Posts tagged curry
Light Sunday treat – Spicy shrimps on a bed cauliflower mash
Nov 7th
Légères gourmandises du dimanche – Crevettes épicées sur lit de chou fleur
San Francisco has been under the rain today, and it might be a sign that fall is very much around, warning you that more rainy days are on their way.
Even though, it’s not Thanksgiving yet, I am already thinking about the Thanksgiving dinner menu…I think this year, there will be many appetizers like this one. I am simply in love with simple and flavorful bites that “mettent en appétit” (open your appetite) and can be enjoyed with a fresh glass of Champagne. I noticed many of my friends don’t like cauliflower, I am not sure if its the texture or the taste, so sometimes I just play with cauliflower and try to serve it in various forms and textures.
Of course, you can substitute cauliflower with other ingredients, such as avocado, carrots, etc…I served this a few times with an avocado purée and it was simply delightful.
If you don’t want to serve this in a spoon, you can serve it in a small plate, add one extra tbs of cauliflower mash, and add four shrimps. That would be sufficient as an appetizer and you really don’t have to spend hours cooking. This is a fairly simple dish to prepare and no one needs to know that it takes only a few minutes for the whole dish to be ready.
The only little trick about using small spoons, is that you need to pay attention to small details, and make sure your presentation is clean and tidy. All the ingredients being cut in tiny pieces, they need to be well put together in a regular order.
Ingredients for 10 spoons
- 1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 tbs olive oil
- hot spicy habanero sauce or tabasco sauce
- salt and pepper
- 10 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1/4 tbs paprika
- 1/2 tsp mild curry powder
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- salt and pepper
- 1 tsp olive oil
- dill for decoration
Preparation
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add cauliflower and cook until soft. Drain, place in a mixing container and mash with a potato masher, leaving small pieces. Add habanero sauce, olive oil , salt and pepper. Mix well all ingredients and keep warm.
In a container, combine shrimps, curry and paprika powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil in a pan and saute shrimps.
Place 1 tbs of cauliflower in each spoon. Top it with one shrimp and a little sprig of dill.
The other grean bean – Curry Mung beans galettes and tofu-garlic dipping sauce
Jul 19th
L’autre haricot vert – Galettes de haricots mung au curry, et sauce tofu à l’ail
I don’t often cook with mung beans, but once in a while I like to eat them, they’re so cute and round and tiny with a little white eye staring at you.
Of course, I didn’t grow up eating those beans since they’re mainly used in Asian cuisine, and growing up Asian cuisine was not part of my diet.
I remember in Nancy, the first time I ate Asian food, was in a Vietnamese restaurant, the only one in town, I must have been 13 year old (so it’s been a long time!), it was located in a gallery (and still is).
Then I used crab mushrooms, as an accompaniment, those look like beech mushrooms to me, but they seem to be different. I saw a box of crab mushroom at the Asian store, next to a box of beech mushrooms so I came to the conclusion that they’re two different kinds of mushrooms. If I am wrong, please let me know. I would love to know.
The exciting part of this dish is that it’s vegan…and absolutely delicious. The tofu dipping sauce is so creamy and fragrant that the non-tofu friendly crowd will forget it’s tofu. I used regular tofu but silken tofu would be even better. Do not be intimidated by tofu, it’s such a versatile little ingredients and due to its neutral flavor, you can create so many dipping sauces an have a tofu makeover session! it’s so much fun to play with it!
Ingredients for about 10-12 galettes
For the galettes
- 170 g dried mung beans
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 poblano pepper, finely diced
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 1 leek, finely chopped
- 1 tsp curry powder
- a dash of soy sauce
- 2 tsp roasted sesame seeds
- 2 tbs mint, chopped
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the mushrooms
- 1 box of crab mushrooms
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp mirin
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
For the tofu dipping sauce
- 1/4 lb tofu
- 2 tbs soy yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Preparation
For the galettes
Cook mung beans in water until tender. Drain well and let cool. Mash with a potato masher or with your hands.
Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and brown them. Add peppers, and leeks and cook until tender. Add carrots and stir for a few minutes. Add curry powder, stir well and cook for a few more minutes until all the vegetables are coated with the curry powder. Add soy sauce and stir.
Add the vegetables to the mashed mung beans and mix well to obtain a homogenous mixture. Add sesame seeds and mint. Form patties usig your hands. Coat each patty with panko crumbs.
Heat olive oil in a pan, place each galette in the pan and cook both sides until golden brown. remove from pan and serve hot with crab mushrooms and tofu sauce.
For the crab mushrooms
Was mushroom and disassemble them. In a pan, heat olive oil, add onion, ginger and cook the mixture until fragrant, then add garlic and cook for a few extra minutes. Add mushrooms, stir well, then add mirin. Cook until the mushrooms are cooked but still moist. Add cilantro.
For the tofu dipping sauce
Place tofu and other ingredients in a blender, and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Is it really Israeli? – Israeli couscous with curry vegetables
Dec 17th
Est-ce vraiment Israélien? – Matfoul aux légumes et curry
I discovered this type of couscous in the US. I had never seen it before, so I started experimenting with it when I had some Israeli clients. I was so happy I found something “Israeli” to cook for them, but when they told me it was not Israeli, I was somehow confused and disappointed. I had no idea about what Israeli cuisine tasted like, I thought due to their geographical location it would have some Middle Eastern flair. In Paris, in the Marais quarter, the historic Jewish area has one of the most popular Felafel joint, called “L’As du Felafel”, so I my mind Felafel and spicy food was common in Israel and I figured that something called “Israeli” should at least be coming from Israel. Apparently not. It’s like the French manicure of French cleaner, not sure why they call it French but we are no specialists in nails nor cleaning!
So Israeli or not Israeli, I like this couscous variety, it’s fun to prepare and great to eat. Couscous is consumed in all Middle East, so I guess it must be coming from that side of the continent. In France it’s called Matfoul which I think is its original Arabic name. I am not Jewish and obviously not kosher but maybe in my previous life I was. I started cooking by not mixing dairy and meat and I have to say that I like it.
This is a great side dish that can be an alternative to rice, or some other carbohydrate dishes. I like to spice it up a little with curry and spices and add vegetables to it, to make it a little more exciting. I have a few cookbooks about Jewish cuisine and I like the simplicity of the recipes and influences coming from so many different countries.
I certainly know that this blog lacks meat recipes but I think the most important thing is to enjoy and take pleasure in whatever you do, cook or eat, no matter what it is. Otherwise there is no point in posting something just for the sake of posting it. I usually serve this couscous with sumac chicken tenders, that has been one of my most requested dish in the “Middle Eastern” category.
Ingredients for 3-4 as a side dish
- 4.2 oz (or 120 g) Israeli couscous
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 small eggplant, diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 tbs cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
- 1 shallot, diced
- 1/2 cup cooked chick peas
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbs mint, chopped
Preparation
First start cooking couscous. Heat olive oil in a pot, add couscous and let it brown and get coated by olive oil like you would proceed for a risotto. Add broth and cook until couscous is tender but not too soft. Drain and set aside.
In a pan, brown shallots, then add the rest of the vegetables except for the chick peas. Add salt and pepper and let it cook until vegetables tender. Add chick peas. Add curry powder. Stir well and cook for about 5 minutes, then add tomatoes. Add couscous and mix well all ingredients together. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add mint and cilantro and serve hot.
