Mushroom Curry

This recipe had me at mushrooms!  Add in the curry and I was sold for sure.  I was a touch uncertain as to how I would feel about the apples, but Mollie Katzen has never stirred me wrong before, so I gave it a try.  I was unable to find a cooking apple amongst the basic apples at my grocery store.  I opted for Gala apples and they turned out just fine.  I would use an apple that was too tart.  

This recipe originally called for 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  I decided to omit this entirely.  As a result this turned out to be a VERY low sodium meal, with the added benefit of being a VERY high potassium recipe. 

The Ingredients

 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cups water

3 tablespoons shredded, unsweetened coconut

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 large tomatoes, chopped

2 large Gala apples, peeled and chopped

1 cup sliced almonds, as an optional topping

The Tools

large skillet

paring knife for peeling apples

The Cooking

Melt the unsalted butter in a large skillet and add the onion, saute until the onion it begins to soften just a touch

Add the celery and continue cooking until the celery also begins to soften

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant

Add all those beautiful spices and mix until all the vegetables are coated

Evenly coated vegetables and talk about fragrant.  Your kitchen is going to smell heavenly.

Add the mushrooms

Carefully stir in the mushrooms until they are also evenly coated with the spices.  It is times like this that I wish I had a larger skillet, but this is as large as my stove top can handle.  

Add between 1/2 to 1 cup of water to make a gravy

Bring the mixture to a simmer and cover

Allow to simmer while covered for 5-8 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender

Add the apples

Add the tomatoes

Carefully stir in the apples and tomatoes, and then add the coconut.

Add in the lemon juice

And the honey (here you can see the basmati rice cooking in the background),  give everything a good stir and allow the curry to cook for about 3 minutes or until everything is warm through and the flavors are fully incorporated.

Top with almonds and serve over rice

Recipe Source: The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

Serves 6, 8-ounce servings (calories DO NOT include the rice)

Calories: 143

Protein: 5 grams

Fat: 6 grams

Sodium: 37 milligrams 

Fiber: 6 grams

Potassium: 558

Naan

This recent flourish of Indian dishes began with the Dal.  Of course, the Dal needed a friend.  So, I made the Samosas, and not to be outdone I decided to make Naan.  I am not sure that last sentence makes sense, but I don't care because now I am blinded with desire to eat Indian food. 

This time, my search for a Naan recipe began and ended on the King Arthur website.  See, I learn fast. As has been the case every other time I have consulted the King Arthur site, this bread was a winner.  I made only the most minor of changes to the core of the recipe and that is only to reflect my choice of yeast.  Additionally, the original recipe called for topping the Naan with seeds, I however chose to top our Naan with Garlic.  You may top your Naan as you desire, or leave it plain.

I do wish that I had attempted to make Ghee for this recipe.  Ghee is a clarified butter commonly found in Indian cuisine.  I should have tried, but in the end I opted for the easy route and used basic melted butter.  Perhaps next time, I will be more brave. 

Regardless of how to top it, this is recipe is a tasty, and easy way to add Naan to any Indian inspired meals. 

  

The Ingredients

 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 cup milk, slightly warm

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt

2 tablespoons melted butter (or ghee)

 1 large egg

The Tools

Stand mixer

large bowl for rising the dough

plastic wrap

silicon mat for working with the dough

baking stone or parchment paper lined baking sheet

The Instructions

Place the warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer

Add the yeast and the sugar to the milk

Whisk the milk, yeast and sugar together and let sit for 5 minutes.  While this sits, preheat the oven to 200°.  Once the oven comes up to temp, TURN IT OFF, this will create a warm place for your dough to rise. 

At the end of the 5 minutes the yeast/milk mixture will be bubbly and alive, like a 15 year old cheerleader on meth.

Add the flour to the yeast mixture

Add the salt

Then, add the baking powder

Then, the melted butter

Then, the yogurt

Last, but not least add the egg

Place the mixing bowl back on the mixing stand and using the paddle mixer, combine all the ingredients on low speed. 

Add the dough hook

With mixer still on low, use the dough hook to kneed the dough

Kneed for about 7 minutes or until the dough becomes a well formed ball.

^^ A well formed ball ^^

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.  Place the dough in a warm oven, but be certain that the oven is turned off.  Allow the dough to rise for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in size. 

^^ Ooooo Big Dough^^

Divide the dough into four oval disks, place them on a silicon mat, cover them with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Roll the oval disks out and shape them into a teardrop.  While you wait, preheat your oven to 475°.  If you are using a baking stone, place the stone in the oven as it preheats.  If you are using a baking sheet, line it with parchment paper.

