Mmm Curry!

15th September 2016

Every next level of your life will demand a different you.

I had a lovely day yesterday, I can't believe I just wrote that when I spent some of that time in the kitchen cleaning!  Even did the floor on my hands and knees, check me out, at least it helped me earn some Fit Points, I also had a good sing song, really did enjoy it weirdly. 

Then I had a couple of hours with mom in the garden whilst reading my book, the sun was out and it was lovely.  Finished off with a lovely lunch, Garlic Butter chicken, with rice and veg, it was a cook in the bag which was only 4sp in the packet, really tasty went down a treat. 

The meeting on the night was awesome, my BeYOUtiful member Suman gave us a how to cook a curry lesson and as she said "This is how to cook 'my' curry" because all curries end up being personal.  It frustrates me when people say "I don't like curry" because "Curry" simply means a dish with lots of sauce or gravy and the spices will change from region to region, there are so many different kinds of 'curry' that it's good to keep trying them to find one you like, they don't have to be 'HOT'.  I love a Mangalore curry mmm, I've had a Nyona and Balinese curry which both have coconut milk in, they both made it okay for me to put potato and green beans in curry!  Mmm

Onion, ginger and garlic are the base of any curry, the one thing I did pick up yesterday was pureeing them at the start with the spices.  I'd recommend you make use of YouTube to see how different people make curry and then play with it to find one you like, alternatively find a good jar!  This is a good video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGxWzv7DICk but there are so many on there.  Supermarkets are great now too for getting the spices, but if there's something they don't have we have some excellent Asian shops in Wolverhampton and Walsall or there's the internet.

A few years ago I did a cookery day and it focused on the dishes in this booklet, I made every one of them, it was fabulous and the food was delicious.

http://happyowls.co.uk/Recipes/RecipesDinner/Indiancookerybooklet.docx as it was a long time ago it's still in ProPoints, I'll have to find an hour to Smart Point it all, but this curry from there was fab and I'm going to make it over the weekend I think so here's it Smart Pointed,

Sweet Potato & Spinach Curry

Total = 12sp if using only two tablespoons of reduced fat coconut milk (19sp if using 200g reduced fat coconut milk)

Ingredients:
Paste: 1tsp each coriander seeds, black peppercorns, cumin seeds
2tsp paprika, ¼ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp turmeric,1 tsp each ginger and garlic pastes, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 red chilli

Sauce: 75g chickpeas [cooked] (2sp), ½ onion (finely chopped]
1½ tbsp paste, 1 sweet potato [peeled and cubed] (5sp)
red chillies [extra - if required], 1½ tsp fresh ginger [finely chopped]
200g tinned tomatoes, 2tbsp coconut milk (3sp) (or use reduced fat for 1sp) or (up to 200g reduced – 8sp), handful spinach leaves [shredded], 1 tbsp oil (4sp)

METHOD:

·         Paste: Dry fry the seeds [adding cumin when you turn off the pan] and grind before mixing in the powdered spices while warm

·         Blend or pound this with the other ingredients to make the paste

·         Marinate the cooked chickpeas and sweet potatoes in this paste

·         Soften the onion in a little oil (1 tbsp = 4pp), adding the paste mixture, cooking until the excess moisture is gone

·         Add the ginger [and any extra chillies] and stir well before adding the tomatoes and around 100ml water, covering and cooking for around 10 minutes

·         Remove the lid, taste and adjust and reduce, stirring regularly

·         Add the coconut milk and spinach and warm through

·         Taste to check seasoning before turning out into your serving dish

Goes with: Plain rice or chapatti, Serves: 2+ as part of a Thali-style tasting meal that includes several other dishes with accompaniments
Storage: Keeps in the fridge for a few days and will freeze if the sweet potato is not cooked too far

   

On that note I'm off and fancying curry for my breakfast!  I'll settle for eggs though as the cupboards are bare till my supermarket shop gets delivered at lunchtime.  I know today's a very busy day for me, I've decided to make it busier by having my shopping delivered and agreeing to go to the Mitre pub to look at helping them Smart Point their new menu.  I need to be organised today, I will stay on track-ish!  You will too, I hope ;-) make me proud BeYOUtiful. xx