy cheddar cheese I had sitting around. Finally, the recipe called for "hot sauce to taste," so I obviously used two habaneros.

Sweet and Sour Veggies with Rice Pilaf

Seeing as Christmas is days away, I thought it would be a good time to clean out my refrigerator to make room for more holiday goodness. I'll be spending some time at my mom's house anyway, so I wanted to get rid of my fresh vegetables and herbs. These two dishes were perfect for that.

Neither dish is especially spicy, which might come as a surprise to you considering that I used about 8 green chillies total. In case you haven't already familiarized yourself with Thai green chillies, this is what they look like. Remember, they are small but potent.

The sweet and sour veggie dish was inspired by this recipe, but I made some changes of my own. I got pretty excited when I saw a whole list of "Indo-Chinese" recipes. Indo-Chinese food is basically the Indian version of the "Chinese" food we get in American restaurants.

Sweet and Sour Veggies
Ingredients:
4 green chillies, chopped
1 medium red onion, but into about 8 large peices
1 carrot, sliced.
1 sweet potato, chopped and boiled until edible
15-20 green beans
1 can of baby corn, rinsed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar (I used red wine vinegar because its all I have)
3-4 tablespoons ketchup
3-4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1/4 cup fresh chives (optional)
Sesame seed oil

Using sesame seed oil in a large pot, saute green chillies and cumin seeds until seeds start to pop. Add your onion, carrots, beans and corn. Add the rest of your spices slowly, and consider adding water if you'd like more sauce. Add sesame seeds, potato and chives. Serve once the vegetables are all slightly softened, about 10 minutes at a low heat.

Rice Pilaf, or whatever you want to call it
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups rice, uncooked
1/2 cup lentils of any color
4 green chillies, chopped
1 sprig of curry leaves
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons turmeric
Oil to saute
Salt to taste

First, saute you're green chillies, cumin seeds, curry leaves and mustard seeds. Wait for the seeds to start popping. Add 4 cups of water. Add rice and lentils. Add chili powder, turmeric and salt. Bring to a boil and cover. Reduce the heat. After 20 minutes, remove from heat. Serve.

Chicken Curry

Another Sunday night special. I made chicken curry for myself and a friend. It's fantastic, and Tasha agrees. Last time I made this dish for her, it was part of a "spicy food eating contest" and was outrageously hot. Tonight, I made it more mild and more edible.

There are so many recipes for chicken curry, and I'll do my best to put this one in writing. It's really good, and it yielded a managable amount of food. It fed two people tonight, and I have leftovers (pictured above) to put in my lunchbox for the next two days.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
1 small bell pepper of any color, sliced
1/2 large red onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced carrots
4 green chillies, sliced
10 curry leaves
2 teaspoons red chili powder
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon ground garam masala
1 handful of garam masala, not ground
2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt to taste
Oil for saute
*You don't need to do this recipe in a pressure cooker, but this device is amazing. I recommend everyone buys one.

Mix a marinade for the chicken about two hours before you want to eat. The marinade should include the lemon juice, yogurt, turmeric, chili powder, ground garam masala, ginger garlic paste and a little bit of oil/water. Cut you're chicken breasts into 2 inch pieces and add them to the marinade. Let sit for an hour and a half.

Saute onion until translucent in a pressure cooker. Add green chillies and curry leaves, and saute for another two minutes. Add carrots and chicken mixture. Add whole garam masala. Saute until chicken is slightly brown. Add 1/4 cup water and cover the pressure cooker. Wait for the cooker to whistle 6-7 times (more if it needs it), and remove from heat. After pressure cooker has cooled, open the lid. Lightly saute you're bell pepper and mix that into the chicken curry.

Serve with rice and plain yogurt/yogurt sauce.

Poorly Planned Peanut Butter Cookies

I had a craving for peanut butter cookies today. Seeing as I had peanut butter and other baking essentials, I assumed I would be fine. In the end they turned out well, but there were a few small hangups along the way.

