Kohlrabi Curry / Noolkol Kalan

This recipe was new to me. Unlike many Indian curries, I had never heard of this before cooking it. I googled kohlrabi recipes, and from there I got excited about some curry. Not only did I learn about a new kind of curry, but I also learned how to spell kohlrabi (challenging!).

This particular kind of curry calls for yogurt while cooking. The recipe, which I adapted, explains why/how in a bit more detail. All I know is I love plain yogurt...

Finally, a third lesson: purple kohlrabi are only purple on the outside. I was really hoping this cauliflower-like vegetable would yield a pinkish curry, but no such luck. Once you peal them, green and purple kohlrabi are essentially the same.

Ingredients:
3 kohlrabi, peeled and cubed
2 cups water
6-7 green chillies
2 cups plain yogurt
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 cup coconut (fresh or dry, unsweetened)
1/2 cup cashews
2 tablespoons olive/vegetable oil
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
6-7 curry leaves
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
4-5 dry red chillies, purchased whole but split in half before cooking

Boil kohlrabi in water until soft but not mushy. Ideally, most of your water will have evaporated too. Add turmeric, chili powder, salt and pepper. Mash together green chillies, cumin seeds, cashews and coconut. It should resemble a paste. Add this paste to the kohlrabi and then mix in the yogurt. You can cook the yogurt a little but be very careful not to boil or burn it.
Make some tarka by frying mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chilies in oil. Once its nice and cool, add it to the curry. Serve this dish with rice. I used a mixture of brown rice and lentils.

Methi Chicken Curry and Green Onion Slaw

My lovely friend Nea tasked me with cooking dinner for her and a couple friends this week for her birthday. I'll admit, I was excited. So excited, that I ate part of my food before remembering to photograph it.

These recipes are ones I'm pretty comfortable with, a proven one crowd pleaser and an accompanying salad. But in a later post, you'll see my very adventurous dessert

If I had one criticism of myself, it would be that both dishes were pretty spicy. But I've been snacking on the leftovers from this green onion slaw, and loving it. I'm also proud to say that I deviated from my usual chicken curry recipe. Here, I'll give you the chicken curry recipe, which was inspired by this one.

Chicken Curry Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
For the marinade
8 oz coconut milk
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
2 teaspoons red curry powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt

When actually cooking
1 cup frozen methi, or fenugreek, leaves. I needed help finding these at the Indian Grocery store.
1 tomato, pureed
7-8 green chillies, diced
1 medium-sized red onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup cashews, crushed
2 teaspoons cumin seeds

Marinate your chicken overnight, or for a few hours. I did it overnight.

Saute you onions until translucent. Add cumin seeds and chillies. Saute until soft but without burning the onions. Add the tomato and cashews. After a minute, add your marinated chicken WITH the marinade. This is very important, as there is a lot of flavor there. Add the methi leaves and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. You can be patient and use a regular pot too, just make sure your chicken is done before serving. Serve with rice, and maybe even this salad...

Garlicky Kidney Bean Curry

Apparently, a trip to True Thai earlier this week did not get the need for spice out of my system. Tonight, I was craving some curry, and that's what I got. This was a hearty dish, but less filling than meat curries.

There was no recipe to follow, but I just sort of went to town with my Indian spices. I'd seen a smitten kitchen post on kidney bean curry. Mine turned out quite different, as I used no tomatoes and added a whole orange bell pepper. It was delicious anyway.

Ingredients:
1 25-30 oz can of red kidney beans, rinsed well
1 medium red onion
5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped or crushed
3 green chillies
10 curry leaves
1 bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
3 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for saute

Saute your onions until almost translucent, and add curry leaves, chillies and garlic. Add the bell pepper and mustard seeds, and continue to saute for 1-2 minutes at a medium heat. Add your beans and some of the water. Cook this at a medium-high heat while adding the masala, chili powder and turmeric. Keep adding water to ensure that there is plenty of sauce for the curry. Add salt and pepper if desired. Cook until you reach a nice consistency (about 10 minutes). Serve with rice.

Coconut Curry

I'll be honest. This isn't the most authentic tasting curry I've ever made. Still, it's pretty damn good. Basically, this was intended to be Coconut Green Curry, but ended up being a semi-Americanized curry of sorts. I blame the lack of authentic ingredients on Minnesota winter. Thai basil is nowhere to be found, and lemongrass is a long drive away. Whatever, I supplemented with actual lemon and some Indian curry leaves.

The good: This recipe was very tasty and completely vegan. The red potatoes were also perfect, because they were small and tender and cooked fast. The bad: A little too much starch. Potato plus rice equals a lot of starch and no protein...

Ingredients:
1 16 oz can of coconut milk
5-6 green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1/2 large white onion, chopped
10-15 baby carrots, sliced
1/2 bag frozen peas (standard sized bag...)
1 small red bell pepper, sliced thin
7 small red potatoes, quartered
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1 tablespoon Thai curry paste, green or red, store bought or homemade.
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar (if desired)

Saute your onions until translucent. Add chillies, curry leaves and coriander seeds. Saute for another two minutes and reduce heat. Add ginger-garlic paste, curry paste and coconut milk. Mix well. Add carrots, peas, potatoes and red bell pepper. Simmer at a low heat.


Add turmeric, chili powder, peanut butter and lemon juice. Taste and add salt and/or sugar to taste. Once the vegetables are done (15-20 minutes), add the cilantro and cook until it's just a little soft. Remove from heat and serve with long grain rice (such as basmati).

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.