Curried Beets: Sounds Weird, Trying Anyway

You may remember my awesome neighbour? Not only is she an amazing photographer, she has a lovely garden that she lets me pillage on occasion. I was a little leery of the beets she gifted me with, but I found a recipe (in an old Chatelaine cookbook) that sounds interesting: Curried Beets. If anything can get me to love beets, it is a combination of Chatelaine and curry. What I really liked about this recipe is that it got rid of the "dirt" taste that I always associate with beets but kept the nice firm texture and undertones.

Also, me big seester gave me a metric tonne of spices and a spice encyclopedia back on my birthday, so I am going to make a different kind of curry, just for kicks. And on!

For the curry (massale), you will need:

2 Tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp cardamom pods
1 tsp whole cloves
1/2 piece cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground chili (or flakes)
1 tsp grated nutmeg

I like this curry blend because it tastes very similar to the Rogan Josh mixture, without the crazy Thai chili heat. It is super easy: dry roast the whole spices - coriander, cumin, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom (normally I would advocate for removing the seeds from the pods, otherwise it gets a little bark-y up in there, but dry roasting them makes them brittle and they break right down) in a frying pan at medium heat until they smell and gain a little bit of colour, set aside to cool. When cool, process in a spice grinder then stir in the chili and nutmeg. If you are using chili flakes as I am, throw them in the bottom of the spice grinder and add in the roasted spices on top before processing. Done!

Measure

So pretty

Just in the warm pan, about 30 seconds to a minute is enough

Little bit of colour...

Grate the nutmeg

Grind cooled spices then add to nutmeg

For the curried beets, you will need:

1 1/2 lbs beets, unpeeled and stems trimmed
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tsp butter
1 tsp curry powder (see above!)
1/2 tsp cumin
Cinnamon, salt & pepper
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Not much prep here, just slice your onions and trim the stems of the beets. You can use the beet greens as you would spinach, they wilt about the same and have lots of nutritive benefits. Do NOT use them the same way you would kale, nooo bueno.

Back to the beets themselves! Place the trimmed beets in a pot full of cold water, bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes, until slightly underdone. That is a super lame descriptor, but it's all I got. Time it! Set aside and run some cold water over.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add in the sliced onion and cook until almost soft, about 3 minutes.

I'm using my new sauté pan so that it knows what it's in for

Sprinkle on the curry and cumin, cook for 2 more minutes. Turn off and set aside.

The beet skins should just rub right off, fingers crossed, then cut them into a small-ish dice.

Return the pan to heat, add the beets and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring to coat the beets in the buttery, curry-y goodness. Serve!

Since I pretty much followed the recipe in the book, I will use their calcs for calories, minus a teaspoon of butter (a whole tablespoon seemed obscene): 45 calories per serving, six servings total.

Neaaaarrrrr

Far!

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Wednesday: Curried Hummus and Tomato Lentil Soup

I have tried approximately 40-hundred hummus recipes, this is a combination of a few. I haven't been able to get a decently creamy spread, so I am upping the oil a little tiny bit and making sure my pureeing is nice and mushing. Also, who doesn't love lentils?? Not I! Wait, that's too many negatives, I can't work out whether I just said I liked them or not. I love them! We all should! Yay for vegetarian Wednesdays and the tornado that didn't come!

For the hummus, you will need:

1 tsp olive oil

1 small onion, grated

5 garlic cloves, crushed

1 Tbsp curry (see recipe below)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 c water

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1 and a half lemons)

Salt

2 540 ml cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

For the curry powder, you will need:

1/2 cinnamon stick
1 1/2 tsp chili flakes (use less if you are into milder curry. baby)
1 tsp green cardamom seeds (about a dozen pods worth)
6 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger

To extract the cardamom seeds, flatten them with a large knife by whacking them with the wide part.

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and cook the whole spices (cardamom, cumin, cloves, coriander) until you can smell them, 30 seconds to a minute.

Let cool and dump everything else into a spice grinder. You COULD also use a mortar and pestle, give yourself a few more minutes for that. And a gold star.

Pulse a few times for the cinnamon stick, then add in the cooled whole spices and just keep pulsing until it looks blended.

Back to the hummus!

Heat oil in a non-stick saucepan over med-low heat. Cook the onion for 2 minutes. Add the garlic for 30 seconds. That's it! Add in the curry powder and cumin seeds, cook for another 30 seconds until you can smell 'em. 

Dump the garlic mixture and everything else into a food processor or blender, blend like crazy until it is all smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. This is where you can add a little extra water or perhaps 2 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil, until you are happy with the texture.

You are going to get about 3 cups, and a decent serving is about 1/4 c, which works out to about 82 calories. 

And now for the tomato soup. You will need:

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped finely

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 lb tomatoes or I can 28 oz diced tomatoes

3/4 c split lentils

5 c chicken or vegetable stock

Salt, pepper

First off, if you are going to use fresh tomatoes, you will want to peel, dice and seed them in advance. To do that, bring a deep-ish pot of water to boil. Get a big bowl ready filled with lots of ice and some water. Remove the green stem and cut an "X" across the bottom of each tomato.

Using something amazingly useful like a spider (the non-gross leggy one) dip each tomato individually into the boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute, until you see the cut edges start to peel upwards.

Remove and immediately put into the bowl filled with ice water. Do them all; after they are all blanched the skin should just peel right off. In theory.

The tomato Polar Bear dip

Brr

They practically peel themselves

Cut the tomatoes across the middle:

And use a small spoon to scrape the seeds out inside the revealed tunnels. A sharp spoon, like a grapefruit spoon, is awesome for this, but you can also use a paring knife on any parts if they get unruly. Bye glutamates. Sigh. 

Somewhat de-seeded

Roughly chop and do the rest of your prep. Chop your onions, press your garlic, have a ball. If you are using canned tomatoes, then, um, open it. 

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat; cook the onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, cumin, coriander tomatoes and lentils, cook for another 4-5 minutes.

Add in the stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30-45 minutes until the lentils are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Remove from heat and let sit on a raised wire rack to cool slightly. Use a food processor or blender to process the soup until smooth. If you are going to use a blender, remove the center plastic plug in the blender lid and wrap tightly with a large kitchen towel. One that will hopefully not show tomato stains. This will vent the steam somewhat. You may also have to do the soup in batches. You can use an immersion blender if you like, but it will not be as smooth. A food processor can only take so much fluid, so keep an eye on your levels. This sounds like fun, doesn't it?? It will totally be worth it.

Pops right out

Using one of my bread towels

And a food processor, because, hey, there it was on the counter from the hummus

Return the soup to the same pot, rinsed out, and warm to eating temperature. I added some stock at the end to get it to the consistency I wanted; she was a leetle thick. I used fresh tomatoes (but I didn't seed them entirely because nutrients) and I came up with 4 servings at 140 calories each. Added in some homemade bread and butter and bam! Under 500 calories and veggie fantastic.

Enjoy!

Equipment Corner

A couple of quick notes; I never understood those adjustable measuring spoons until I did my first spice blend and realised how invaluable they are for lots of tiny dry ingredients. I also broke one of my garlic presses today, which I did not even know was possible; that one looked pretty sturdy and it will be my replacement.

I wanted to include a mortar and pestle, especially since I ended up using one today, but that is something you really want to be able to grope in person. You want one that feels good in the hand, has a nice and heavy pestle and is rough inside. No smooth interiors! Rough will help those spices break down much faster. And I'm out!