Darin’s Coconut Curried Vegetables
Like all Indian dishes, this is so unbelievably easy, easy and easy. Try it!
¼ cup grapeseed oil
1 small handful fresh curry leaves (25 ish)
1 tbsp mustard seeds (preferably black)
2 finely chopped medium onions
4 tbspns chopped garlic
2 large chopped tomatoes (2 cups)
1 tspn ground cumin
1 tspn turmeric
½ tspn cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tspn salt
½ tspn black pepper
1 can coconut milk
1 lb eggplant cut into 1” cubes
1 lb cauliflower small florets
1 lb sweet peppers
¾ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup cooked rice per person
If you do not wish to use the eggplant, cauliflower or sweet peppers, try zucchini or fennel
Heat oil to a medium/high heat, add curry leaves and mustard seeds and then cook for one minute or until the mustard seeds begin to pop (do not burn).
Reduce heat to medium and add onions to the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Now, add the tomatoes, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, salt, black pepper and coconut milk. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add your choice of vegetables and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
Serves 6 – or serves 10 as a side dish.
Ginger Bread
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9/9 baking dish with room temperature butter.
Sift into a bowl
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup light molasses
- ¼ cup boiling water
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp salt
Beat 1 stick (8tbsp) of unsalted butter until creamy, gradually add 1 large egg and ¼ cup of packed brown sugar until fluffy (approximately 2-3 minutes). Gradually beat in 1 cup of light molasses, stir in dry ingredients, once combined add ¼ cup of boiling water.
At this point you can mix in some interesting flavours, for example crystallized ginger or candied orange peel or candied lemon peel. If you are going to do this limit it to 3 tablespoons.
Pour mixture into baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes, insert a toothpick into the centre of the cake and it should come out dry. Turn gingerbread out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool until it is no longer steaming.
Roast Pepper Walnut Dip – “Muhamara Dip”
This is a lovely sweet creamy dip and is enjoyed by most of my friends. It also has a lot of protein in it and what is wonderful – it is different!
- 3 large roast red peppers
- ½ cup walnuts lightly toasted
- 3 tbsp spelt breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp pomegranate juice or molasses
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- ½ tsp cumin
Puree all ingredients except the breadcrumbs. Mix in breadcrumbs to achieve desired consistency.