serenecooking: (Default)
I am not one of those people for whom food is love. I don't think that people who don't like my cooking are rejecting me. That said, there's something really happymaking about hearing the teenager say, "This is AWESOME" about the food I put on the table.

Today's curry was super-simple. I think it was actually more work to get the photo than to make the food (curry is notoriously hard to get a good shot of). I wasn't sure what I was making for dinner at first, but then [livejournal.com profile] lcohen started talking about potato and chickpea curry, and the die was cast.

What I made

Coconut curry with potatoes and garbanzos

Coconut curry with potatoes and garbanzos (and yellow rice)

[Note: This makes 8 generous servings. I made enough rice for 4 servings; the curry leftovers are excellent cold.]

2 tbsp oil (I used olive)
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp ground coriander
3 carrots, cut however you want them cut
4 cups cooked garbanzo beans (about 2 cans, or cook them yourself)
1 lb tiny red potatoes (or larger ones, cut up)
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
1 tbsp fish sauce (or more to taste)

Sautee onions and curry paste in oil until onions are soft. Add remaining ingredients along with enough water to just cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are cooked. Serve over yellow rice (below). I also served store-bought chutney.

Yellow rice

For 4 servings:

1 cup long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon each oil and turmeric

Sautee rice in oil and turmeric until the rice starts to smell a little toasty. Add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to the lowest setting. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat and let stand, covered, 5-10 minutes more. Fluff with fork and serve.

Cost per serving (approximate)

The curry: $.59
The rice: $.14
The chutney: $.32 (I used half of a $2.49 jar for the 4 of us)
Total: $1.05 per serving


How we liked it

[livejournal.com profile] wtfpotatoes: "This is AWESOME."
[livejournal.com profile] sogwife: "The curry was tasty, though I think I was expecting [punk rock chickpea] gravy, so the bite took me by surprise at the first taste."
[livejournal.com profile] someotherguy: "It was good. I think I would have liked it better with chunks of dead cow in it, but it was good. It wasn't very spicy."
[personal profile] serene: I loved it. It's basically my perfect curry -- coconut based; Thai flavors (as opposed to Indian or Korean); not too spicy.
serenecooking: (Default)
I have been on a sort of a crusade lately to make all the foods my mom made for us when we were kids. None of my siblings has any interest in cooking, and I don't want my mom's recipes to die out when she dies. She's been having a blast teaching me over the phone to make knaedlach (matzoh-ball) soup, lasagna, pot roast, and on and on.

There's one dish, though, that was one of my very favorites when I was a child that I haven't asked her about: Chicken and rice.

The reason I haven't asked her is that I knew the recipe involved at least one can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. Oy.

It's worse than that, as it turns out: One can EACH of cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, and cream of celery.

I bit the bullet and bought the stuff. I will certainly find the resulting casserole too salty, but I'm eager to see if I can recreate my mom's one really trashy offering. Mostly, she cooked delicious foods from scratch, and still does. Tomorrow night, though, we're having chicken and rice, and I don't care who knows it. :-)

(Baking dish. Six chicken thighs. Garlic powder. A layer of sliced onions. Pour a mixture of the soup, some pepper, 3 cans of water, 3 cans of milk, and 2 cups of uncooked white rice on top. Sprinkle paprika on top. Bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes, until the chicken doesn't bleed when you pierce it.)
serenecooking: (Default)
Artichokes are 39 cents each these days, and they're the best we've ever had (the "frost-kissed", ugly ones). Tonight, we had them alongside some fried rice (rice, tofu, soy sauce, Thai chili sauce, a little peanut oil, red onions, peas -- comment if you want more details, but it's just your basic fried rice). I kinda wish I'd been more hungry, because I loved it all but I couldn't even finish the artichoke! *sob*

Oh, well, I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow.

(Click the picture for more pics of tonight's food.)



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serenecooking

November 2009

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