The 3 C's of Stew: Coconut, Chickpea, Curry

Hey look! Again I'm trying to use the Flip-Cam; again I've failed to post a video, but instead I have stills from the botched shoot for you. You still win. You are a winner! You are full of as much winning as Charlie Sheen! (Is that joke old yet? The answer--yes. Am I deleting it? The answer--no.) Bonus prize? This recipe is not only vegetarian, it's vegan too. So the weekday vegetarian and animal-free among you can rejoice and we can all nom-nom together.

I've been a very busy girl--working, eating out, working out, rinse, repeat. I notice that my default go-to style of meal is the soup/stew. Why? Because throwing a bunch of things in a pot is fast, easy, super-forgiving, and almost always awesome (there are rare bad batches but everyone has a bad day now and again). Because my go-to on the go dish is a soup/stew, I steal ideas and grab inspiration from all over the place and all over the world. Today's dish combines Asian favorites coconut milk and curry powder with Middle East treats chickpeas, Oceana's sweet potatoes, and broccoli of the Roman Empire.

Curried Chick Pea Coconut Stew
--1 TBSP olive oil
--garlic, minced
--1 small onion, diced
--1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
--cinnamon and cumin
--1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
--1 yellow bell pepper, de-seeded and diced
--1 small head of broccoli, chopped into florets
--1 14oz. can coconut milk
--1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
--2-3 cups vegetable broth (depending on whether you want more of a soup or a stew consistency)
--1 15oz. can chick peas, rinsed and drained
--1 lime

--salt and pepper to taste

Heat a Dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté over medium heat for two-ish minutes. Add the curry powder and a dash each of cumin and cinnamon. Stir to combine, letting the seasoning mix into the oil, onion, and garlic--this will deliver flavor throughout the dish in these tiny little spice hosts.

Add the sweet potato pieces and sauté for a few minutes before adding the bell pepper. Stir to combine and sauté for several minutes, allowing the vegetables to become tender. Add the broccoli, again, stirring regularly and only allowing the broccoli to slightly sear.

Mix in the coconut milk, then the tomatoes, and finally the vegetable broth. Bring the mixture to a boil before adding the chickpeas. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring twice before serving. Season each portion with a dash of salt and a few cranks of fresh black pepper. Take the lime and squeeze juice into each portion. Serve!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 6

Calories: 399 per serving

Mom Always Said "Eat Your Veggies"

Cauliflower, as it turns out, is amazingly good for you. Like kale, broccoli, and other veggies known as cruciferous, cauliflower contains tons of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Pregnant? Cauliflower has 15% of recommended daily folate intake and 90% of your vitamin C. Magic! But, again, like other cruciferous veggies, cauliflower can be tricky to eat regularly. My solution? Add bacon of course!

Eating healthy does not have to mean eating boring. To dress up my cauliflower I created a pasta with bacon, curry, tomatoes, and sage for a powerful taste and maximum benefit. Hello Cleveland, we are Maximum Benefit!

Curried Cauliflower Pasta
--8 oz. spaghetti noodles (about 1/2 a box)
--3 slices bacon
--15 fresh sage leaves
--2 cloves garlic, minced
--1 small head of cauliflower, stems and leaves discarded, cut into half-dollar sized florets
--yellow curry powder
--paprika
--black pepper
--1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
--1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

While the pasta cooks, in a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Set aside. Add the whole sage leaves to the skillet and cook in the bacon drippings until leaves are crispy. Set aside with the bacon.

Add the garlic to the pan and cook, stirringly consistently, until garlic is fragrant and begins to brown. Add the cauliflower florets and 1/4 cup of water to the skillet. Cover and let steam for 2 minutes. Uncover and add the curry powder, paprika, and black pepper, tossing to mix well.

Add the tomato halves and cover the skillet again, letting it steam another two minutes. Add the reserved pasta water and 1/4 cup (about an ounce) of shredded Parmesan. Stir so the cheese melts and the sauce begins to get creamy. Add in the pasta and toss to combine. Throw the bacon and sage on top and scoop into bowls.

