Curry Cabbage and Chicken

And yet another curry. This one was inspired by the bag of chopped cabbage I received (thanks Efrat!) that day and I decided that I would try a recipe I had seen for Curry Cabbage but I would serve it with chicken and do it over egg noodles, to break up the cabbage feel and flavor a little. Overall, it was a great success and it is a recipe I would try again. I got the recipe for the cabbage from Cooking Light magazine, found on  MyRecipes.com. Of course, I tweaked the recipe a great deal, but that was my inspiration.

Curry Cabbage and Chicken over Egg Noodles

1 yellow onion, diced

1 package large cut egg noodles

1 tbsp minced ginger

8 cups Osem chicken consomme

2 minced garlic cloves

1 pound chicken breast, skinless boneless

1 shallot, diced

8 cups chopped green cabbage

2 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp whole grain mustard

I heated the oil in a large pan over medium heat. I added the shallots, onion, and garlic (super-finely chopped) and cooked until browned. I added the mustard and the curry and cooked for one minute, stirring constantly. I stirred in the cabbage and 1 cup of the chicken consomme, stirred and cooked to desired tenderness. 

While this was cooking about, I brought the rest of the chicken consomme to a boil and cooked the noodles in it. I heated another pan and placed small cut up pieces of chicken and let it cook in the pan. I added a bit of curry, mustard, and consomme (to keep it from drying out to quickly) to the chicken, and cooked it until it was finished.

I removed the noodles and placed them at the bottom of the plate, topped it with the cabbage, and finished it off with the chicken pieces. It was so tasty and the little whole grain mustard pieces were a delightfully spicy surprise each time I bit into one! It gave the whole dish a little needed crunch.

Curry Cabbage and Chicken over Egg Noodles ~340 calories per serving, recipe makes 6 servings

Vegetable Curry Pie

Having a pouch of curry powder in the house is resulting in a lot of curry based dishes. Another thing that greatly influenced my recent creation was an abundance of fresh vegetables in the house. I had some frozen pie crusts (quiche style) in the freezer, and I decided to go from there.

Please note that this recipe made 2 full pies. One was eaten and the other was frozen.

Vegetable Curry Pie
2 frozen pie crusts
3-4 golden potatoes
1 head cauliflower
1 sweet onion
3 garlic cloves
3-4 carrots
1 cup frozen peas
curry powder, to taste (I think I used about 1 tsp, I didn't measure it though)
1 tsp olive oil
5 bottles of coconut water
Cumin seed infused cheese (a light cheese, like gouda, but un-identified other than 'Cheese with Cumin')

In a large saucepan, bring the coconut water to a simmer. One at a time, giving each time to soften in the water, add the diced potatoes, chopped carrots, and chopped cauliflower. In another saucepan, brown the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Once they are browned, add the onions and garlic to the potato/cauliflower/carrot mix. Add the peas and the curry powder and allow to cook for about 10-15 minutes until nice and thick. While the vegetables are thickening, bake the pie crusts as suggested on the packaging (I did mine for 15 minutes) and then fill the pans with the vegetable mixture, top with shredded cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown. Slice and serve!


Vegetable Curry Pie ~388 calories per serving, makes 8 servings in total, 4 servings in each pie.

Coconut Curry Fish with Rice Noodles over Lettuce

In the summer of 2011, my family and I went down to Emerald Isle, NC for a family vacation. On that trip, I had my first hush puppies and enjoyed some truly tasty fresh fish dishes. I had key lime pie that was to die for, and I made a long list of restaurants to visit next time we go. Well, the time is coming up soon when we  will be returning back to the beach and the biggest food item I am looking forward to most is having the opportunity to enjoy another taste of a dish I have been trying to recreate for the last year. I don't remember what the dish is actually called and I can't find the dish on their website (Oh, I sure hope it is still there!), but the name of the restaurant is California Roll Cafe. I have tried many variations of the dish, but I am getting to the point where I'm not sure what the original tasted like. Anyway, I will get it again and I will ask for tips. In the meantime, I think this version was one of the best I've made yet, so I will put it all out here now and I will make a second post that is more accurate to the actual recipe later on.


