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.

Zucchini Eggplant Tomato Sauce over Ravioli

I can add this to the list of delicious tomato sauces I have made so far. I took one small white onion and sauteed it in a pan with olive oil until lightly brown and add about 4 small garlic cloves, minced. I added two finely chopped small zucchinis and cooked them for about 5 minutes. I added one small Spanish eggplant, finely chopped. Add a handful of finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and heat them for a few minutes before adding in a can of diced tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and a handful of finely chopped fresh basil leaves. Simmer sauce for a few minutes until nice and thick. This time I served it over butternut squash ravioli and smoked mozzarella ravioli, because that was what I had in the freezer from the Pastaria Seconda at the North Market in Columbus. I served it with large slices of fresh mozzarella and I let it get nice and soft before digging in.

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.

Cherry Brie Ravioli with Honey Caramel Sauce

Once upon a time, I went to the North Market in Columbus and got a bunch of ravioli from Pastaria Seconda, and then I ate most of them and went back for more. Somehow one bag of ravioli got left by the wayside. Before Passover, I went through my fridge and freezer to clean out the chumetz and I decided it was finally time to make the ravioli. I don't know if it was because it was in the freezer too long or because that's just how the ravioli was made, but I was hoping that the Cherry Brie Ravioli would be more smooth and creamy, like brie dis. However, it wasn't, but it was still very tasty. For a sauce I thought about what I like with my brie, and I love honey with brie. I decided to make a honey caramel sauce for the brie. I put 2 tsp butter and 4 tsp honey in a small saucepan and cooked it down to a smooth caramel. Overall, it was pretty tasty!

Kiwifruit Avocado Guacamole

Twice now, we have gone to a fantastic restaurant in Cleveland called Paladar. It is a Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar and they make daily special guacamole to order. I was thinking of something to make for a party and I decided to go Paladar style and spice up some guacamole. I thought maybe something sweet could be a special mix, so I used kiwifruit. It turned out to be such a nice sweet and savory side dish, I couldn't wait to share it! Something else to be aware of is that it didn't turn brown nearly as quickly as other guacamole do. I do believe that it had to do more with the kiwifruit than with the lime juice since I didn't use much lime juice and it stayed bright green even 3 days later. To serve, I placed the guacamole in a bowl and made a ring of fresh cut tomato around the rim to give it a little color.

Kiwifruit and Avocado Guacamole
4 avocados
3 kiwifruit
2 tsp olive oil
1 small/medium lime, squeezed
salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder to taste

Mix all ingredients together to desired consistency and serve with chips or even eat with a spoon! Garlic powder could be traded for fresh minced garlic. ~125 calories per serving, recipe makes 12 servings.

Whipped Marshmallow Fluff Cups

My dear friend started having parties for the TV show Once Upon a Time on ABC, which means you should be expecting creatively themed desserts or hors d'oeuvreeach Sunday until the season is over. In this last week's episode, some interesting changes had occurred. I saw this preview at the end of last week's episode and it inspired me to make something that mirrors the change "from white as snow to dark as night." In the spirit of that, I made these: Snow White's Dark Chocolate Marhsmallow Mousse Cups.
 
The first thing I did, was I took 1 cup heavy whipping cream and whipped it up a bit. I gently added some of the mousse powder that came in the dobla Belgian Chocolate Dessert Kit, about 1/2 the package. Once it got a little thick, I added in a 7 oz. package of Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme and whipped it up to a thick creamy filling. I filled each chocolate cup that came in the dobla Dessert Kit with the mousse in a piping bag with the tip cut off and topped it with a little shaved dark chocolate. The idea behind the whole dessert was that Snow White was the super soft and sweet white cream mousse, and she was inside a dark chocolate cup of anger being topped with dark chocolate.  

All kinds of substitutions could be made on this recipe. For example, smaller cups could be used, such as Dobla Dark Belgian Chocolate Cordial & Toasting Cups, Kirkland Signature Belgian Chocolate Cups, or Lang Chocolates Milk Chocolate Dessert Cups. Any store bought mousse mix could be used and add it in gently until it has the desired consistency (somewhere around 4-5 tbsp) and you have the freedom to use chocolate or a fruit flavored mousse.
Snow White's Dark Chocolate Marhsmallow Mousse Cups. ~150 calories per serving, recipe makes 12 servings (which can be easily shared with someone nice! That is of course if you are able to let someone else take a nibble from yours.)