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The Novice Gardener

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The Novice Gardener

Tag Archives: Indian cuisine

Crockpot Beef Curry and Roasted Tomatoes with Sonal’s Special Spices

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Cooking, Food Photography & Styling, Recipe

≈ 94 Comments

Tags

beef curry, crockpot beef curry, crockpot curry, Indian cuisine, roasted curried tomatoes

crockpot beef curry

beef curry with roasted tomatoes

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Chicken Green Tomato Jalfrezi| Fiesta Friday #41

07 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Cooking, Fiesta Friday, Food Photography & Styling

≈ 180 Comments

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chicken jalfrezi, curry, Fiesta Friday, Fiesta Friday #41, green tomato curry, Indian cuisine, jalfrezi, recipe

chicken and green tomato curry

green tomato curry

“Where’s my Indian food? I want my Indian food now!”

That was the first thing I said when I woke up this morning. Well, first I whacked the hubs’ thigh and then I said it. Only because I had been craving Indian food and I told him. And of course I fully expected him to do something about it. And you know what he said?

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Egg Hoppers | Fiesta Friday #17

22 Thursday May 2014

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Cooking, Fiesta Friday, Fiesta Friday Challenge

≈ 216 Comments

Tags

appam, egg hoppers, hopper, Indian cuisine, recipe, roasted tomatoes, Sri Lankan cuisine, yeast recipe

egg hoppers

Egg Hoppers. The name alone should intrigue you. It worked for me. But if that didn’t do it, the mere mention of eggs should. Oh, no? Not an egg person, huh? You don’t have to have eggs in them, but then they would be called appams, instead. To be more accurate, appams or hoppers can be used interchangeably for these. Continue reading →

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Turnips Turn Up

02 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Angie | Fiesta Friday in Cooking, Gardening

≈ 39 Comments

Tags

dinner, food, Indian cuisine, scalloped potatoes, thoran, turnip roots, turnips, vegetarian

Isn’t it exciting to find free food from the garden? I’m not talking about edible weeds this time, even though that would be exciting too. I’m talking about real cultivated vegetables. Like turnips. I found turnips when I didn’t know I had any.

turnips

Let me clarify. I did scatter the seeds. I just didn’t know they would give me a harvest. Remember my horsetail problem? Well, part of my experiment in eradicating the horsetail was to plant turnips thickly on the weed-invaded site. Supposedly turnip roots discourage horsetail. But only if planted thickly, meaning you won’t get a harvest, except for the green tops, because there isn’t enough space for the turnip roots to grow bulbous.

(I really should give an update on the horsetail. Remind me about that. I keep getting views from people googling horsetail. I’m assuming the majority of these people want to get rid of the weed.)

So it was definitely a happy surprise to find a few turnip roots heaving out of the dirt, underneath all that foliage. One was huge!

huge turnip

It was an even happier surprise to see the family devouring the scalloped potatoes without questions, even though turnips were added into it. TB might have muttered something, but I totally ignored him.

scalloped potatoes with turnips
scalloped potatoes with turnips2
scalloped potatoes with turnips3

Do I really need to post the recipe for this?

Recipes are actually hard for me to write, since I usually cook without measuring, relying instead on sight and taste. Especially for scalloped potatoes, which is essentially just sliced potatoes in milk or cream and thrown in the oven!

Let me just describe what I did. First, I sliced the potatoes and turnips thinly, and arrange the slices in layers in a baking dish.

Then I made the white sauce. I sautéed sliced onion in a little butter/olive oil, added just a tsp of flour when the onion wilted, and stirred the flour to distribute evenly. I added milk and cream (I usually add twice as much milk as the cream, but you can do half and half, if you like), and cooked til the mixture is bubbly and slightly thickened.