For one, I did not have the peanut butter chips that the recipe called for. This was fine because those are gross. I used a mix of milk and dark chocolate chips instead. Also, I only had about 1/2 cup peanut butter. So I used tahini for the other half cup. Finally, I did not have vanilla extract, so I used cinnamon for a little extra flavor.



To top it all of, they expanded more than I thought they would in the oven. I also left them in there just a little to long. They are not burnt, but the bottoms are browner than I would like. Whatever. I guess that's just how the cookie crumbles!

*This is yet another recipe adapted from the Smitten Kitchen, so go there for ingredients and preparation methods.

BACON!

For the last several weeks, I have had a package of bacon in my freezer. I do not often eat bacon, but I had it in my head to cook a big meal using bacon in more than one dish. Last night, that's exactly what happened.

I kicked the night off by baking some bacon-free biscuits. Yet another recipe from Smitten Kitchen turned out fabulous. I can only hope my recipes will someday yield such pleasing results. These buttermilk chive biscuits would be a great addition to many meals, and they sure were to mine!



Next, I moved on to the BACON! I chose to make black eyed peas, a dish that will always remind me of my grandmother, who is from Texas. This recipe is adapted from the one on the package of the peas, but I'll give it to you anyway.

Ingredients:
1 6.5 oz. package dried black eyed peas
1 cup long-grain white rice
4 cups water
2 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
2 large bay leaves
5 strips bacon
1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2 green chillies, because I love them
Salt and pepper to taste

First bring the dried peas to a boil in a pot of water. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Then cover, and soak peas for one hour. Drain the peas, and then add them to the uncooked rice. Add the 4 cups of water, and simmer with the thyme and bay leaves until rice is cooked and water is mostly absorbed.

Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Drain it on a paper towel, and discard all but a small amount of the bacon grease. Saute the vegetables, garlic and chillies in the bacon grease. Add the vegetables to the peas and rice. Chop up the bacon and add to the mixture. Removed leaves. Season to taste and serve.



Finally, this dish was supposed to be the main event, but it sort of fell flat. I think I used too much bacon. Due to this mistake, I will condense my recipe as I explain.

Obtain 1 large fish fillet. I used fresh cod. Season it with lemon and dill. Cut into medium sized pieces and wrap with bacon. Fry pieces lightly on each side. Place in baking dish, and bake for about 20 minutes, doing what you can to remove excess grease.

Lesson learned, use the bacon sparingly!

Palak Paneer

One of my favorite things about this recipe is how vile it looks. Don't get me wrong, this cheese-spinach curry is wonderful, but it looks like white chunks in green sludge.

You may not know this from my blog, but I would say I'm actually quite good at cooking Indian food. I make great lentil soup, a mean chicken curry and many other dishes. I own a pressure cooker and am a frequent visitor to the Indian grocery store near my apartment.

Like any other recipe, I added what I had and skipped what I did not. However, this is a recipe I glanced at beforehand.

Ingredients:
1 bag spinach
1/2 large green bell pepper, very coarsely chopped
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
3-4 green chilies, sliced
8-10 curry leaves (not usually included in this dish)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Ghee for cooking
Salt to taste
About 8 oz fried paneer (I have made this from scratch, but prefer to buy it in a bag)

First, fry the onion until soft, and add the chillies and curry leaves. After one minute, add the bell pepper, and all the other spices, including the seeds and paste. Add the spinach and saute until soft. Wait for it to cool, and add the mixture to a blender or food processor. Blend well while slowly adding the yogurt. Pour mixture into pan and add paneer. Serve with rice and Indian relish/pickle.

I made this dish pretty spicy because I knew the yogurt would make it more mild. It turned out well, and the best part will be eating the green sludge leftovers at work tomorrow.

Table for a family

Pardon my lack of posts, but I've been at home with my family relaxing for the last several days. The holidays are a good time for family bonding and good eats, both of which I have been enjoying. Seeing as I have a cooking blog, I thought it would be appropriate for me to contribute something to our Thanksgiving dinner. I also thought it would be appropriate to utilize my mother's kitchen, fancy amenities and all.

