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I went shopping & I came back w/ vegetables. Before starting for my weekly shopping adventure at my trusted food store I remembered a recipe for a vegetable curry on Chocolate & Zucchini – and decided to give it a try.
At 1st there were vegetables… Generally I’m no friend of leftovers concerning bare ingredients – I always try to use everything I buy especially when buying for a special dish. (Leftovers like to clutter up your fridge and/or your pantry… & also I don’t like to waste any food.) In this case I had no choice than buying a lot more than to be used for my vegetable curry because I needed variety for a mix – but I had in mind to use the leftovers as soon as possible.
Once again: I wanted a nice mix of solid vegetables in my curry making sure that nothing would become mushy. In other words: my curry should deliver nice bite-size pieces of vegetables which remained characteristic in flavor & shape & texture.
The idea in the original recipe was to give it an Southeast-Asian overall flavour – and I thought about my spices in my kitchen. I have a supply fo garam masala, a mix of cumin, cinnamon, curcuma, cloves… & much more: it’s fragrant, but not hot & spicy. So maybe some additional curry powder might add a slightly spicy edge…
The 1st step was to reduce the amount of vegetables to quantities I’d need for my curry.
So there is now:
- half of a small hokkaido
- about a quarter of a cauliflower
- a broccoli
- half of a kohlrabi
- 2 big carrots
- 2 big potatoes (I used waxy potatoes – the potatoes shall not get mushy!)
- 1-2 onions (at the end I used 1 1/2 of them…)
- …& about 60-70 g fresh ginger.
For the record:
Of course you may add some (or lots of) fresh garlic and/or fresh resp. dried chili (also lots of) if you prefer their distinctive flavors…
The next step means a lot of work:
- cleaning the vegetables (if necessary)
- peeling the vegetables (if necessary)
- trimming i. e. cutting away all the woody or brownish parts resp. scraping out the seeds & the tangled fibers…
- chopping all in bite-size pieces
- …& for the onions & the ginger: chop finely w/o mincing.
I admit that this is the most strenuous part of our meal.
So now grab a pan & make sure that it is large enough for the vegetables.
Fry the onion & the ginger in some peanut oil. I added garam masala & mild curry powder for the Southeast-Asian aroma. Finally add salt & pepper to taste.
After about 10 min the onion is slightly softened & all the rest of the vegetables is thrown into the pan. Add coconut milk & some water & bring to a boil. Then close the pan w/ a lid & let it simmer for about 30 min. If you like you may stir the vegetables once to twice.
Finally the mix is ready; all vegetables should be sogt, but distinguishable at this point.
For the finish we lift the lid & let it cook at full power if there seems to be too much water. (I think there will be definitely too much water…) It will vanish rather soon within few minutes. Then add another batch of coconut milk & make it perfect w/ some more spices… salt & pepper to taste.
After a last reboil it gets creamy & it’s fine!
Enjoy!
- about 300 g carrots cleaned & trimmed - 2-3 big carrots
- about 400 g waxy potatoes peeled & trimmed - 2 big potatoes
- about 200 g broccoli trimmed - 1 broccoli
- about 300 g cauliflower trimmed - 1/4 cauliflower
- about 400 g hokkaido trimmed - 1/2 small hokkaido
- about 200 g kohlrabi peeled & trimmed - 1/2 big kohlrabi
- about 200 g onions peeled & trimmed - 1-2 onions
- about 50 g ginger peeled & trimmed
- 4 tbsp peanut oil
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tps curry powder
- 250 ml coconut milk 85% + 125 ml water
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1-2 chopped cloves of garlic (or more) - OPTIONAL
- 1-2 chopped dried or fresh chili (w/ or w/o pits) (or more) - OPTIONAL
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 tsp curry powder
- 250 ml coconut milk 85%
- salt & pepper to taste
- Clean, peel, trim & chop all the vegetables into bite-size pieces.
- Chop the ginger into very small pieces, but don’t mash it.
- Add the peanut oil to a pan large enough for the vegetables & fry the onions, the ginger & the spices for about 10 min; nothing should get burnt.
- OPTIONAL - Add garlic and/or chili when starting frying.
- Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Add the chopped vegetables.
- Add the coconut milk & the water & bring to a boil. Close the lid & let it simmer for about 30 min.
- Afterwards let it cook at full power for some minutes w/o lid if there seems too much water.
- Add the 2nd batch of coconut milk & the spices & let it boil for a last time.
- Add salt & pepper to taste.
The vegetable curry is at its best w/ plain cooked rice. So…
- If you haven’t any rice ready in your kitchen you can easily cook the rice while the curry is simmering.
- If you happen to have some cooked rice in your fridge prepare it for heating in the microwave.
- If you happen to have some frozen cooked rice than start unfreezing (in the microwave) while the curry simmers…
At 1st the curry seems a little runny, but it thickens rather soon – especially when you store your curry in your fridge for some hours & reheat in the microwave. BTW also the flavors seem to get more intensity this way…!
The businesswoman w/ too many office hours thinks
It’s a lot of work. When starting it’ll give me about 5-6 servings so I can prepare it once & rely on leftovers for the once or twice.
It’s a light meal – perfect for any weeknight dinner when you arrive at home finally after long hours in your office and need some hot comforting dish w/ aromas filling the air…
