If you’ve learned anything about me and my family over the past few months, it’s how much we (specifically, I) love curry. It’s my go to meal when I’m hungry as a hippo with no idea what I want and that’s especially true on those days when I’ve put off grocery shopping. Grab some rice or noodles, a bunch of vegetables and the right blend of curry spices and you’ve got a quick vegan curry in no time at all.
Then there are the days when we’re feeling adventurous, or more accurately, the days when we find a good excuse to use or buy some new find from the grocery store. A few years ago we discovered black rice when we lived in Germany and ever since I’ve been a pretty big fan. It has a bit of a bite to it, more flavor and it has a great texture so you know you’re eating rice instead of some unknown, tasteless grain meant to just soak up all the flavors of the dish.
Then I found out that black rice is an excellent source of iron, antioxidants and Vitamin E and I decided to keep it in the meal rotation even though sometimes it can be a very temperamental grain.
If you decide to experiment with darker grains like black rice or even brown or wild rice, make sure to get that water boiling first to make sure you’re not waiting on it to finish cooking once your yummy curry is ready to be eaten. The cook time ranges from 15 minutes to 35, sometimes more depending on the length of the grain as well as how pre-processed it is.
Now…on to the curry!
This particular recipe is pretty easy and it was made by The Husband so you know it fits the man criteria of simple yet delicious.
The recipe seems…busy because there are plenty of tasty ingredients but trust me, it’s all simple to make. What you’ll need:
*Potatoes, scrubbed clean
*Wood ear mushrooms
*Onion
*Chickpeas, rinsed
*Garlic
*Ginger
*Tomatoes, rinsed & diced
*Tofu crumbles
*Coconut milk
Since The Husband was instrumental in helping me see the benefits of cooking without oil, you can guess that he made this meal totally oil-free but the dish didn’t suffer for it as you might imagine. The coconut milk gave everything a smooth, creamy flavor that blended beautifully with the al dente black rice. With the proper seasoning you can get a flavorful dish without all the oil.
Get a good saute on the veggies and then slowly add the broth and or coconut milk, letting it cook until the potatoes are done. The wood ear mushrooms go in last because they cook fairly quickly and if you’re feeling truly fancy, you can set up a nice plate the way The Husband did. His presentation skills far surpass my own, as you can see, and it made for a really great photo!
On top of all that, it was so good that I went back for seconds, of the curry but not the rice because that’s another way we fight temptation, make enough grains for 2 servings so if you want seconds, it’s all veggies. Eating such good food shouldn’t make you feel guilty and this way it doesn’t have to!
If you’re feeling thirsty, I always find an ice cold beer goes great with a spicy curry, especially when that spice is from the Sriracha I added to my plate because we have very different spice level preferences.
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