Dinner

 LENTEN CURRY

Ok, so a good number , great number, of my fellow Hindus are vegetarian - making Indian cooking perfect for the Christian season of meatless Fridays. Most folks go the fish route, which we did for Ash Wednesday - the classic Upstate NY fish fry, but just to shake things up and to add more vegan dishes to our week, we are going vegan Fridays for the 40 days.

This may look like a lot of work, and as I have written here before, I was doing Indian totally wrong till I started cooking with a good pal of mine , who is from India. This is a very basic / straight forward curry that you could add ANYTHING too... meat / fish any vegetables that you can think of, cauliflower -potato is very good, as is pumpkin or butternut squash. But tonight, for Neil and me and Jesus - just vegetables that they had at the Mendon Meadows Market Place.

So,  Garbanzo beans ,Mushrooms, Carrots, Yellow Squash, a Chili , Red and Green Peppers ( they have a "day old "vegetable bin at my market and all these were there - if you are making a curry, why not ?). A can of " kitchen cut " tomatoes - but you can use anything at all, crushed or sauce is just fine.

 This is what you cant do with out. From what I can tell, all Indian cooking starts with Onions, Garlic and Ginger. Chop the onion like you would for any dish, the garlic and ginger - mince, or if you are doing a lot use the food processor. This ginger was thick, so I used about half of this knob.

THE SPICES

 I realize that this is where I will lose most if not all of you - " it's too hard/complex, cost too much , too much to buy etc. If you are shopping in your regular supermarket, yes, this would cost an arm and a leg, but go to an Asian or Indian market and really a bag that will last  you a long time is rarely , other than the cardamom, over 3 dollars. It is a lot of spice, but really - that is all that Indian cooking is....

TOP LEFT TO RIGHT

• turmeric
• cumin
• curry powder ( don't get hot ) 
• Amchoor Powder ( ground green mango )
• mustard seeds
• star annise and cinnamon stick ( both of which you remove after cooking a bit )
• cumin seeds
• coriander powder
• green cardamom pods ( you have to , if not grinding, which I did, crush these and pic out the tiny tiny little seeds, these are the pods, the seeds / flavor are inside - if you are crushing, you can be lazy )
• a little bit of salt and pepper

Now, what I just realized is , I have no idea how much of everything I use..... bad Kyle. It is a lot more than you would ever think in western cooking. A couple of table spoons of turmeric, table spoon each of the ground spices, other than the amchoor, which is just a tea spoon. Tea spoon of the seeds.If you feel like you might ever really do this, go to a good , modern Indian website and follow.... or ask me here and I will just figure it out ... it really is hard to mess up. Roja, my friend, uses much more than I do .

BUT WAIT

 That is still not all the spices. You can buy a pre ground garam masala , but I buy the whole spices , toast and grind myself. A bag that will last a year for me is 2.99 - well worth the extra work. You just have to have a coffee grinder that is JUST for your spices. In my mix of garam masala is:

• cumin seeds
• coriander seeds
• bay leaves
• fennel seeds
• cloves ( I always pic some of the cloves out - I don't like things too clovy )
• black pepper
• cinnamon stick
• cardamon ( I like this flavor, and add more )
• star anise

Toast in a dry pan till you can really smell it - then grind to a fine powder.

Now we are ready, at last, to start cooking

 Start with a good 1/4 inch of oil in the bottom of your pan - most Indian cooks will use more, but going  for a lighter American way here. You have to use a non flavored oil - canola, soy - just not olive... dump in your mustard and cumin seeds ( which I forgot and added later ) when the mustard seeds start to pop - add your three chopped onions, FRY ( not sweat or saute but FRY  - was hard for me to lean ) with out getting much color at all for a good long time. This is what I think makes for a good curry in the end, not rushing this step , 10 - 12 minutes. Not in the photo are the star annise and the big hunk of cinnamon that I add to my onions, and REMOVE before I add everything else - both these are in your other spices so its not a necessary step  - I really just like the way it looks and smells...
I did not take enough pictures here in the middle , after starting out so well - so after your onions are fried , but not browned, add your minced garlic and ginger, and cook for 5-6 min more.

 THEN add all your spice mixture - I make a little hot spot and just dump them all in, cooking out the rawness of the ground spices. You may have to add a little bit more oil. I did add a cup plus of just water to get this to where I wanted it.

 Then add your one large can of tomatoes - and let it cook a while.  What you have basically just made is a nice  red curry base that you can add ANYTHING too. Get to this point, pour it all in a cock pot with some carrots or potatoes and some bone in chicken thighs and you have a fantastic Chicken Tikka Masala ( you have to add cream or yogurt at the end ) but from here , anything at all....Taste here for salt - you will need to add a little bit more.

 I added all those veggies and let it cook at bit, as soon as the carrots are where you want them - 30 / 40 min on low - its done. Right before the end, if you have it  - and I never do, add a tablespoon or so of tamarind paste - I can never remember to buy it so I use the same amount of Balsamic Vinegar - the cheap kind. You need the sweetness  - I serve it over brown rice, basmati would be better, but health and al.....

dinner

This is SUPER healthy - the only thing bad about it at all is the amount of oil that is used.. maybe 3/4 a cup , maybe a little bit more, but this makes a huge pan of curry that would feed 5-6 people.