Sunday, February 26, 2006

Curried Veggies

The other night I was craving a curry overflowing with veggies cooked until just fork-tender, and in a sauce not too spicy, but fragrant and warm with curry seasoning. So, I tinkered about and came up with this dish!

The sauce included lite coconut milk, prepared curry powder, some mustard seeds, green onions, and a touch of veggie stock. Mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes and swiss chard were lightly cooked in the sauce and then served over a bed of long-grain brown rice and marinated, baked tofu, pictured below.
The veggies were perfect for me, not mushy or overcooked, but still vibrant in color, taste, and texture. I longed for some mango chutney to serve with the dish, but this Mrs. Hubbard's cupboards were bare! I did squeeze on some fresh lemon juice to finish, using a meyer lemon (wedge of lemon in top picture in upper right of bowl). I don't normally have meyer lemons on hand, in fact I rarely see them in my grocery store. They were on special last week though, so I decided to pick up a couple to try. They are a touch sweeter than regular lemons, have a slight orange color, and with a taste between a lemon and an orange, or maybe even a tangerine.

I hadn't planned on "creating a recipe", so I didn't jot down notes. But I enjoyed it so much I will recreate it from memory. I will pull this one together again this week I think but this time I'll add a small amount of raisins (for the sweet/spicy contrast that I love), and have some mango chutney on the side... mmmm! :)

16 comments:

Harmonia said...

Hi again! You know how I love curry and COCONUT MILK...yum!

I posted about the oat burgers I tried last night and I am eating them for lunch now. They turned out pretty good, actually.

I think I will read thru some more of your comments and see who else have visited recently.

Hope all is well...loving the books, btw!

~go veg said...

Hey Dreena,

I got my book today. Thank you so much again.

Take care,
Patty :-)

Dreena said...

Hi Harmonia! Your oat burgers sounded good. I love eating homemade burgers/veggie patties, but I don't get around to them that often! Glad you're liking the books!

Hi Patty, you're totally welcome, and I'm glad the book reached you already! :)

Eat Peace Please said...

Yum. Everything looks great and now I am going to start looking for meyer lemons. What a colorful meal!

Guinnah said...

After a weekend of hotels and salad bars you have no idea how wonderful that curry sounds! Alas this week will not provide much kitchen time for me. Some day I'll take a picture from my kitchen window and show my neighbor's meyer lemon tree - I have an endless, free supply!

Dreena said...

Funny, Leslie, I was thinking about you when I posted this and I listed the mushrooms in the ingredients! :)

Lucky you, Nancy!!... wow, I would love to see a picture of that!!

Hi Amy! Yeah, I like using swiss chard at the last minute in stir fries and these types of veggie 'stews'. I really JUST heated it through. Once the broccoli was just tender, I stirred through the swiss chard just enough to wilt it. I find greens overcook so quickly, and then their taste and color are unappetizing. Do you make your own marmalade, by the way?

julie hasson said...

Hi Dreena!

The curry looks fab! I'll have to make something similar for dinner one night this week. Your posts always look so good.

Thanks for all of your kind words. Yes, I'd like to believe that chocolate keeps us young ; )

Julie

Flo @ Yielded Heart said...

Hi, Dreena!
I was thinking about curry yesterday. I don't get to make it as often as I like 'coz I'm the only curry fan here. I was staring at mango chutney at the store last night contemplating on whether it's worth the trouble or not and I took the easy way out.
I put a dash of curry powder on our couscous salad though! And even that little, the critics noticed!

Fiber said...

I think the addition of raisins would be phenomenal. As it is, the recipe sounds absolutely outstanding.

Harmonia said...

Hey there!!! I will be posting another one of your recipes momentarily. A Soup!

I also replied to your comment Re: Burgers.

Dreena said...

Well, Julie, chocolate DOES have all those antioxidants...! You're doing something right testing all those chocolate recipes. :)

Kaivegean - goodness, a *sprinkle* of curry powder!! You need to find some ways to alter your own meal to include some curry flavor you enjoy. Not fair!! Is it because they think curry is too hot? I think people assume a curry dish will be hot, when it doesn't need to be and can just be flavorful. I guess you can always pick up an Amy's entree for yourself, but not quite the same!

Thanks, fiber!

Harmonia, you are a cooking maniac these days! :) I'll check it out soon!!

Harmonia said...

Yup. It's up now.

Actually, I am thinking of revisiting Amazon.com and buying even more books! I can't believe it!

How does the soup I posted freeze? Okay?

I can't remember if I told you or not but I did find that Hoisin sauce, btw.

Dreena said...

Harmonia, the soup freezes great. It IS a large batch, so you can freeze a few smaller portions. Bizarre that you can't find hoisin sauce - not in the asian/ethnic foods section of your grocery store? Or do you shop mostly at small stores...?

Harmonia said...

Oh...I DID find the hoisin sauce at a large market with a good selection of asia foods. I had to drive an hour by that's ok. All we have here are small stores with the basics. Boo Hiss.

Thanks for the freezing tips! I will try it!

I was thinking of the Tofu Balls for a near future attempt.

I will be going to the herb store today and have a lot of questions for the lady to see if she can get items for me. She's usually pretty good.

Dreena said...

Hi again Harmonia... yay, you found the hoisin!

btw, if you are going to choose between tofu balls (since there is a recipe in TEV and also in Vive), while I like both, the "Neatballs" in TEV (p.138) are my personal favorite - with the sweet and sour sauce - sooo good. I have had proclaimed "tofu-haters" gobble up these neatballs and then make the recipe later themselves.

Dreena said...

Yum, Amy, that sounds wonderful! I really miss berry season, and I'm always sad to see it go each year. I love that comment "children are finally old enough to pick some serious pints"... now I look forward to getting our kids working for their food! :)