Day Two. Lunch time. I am a big fan of Indian or Indian-inspired food, so today I tried the curry recipe from the book Skinny Bitch in the Kitch.
Do they really mean pumpkin? I've only seen people eating pumkin for pumpkin pies. Maybe they mean squash? Like the red kuri squash?
In any case, I had no pumpkin or kuri squash. The recipe said I could substitute the pumpkin with butternut squash. That's what I did. Butternut squash from my freezer, y'all!
First, I prepared the onion and garlic and added it to a pan. The recipe said to use coconut oil, but I rarely use oil when cooking onions and garlic--I just add a little bit of water.
I cooked it a little but because my squash was frozen, I decided to add it there instead of later and specified in the recipe. Turns out, maybe I should have added it later because my squash became very (understand "too") mushy.
Then, I added the stock, can of diced tomatoes, diced potatoes (not of the red variety as asked in the recipe but rather a more common kind), and spices.
Adding the spices so late surprised me. Normally, in Indian cooking, they cook the spices at the beginning in a little bit of oil to release the aroma...
Talking about spices, I had pretty much all the spices on hand apart from the cloves. I used powdered anis instead.
I tasted the sauce a little and it tasted quite good. It was not spicy at all --I suspect the book was written for palates not accustomed to Indian dishes--but it was not bland either.
At that point, I realized I forgot to prepare the rice. Dang! Well, it's basmati rice and it doesn't take super long to cook anyhow. Especially in my rice cooker.
The recipe talks about brown basmati rice. Does that even exist? I know brown rice, and basmati rice... but I never saw brown basmati!
Anyhow.
It took much longer than 15 min for my potatoes to cook. Probably because my stove was on low heat (I was trying to avoid splashes!)
In any case, I think my potatoes absorbed some of the flavor while cooking because when I tasted the mixture again, it was bland. I had to double the spices.
Finally, the recipe said to garnish with parsley or cilantro. Well I had none of that so I used arugula.
Here is the final result:
What did I think of it? Definitely for people not used to cooking for themselves and who are still shy about using spices.
Would I do this again? Maybe a variant with more spices and where my squash wouldn't be so mushy.
Do they really mean pumpkin? I've only seen people eating pumkin for pumpkin pies. Maybe they mean squash? Like the red kuri squash?
In any case, I had no pumpkin or kuri squash. The recipe said I could substitute the pumpkin with butternut squash. That's what I did. Butternut squash from my freezer, y'all!
First, I prepared the onion and garlic and added it to a pan. The recipe said to use coconut oil, but I rarely use oil when cooking onions and garlic--I just add a little bit of water.
I cooked it a little but because my squash was frozen, I decided to add it there instead of later and specified in the recipe. Turns out, maybe I should have added it later because my squash became very (understand "too") mushy.
Then, I added the stock, can of diced tomatoes, diced potatoes (not of the red variety as asked in the recipe but rather a more common kind), and spices.
Adding the spices so late surprised me. Normally, in Indian cooking, they cook the spices at the beginning in a little bit of oil to release the aroma...
Talking about spices, I had pretty much all the spices on hand apart from the cloves. I used powdered anis instead.
I tasted the sauce a little and it tasted quite good. It was not spicy at all --I suspect the book was written for palates not accustomed to Indian dishes--but it was not bland either.
At that point, I realized I forgot to prepare the rice. Dang! Well, it's basmati rice and it doesn't take super long to cook anyhow. Especially in my rice cooker.
The recipe talks about brown basmati rice. Does that even exist? I know brown rice, and basmati rice... but I never saw brown basmati!
Anyhow.
It took much longer than 15 min for my potatoes to cook. Probably because my stove was on low heat (I was trying to avoid splashes!)
In any case, I think my potatoes absorbed some of the flavor while cooking because when I tasted the mixture again, it was bland. I had to double the spices.
Finally, the recipe said to garnish with parsley or cilantro. Well I had none of that so I used arugula.
Here is the final result:
What did I think of it? Definitely for people not used to cooking for themselves and who are still shy about using spices.
Would I do this again? Maybe a variant with more spices and where my squash wouldn't be so mushy.
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