Over the long weekend, I made two dishes featured on the Smitten Kitchen. The first was sun dried tomato stuffed mushrooms.

I served these as an appetizer at our Thanksgiving dinner. They were tasty, but the parsley flavor got cooked out.

On Sunday, I made sweet potato buttermilk pie. This not only allowed me to use every dish in my mother's kitchen, but was also delicious. Considering that this was the first time I ever actually made a pie, it turned out well. The texture was perfect. Try it!

Spaghetti Squash, Italian Style

I've seen numerous great looking spaghetti squash recipes this fall, but to be honest this was the first time I had eaten the stuff! The texture was great, although I did overcook the squash just a little when I baked it. On the plus side, it was nice to have a vegan meal before heading to my mom's house for the next several days. There, I expect I will be served meat several times a day in addition to a massive turkey to be consumed on Thanksgiving!

The recipe was inspired a healthy recipe book I own, but I basically just used the ingredients I had around. Healthy recipes sometimes don't sound to delicious, but this was very tasty and filling. If you haven't tried spaghetti squash, please give it a try!

Ingredients:
1 large spaghetti squash
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green chili, sliced (because I add these to everything)
Several pieces of rosemary and thyme, or parsley, or oregano (whatever)
7-8 medium-sized mushrooms
16 oz tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil to saute

First, bake your squash for about an hour at 375 degrees. While waiting, saute the onion until almost clear. Add the chili, garlic and mushrooms, and continue to saute until all are soft. Add tomato sauce and herbs. Bring to slow boil just long enough for the herbs to infuse the sauce, then remove them. Add the salt and pepper.

I, of course, could not wait for the squash to cool, and may have burned my hands a little. You, however, wait for the squash to cool and then cut it in half the long way. Remove the seeds and fibers. Use a fork to scrape the squash off of the skin. Add the sauce and eat up.

Sesame Noodles

This meal was noodley and delicious. I actually used plain, old spaghetti noodles (of the whole wheat variety). You can use any kind of noodles.

Anyone who knows me would tell you I love spicy foods, so ingredients with an asterisk can either be removed or reduced from this recipe to make it more mild. Regardless, this noodle dish should be satisfying and makes for good leftovers.

Ingredients:
1 small yellow onion
3 small green chilies*
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon garlic-ginger paste
1 teaspoon chili powder*
1 tablespoon green curry paste*
1 teaspoon turmeric
About 2 cups of broccoli, cut into small pieces
About 1 cup medium-sized mushrooms, sliced
About 1 cup fresh tofu, cubed
8 oz coconut milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 package of spaghetti noodles (or whichever type of noodle suites you)
Soy sauce to taste
Sesame seed and olive oil for saute

First, saute the onions until almost clear in sesame seed and olive oils. Add green chilies. After about 2 minutes, add cumin and sesame seeds. Once they start to sizzle, add broccoli and mushrooms. Saute until a little soft. Add curry paste and ginger garlic paste while mixing well. Add coconut milk and peanut butter. Continue to stir and pour a little water into the pot to make it more like "sauce." Add tofu, turmeric and chili powder. Use salt/soy sauce until you are satisfied. Prepare you're noodles and add them to the mixture.

Couscous Stuffed Squash

Attempting to form regular blogging habits, I made something a little elaborate on Sunday night. This is my own recipe for couscous stuffed squash, and it turned out pretty well. I used a small carnival squash, which is perfect for me. I'll eat the first half tonight, and the second tomorrow.

You may notice in this blog that I'll reuse an ingredient or two during a given period of time. This is because I love herbs and other unique flavors, but a small recipe will seldom require the use of an entire package of anything. That said, I suggest you try a stuffing your squash with whatever ingredients you have lying around.

Ingredients:
1 small squash
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 roasted red pepper
1 small yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
A handful of pine nuts
1 cup grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
A small amount of butter

Cut squash in half, and remove seeds and fibers. Place in baking dish with an inch of water, and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. While waiting, prepare couscous according to instructions on package. Saute onions, garlic and rosemary in olive oil. Remove rosemary one you've gotten the most out of its flavor. Add couscous, tomato paste and salt and pepper. Sprinkle in pine nuts and add chopped roasted red pepper (after removing seeds and skin). Add half the cheese and remove mixture from heat.

