East Meets West Red Curry

I made an AMAZING curry for Steve and I last week. He was craving braised beef short ribs and I was craving Thai curry and Indian curry…. I really couldn’t decide. So I decided to combine them all into one amazing dish.

East meets west red curry

We devoured this Thai-Indian fusion… I had no idea it would be so delicious!!!

Ingredients

Serves 3-4.

1 1/2 pounds beef short ribs
1 head of cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 of a large eggplant ( 1/4 inch slices if you’re going to grill it, 1/2 inch cubes if you’re going to roast it)
1 1/2 onions, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups coconut milk
3 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon cayenne
fresh ground sea salt and black pepper to taste
3 dried bay leaves (2 fresh if you have them)
1-2 star anise ( I love it, so I put two in, but one is probably plenty)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable oil
2/3 cup of green onions, 1/4 inch slices
3/4 cup of fresh basil, sliced
homemade red curry paste

Red Curry Paste

5-6 dried thai chilis, soaked in water for 15 minutes
1 1/2 tablespoons lemongrass, chopped
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons galangal, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, chopped
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 shallot, minced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions for Curry Paste

1. Combine all Red Curry Ingredients in a mortar and pestle, and pound it until it’s a paste like consistency.

2. Will make between two and three Tablespoons of curry paste. I used all of it for the East Meets West Red Curry.

Instructions for East Meets West Red Curry

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and move the oven rack to the middle.

2. Sprinkle eggplant with salt and place it on a cutting board lined with paper towels, this will draw some of the moisture out of the eggplant.

3. Prepare your short ribs. On a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (and lightly greased) place your short ribs. Next, season the short ribs on all sides with the cumin seeds, cayenne, garam masala and salt and pepper and really rub the spices into the short ribs.

4. If you will be roasting your eggplant toss it lightly in oil, salt and pepper and go ahead and place it on the cookie sheet with the short ribs.

5. Cook the short ribs (and eggplant if you’re roasting it) for about 20 minutes, until the short ribs are browned.

6. While the short ribs are cooking you can grill your eggplant, brush it with oil and season with salt and pepper before placing it on the grill. Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side on medium-high heat.

7. Now is the time to prepare your red curry paste, if you haven’t already, this takes about 10 minutes.

8. In a dutch oven (over low-medium heat), add one tablespoon of oil, tomato paste, and the red curry paste. Saute for 1-2 minutes to bring out the flavors and then add the onions. Saute the onions for about 4 minutes until soft and then add the garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes.

9. Add in the coconut milk, beef broth, bay leaves, star anise and fish sauce. Bring to a simmer.

10. Remove the short ribs from the oven and place them in the dutch oven with the curry (set aside the eggplant for later) and turn the oven temperature down to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

11. Cover the dutch oven and place it in the oven for 3 hrs.; after about 1 1/2 hours you may need to rotate the short ribs to make sure they are evenly cooking in the curry. If you do it right the meet will fall right off of the bone.

12. Carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven and put it on the stovetop on medium/medium-high heat. Skim as much fat as you can off of the top. Add the cauliflower and eggplant and cook for another 5-6 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender.

13. Reduce the heat and stir in the basil, green onions, salt and pepper. A squeeze of lime is delicious too.

14. It’s finally done!!! And it’s so worth the wait.

Serve with brown rice.


Toasted Hazelnut and Cauliflower Soup

Cauliflower hazelnut soup

Steve and I are always trying to find ways to incorporate more veggies into our diet and we’ve been on a cauliflower kick lately. We’ve made a cauliflower pizza crust…yum; and now we’ve made this AMAZING soup…I think it’s just as good as the fennel kabocha squash soup that we make, but this soup cooks up way faster. The hazelnuts really give this soup a rich, creamy texture. It’s perfect for this cold, winter weather we’ve been having in Bend.

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, florets only
3-4 large shallots, sliced into 1/4 inch ribbons
2/3 cup toasted hazelnuts
4 roasted garlic cloves, minced
7-8 cups of chicken broth (veg broth would be tasty too)
1/2 T. olive oil
2 T. butter (totally not necessary, but I love butter)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Toast the hazelnuts in the toaster oven or regular oven. Our toaster oven gets nice and hot and it took less than 8 minutes to get them a nice golden color. Be careful not to overcook (ie. burn) the hazelnuts. Once the hazelnuts are toasted remove the skins by rolling them between your hands.

2. Heat oil and butter on medium in a large soup pot. Add shallots and saute until soft and then add garlic being careful not to burn the garlic.

3. Add the cauliflower florets to the pot and saute for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Now it’s time to add the chicken broth. Start with 5-6 cups. Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. Depending on how much liquid cooks off you may want to add another cup or two of broth, so your soup won’t turn out like baby food.

5. Once the cauliflower is tender and the broth has simmered down let it cool slightly, then add it to your blender or food processor with the toasted hazelnuts. Blend until the soup reaches your desired consistency. We were able to put the entire batch into our blender, but it might be necessary to blend in batches.

 

Salmon Carrot Cauliflower Burger

curried salmon burger

Our curried salmon burger with fried green tomatoes and baked sweet potato fries

The patty itself is gluten and dairy free and is AWESOME on a bed of arugula greens. Steve and I came across this recipe when trying to find a recipe for a friend with gluten and dairy intolerances and fell in love with it ourselves. This recipe from Sprout is one of many delicious ones on her site. She also has lots of info about eating healthier and about cleanses that are both healthy and safe.

Recipe

Makes 6-8 patties.

3 carrots, peeled
1/2 head cauliflower
1/2 cup almond Flour
1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 pound salmon, cooked
1 tablespoon high heat coconut or grapeseed oil

Instructions

1. Pulse carrots and cauliflower in food processor until evenly grated.

2. Combine carrots, cauliflower, salmon, almond meal, curry, and cinnamon and stir well.

3. Heat oil in a medium saute pan on medium-high heat.

4. Form patties and cook in the pan, 8-10 minutes on the first side and 5-8 on the second side. These patties have a tendency to fall apart if handled too much, so make sure to not mess with them too much after they’ve been put in the pan.

5. Serve on a whole wheat or onion bun with fresh arugula, onion, and a dollop of lemon curry remoulade or on a bed of arugula with a simple lemon vinaigrette. We had a few green tomatoes in the garden and had gotten a few sweet potatoes in our Organics to You shipment, so we whipped up some fried green tomatoes and baked sweet potato fries.

Lemon Curry Remoulade

4 tablespoon mayo
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
dash of paprika
1 garlic clove,minced
sea salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and season to taste.