Eggplant Curry

Almost every time I have more than one or two people over for dinner, I seem to gravitate towards making an indian themed spread. It's juts instinctually what I think of and plan for.

It might be because I always have the pantry staples on hand and the dishes use the same basic ingredients. Yet you can easily make three or more different dishes without difficulty. I live that seasonal vegetables can be used to create complimentary dishes with different flavors, so that it's a little bit different everytime.

I usually always serve my chickpea curry, but tonight I think I'll change it up and make three dishes that are new to my repertoire. I have an AMAZING recipe that I still tweaking that so closely resembles butter chicken in flavor that I'll be "testing"tonight. I should be sharing it sometime this month.

They had amazing eggplant at the market a few weeks back and I just had the instant craving for eggplant curry. This dish is decadent, yet completely fat-free and low sodium if you keep the added salt on the no or low side. The carrots bring the perfect level of sweetness to counteract the slight bitter taste eggplant can sometimes have.

You can easily change up the supporting cast of vegetables in this recipe, I just recommend having a sweeter vegetable in the mix.

Eggplant Curry

Ingredients:

- 2 medium eggplants, peeled and diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, sliced and halved
- 2 medium red peppers, diced
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 2 clove garlic
- 1.5 tbsp fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp fresh turmeric
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tbsp cardamon
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Fresh cracked pepper
- 1 lemon, juiced

Combine the ginger, garlic, turmeric and tomatoes in a blender and blend until smooth.

In a deep pan, water sauté the onions until translucent. Add the carrots, peppers and eggplant and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the spices and stir for about 1 min. 

Now add in the tomato mixture and bring to a slow simmer. Cook until all vegetables are cooked through. Mix in the lemon juice.

Serve over rice or quinoa.

Enjoy!

Red Bean Curry Soup

RAIIINNNN!

After a very dry month or so, this place was in dire need of some rain. Especially after the last few days where it was SO humid and looked like rain, but really it was just a tease. Hopefully this helps with the ridiculous humidity, I've seen better hair days.

Now I know that most of readers are still battling winter. Which is why I thought this recipe would be most suitable to post. A warming curry soup is all one needs to soothe the weather grumpies.

This recipe is also a quickie. If you pre-cook your rice and beans, or used canned, it comes together in less than 30 minutes.

I had to get a bit creative since lentils (my go-to) are sparse and expensive in these parts but fresh beans are a-plenty and delicious. You know they are going to be good when the people at the market are shelling them on the spot.

Curry and I have been very good friends since I went plant-based. I actually wasn't introduced to Indian food formally until after the change. I became an addict pretty quickly and was extremely sad when my favorite restaurant burnt down. I've never been able to find a replacement for it. It was that good!

So I decided to try to master the curry at home instead, see if I could get close. My Channa Masala is always a crowd pleaser and I love experimenting with different cuisines. This one is definitely going to be added to my Indian dinner party foods.

Red Bean Curry Soup

Ingredients:

- 2 cups cooked red beans

- 2 cups cooked rice

- 1 medium onion, diced

- 2 large carrots, sliced

- 2 roasted red peppers, sliced

- 2-3 cups water or veg broth

- 1 tbsp curry powder

- S/P to taste

In a medium-large saucepan, water sauté the onions until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and curry powder and cook for another 3 mins stirring often to prevent burning and adding water as needed. Dump in the rest of the ingredeints and simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

You can top with fresh tomatoes and sour cream of choice.

Enjoy!

Mango Chutney

Mango season is upon us!

To me, this is a truly epic time of year, seeing as mangoes are one of my most favorite staple fruits that are only amazing a few times a year. (Not to mention so much more affordable!)

However, there comes a time where they aren't so great, a bad batch or you cut them before they are actually ripe because you;re just TOO excited to get in on the mango goodness.

This is where Mango Chutney comes to the rescue. We we're a little too excited and jumped the ship on waiting for the mangoes to be be truly in season down here. So it resulted in a few not so great mangoes that neither of us wanted to eat raw. It's not that they were bad per say, they just lacked the amazing mango-ness that we expected and we're less sweet than expected.

This recipe is super easy to make and delicious as a condiment on pretty much anything. We had it that night along with some simple Thai Yellow Curry with rice. I also love it on baked potatoes or quinoa.

Mango Chutney

Fixings:

- 1.5 cups diced onion
- 5-6 mangoes, diced or sliced
- 1 cup pineapple, diced
- 1 generous cup raw sugar
- ¾ cup vinegar
- 2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp fresh turmeric, minced very well.

In a large pot, cook the onion with some water until translucent. Add in all the spices and cook for about 2 minutes, or until you can smell the spicyness. 

Add in the mangoes and pineapple and let cook for a few minutes to mingle the flavors. Add in the sugar and vinegar. Cook for about 30 mins stirring often to prevent burning. You'll know when it's ready from the thick jam like texture of it all. Let it cool and put in in a sealed glass jar in the fridge.

Not sure how long it lasts, cause here it's always devoured within a few days. 

Enjoy!

Cheap Eats: Chickpea Curry

We all have those recipes that we can make blindfolded with one arm tied behind our backs. That used to be boxed mac and cheese in my world, it's an understatement to say that things have changed.

Before going veg, I was basically hopeless in the kitchen, I could do the basics and thats about it. Which meant that I relied far too much on pre-made or packaged meals. I thought that real cooking was either difficult or too time consuming. How wrong was I?

When I went veg, I had to rely on myself a bit more and became much more adventurous in the kitchen. I also watched a ton of food shows to gather inspiration skills and knowledge about flavors, spices and food combinations. This was the beginning of a much healthier and happier relationship with food.

Now the kitchen in my sanctuary, my therapeutic space where anything is possible and failure just another adventure. Plus, I get to eat it. Win-win.

This recipe is warm, comfort in a plate. It's easy and cheap to make, which makes it a staple and a go-to for me for all occasions, from a mid-week dinner to feeding a group of 12 people. I'm pretty sure the price on this one comes out to less than 10$ for a family portion, or two hearty appetites such as ours.

Chickpea Curry

Note: I made the tomato sauce from scratch here, but for an even quicker meal you can use store bought tomato sauce or thicken the sauce with sun-dried tomatoes in the blender to reduce cooking time.

Ingredients:

- 3 large tomatoes, chopped.

- 2 tbsp ginger, chopped.

Blend the tomatoes and ginger until smooth.

- 1 large onion, chopped.

- 2 large red peppers, chopped.

- 1 lb mushrooms sliced

- 1 large can chickpeas.

- 1 tbsp turmeric

- 1 tbsp ground cumin

- 1 tbsp ground coriander

- Cayenne pepper, to taste.

- S/P, to taste. 

In a large sauce pan, cook onions with a bit of water for 2-3 minutes, then add all other veggies and spices. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add tomato sauce and cook until sauce has thickened to desired consistency. Add chickpeas and warm throughout.

Serve over rice or quinoa.

Enjoy!!