Remove squash from oven and butter it lightly. Once squash is cooled, spoon couscous mixture into the center. Add the remainder of the cheese on top, and broil squash for 5-10 minutes. You will likely have some couscous filling leftover, and I suggest you serve the squash on top of it.

Curried Beet Salad for One

This flavorful salad was light, and went well with toast and hummus. Many of the recipes I've added to my blog so far have clearly been enough for more than one person, but this easy salad is the perfect healthy meal for one.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups baby arugula
1 large beet, cut into small chunks
1 small cucumber
1/4 red onion, chopped
2 green chilies, chopped
5-6 curry leaves - available at you're local Indian grocer
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 hard boiled egg

Saute the onion in the olive oil for about a minute. Add the green chilies and curry leaves and saute for another minute. Add the beet. Cover. Stir ocassionally until beets are no longer crunchy.

Arrange the arugula on a place. Cut the egg in half and remove the yolk if you wish. Slice each half into this pieces. Place the egg on the arugula without separating. Place slices of cucumber wherever you like. Do the same with the beets. Dress the salad with oil from cooked beets and lemon juice.

Gnocchi with Pink Sauce

Today I made one of my regulars, gnocchi with pink sauce. I used store bought pasta, because, lets be honest, homemade gnocchi is too much work when you're cooking for one. It will most likely be a few days before I even manage to finish these leftovers.

As I said, I have made this before. However, I never follow an exact recipe for the sauce. In the past, I've used basil, but the weather's getting cold so I'm switching to more functional herbs. This time I used thyme. Either way, I love pink sauce because it both zesty and creamy, without being too much of either.

Ingredients:
1 package potato gnocchi
1 small yellow onion
2 tomatoes
3 cloves garlic (crushed)
3 sprigs thyme
8 oz can tomato sauce
About 6 oz heavy cream
1 large splash of red wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated cheese of choice.

This dish is pretty easy, and you can vary the amount of cheese/cream/tomato sauce you use depending on your preference.

First, dice the onion and saute until clear. Add chopped tomatoes and simmer mixture until they have collapsed. Add tomato sauce, garlic, wine and thyme. Simmer until sufficiently smooth. Remove thyme and add cream, salt and pepper. Cover sauce and boil gnocchi in water for 2-3 minutes or until they float to the top. But be careful, they are easy to overcook. Drain. Top pasta with sauce and grated cheese.

More Pumpkin fun

The same book mentioned in a previous post also inspired me to get festive. I know it missed the boat on Halloween, but it's always a good time for gourd art!

Carbonada Criolla

Tonight I made this hearty stew for my brother and myself. The recipe is from a Joost Elffers book about pumpkins, and I was immediately drawn the recipe because it comes from Argentina, where I lived for a year.

The hollowing out the pumpkin was time consuming but rewarding. It looked fabulous as a serving vessel and the whole thing was delicious.

Ingredients:
1 medium pumpkin
2 medium sized yellow onions
butter
sugar
olive oil
4 garlic cloves
2 pounds lamb back ribs (or another cut if you prefer)
4 medium tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
stock
bouquet garni (I used rosemary and thyme)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 potato
1 can sweet corn
1 can peaches



First, cut a lid on top of the pumpkin, and remove the fibers and seeds. Scrape as much pumpkin from the inside as you can without letting the walls get too thin. Brush the inside with butter and sugar, then bake for 30 minutes.

Lightly saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Transfer to a large sauce pan. Lightly brown the lamb in the pan, then add it to the onion mixture. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, the bouquet garni and enough stock to cover the mixture. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add the pumpkin and potato and top it off with stock. Simmer for another 30 minutes before adding the corn and peaches. Remove the bouquet and ladle the stew into the pumpkin.



And there you have it. As easy as pumpkin lamb stew...served in a pumpkin...