Curry

Sri Lankan Pork Curry with Yellow Rice

July 2, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Sri Lankan curries are delicious because they use a number of Indian spices along with fresh ingredients like tamarind, lemongrass, and coconut milk. As for the curry, I decided to use a Sri Lankan blend of cumin, fennel, coriander, fenugreek, cardamom, cloves, curry leaves and cinnamon. I reserved 1 tsp of the curry powder for the yellow rice. The key step in using any curry powder is to toast it beforehand. It’s a step that can be forgotten easily but it results in much more fragrant flavors. While the pork was roasting in the oven, I prepared the base for the curry which wasn’t too hard to throw together. After letting the meat rest the pork was shredded and mixed in to the curry sauce. I loved the flavors of this dish! I really enjoyed the slightly sour flavor of the tamarind and the creaminess of the coconut milk. The pork curry with the yellow rice were great together as well.

…

Kaha Bath (Sri Lankan Yellow Rice)

July 1, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Kaha Bath is a simple Sri Lankan rice dish made with turmeric and coconut milk. The dish isn’t sweet, but savory with flavors of turmeric, cardamom, and cloves. The coconut milk provides a nice creaminess to the rice and I loved how the turmeric dyed the rice bright yellow. The great thing about this rice is that the flavors of curry aren’t overpowering and you can serve it alongside another curry dish. It would also work as the main course if you mixed a protein like egg, chicken or tofu into the rice.

…

Chickpea and Coconut Curry Dosas

May 23, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

When I first heard about these thin little pancakes stuffed with a curry filling I was pretty intrigued. I had never made anything like these pancakes before and they really are more like crepes. It took a couple tries (and throwaways) to perfect the thin pancake. The cake uses spelt flour which is kind of a unique grain so it’s harder to find at grocery stores. If you have a non-stick pan definitely use it on these for easier flipping. The curry filling was the easiest part to make and the flavors were great–a little spicy and a little sweet. Since the curry filling is enough for 4 meals, I made 1 batch of dosa batter each day. You can’t go wrong with coconut curry and wrapped up in the thin pancakes made it all the better!

…

Massaman Chicken Curry

May 20, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Massaman curry is a Thai dish that is influenced by Indian spices. It can be made with beef, chicken or tofu but I settled on trying the chicken version. I had this dish once at a Thai restaurant in Chicago and I have been dreaming about making it at home for a while. This recipe turned out to be quite similar to the restaurant’s and I was really happy about that! Massaman curry is a stew made with coconut milk, potatoes and served with rice. I tried to make this as authentic as possible so I avoided substitutions the best I could. The spicy and sweet flavors of this curry perfectly blended together and the finished product was really tasty! Feel free to substitute the protein for tofu, beef or pork.

…

Thai Red Curry Paste

May 19, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

One of the most important steps in making Thai dishes is preparing the chili paste. The paste is a concentrate of aromatic ingredients that provides a lot of flavor for the dish. There are many variations of chili pastes but this particular one is used in Massaman Curry. It could be used in a variety of dishes as well, not just for Massaman Curry. If you have a food processor making it would be easy, but without one it will take some time to prep. You can find the paste in stores but it goes without saying that it won’t have the same amount of flavor and freshness that making it from scratch provides. It can be tough to find the authentic ingredients but if you live near or in a city there is likely a Thai or Asian market that can provide some of the harder to find ingredients.

My favorite part of making this was roasting it for a few minutes in a pan. By heating it up the flavors were released into the air and the whole kitchen smelled so good! It’s an important step since it intensifies the flavor of the paste as well. The result was a really versatile concentrate of flavors that can be used in a ton of different Thai foods. It should last for a week or two in a sterilized jar in the refrigerator.

…

Curried Bread

April 21, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Curried bread is a simple yeast bread seasoned with turmeric and aromatic spices. I used a blend of cayenne, ginger, paprika, cinnamon, cumin and turmeric. The turmeric gives the bread its bright yellow color (and will also stain your clothes, counter tops, etc). The bread looks like a normal loaf before cutting into it. After cutting, the beautiful yellow center reveals itself. The bread is light and fluffy and smelled so good when it was baking. It reminded me a lot of the Curried Yogurt Rolls I made recently as it had a similar color and flavor. I chose this bread to go with the Coconut Curry Soup and it tasted great together.

…

Red Lentil and Coconut Curry Soup

April 17, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Soups and curries are two of my favorite things and I knew I had to give this recipe a try. The flavors remind me a lot of Thai curries since the soup’s base is coconut milk. I used an Indian Garam Masala with Turmeric to give it a spicy, aromatic flavor. I toasted the spices with a few arbol chilies and ground them all together. The soup was really easy to make and all it really requires is a few hours for the ingredients to cook together. The result was a delicious and filling soup with nice coconut and curry flavors. The soup is surprisingly filling due to the rich broth and the high protein foods like chickpeas and lentils. I garnished a bowl with a drop of coconut milk, cilantro and sliced jalapeno. Plain yogurt would work great as a garnish as well. The soup goes well with rice, couscous, quinoa, or bread.
…

Chicken Kare Udon (Japanese Curry Udon Soup)

March 28, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Kare Udon, or Curry soup, is a Japanese noodle soup made with potatoes, carrots and curry roux. Curry roux is a form of instant curry which can be found in most supermarkets. The soup can be made with beef, chicken, pork, or tofu. So far I have made it with beef and tofu so I thought I would try it with chicken next. I really enjoyed this version and the curry flavors were great with the chicken.

…

Curried Yogurt Rolls

February 5, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Recently I made a tomato based curry, and I thought that a curried roll would be a great way to accompany the stew. I came up with this recipe for a warm, curried biscuit with yogurt. They are a bright yellow color from the turmeric in the dough. Flavors of cardamom, cinnamon, and caraway are all present along with the rich and tangy flavor of yogurt. The house smelled amazing from the spices’ aroma. The crust was just crunchy enough to get a nice contrast against the soft, warm inside part of the roll. They were perfect as an appetizer with butter, or for scooping up that list bit of curry in the bowl. I will be making these again the next time I make a curry dish!
…

Tomato Curry Stew with Chickpeas and Potatoes

February 3, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This stew is a staple recipe for me as it is easy to put together and is healthy and flavorful. When I want something light and healthy this is one of my favorite go to recipes. I use the slow cooker and all it requires is chopping the veggies and throwing everything in the crock pot to cook for about 8 hours. All the veggies get nice and soft and the flavors of the curry marinate until the stew is bursting with good curry flavor. I served it with warm curried rolls and topped with yogurt.
…