Aloo Gobi

I was in the mood for Indian the other day and whipped up this dish. While the ingredient list is a bit longer than I usually like to see, a good portion of it consists of spices that I always have on hand.

From the Forks Over Knives cookbook.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves

1 jalapeno pepper, chooped

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds

2 bay leaves

1 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 russet poatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 medium tomatoes, diced

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons freshly minced cilantro for garnish

1 cup of green peas

 

Heat oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and fry until translucent, adding water if needed. Add garlic, jalapeno, and ginger. Cook additional 3 minutes.  

 

Add  remaining spices, cauliflower, potatoes, and tomatoes.  Cook covered until potatoes are tender, around 15 minutes. Add peas and cook for 5 more minutes.

 

Remove bay leaves and garnish with cilantro.

 

 

 

Vegetable Jelfrazi

Have I mentioned previously that I love Jamie Oliver? A good looking Brit who cooks and is a great role model for healthier (if not vegan) eating. If only I could understand his choice of baby names. Buddy Bear Maurice? Poppy Honey Rosie? Daisy Boo Pamela? Petal Blossom Rainbow? Seriously? 

I forgive you, Jamie, because you give me recipes like the below Vegetable Jelfrazi. While there is quite a bit of chopping involved,  I promise that this dish is worth it.

A few notes:

• This makes a LOT. I had to switch pans halfway through cooking it....and my huge wok was still barely large enough. Halve the recipe if you do not have a big enough pan.
• Red curry paste can be hard to find...look for it in the Asian section of your supermarket. I could not find the Patak curry paste Jamie uses so I used Maesri Thai Red Curry instead which turned out to be very (!) spicy. 
• I left out butter and switched the red chilli pepper to a jalapeno. Otherwise I kept his original recipe pretty true to form, as it was already very vegan friendly.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
1 jalapeno
A thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
2 cloves of garlic
A small bunch of fresh coriander
2 red peppers
1 cauliflower
3 ripe tomatoes
1 small butternut squash
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
Vegetable oil
½ a 283g jar of Patak’s jalfrezi curry paste
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons

Prep:

 Peel, halve and roughly chop your onion

Finely slice the chili

Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic

Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stalks

Halve, deseed and roughly chop the peppers

Break the green leaves off the cauliflower and discard

Break the cauliflower into florets and roughly chop the stem

Quarter the tomatoes

Carefully halve the butternut squash, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Slice the squash into inch-size wedges, leaving the peel on but removing any thick skin, then roughly chop into smaller pieces

Drain the chickpeas

Cook:

Put a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil

Add the onions, chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks and cook for 10 minutes, until softened and golden

Add the peppers, butternut squash, drained chickpeas and jalfrezi curry paste

Stir well to coat everything with the paste

Add the cauliflower, the fresh and tinned tomatoes and the vinegar

Fill 1 empty tin with water, pour into the pan and stir again

Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on

Check the curry after 30 minutes and, if it still looks too liquidy, leave the lid off for the rest of the cooking time

When the vegetables are tender, taste and add salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice

Serve:

Serve over basmati rice with a sprinkle of coriander leaves and a few lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Curried Lentil, Potato and Cauliflower Soup

It’s freezing out. And while the weather makes the 1.4 mile walk to/from work almost painful, it is perfect weather for a lentil stew. I had most of the ingredients on hand for this recipe – while all the chopping takes a bit of time the soup itself is very easy to make and pretty versatile. It would be easy to sub out the cauliflower and spinach with other vegetables you have on hand…frozen vegetables would work just fine.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks celery, trimmed & diced
• 1 cup brown or green lentils, rinsed
• 6 cups water (I used 3 cups of vegetable broth, 3 cups of water)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 large potatoes, scrubbed and diced
• One 16-ounce can salt-free diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 tsp good quality curry powder, or to taste
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• Pinch of nutmeg (I used about ½ tsp)
• 2 1/2 cups finely chopped cauliflower pieces
• 2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach leaves OR 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onion, celery and garlic. Sauté over medium-low heat until translucent.

2. Stir in turmeric, curry powder and nutmeg, and sauté for 1 minute.

3. Add the lentils and bay leaves. Cover with 6 cups water

4. Bring to a rapid simmer, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes

5. Add the potatoes and tomatoes, and simmer until the potatoes are about half done, about 10 to 15 minutes

6. Add the cauliflower and simmer until the lentils and vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes longer

7. Stir in the spinach, cilantro, and lemon juice. Adjust the consistency with more water as needed, then season with salt and pepper

8. Simmer over very low heat for another 5 minutes

9. Serve at once or let stand for an hour before serving, then heat through as needed