Cover the rolled out dough with plastic wrap and allow them to rest for 5 minutes. 

Place the dough onto the preheated baking stone and bake the bread for 2 minutes on each side.  I only own one baking stone, so I did my Naan in shifts.  If you are using a baking sheet, place all four loaves (if able) on the sheet and bake them for 8 minutes. 

Combine some minced garlic with melted butter or Ghee and brush the bread.  Serve warm and enjoy!

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Vegetarian Samosas

I recently tried my hand at making Vegetarian Samosas.  Samosas are among the most delicious things on the face of God's green Earth.  They once flaky and light, but rich and filling.  I first discovered Samosas when the Veggie Dad (then the Veggie Boyfriend) first discovered an all vegetarian Indian restaurant in Atlanta, GA, called Udipi Cafe.  For those living in the Atlanta area or for those who might be visiting Atlanta, Udipi Cafe is actually in Duluth, Ga, to connect to their website simply click on the restaurant name.  Since that first meal at Udipi Cafe I have been smitten with the Samosa and with Indian food in general.  In short, it's like a party in my mouth every time I eat Indian food. 

I would never suggest that the Samosas I made were as good as those one would find at a Indian restaurant, so you should still check out your town's local Indian cuisine, but these Samosas will surely get you through those dry spells between visits. 

First, I wanted something rather easy, but still authentic.  And I wanted something that did not need to be deep fried.  Health issues aside, I just don't know how to deep fry anything.  I know!  A Southern Girl not knowing how to fry, it's just plain crazy, but it's true.  Sure, I could learn how to fry, but then I would still be stuck with gallons of leftover oil.  Ewww, old oil. 

I tried several cookbook and looked around the internet, but in the end I decided to check and see if them had a recipe for at least the dough on the King Arthur website.  Low and behold, they not only had a recipe for the dough, but for the filling, too!  I must say, the more I use King Arthur's site, the more I love it.  Their bread recipes have thus far always worked out, and I love that they give you non-machine baking instructions for their bread machine recipes. Now, I am discovering that their other recipes are also amazing. 

As always, I made a few changes to reflect our personal tastes and to reflect the type of yeast I use.  The only other change I made was to how I shaped the Samosas.  The original recipe had you cut the dough in circles, but in the end I chose to do my Samosas in more of a pyramid shape like you would find at an Indian restaurant.  Above I have pictured both shapes.  You will get a larger yield of Samosas is you follow the King Arthur instructions. 

Ingredients for the Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into squares
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water


Tools for the Dough
bowl
whisk
pastry cutter (or two forks)
plastic wrap

The Making of the Dough

Use a whisk to combine the all purpose flour and the salt

Cut half the chilled butter into the flour with the pasty cutter

Cut the rest of the butter in with the pastry cutter until the flour/butter clumps are the size of cranberries. 

Add the ice cold water a little at a time

Using your hand, gently work the flour/butter and ice cold water together.  Add more ice cold water until a dough is formed.

You should still see clumps of butter in the formed dough. 

Form the dough into two discs, wrap the discs in plastic wrap and chill them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

While the dough chills, prepare the filling.

Ingredients for the Filling
2 cups cooked potatoes, drained and cubed
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masrala
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
pepper to taste

Tools for the Filling/ for the baking of the Samosas
large sauce pan
silicone baking mat for rolling out dough
parchment paper
baking sheet


The Cooking for the Filling and the Samosas

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan for medium heat.

Add the onion and garlic.  Saute until the onions and garlic turn translucent.Take care not to burn the garlic.

Add the curry powder and the garam marsala.  Stir and cook until fragrant. 

Add the potatoes

Stir gently to coat the potatoes with the spice/onion mixture.

Add pepper to taste

Turn off the heat and add the peas.

Stir gently until the peas are well incorporated and set aside while you roll out the dough. Preheat the oven to 400° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a clean floured surface or a silicone baking mat, roll the dough out. 

Roll the dough out to a thickness of 1/8 of an inch.

Place about 2 tablespoons of filling into the center of the dough (cut into circles, squares or rectangles).  Brush water onto the edges of the dough to bind the edges together.

Pull the dough into the desired shape and place the Samosa on the lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the outside of the Samosas are golden brown. 

Serve with the dip of your choice and enjoy!


Recipe source: kingarthur.com


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