Veggie Coconut Kurma

I had an insanely busy week, so my kitchen and children's bellies were neglected. It was their birthday, they are now officially 5...it was a very exciting day even including vomit. I catered a wedding reception on Friday which took up lots of preparation and time. Then I smashed my hand in the car door the same day. So, basically I'm admitting to eating junk almost all week...with the exception of this favorite.

This recipe came from my oldest brother and his wife. The original recipe was for chicken only. I changed it to be vegetables only. (This may be the time to admit I don't eat a whole lot of meat...or any.) I will include both recipes and you can go either way or meet in the middle.


Get your veggies together. This time I used broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, snow peas and spinach. You're going to use 8-10 cups of vegetables, anything you like...just in bite sized pieces.

You'll make a paste out of the garlic, ginger and onion. All you need to do is peel the ginger, remove the skin from the garlic and quarter the onion.

Throw all the ingredients in the food processor or blender with a tablespoon or so of water. Pulse until everything is chopped and combined into a paste.

Heat the oil in a large pan, add onion mixture and saute until the "raw" smell disappears...about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, dice your tomato. I had grape tomatoes on hand so I used about a cup to equal the one large tomato the recipe calls for. I have actually had success using canned diced tomatoes. It's not quite as good, but would work in a pinch.

The spices: red curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne.

Add the spices and tomatoes to the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook down for about 5 more minutes.

Get your veggies and raisins...or cranberries like I used. Sometimes you just have to make do with what you have.

Stir the veggies into the onion and tomato mixture. Then squeeze a lemon over the mixture and add about 1/4 cup of water. Stir to coat, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes.

At this point the veggies should be fairly well cooked, but not too soft.

Add the coconut milk. I use a light coconut milk. The only place I can consistently find it is Whole Foods. It decreases the fat and calories considerably and there is no taste difference.

Simmer uncovered until veggies are tender, about 6-10 minutes based on preference.

The very last thing you do it stir in the fresh spinach.

Top with fresh cilantro and chopped cashews.

Serve over brown rice or basmati rice or brown basmati rice. You will love it!

Veggie Coconut Curry
1 Large onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic
1T grated ginger
3T oil
1T red curry powder
½t cayenne pepper
½t black pepper
½t ground cumin
2t salt
1 large tomato, diced
5C mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snow peas, potato, etc?)
1/3C raisins
2t lemon juice
1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
1T fresh cilantro, chopped
1/3C cashews, chopped

Blend the onion, garlic and ginger in the food processor with about 1 Tbl of water.

Heat oil and add the onion mixture. Cook until raw smell is gone, about 3-4 minutes
Add curry, cayenne, pepper, cumin and salt and tomatoes?cook about 5 minutes.

Add veggies and raisins, stir to coat. Add lemon juice and ¼ C. water. ( should be liquid but not thin) Cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes

Add coconut milk and cook for an additional 6-8 minutes.
Add cilantro and cashews. Serve over brown rice.

Chicken Coconut Curry
1 Large onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic
1T grated ginger
3T oil
1T red curry powder
½t cayenne pepper
½t black pepper
½t ground cumin
2t salt
1 large tomato, diced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5lbs)
1/3C raisins
2t lemon juice
1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
1T fresh cilantro, chopped
1/3C cashews, chopped

*blend half of the onion, garlic and ginger in the food processor ( it may require a tsp. of h20) to a paste. The original recipe has you split the onion, pureeing only half and dicing the other half...I'm way too lazy for that...but you can do it.
*heat oil and add the remainder of the onion. Sautee until brown. Add the paste and cook until raw smell is gone, about 3-4 minutes
Add curry, cayenne, pepper, cumin and salt and tomatoes?cook about 5 minutes.

*Add chicken and raisins, stir to coat. Add lemon juice and ¼ C. water. ( should be liquid but not thin) Cover and simmer for 10 minutes

*add coconut milk and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Add cilantro and cashews. Serve over brown rice.

****No. my children didn't eat this. They wouldn't even look at it. In fact, I think Nate told me it stunk.