Top with shredded Parmesan cheese (another 1/4 cup should take care of four bowls) and a fresh crack of black pepper. Serve!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4
Calories: 403 per serving

Vegan. Green. Curry.

Mmm Thai curry. Hello delicious. Not to be confused with its tumeric-based Indian and Pakistani cousins, Thai curries are made of red, green, panang, and massaman curry pastes (among others). While both kinds of curries are delightful, the Thai version is heavy on the vegetables and often comes in a coconut milk broth.

I made a big batch of this to feed me and some out of town guests who are Vegan. If you are a carnivore, you can make yours with chicken pieces or beef and chicken broth. I made my own green curry paste using a recipe I found on the internet years ago (God knows where) but you can use a jar or packet purchased from the grocery store. If you are a vegetarian or vegan, and you pre-purchase the curry paste make sure you buy the kind that doesn't have fish sauce or shrimp paste in it!

Vegan Green Curry:
--1 block of extra firm tofu, well-drained and chopped into bite-sized chunks
--1 1/2 cups of uncooked jasmine rice
--1 TBSP sesame oil
--1 TBSP olive oil
--Garlic, minced
--Ginger, minced
--1 small onion, chopped
--1 large head of broccoli, chopped into smaller florets
--1 16oz. bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables
--1 pint of grape tomatoes
--1 14oz. can of coconut milk
--Green curry paste
--2 1/2 cups of vegetable broth

In a frying pan sear the tofu on medium to medium-high heat.  Make sure all sides are seared.

Cook rice according to package directions.

While the tofu sears and the rice cooks, heat the sesame and olive oils in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. When the oil is warm, add the garlic, ginger, and onion. Saute until translucent.

Add the broccoli and frozen vegetables and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to get tender.  Add the tomatoes and stir to mix all the vegetables together. 

Add the coconut milk and the curry paste. Stir to fully dissolve the curry paste. Start in small batches, because remember, you can always add more curry paste but you'll have a hard time taking some away!

When curry paste is dissolved add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to simmer and add the seared tofu, stirring to combine. Continue to add curry paste, as needed, until the curry is to your taste.

Serve over the rice.

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 6
Calories: 230 per serving

Hello Stew, Meet Curry & Saffron

I tend to eat a lot of warm foods in the winter time. Winter just seems to loan itself well to soups, stews, and ragouts. The following is a modified version of one of my favorite recipes. It combines lots of veggies with two of my favorite spices: saffron and curry!

I made this while housesitting and just threw it together with what veggies were fresh on hand along with some from the freezer. Stews like this one can change throughout the year to reflect whatever veggies are in season.

Winter Vegetable Curried Stew
--olive oil
--yellow curry powder
--pinch of saffron threads--onion, chopped roughly into medium sized pieces
--garlic, chopped
--assorted chopped veggies (I used squash, kale, spinach, and carrots)
--1 can white beans
--1 package of chicken sausage, links chopped into 1/2" thick slices
--24 oz. container chicken or vegetable broth


In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. Once the oil coats the bottom of the pot add in the saffron threads. Adding heat to the threads releases their flavor. Add several healthy shakes of curry powder. Add chopped onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. The curry and saffron will coat the onion and garlic and make your stew taste delicious!

Begin adding in your vegetables one at a time. First I added my carrots and then stirred them all together so the curry/saffron mix coated them. Then I added my different squashes (I used 3 different types: delicata, yellow, and zucchini) and stirred the mix all together. Then I added my white beans on top and stirred together.


Pour the chicken broth over the veggies mix. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for at least 30 minutes. You can simmer for up to 2 hours, but if you intend to simmer for this long, please turn heat down to low.

While the soup is simmering it's time to cook up our chicken sausage. I buy the package of 4 links and am really fond of the chicken and apple sausages because they add great flavor to this particular recipe. Most chicken sausage links are already pre-cooked but we want to sear the sides and warm up the sausage.

In a small to medium sized skillet, heat the sausage over medium heat until seared and warm.
Then add it to the simmering stew!

Toward the end of your simmering period add in the spinach and kale (or whatever greens you'd like to use). I remove the stems and either roughly chop these or rip them into pieces by hand.


Once everything is nice and warm it's ready to be scarfed!