Gratuitous Food Post

Earlier this week, I had a yen for a good curry. I have a few tried-and-true recipes I've found in the last few years, but they are time-consuming, so making a curry dinner isn't just something I can throw together. I figured Friday would work, as I had today off from Petite School. This afternoon, I set out to make the whole house smell of spices.

Lots and lots of spices.

My favorite part of making Indian food is measuring out all of the necessary spices into small bowls, keeping them with the appropriate recipes. It streamlines the process later. I also chopped a couple of onions to have on hand--all three recipes call for onion. The prep work for my recipes--curried chicken, a potato and cauliflower dish, and spinach-lentil dahl, is pretty hefty. I have to wash and chop the veggies, soak the lentils, measure stuff out.

 

Then I start cooking at chaos reigns. Stir this, check that. Don't let this one boil over, or burn to the sides of the pot. By this time today, I had Mom assisting. We added fresh low-fat coconut milk to the dishes to make them a little bit creamier.

Curried chicken on the left; potatoes and cauliflower on the right. I ad-libbed
that recipe and it came out a lot like korma.

Spinach Lentil dahl. So good for you, so delicious.

The cooking part goes pretty quickly, and before long, we were serving up platefuls of spicy curry. Mom and Dad were very complimentary, and I almost licked that plate clean. This meal was made with all fresh ingredients--nothing from a can, unless you count the spices, but I don't. No butter, only bits of olive oil. The most fat in these recipes comes from the coconut milk, which, compared to cow's milk, is really low. 

The best part? Tons of leftovers.