The "Three Tries" theory – Tofu "polpette" with curry, leeks, carrots and sesame – Avocado and tomato salad
Sep 23rd
La teoria delle “Tre Prove” – Polpette di tofu al curry con porri, carote, e grani di sesamo, insalatina di pomodori e avocado
I heard so many terrible tofu complaints from so many people that I need to defend this poor little white thingy. I don’t want tofu to be the “forgotten” ingredient, and it tends to be, of course except among vegetarians or vegans and maybe Asia. I think tofu is a very pleasant product to use and also versatile that people should include more often in their diet. Even for the ones who want “real” food (I heard that before) or something tasty, they should try this recipe. I don’t make it very often but once in a while, when well spiced up, I really like it.
I made this for a birthday buffet party with all French/Italians, who are big meat eaters (my friends are) and just the thought of tofu makes them cringe, “ah non! pas de tofu!!” or “c’est quoi ce truc?”, “ma chi te lo mangia il tofu?”. Surprisingly, those polpette went quicker than I had expected, which made me laugh deep inside. I have some of the most traditional friends when it comes to food, they are so basic in their eating habits, that you would not believe it. The traditional Friday night “steak-frites” (steak and fries) in the same restaurant has been a must for years. I do not like habits in the kitchen and especially in my diet, but some people do, I think it gives them a sense of security and comfort. It gives me anxiety.
My theory is the “three tries” or “three chance” theory, I use it to almost everything…If I don’t like something once, I will try it again, and I think after three times, I somehow have a good idea of what it is. It’s the same thing when dealing with people, restaurants, etc… If I have a bad experience once or twice it doesn’t mean that’s the way it usually is. So people deserve more than one chance and food too!
These polpette are on the tender side and quite fragile since they don’t contain any eggs nor bread crumbs (you can add one egg and some breadcrumbs if you wish) because I wanted to keep them vegan, so when turning them make sure you use a small size spatula, or they might break.
Ingredients for 6 polpette
- 1/2 lb (or 220 g) extra firm tofu
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 leek, chopped crosswise
- 1 shallot
- 1 inch ginger root, grated
- 1 tsp mild curry
- chili powder (to your taste)
- 1 tbs light soy sauce
- 1 tbs white sesame seeds
- 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbs olive oil (or more)
- salt and pepper
For the salad
- 1 lb cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1 tbs avocado oil
- Juice of one meyer lemon
- 2 chives, chopped
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the polpette
First in a container, crumble tofu with your hands, it needs to be a crumbly mixture.
In a small pan, brown sesame seeds and set aside.
Cook leeks in olive oil, until soft and tender and set aside.
In another pan, heat olive oil, add shallot and ginger and cook until fragrant. Add curry and chili powder and stir well for a few minutes (but do not burn it), add soy sauce, and mix well. Add leeks and carrots and stir well so the curry is well blended. Add sesame seeds and add this mixture to the crumbled tofu. Add cilantro. Using your hands, mix it very well so that the curry has penetrated all the ingredients and the mixture has a yellowish color.
Form patties and cook in a pan with olive oil. Carefully turn them to brown them on both sides.
Make the salad combining all the ingredients and serve with polpette.
Round and spicy – Stuffed round zucchini with curried lentils
Aug 12th
Rondes et épicées – Courgettes rondes farcies de lentilles au curry
Another version of stuffed zucchini, those are the round kind and this recipe has a little exotic twist with the curry and other spices in it. I think this kind of zucchini is really made to be stuffed, they have a very inviting belly. I don’t think I have ever prepared them in any other different way.
I had some clients who did not like any stuffed vegetable, so I ended up not cooking those anymore, and not even for myself. The thing is when you have some clients who eat in a particular way, and for whom you cook on regular basis, you end up eating like them. One sure thing is that I cannot eat the same dish and food over and over again, and I know many people who are just happy eating the same thing for weeks. I would go insane, my food is like my life it needs to be colorful, and needs to be changing, have different flavors, smells, feelings.
You can use the green lentils as well for this dish. I had French lentils, so I used those. I didn’t like lentils when I was young, I think for kids they fell in the same category than spinach, unappealing food. Eventually, you come out of it, I can say I am glad my parents exposed me to different ingredients and somehow pushed me to try new things. My family was not very wealthy, they moved from Italy to France and financially they were struggling when I was a child but we always had fresh and healthy food from the garden that my grandpa used to grow.
