A duo of curries for your making and eating pleasure. Please feel free to use the curry powder or masala that warms your hearts and your bellies; I’m going to tell you what I used, and you can go from there.

I don't think you're ready.

Cumin-Cardamom Rice

In a high-sided soup pot with an available cover, heat

1 tbsp canola oil

over medium-high heat. Add

1 tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp tumeric
¼ tsp powdered ginger

and stir. Add

2 cups basmati rice
About 4 or 5 cardamom pods

and stir to cover; heat to toast rice [a couple of minutes], and then add

4 cups fresh filtered water.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook until almost all liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let rest. Fluff with a fork after about 10 minutes. Fluff again before serving.

For both curries:

1 yellow cooking onion, peeled and quartered
2 fresh tomatoes, quaratered

Preheat oven to 375. In a small roasting pan, add the vegetables, drizzle with olive oil and add a couple shakes each of sea salt and pepper. Roast until the natural juices are starting to be released, about half an hour.

In a blender, add the roasted vegetables to:

a thumb’s worth of fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic
several sprigs of fresh coriander
½ cup of water
several splashes of Bragg’s

Puree thoroughly and set aside.

Spicy Potatoes and Kale, inspired by Vij’s

About 2 lbs fresh new potatoes, chopped in 1” chunks
1 bunch green kale
1 bunch spinach, or 1 box frozen chopped spinach [the latter avoids the “pasty” taste that spinach can leave on the roof of your mouth; I'm not saying, I'm just saying]
1 small can chopped tomatoes

In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Add:
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp curry powder
tiny pinch asaofoetida
sea salt and pepper

Add potatoes and stir to cover and saute. After potatoes have been heated through, add the kale, spinach, canned tomatoes, and HALF of the blender sauce. Season to taste [a couple of splashes of Bragg's sets it up quite well]. Cover and heat through. Stir regularly. Lower heat once it is boiling vigorously, continue to stir, and cook until potatoes are tender [about 20 minutes]. Take off heat and let rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
Curried World Peas

Doesn’t everybody want world peas? Before you start in with the cooking, take the last half of your blender sauce and put a can of coconut milk in there, as well as a tbsp of your fave curry powder. They sell a great one in prohibitively expensive packet form that’s designed for gobi [cauliflower] but that tasted great with this recipe [note: NOT the pastes, this is a powdered spice blend]

In a soup pot with a matching cover, heat

1 tbsp olive oil

Add:

1 tsp red mustard seeds.

Cover until the mustard seeds pop. Add

Add:

1 can chickpeas or about 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas, whatever you have on hand
1 package frozen peas or 2 cups fresh green peas
sea salt and pepper

Stir to cover and heat through, and then pour the blended sauce/coconut milk/curry combo over top. Heat until bubbling, lower and let simmer [about 15 minutes, it won't take long to bring everything together]. Season to taste.

3 Comments »

December 10th, 2008 Laura Says:

I made these tonight and wow! Currylicious indeed! I also did your awesome twisty class this afternoon, read your blog, and plan to come to your class tomorrow – whoa, stalker much?

I like your blog a lot, especially the diversity of posts: – recipes, big rock friday playlists, various musings – it’s all there and it’s all good. I had a lot of thoughts as i read your latest one…i wonder how many yogi/nis struggle to reconcile their religion, or lack thereof, with the teachings of yoga? I know i do. Maybe i’ll reflect on that a little more in another comment post…or maybe not…but for now i’ll leave you with two words: Morgan Freeman.

December 11th, 2008 einajs Says:

Shoot, I forgot to ask you when I saw you this aft. what you meant by Morgan Freeman. Do you mean God in the Bruce Almighty movie? I haven’t seen that in ages….

My good friend Laura above was asking about asaf…asafe…assafewhazzah…whatever. It’s optional. It’s known as a garlic substitute for those who are wishing to omit garlic for spiritual or digestive reasons, but it’s a bit stinky tbh. I like it because it puts a tiny bit more “kick” in whatever you’re making, and it has a sort of challengingly authentic bouquet. Also M is allergic to garlic and if I put too much in mayhem ensues. Anyway, the asafoetida is optional.

December 12th, 2008 Laura Says:

Ha! Yes, i meant as god in Bruce Almighty. WHen i read your sentence “i’m looking for a god face i can see cleary when i sit”, his was the face that instantly came to my silly little mind. Afterwards i realized it might have sounded a bit glib as a response to your very thoughtful post, but it was just meant as an albeit lame joke!

Something you talked about in class yesterday really struck me as interesting and applicable to the thoughts i have about religion and spirituality and how yoga works into all of that: the limiting ideas we have about ourselves and the world around us, and how those really only exist in our heads, and not in reality. I have an idea about myself that i am not a spiritual person. Like, not at all. Yoga, and the amazing, transformative experiences i have when i practice, challenge that idea i have about myself, or at least cause me to think really long and hard about what spirituality really means. I think there just might be space for me within that term, but i need to open my heart and break down the barriers i have within myself before i can find that place. Recognizing that they’re my own self-created, limiting ideas is a good place to start methinks.

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