dinner: sweet potato curry

[redbird]

I made a chick pea, sweet potato, and cauliflower curry for dinner, and it was good.

I started with some leftover roast sweet potato (having asked adrian_turtle to roast extra yesterday) and the knowledge that chick peas, potatoes, and cauliflower go well together in curry, so substituting sweet potato would probably work. Other ingredients: onion, apple, spices, broth, lemon juice, and coconut milk. I served it over steamed rice.

This was incidentally vegan, "incidentally" meaning that I was going to use chicken broth, but couldn't get the jar of chicken Better than Bouillon open.

Since I can't eat hot peppers anymore, the spice mix was ginger, garam masala, and Penzey's Singapore seasoning blend (which includes a lot of black pepper). I've been making variations on this for a couple of decades, starting from a shrimp curry recipe in a cookbook called _Cooking for Two Today_.

Comments

[sine_nomine]

Thanks for mentioning the Singapore seasoning. I avoid nightshades so it is nice to see it nearly nightshade-free (the cayenne being the last ingredient).

What garam masala do you use? Nearly all the ones I've seen also have chiles so, if there is one that doesn't, I would love to know about it.

[redbird]

The garam masala is also from Penzey's, specifically their "Punjabi blend." The ingredient list is: coriander, Tellicherry black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, charnushka (kalonji), caraway, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg.

[sine_nomine]

Well, isn't that nifty! Thanks for the rec.

[kate_schaefer]

Sounds good!

I still use that Szechuan dinner Glenn and I had with you and Kate and David many years ago as a reference point for how very flavorful, subtle, and interesting Szechuan food could still be while avoiding hot peppers. There was that brief moment of hesitation from the server on being given the challenge of suggesting a menu for five people without hot peppers, followed by one of the best restaurant meals I've ever eaten.

[sine_nomine]

The fun thing about Sichuan food is that Sichuan peppercorns are not nightshades (or hot peppers) so - depending on what one is avoiding - it is still possible to have food with heat. I sub with them a bunch. Ginger also goes a long way towards giving a sense of "hot".

[pameladean]

Chickpeas and sweet potatoes are a very durable combination on their own, and with the cauliflower, it just sounds sublime.

I only use the vegetarian Better Than Bouillon products, but I have an absolutely terrible time getting them open, especially AFTER they have been opened initially. I usually have to run hot water over the lid just as if the jar were brand-new. It's weird.

P.

[redbird]

Adrian noted that the Better than Bouillon jars have become more difficult to (re)open than they used to be, and suggested we may want to start decanting them into other (labeled) containers the first time we open them.

The jar of the vegetarian Better than Bouillon being easier to reopen than the chicken yesterday was just luck, I think. Right now we have both of those jars, and a beef-flavored one, also open and therefore in the fridge.

[adrian_turtle]

Upon further consideration, I think they are making the lids of thinner or flimsier metal. So it is more likely to deform when you open it the first time. Even when I make an effort to NOT tighten it down hard when I put the lid back on, I find I can't open it the next time. I think it's because it's been squished slightly out of round, or because the threads don't quite fit. Cattitude can sometimes open them by main force, but sometimes not, and I don't have a chance.

[cmcmck]

That does sounds good! Three of my favourite ingredients right there!

[green_knight]

Since we had to cut out the heat (my partner can no longer eat chilis), we have discovered that paprika fills the same niche for giving dishes that rounded body. Only without the heat.
None of our curries have suffered from the substitution.