Ingredients for 4 zucchini
- 4 zucchini
- 11 oz cooked green lentils (1/3 less when uncooked)
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 inch ginger, grated
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/3 tsp turmeric
- chili powder
- 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 3 tsp plain yogurt
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Wash the zucchini, cut the top part and remove the pulp with a teaspoon, leave about less than 0.20 inches or 1/2 cm on the outside. Add salt and pepper in the center, sprinkle with olive oil and place in a tray in a 375F preheated oven and covered with aluminum foil. Cook for about 15-20 minutes but do not overcook, the zucchini still needs to remain firm. Chop the pulp of the zucchini in small pieces. Set aside.
Cook lentils in three time their quantity of water for about 20 minutes or until they’re cooked. Drain. Set aside
In a pan, heat olive oil, add shallot, brown them, then add ginger and garlic. Stir for a few minutes, then add zucchini pulp and cook until the pulp softens. Add curry powder, and all other spices. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes at low heat. Remove from heat and add lentils, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add cilantro and scallion, then add yogurt. Mix well.
Stuff zucchini with lentil mixture and place in the oven for another 15-20 minutes.
Serve hot with a salad or as a side dish.
Someone suffocated the cod – Cod in parchment paper with zucchini, carrots and coconut milk with cauliflower purée
Jun 30th
Quelqu’un a étouffé le cabillaud – Cabillaud en papillotte aux courgettes, carottes et lait de coco, avec purée de pomme de terres et chou fleur
I really love fish in parchment paper, it makes a beautiful presentation, it keeps the fish moist and very flavorful. When you open up the papillotte, you can smell all the wonderful aromas of the fish infused in spices.
Papillotte is the word that we use in French cuisine that describe a method of cooking and that means to wrap what you want to cook in a foil, either aluminum or parchment. There has been some discussions a little while ago that aluminum was bad to use in cooking and could cause some health problems, so many people are using parchment paper for papillotte instead.
The smooth cauliflower purée is a great accompaniment to the cod, it balances the spicyness of the dish. I added a few potatoes to the cauliflower to give it a smoother consistency et voilà, c’est prêt! You can enjoy and healthy dish, full of flavors and very low in calories.
Ingredients for 4
For the cod
- 4 cod fillet
- 2 carrots
- 2 zucchini
- about 10 cremini mushrooms
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp curry
- 4 tbs coconut milk
- 1 tbs olive oil
For the purée
- 1 large cauliflower head
- 4 medium potatoes
- 1 tps olive oil
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cut cauliflower into florets. Steam cauliflower and potatoes together. When cooked, mash them, add all other ingredients. Keep warm.
Shred carrots and zucchini. Slice the mushrooms. In a pan, heat olive oil, add onion and brown them. Add garlic, stir for a few minutes. Add curry powder and stir well to get the fragrance out. Add mushrooms, cook for about 5-7 minutes, then add shredded vegetables. Cook for only 1 minute or they will become very mushy. Add salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
Divide equally the curried vegetables and place in at the bottom of the parchment paper. Add cod fillet. Sprinkle with a little curry powder, 1 tbs of coconut milk, salt and pepper. Tight the parchment paper all around the fish so that no air would get inside. Repeat the same process for the other cod fillets.
Place cod in a dish and cook in a 375F pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes.
Open the parchment and serve on a plate with some cauliflower purée.
Just a little plate and that's it!- Spicy chicken balls in curry coconut milk and minty green beans
Jun 23rd
Un petit plat et c’est tout! – boulettes de poulet épicées au lait de coco et curry, haricots verts à la menthe
In France we say that to stay thin, you cannot have more than one serving and we believe that if you can resist temptation, and only go for the first round, you will stay thin and healthy. On ne se sert qu’une fois (you only get served once). This dish is a part of a lose weight program and the one dish meal with one serving.