I poured this mixture over the potatoes. There should be enough liquid so it comes up to just under the potatoes. Bake in a 375° F oven for about 1 hour. Check half way through, to make sure the top doesn’t burn, and the sauce hasn’t dried. If you feel that the top is too brown, you can cover loosely with aluminum foil. And if you feel that the sauce has dried up, add more milk.

turnip greens2

Now, what to do with all the turnip leaves? They’re kind of prickly, you wouldn’t think they’ll make good eating, but they do. Turnip leaves are beloved in the South, stewed with ham hocks or salt pork. But today, I’m making them into an Indian dish called thoran. It is basically a stir fry dish consisting of vegetables, shredded coconut, and a few spices.

It is quite similar to an Indonesian dish called urap, one of the most interesting preparations of steamed vegetables, and certainly one of my favorites. Remind me to show you how to make it next time. It’s great eaten with Nasi Kuning (Indonesian Yellow Rice).

turnip leaves thoran

Turnip Leaves Thoran

A bunch of turnip leaves, cut up
1/2 onion, chopped
1 (or more if you like) green chile pepper, chopped
1/3 cup grated coconut (you can buy this frozen, in Asian markets)
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed, or 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper

1. Heat oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds and let them pop.
2. Add the chopped onion and green chile pepper.
3. Sauté til onion is transparent.
4. Add turmeric powder and cumin, stir.
5. Add your vegetables and the grated coconut. (You can use any vegetable, by the way). Add salt & pepper.
6. Continue stirring until vegetables are cooked. Depending on the type of vegetables you use, some liquid/juice might exude. Cook until liquid evaporates. The final dish should be dry, not watery.

Indian vegan meal

Served with rice and daal, it makes for a wonderful vegan meal. That rice, by the way, is leftover from a Chelo Kabob meal from Shamshiry, an excellent Persian restaurant in Virginia, really a stone’s throw from DC. You must visit the restaurant when you find yourself in the area. They make the best rice (Chelo) in the world, and they give you tons of it. Remind me to talk about it next time.

I have a lot more turnips in the garden, albeit more leaves than roots. I wasn’t thinking of food and nourishment when I sprinkled those turnip seeds. I was thinking more of hatred and destruction instead. On the horsetail, you know. But now that I found the patch has rewarded me with good, healthy food, enough for several meals, one word came to mind,” More better!” Make that two words.

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Fiesta Friday #433

Fiesta Friday #433

Now that the daughter is home for her summer break, I’m being spoiled. Spoiled with good food, that is. Mostly pasta. The daughter IS the pasta princess. Her Spaghetti Carbonara is assolutamente perfetto. See? Absolutely perfect! I am one happy and content mom! Features Coffee Cookies Strawberry Crunch Bars Instant Pot Sesame Honey Chicken A […]

Fiesta Friday #432

Fiesta Friday #432

It’s T-minus 22 working days until the official start of my Summer break. I can hardly wait! I can only speak for myself, but it’s been a tough year working in a school setting. By that, I don’t mean the job is suddenly beyond my capabilities, but rather it’s become mentally draining. Let’s just say […]

Fiesta Friday #431

Fiesta Friday #431

I wish all Fiesta Friday Moms a very happy Mother’s Day in advance! I hope your families will spoil you rotten on Sunday and treat you like a queen for the day. Or the week. Or forever… Because, honestly, all moms deserve to be treated that way ALL the time. And I’m a mom, so […]

Fiesta Friday #430

Fiesta Friday #430

These are the priorities in my life right now: Weeding Mulching Weeding and mulching ALL my spare time is consumed by those chores.  Meals have become predictable – Chinese takeouts, Chipotle drive-thrus, and Panera pick-ups. My poor family! Or rather, poor me! This is why someone else needs to learn to cook! I did bring […]

Fiesta Friday #429

Fiesta Friday #429

I can’t believe it’s Friday already. Again. Where has the time gone?! And soon I’ll have to go back to work, boo hoo! Today, though, I’ll drag the husband to Amish Country Lancaster. It’s been a while since our last visit. I’m in the mood for some Amish baked goods, especially the cheese bread. And […]

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