Sunday, January 6, 2013

Vegetarian Korma

My brother-in-law made this for us for dinner while we were staying with them over the holidays.  More on that shortly.  

This recipe is absolutely delicious.  A new absolute favourite of mine.  One of the best recipes I've made in a long time.  But let's face it... hot dogs and canned corn don't really count as a recipe.  Well, they do in my new world.  Which is why I haven't blogged many recipes lately...

I served this to company this weekend, along with
Brandi's delicious avocado and cranberry salad, and got rave reviews.  Even though I kind of messed it up while making it.  

Ya see... I have this issue with reading recipes.  Or more with NOT reading recipes, I should say.  You'd think I'd learn from past mishaps.  But nope.  I still dive right into recipes without fully reading them until it's too late.

My brother-in-law suggested I parboil the potatoes before adding them in.  Oops.  Should have done that.  Slipped my mind.  I ended up needing to leave this to simmer forever.  You might also want to throw the carrots in with the onions, as I find that they took a long time to cook as well. 

Also, my brother-in-law mentioned that the potatoes mush down and tend to blend into the sauce.  That didn't happen at all with mine.  I used red potatoes.  I am clearly not a potato connoisseur as that waas not the right choice.  But they were on sale.  What's a girl to do?  I guess next time I'll try plain old white potatoes and see how that goes.

The recipe also says to grind the sunflower seeds.  Which I had thought I'd read.  But when I went to make it, I couldn't find the word "ground" anywhere in the recipe.  I read it twice.  I swear.  As it turns out, that little word "ground" was sitting right in front of the words sunflower seeds.  Go figure.  It was only once I had thrown in the whole sunflower seeds that the word "ground" jumped right out at me.  Oops.  I prayed for the best and it turned out just fine.  Mine obviously had less smooth of a texture than my brother-in-law's, but it was still good. 


My next attempt to make this will be in the slow cooker.  With some meat.  Maybe chicken or lamb???  But this is absolutely fantastic just as it is.

1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, cubed
4 carrots, cubed
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced
3 tbsp. ground raw sunflower seeds (or cashews)
1 (4 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 C frozen green peas
1/2 green bell papper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped 
1 can of coconut milk
1 bunch fresh cilantro for garnish 




1.  Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the onion and cook until tender.  


2.  Mix in ginger and garlic and continue cooking 1 minute.  Mix potatoes, carrots, jalapeno, sunflower seeds and tomato sauce.  Season with salt and curry powder.  Cook and stir 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.






3.  Stir peas, bell peppers and coconut milk into the skillet.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro to serve.




Serve with rice or quinoa - quinoa is particularly idea for its protein content, given the lower protein content of this dish.


Difficulty level: moderate
 


Serves 4 - 6 people 

This recipe is freezer friendly if you leave out the potatoes.       

Inspired by: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegetarian-korma/
 


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