Curry in a Hurry!

Last night my lovely friend Jenn had me over to her place for dinner. To my delight, she cooked for me a very yummy chicken mango chutney curry that was absolutely delish.

This got me thinking about curry and how much I love it. For those days when I return home ravenously hungry from work and need something that can be made relatively quickly and with little preparation, curry is the perfect solution.

My love affair with curry stems back to my days of backpacking around South East Asia, particularly Thailand where I took a Thai cooking course and learned to make Thai curry.  What I love about curry is that there are so many variations to be tried and when cooking at home, every batch can be unique depending on your mood or what ingredients you have on hand.

Recipe – Simple Vegetarian Coconut Curry

 Ingredients:

– 2 cloves of garlic crushed

– 1 Tbsp of minced ginger

– 1 Tbsp cumin

– 2 Tbsps of yellow curry powder

– 1 tsp of ground coriander seeds

– 2 Tbsps of unrefined coconut oil

– 1 lb of red potatoes

– 3 carrots

– 2 cups of cauliflower florets

– 1 cup of frozen peas (or if you have the time to shell fresh ones go for it!)

– 1 bunch of kale

– Tofu (Organic, non-GMO) – or other protein source

– 1 can of coconut milk

– Sea salt to taste

* Use whatever vegetables you desire or have on hand

Directions:

Steam potatoes for approx 8-10 minutes, add carrots and cauliflower and continue steaming for additional 5 minutes. Set aside.

In a large sauce pan add coconut oil. Once oil is heated add garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant.

Next add all your spices and seasonings. Give it a stir then slowly add coconut milk and bring to a boil

Reduce heat and add potatoes, carrots, frozen peas, cauliflower, chopped kale and lastly the tofu.  Make sure everything is covered by the liquid.  Cook for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat and simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Eat on its own or serve over quinoa or rice!

 * A quick note on canned coconut milk.  They are NOT all created equal.  Some of them have unnecessary additives that are unhealthy.  Usually these ones are cheaper in price.  Also, go for the full fat variety. The lighter versions are the same but just diluted with more water, which is why often times they are a little less expensive than the full-fat ones.  Remember, even though coconut milk is high in fat, this is the healthy fat that your body needs.  It’s not the same as the saturated fat found in animal products (which by the way, is fine in moderation in most cases. I’ll post more on this later though).

** A quick note on Tofu.  Soy Beans are GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and unless you are buying organic, there is no way around it.  I’m not really a huge advocate of soy products unless they are high quality ones, but I will save this topic for another post as well.

 Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Vegetarian Coconut Curry

The curry I enjoyed last night at Jenn's place!

The green coconut curry I made at a cooking class in Chang Mai, Thailand

Fun fact:  Curry in a Hurry is the name of a little eatery in Guelph, Ontario  – the city where I went to university and the first place I tried curry.  Check it out next time you are visiting.