Showing posts with label Curry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Curry. Show all posts

Curried Lentil Soup (vegan, gluten free)

Curried Lentil Soup (Spicy!)

This is a spicy soup that will awaken your senses. The pot brewing on the stove will fill the kitchen with the aroma of cumin, with notes of oregano and garlic. Tumeric adds a cheery colour while the lentils, and vegetables mingle in a rich broth. Winter? What winter?

[How hot do you like it? Follow the lowered amounts of the seasoning for a "medium" heat. If you find it too spicy, adding a couple of chopped potatoes to the pot can take the heat down.]

1/2 pound carrots
1 large onion
3 stalks celery
handful of mushrooms

1-2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp- 1/4 cup cumin
2 tbsp tumeric
1-2 tbsp dry oregano leaf. If powder is what you have on hand, use half that.
1 tbsp crushed red pepper (Optional. This is where much of the heat comes from.)
1 tbsp salt or lite salt
1/2 cup olive oil

1 1/2 cups red or brown lentils

Finely chop the carrots, celery, onion, and mushrooms. Add these to a soup pot with the seasonings and oil. Cook the mixture on medium heat, stirring regularly, for about ten minutes, until the carrots are softened. This is your soup base. Add about four cups water and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, add the lentils and another four cups of water. Simmer for at least two hours.

[Crock Pot Directions: Cook the chopped veggies, seasonings and oil together in a sautee pan for ten minutes, then pour it into your crock pot. Add the lentils and eight cups of water. Cook on "medium" for 8-12 hours, and come home to a wonderful supper.]

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Creamy Curried Chickpeas (gluten free, vegan)

Creamy Curried Garbanzos (gluten free, vegan)

We are always looking for a new way to prepare chick peas (garbanzos). They are loaded with iron, protein and fiber, and if you buy the dried beans to cook yourself, are cheap and low in sodium.  We are into quick meals, too!

Creamy Curried Chickpeas can be prepared as a tasty filling for tacos or with abundant sauce to pour over rice or quinoa. The sweet and mildly spicy sauce got a thumbs-up from G-man and the Cadet. One of these days we'll triple all the of spices to crank up the heat!

For four generous servings or eight side portions:


1 large red onion, peeled and diced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp garlic
1 tsp chili powder (mild or hot is up to you)
1 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 cups cooked chick peas (or two cans, drained)
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1 cup canned coconut milk (or the whole can if you plan on making the dish saucy enough to pour over rice or quinoa)

On low heat, gently simmer the onion in the olive oil, Add the spices and salt and stir together until the onions are translucent. Add the chick peas and simmer for another five minutes. Add the coconut milk and until bubbly, stirring occasionally. Serve right away with soft tortillas, rice, or quinoa.


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Kale Paneer (gluten free)

Kale Paneer
Saag Paneer is a creamy, spicy dish of greens (saag) and homemade cheese (paneer). It was one of my favourites when dining out in college and a rarely seen delight here in the Midwest. The March 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Saag Paneer using fresh spinach. It looked really good, but I could not help but to adapt it to kale, simplify it, and tweak a few more ingredients. The result? Scrumptious. (And gone. Next time I'll double the greens so we have a few leftovers. ) For a really authentic experience, there is a great looking recipe for Naan (flatbread) at Plus Other Good Stuff.

This is not a spontaneous kind of dish but the homemade paneer can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days and brought out when you are ready to enjoy it.  Our version is as mild as you can possibly make a curry, so feel free to double (or triple!!) the coriander and cumin and even add hot peppers if your family likes a little heat.

Homemade Paneer  (about half a pound, recipe below)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup flour- wheat or rice (gluten free) for dredging
1 small red onion, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp coriander, or more for a spicy dish
1/2 tsp cumin, or more for a spicy dish
1/4 tsp tumeric
(optional: chopped or dried chili, jalapeno, or other spicy pepper)
1 large bunch kale, stem removed, finely chopped
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp tapioca starch


Heat the oil on low to medium heat in a wok or ultimate pan. Cut the paneer into cubes, about three-quarters of an inch. Dredge them in the flour, then fry them until golden in the olive oil. Fish them out and set them aside.

In the same pan and oil, sautee the onion. Add the salt, and spices, then the kale and water. Cover the pan and simmer until it bubbles. Stir in the yogurt, butter and tapioca starch and cook, uncovered, until the sauce thickens, about five minutes. Stir in the cheese cubes and cook just long enough to heat them back up.

Serve right away over rice, couscous, or quinoa.


Homemade Paneer 

1/2 gallon whole milk- (non-homogenized if you can get it)
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp salt

Heat the milk up, stirring, until it just starts to bubble. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the salt, yogurt, and lemon juice.

After a few minutes, large curds will form. Strain the contents of your pot through a clean tea towel or handkerchief. (Not a terry towel.) The leftover whey can be used elsewhere, like for soup or bread. Gather up the corners of the cloth into a bag and gently squeeze out more of the whey. Either secure the end of a pouch with an elastic or tie a knot through the ends, and hang the bag over the pot with a wooden spoon. After ten minutes of dripping, you will have a delicious, lemon ricotta. Twist the bag again to get out more of the whey, then place it between two plates to compress. You won't be able to reshape it once it is hardened, so flatten it out an smooth the edges while it is still warm. Place a can over the top plate for weight, then stick it in the fridge for an hour to harden. Take it out of the tea towel an store in an airtight container.


Curried Chicken (crock pot, gluten free)

Chicken Vindaloo

We used to use Patak's curry pastes. They are easy and flavourful and come in a range of spiciness from mild to mind-blowing. The Mild Curry Paste contains 910mg sodium per two tablespoons, however, and the first ingredient listed is canola oil. Canola oil, then salt.... We can do better. Learning to blend the spices that could be commonly found in a small town grocery store, and then to adapt them to the palates of our little kids took a few tries.

You will find this recipe for curried chicken to be quick and easy. Just pop everything into the crock pot and come back in a few hours to discover an aromatic pot of tender chicken and potatoes in a smooth, barely spicy sauce. (You can easily crank up the heat if you like.)

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