Chana Masala with squash and potatoes, and chick pea fritters

Now is probably a good time to answer that question I've been meaning to write about. Why a blog, and why me? In case you haven't noticed, I'm no chef and no foodie. Tom loves cooking, but I really kind of don't. I do like food, though - real food; I'm not that crazy about prepared foods and we can't afford to eat out every day. And the whole family is pretty adventurous - we all enjoy trying something new. I get excited when I find something new and easy (i.e., not too many ingredients and can be cooked in less than an hour.) If the kids also like it - perfect. In the blog it goes, and I can get rid of these dozens of recipes on pieces of paper around the house.

Tonight's meal is a little bit out of season for us (tomorrow back to the tomatoes - fabulous but endless). Both kids gobbled this up and had seconds, probably because they were so hungry from the effort of the first day of school!

Chana Masala with Butternut Squash and Potatoes

1 T olive oil

1/2 smallish butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and chopped into small pieces (about 1/2" dice)

1 medium yellow potato, rinsed and chopped into small pieces

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (15 oz.) can chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
Curry for seasoning. Amount and style varies depending on what you have in the house and how strong you want it to be. I used about a tablespoon of garam masala and about 2 teaspoons of mild yellow curry.

About 1/2 small (6 oz.) can tomato paste

1 teaspoon ketchup (optional - adds some sweetness)

about a teaspoon of lemon juice

1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk. If you don't like coconut milk, you can substitute more lemon juice and tomato paste, or vegetable broth.

salt

pepper

Add oil to a non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Add squash, potatoes and onion. Cook for about 3 minutes and add curry powder (note: for more flavor and aroma, put the curry powder in the pan before the oil - I skip that because our kitchen ventilation sucks. Or doesn't, which is the problem.)

Cook for a couple more minutes and add the garlic, tomato paste, optional ketchup, lemon juice, and chick peas. If things are looking dry, add a tablespoon or two of water. Cover, turn heat to low, and allow flavors to blend for a few more minutes. Add coconut milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and allow to cook (checking occasionally) about 10 more minutes - the chick peas need at least 15 minutes of cooking to mellow and soften.

How come food photographers never have spatters and mess in their pans? Wait, they probably don't have children hanging over them asking when dinner is ready.

Serve with rice and/or chickpea fritters, below. Serves 4 hungry diners.

Chickpea Fritters

Adapted slightly from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

1 cup chickpea flour (also called besan or gram flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

olive oil

about 1/2 small/medium onion, thinly sliced 

Pour 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water into a mixing bowl and sift the chickpea flour into it (you can do this with a sifter or just by shaking the chickpea flour through a strainer - goal is to eliminate lumps.)  

Whisk the water, flour, salt, pepper, and 1 Tablespoon olive oil together. Let batter rest on the counter for a couple of minutes or longer (Bittman says up to 12 hours. He must have a lot more counter space than I do.)

Note: depending on the weather and the brand of flour, I sometimes add extra flour at this point. It will be thin, but should not be watery. When in doubt, just do a test fritter. 

Add onion slices to the batter.

In a non-stick pan, heat about a tablespoon of oil on medium to medium-low heat. Pour batter like pancakes. The batter pours into the pan very thin, but holds together kind of like crepes. You will be able to make very thin, large pancakes. Cook until golden, flip, and cook other side. Serve with the chana masala (or any curried or Indian food.) 

Midsummer harvest curry

I credit my neighbor J.'s influence for this dish today. When I stopped by early this afternoon, she was making a mouthwateringly aromatic fish curry. Back home, I noticed that the green and purple string beans she'd given me the other day from her garden were starting to look a little limp. Could I do something with those and curry? There was a whole package of carrots wilting down in the crisper drawer. Zucchini.

Here's what happens when you forget to check the zucchini plants for a week

So this dish, an easy way to use up garden veggies at a time of year when the kitchen counter seems to be always overflowing with them.

Look at those colors!

Midsummer Harvest Curry

This is such a simple, throw-it-together thing that it seems almost silly to write it down. But it was fresh, and tasty, and not flavors I normally use in the summer. You could use any vegetables (squash would be great instead of the potatoes) but the string beans add a lot.

Steamed rice (1 to 1 1/2 cups dry)

Oil for sauteing

About 1 or 1.5 cups of string beans (green, yellow, purple - whatever you've got), cut into pieces

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small pieces (small enough to cook quickly)

2 medium-large potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces (use a waxy style that will hold its shape after cooking)

Purple onion, about one large (or any sweet onion.), chopped
2 medium zucchini, cut into smallish pieces

1 small/med. green or other bell pepper or mild chile pepper, chopped. (I actually used a long-green pepper - slightly spicy and and sweet in flavor)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Salt, pepper 

Sauce:

1 can coconut milk (not coconut cream - save that for pina colada)

canned Thai red curry paste (we had Maesri brand)

1 T. sugar

soy sauce or oyster or fish sauce

Start the rice.

In a large (12") non-stick skillet, add some oil and the longer-cooking vegetables: string beans, carrots, and potatoes. Add about 1/5 of the onion now for flavor. Cook until the harder vegetables are starting to soften but not completely done (I covered the pan, stirring occasionally). Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and zucchini and continue cooking, uncovered, until all vegetables are cooked. 

While the vegetables are finishing, start the curry sauce in a small saucepan. Whisk about 2 Tablespoons of the red curry paste into the coconut milk. Add the sugar, and a couple of dollops of soy sauce (or oyster or fish sauce). Bring to a simmer over low/medium heat. Taste the sauce and add more of the red curry paste if needed. Bring back to a simmer, taste and remove from heat.

Add the sauce to the pan with the vegetables. Cook, uncovered, about 2-3 minutes to combine flavors and allow sauce to thicken slightly.

Serve with steamed rice. We also had pan-fried tofu (marinate extra-firm tofu with sesame oil and soy sauce, pan fry until golden.)

 Serves about 6 (or my 4 with leftovers)


James (10) gave this 2 thumbs up. Milo (6) was not fooled by the tasty sauce hiding all those healthy veggies! but he ate some.