Category Archives: Food

January 28, 2013 · 4:15 AM

Chickpea and potato curry with roasted Brussel sprouts.

Every Saturday we eat at a little Indian Restaurant on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, North Carolina. It has influenced my cooking very much. I have always loved spicy food. I love Mexican and Thai foods. Anything with a spicy pizazz!

Thank goodness a Penzy’s Spices has opened in Cameron Village!

I could live on potatoes alone! I like them roasted, baked, fried, and stewed. They lend substance to thin stews as the starch will thicken anything!

Potatoes are called Aloo in Indian cooking.

Chickpeas are just as wonderful and useful as potatoes. They are used worldwide to make everything from hummus, vegan burgers, and many Indian dishes. Indians call them chana. Spanish call them garbanzo beans.
You can mash them into a paste or leave the whole. They have a nutty flavor and are the best for adding healthy protein to your diet.

On the side, we had Brussel sprouts roasted with lemon and garlic. The lemon juice was a perfect complement for the sprouts as I don’t like that cabbage taste.

A few slices of Italian bread rounded out the plate. The recipe called for a can of tomatoes, too, but I left them out.

Meanwhile, Gus was waiting for me to make the bed so he would have a warm place to nap!

He did not have to wait long!

Chickpea and Potato Curry Recipe

(curry chana and aloo)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
One 14 1/2-ounce can fire-roasted or stewed tomatoes with chiles (See Muir Glen. If you can’t find canned tomatoes with chiles you can add half a 4-ounce can of diced green anaheim chiles to a 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes.)
6 baby (new) Yukon Gold potatoes (about 12 ounces), quartered
1 medium onion, diced (about 2 cups)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter (or ghee if you have it, or you can sub olive oil)
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)

Method

1 In a large pot, heat the butter over medium-high heat and sauté the onions and ginger until the onion begins to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Add the salt, cumin, coriander and cayenne, stir to combine and cook for another minute or two.

2 Add the remaining ingredients, stir to mix and simmer vigorously for about 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Add more salt to taste.

Serve the curry in bowls over rice.

Adapted from http://www.food.com/recipe/chana-and-aloo-chickpea-and-potato-curry-185870

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Filed under Food

Tagged as Brussel sprouts, Chickpea, curry, potato

January 1, 2013 · 10:52 PM

Found Things – thrift store books.

Thrift stores are wonderful places to find all kinds of stuff. Most things in thrift stores are junk but books are great finds as they only cost a $1.00 or so.

Gus and I spend many nights browsing the recipes or gardening ideas and I laugh at some of the dated hair styles or how foods or plants that are now common were once considered exotic!

The most treasured items to me are the hand written notes, photographs, or inserted recipes I often find. The one below looks like an address in Paris followed by a series of numbers. A Paris phone number? A woman’s measurements? It was found in a cookbook afterall!

Sometimes after a couple readings I decide its not worth keeping so I donate it back to the thrift store or to Goodwill or The Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Or some times after I get home with my find I realize I already own a copy. Anyone want this duplicate copy of Pillsbury’s Kitchen Family Cookbook? I have two now!

It will probably be on the shelf at The Bargain Box Thrift Store in Cameron Village after my next donation!

Besides, its time for Downton Abbey and I should see what all the fuss is about.

Arthur’s tangy ginger fried rice with shrimp.

Sometimes you wake up with a craving for a certain food. I grew up on the coast of North Carolina and we ate seafood at almost every meal. Or, at least, it seemed that way. I remember going shrimping with my grandfather in Beaufort, North Carolina. I was amazed with all the fish and other creatures that came out at night in the sounds and marshes. Shrimping is done at night because the shrimp migrate to the shallower water and marshes to breed at night and to feed.

The nets would be dragged behind the boat for a few hours and then the contents dumped in a trough on the back of the boat. The creatures you did not want are picked out and return to the water. Strange fish, sea turtles, and out of season seafood would all be returned to the water after I thoroughly investigated them. I loved to watch them swim away into the dark water.

When I checked my email Saturday morning there was the weekly email from Locals Seafood (http://localsseafood.com/) so I knew I had to stop by when we were at the Raleigh Farmers Market so I could get some North Carolina shrimp for dinner.

Arthur’s Tangy ginger fried rice with shrimp

Prep work: peel the shrimp and cut a few pieces of fresh ginger.

1. Cook two cups of rice according to directions. I added a vegetable bouillon cube for extra flavor.

2. In a Dutch Oven on medium high heat add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is hot and shimmers then add the shrimp.

3. When the shrimp begins to change color add a teaspoon of cumin, turmeric, chipotle, and a few pieces of fresh ginger. Stir the spices around the pot to coat the shrimp. It takes about three minutes on each side of the shrimp. They cook fast!

4. While the shrimp and spices are cooking, beat two eggs well. Once the shrimp are opaque add the eggs. Stir briskly to break the egg into pieces and mix well with shrimp and spices.