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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Red Curry Lentils and Veg

I love lentils.  I love curry.  I love veggies.  I love cheap dinners.

When I saw the recipe that inspired us to make the following recipe, I thought, "I love ginger, I love garlic, I love coconut milk, I love rice, I love lentils, I love that I can add anything I want to this recipe - Let's make it!"

We made it as follows, but you can do whatever you like to it to make it something special.
The recipe that inspired us can be found by clicking here.


Photo from the original recipe found on apinchofyum.com.



1 1/2 cups lentils, rinsed
1/2 large onion diced (we used vidalia)
1 yellow zucchini cut into bite size pieces
bamboo shoots (this was something we added and LOVED - used just 1/2 can of them)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1/2 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon sugar (I would have liked a teeny bit more of this)
1 teaspoon minced garlic (we used one clove)
1 tablespoon of minced ginger (Whenever we buy ginger, we shave the peel off and cut into inch size chunks and freeze them in a freezer bag.  It keeps well and is much easier to grate when frozen!)
1 14 oz can tomato puree
1/4 cup coconut milk or cream (we used coconut milk and I would definitely not be scared to use more than 1/4 cup next time)
Cilantro for garnishing
rice for serving

So you will want to prepare your lentils first and drain them and set to the side.
Get all of the rest of the ingredients lined up and begin to melt butter in large saucepan over medium high heat.
Add the onions and allow them to saute for a while until they just start to turn golden.
Add all the spices.  (red curry paste, garam masala, curry powder, turmeric, sugar, garlic, minced ginger)  Stir fry this together for a few minutes and then add tomato puree and coconut milk or cream.  Stir and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or more if you'd like.  I stuck to 15 minutes because I like it a little soupy so it will soak into my rice a little.
Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro.

A few other veggies that would be great in this would be peas or roasted red peppers. Even sauteed carrots!  Fun to experiment.  I will continue to update this entry as we make the recipe again and again.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Avocado Sorbet

A wedding gift from one of my very best friends was a beautiful cookbook that she created by asking all of the women in my life to contribute recipes to it.  It is filled with so very much love, photos, and yummy recipes.  Jack and I decided that we are now on a mission to make every single recipe in that book.  This is one of those recipes. 

Thank you Jennifer Dixon!



You will need a blender, and either a microplane or a tiny grater for zesting a lemon.


Ingredients:



1 ripe large avocado (I used 2 small ones)
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 cup almond milk or soy milk (original recipe called for 1/2 and 1/2 - but it's too fatty)
2 tsp lemon zest 
1/3 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice (which is roughly two lemons)




Throw it all in a blender and mix until smooth consistency.  You can either pour into an ice cube tray, a plastic tupperware or even popsicle molds!  
Great served with fresh raspberries, strawberries or any fruit of your choice!
This also makes a great smoothie as you can use yogurt instead of milk and drink without freezing.
Love it!