Coconut Curry Fish with Rice Noodles over Lettuce

Open a can of reduced fat coconut milk and soak a large piece of fish (hallibut works great, but so does any other white fish) for about 4-6 hours in the coconut milk. When you are ready to cook the fish, take it out of the fridge and add some fresh ground ginger, curry powder, salt & pepper and let simmer with the lid on for about 5 minutes. While it is cooking, julienne 1-2 carrots and add them to the fish, cover and simmer for about 5 more minutes. With one minute to go, add some chopped green onion so they just get soft. While all of this is happening, bring water with chicken broth (I use Osem Chicken Consomme) to a boil and add a package of rice noodles.

Take fresh lettuce, I prefer bibb because of the hearty texture and soft flavor, and create a bed with it. Place a nest of rice noodles on top of the lettuce. Place a piece of fish on top of the noodles and generously cover the dish with the coconut curry sauce used to cook the fish. I have tried it with sprouts as well, but I find it difficult to eat the whole package of sprouts before it goes bad.

Coconut Curry Fish with Rice Noodles over Lettuce ~209 calories per serving, recipe makes 4 servings.

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi Cheese

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi

I used Seeds of Change Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce as my shining star tonight at dinner. I had imagined using the sauce with pan fried tofu and halloumi cheese, served over a nest of rice noodles.

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi Cheese, serves 4 as a main course
8oz Rice Noodles (1 package)
1 full jar Seeds of Change Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce
14oz Extra Firm Tofu
1 package (9 slices in a solid block) Halloumi Cheese, cubed

Lightly fry the tofu in cubes. Add the cubed halloumi cheese for a minute to heat it up before adding the simmer sauce. While they are cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the rice noodles, drain, and build nests on the plate. Add the simmer sauce to the tofu and cheese, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve on top of the bed of noodles.

The sauce had a nice sweet tomato flavor to it and a very mild heat, which is good for me. I think that I had a really good idea and I was really happy that it all worked out just as I had planned. It was my first time making something with halloumi cheese, as I have only every had it grilled in restaurants. At least I know I have had it, but honestly, I can't remember and I was a bit nervous opening the package as I didn't remember how it tasted.

I almost feel like a real chef who can come up with my own recipe ideas. Now, I just have to learn how to make my own Tikka Masala sauce. I can't imagine that it would be too difficult, but I just have to give it a try one day.

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi Cheese: ~600 calories per serving, recipe makes 4 servings as a main course with no other sides.

Trying Indian & Lebanese

I pulled out "The World of Street Food: Easy Quick Meals to Cook at Home" by Troth Wells today to plan what I was going to make for the week. I decided on two similarly flavored (I had hoped, and I was right) dishes and I served them both with naan. It was pav bhaji from India and batata bil kizbara from Lebanon. Basically, the pav was a cauliflower curry and the batata was potatoes with seasoning. I changed the recipes a little bit and I will write the recipe as I did it, not as the recipe was published.

 Thanks Joe for the super awesome cookbook!

Pav bhaji, makes 8 servings
2 tbsp butter

Indian & Lebanese with Naan

1 large yellow onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup potatoes, diced
1 whole head cauliflower florets, about 2 cups
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup thawed frozen peas
1/2 tsp turmeric (I didn't have any, but I intent to next time, so I used saffron and mustard powder and it was pretty good)
1 tbsp curry powder

Indian Pav bhaji

salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp in total)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Melt butter in large pan, cook onion and pepper until soft, add garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes for 10 minutes and parboil the potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and peas in a small amount of water at the same time. Drain vegetables and keep the water on the side. Add the vegetables to the tomato mixture with the spices in it. As the vegetables are cooking, add the parboil water a little at a time until a thick broth is in the pan. Serve with cilantro on top.

Lebanese Batata bil kizbara

Batata bil kizbara (I doubled the amount of potatoes but not everything, but I see now that I should have), makes 6 servings
2 lbs potatoes, cubed
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
4 tbsp cilantro
lemon wedges
oil salt

Parboil the potatoes until fork tender. Heat oil in a large frying pan and fry potato. Add garlic, paprika, coriander, sesame seeds, and 3 tbsp of the cilantro. Season with salt and serve with 1 tbsp cilantro and serve with lemon wedges.

Pav bhaji: ~120 calories per serving, recipe makes 6 servings
Batata bil kizbara: ~80 calories per serving, recipe makes 8 servings