Mel's simple Indian style Curry
Mel's Staples: The must-haves in your pantry & fridge Part 3
Dear fellow epicurean,
writing these blog posts and sharing them with you each week, doesn’t only make me hungry, but wanting to get back into more cooking and baking adventures.
Staying with my family for a couple months, I wasn’t really able to go all crazy on that, except some occasional cakes or cookies and the treats I made for this Blog, Mel’s Treats, which I shared with my family, too, of course. They benefitted from my baking a lot these past weeks.
This week, I’m not gonna share a sweet recipe with you, though, but one of my go-to Indian inspired dishes, a simple Curry that tastes amazingly delicious with Basmati rice or Naan bread. I love Naan bread!
But before we’re diving deeper into that recipe, we need more of those staples, right?
Now it’s up to you. If you’re not a huge fan of Indian food, some of those staples might not be in your Must have list, but in your Essentials or even your Nice to have list.
If you’re new to this Blog and you’re like, what is she talking about?, head over here and read more about those categories.
More staples for your pantry & fridge
Onion
Ginger root, fresh
Coconut milk
Basmati rice.
Although fresh vegetables, especially, if they’re seasonal veggies, aren’t part of my staples. But, for my cooking, I usually have onions, garlic an fresh ginger root at home. I’m just using it very often, so I basically never run out on those.
Onion
There are so many types of onions, big and small, white, yellow and red onions. Shallots, scallions, spring, pearl and sweet onions.
For my cooking I usually use yellow or red onions, preferably organic. Unless I’m making a recipe that calls for shallots, which tend to have a milder flavor, or spring onions.
The latter usually is used for any Asian inspired cooking. But they aren’t in my Must haves, but my nice to haves, that is whenever I’m in the mood for some Asian fusion cuisine.
Ginger root
That’s a good one. Ginger root is another versatile ingredient in my home, not just for cooking or baking. You’ve got a sore throat? Make yourself some fresh ginger tea adding some honey and a splash of fresh lemon juice.
For my cooking, I use it a lot in Indian dishes or Asian dishes, especially Japanese. I also use it in some baked goods. I just recently added some grated ginger root in a lemon pound cake to give it an extra spicy punch.
As with every ingredient, try getting organic ginger. Nowadays people grow it in their gardens and on farms, so you might actually get a chance to buy fresh ginger roots. The store bought ones, usually are dried, the skin is that is, not the root itself, of course.
If you’re not a fan of fresh ginger or you simply don’t use it as often, get some ground ginger spice. Many Indian recipes are calling for that, too.
Coconut milk
Soooo many things can be made with coconut milk! If you’re a fan of oatmeal like me, give your morning dish a little upgrade by cooking your oats in coconut milk, soo good!
Coconut milk is a staple of the Indian as well as the Thai and other South East Asian cuisines. If you love the food of those countries, you should definitely put coconut milk on your Must-Have-Staples list.
Are you into cocktails? There’s some amazing cocktail recipes using fresh coconut milk, e.g. Pina Colada. Speaking of sweet things, vegan cakes often used coconut milk as well.
If you’re buying those cans of coconut milk, have a closer look on the ingredients list. Although organic, many coconut milks come with guar gum, a natural additive coming from guar beans to stabilize or thicken the coconut milk. If you’re allergic to that or just simply want to avoid any stabilizer, get coconut milk without it. For using it in Indian Curries and sauces it’s fine, it just doesn’t thicken as it would with guar gum.
Have an eye on Coconut Cream as well, which is not the same as Coconut milk. Coconut cream has a higher coconut flesh to water ratio and is often used for making vegan creams or frostings.
Basmati rice
I’m not a huge fan of rice, especially the cheap long grain one. I feel like it’s similar with refined sugar or plain wheat flour. All of those are highly processed, oftentimes there are no real nutrients in them anymore.
What I do like, though, is organic Basmati and Jasmine rice for my Indian resp. my Asian Fusion cuisine recipes. I also love Italian Risotto, so I always have some Arborio (Risotto) rice at home. My favorite Risotto recipe will be part of this series, Mel’s Staples, too, in the future. So, watch out for that!
Basmati rice has a very distinct aroma and flavor, which just perfectly matches almost any Indian inspired recipe.
Mel’s Curry
I’ve tried my first real Indian food in Japan, almost 20 years ago. Japan attracts many Indians and their families, especially in the IT sector. In 2004, the first time I’ve been to Japan, I met many Indians and had my first proper (means hot & spicy) food.
Before that I had never been introduced to real Indian food, so my palate wasn’t used to the spiciness and the hotness of Indian dishes. Eating that for the first time, I was breaking out in sweat several times while eating, my head all red, my tongue numb.
Today, I love hot and spicy. Indian food, Korean Kimchi - I loooove Kimchi! But not so much so that all the other amazing spices and fresh ingredients that go into a dish are being overpowered by the spiciness. To me, there needs to be a good balance.
For my Curry I’m using vegetables that are in season. In early spring, where’s there’s nothing really growing, yet, I’m using fall or winter vegetables, such as carrots, pumpkin and the like.
Indian Curries are a true comfort food to me, especially during winter time.
This is what you need for 3-4 servings:
1 cup (or more) cooked chickpeas
seasonal veggies, such as 2-3 medium sized carrots (chopped into bite sized pieces), two handful baked pumpkin (cubed)
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed through a garlic press
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
ginger root, grated, about 1 tsp
1/2 can or more coconut milk
Indian spices (turmeric, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek, nutmeg, chili, cayenne) or some premixed spices such as Curry or Garam Masala blends.
some coconut oil (another great staple, especially for the Indian cuisine). You can also use Ghee, if you wanna have it even more traditional. If you don’t have any of this, use canola or sunflower seed oil.
Basmati rice, cooked.
How to make the Curry
I usually start by heating the coconut oil and then take a small handful of all the seeds I’ll be using (cumin, fennel, coriander, etc.) and put that in the skillet together with the oil. Roast the seeds until there’s a nice fragrant aroma in your kitchen.
Add the onions and cook for up to 5min on medium heat. Add the ginger and the garlic and cook for another couple minutes. Then add all your veggies and roast/cook them for about 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare and cook the Basmati rice according to the instructions.
After all of this has been roasted, add the coconut milk and all the other spices, you want to use, such as turmeric, fenugreek, nutmeg, etc or your spice blend. I usually add any hot spices, cayenne or chili more towards the end to prevent the dish on becoming too spicy all of a sudden.
Put the lid on your skillet and let this simmer until your veggies are done. If your sauce is getting to thick, add some vegetable broth or plain water. Add the cooked chickpeas close to the end. Stir and mix everything together and let the chickpeas heat up properly in the sauce. Simmer for another 5-ish minutes or so.
Serve with Basmati rice or fresh Naan. Enjoy!