Chicken balls are part of the big meatball family, every country has its own traditional recipes of meatballs. You can make them flat, roll them in flour, in breadcrumbs, in nuts or any way you like. Instead of serving those with rice, I serve them with green beans, you can add rice on the side if you want or rice noodles, but if you are on a non-carb evening diet, green beans are a perfect as accompaniment.
Those chicken balls have somehow a exotic flavor and bright yellow color that matches the green of the beans. I think food is like clothes, they need to have a matching color and look pretty in a plate.
The green beans are dressed with a lemon-mint-garlic vinaigrette, are very refreshing and deliciously tangy.
Ingredients for 2
- 1 large chicken breast or 2 small ones
- 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 4 tbs light coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp mild curry powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tbs mint, chopped
- 1/2 lb green beans
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs sliced almonds
Preparation
Ground the chicken breasts in a mixer. Add cilantro, cumin powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. using the palm of your hands, make little round balls, the size of a walnut.
In a pan heat olive oil, add onions, ginger and garlic. Mix well and cook for about 3 minutes. Keep stirring so it does not stick to the pan. Add curry powder, coriander powder, cumin powder salt and pepper. Mix well all the spice mixture. Add chicken balls and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, stir for 5-7 minutes, then add coconut milk. Cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through and until the sauce has reduced and has thickened.
For the green beans vinaigrette, mix 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs mint, 1 garlic clove chopped, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Bring water to a boil, add salt and green beans. Do not overcook the beans. Drain beans and pour mint vinaigrette on top.
Serve with green beans topped with 4 chicken balls, sprinkled with sliced almonds and chopped cilantro.
Four cobs and a tomato – Corn and curry tomato soup
May 28th
Quatres épis et une tomate – Soupe de maïs et tomates au curry
Creamy soups are great for a light dinner…I had bought this fresh sweet corn on the cob a while ago. Needless to say Americans love corn, you find cobs everywhere in any supermarket, so no need to buy corn in cans, the fresh one is so much better. Summer is almost here, and it means Barbeque season, and corn and BBQ are inseparable. I am talking about summer but not really in San Francisco but outside the city it is, summer mainly means non stop fog in the city…that’s why most of the time, I go back home in July or August . Who wants to be fogged out for two months when you’re supposed to lay on the beach and eat ice cream?
Being a true Libra and faithful to myself, I could not decide if I wanted a corn soup with curry or a tomato corn soup with basil, so after many thoughts, I decided to combine both, except for the basil. I served this soup with the traditional Indian “tarka“, which is a mixture of onions and spices, served with Dahl, but I made my own mixture which is a little different from the traditional tarka.
The interesting and pretty thing about this soup is its color, it has a very bright orange color (I remember from my wheel of color that yellow and red make a nice orange) and it is beautiful to look at. I don’t know you, but I want to eat pretty food, if the food is not pretty, I don’t enjoy it as much, so the more color, the more exciting and the better.
Ingredients for 4
For the soup
- 4 corns on the cob
- 3 large tomatoes
- 1 leek
- 2 tbs curry powder
- vegetable broth
- olive oil
- 1 onion
For the tarka
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed in a mortar
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 tbs coriander, chopped
- salt
Remove corn from its cob. Heat up some olive oil in a large pot, add corn and leeks, cook until leek is soft. Add curry powder. Stir well, cook for a few minutes and add tomatoes. Add broth, salt and pepper. Cook until the soup has reduced, and vegetables are soft. Mix in a blender but do not blend into a purée, leave some pieces to get a texture.
For the tarka, brown onions in olive oil, add mustard seeds, coriander seeds and jalapeno pepper, stir well. Add tomatoes and salt. Stir for a few minutes. Remove from stove and add cilantro. Serve a tbs of this mixture on top of the soup.
