A Quick and Delicious Coconut Curry Soup

It’s the kick off to the MN Superbowl event, which means for those of us living here we stay home and try to avoid the madness, although I doubt that will be possible it’s everywhere.

I’m not a football or any other organized sports fan but I appreciate when people get excited about “their team.” I did go to a playoff game party but I brought a book. No one seemed to notice they were too busy bemoaning the Viking’s loss. It was a nice opportunity to catch up with friends and family and this time the weather cooperated so we were not driving home on snow covered roads. With that being said Mother Nature dumped over a foot of snow on us the next day - go figure. 

I’ve been in a cooking mood lately. Earlier this week I made an eggplant and chickpea curry, baked a batch of blueberry muffins and last night a delicious coconut curry soup with sweet potato noodles. My focus lately has been on meals that take approximately 30 minutes to make without owning an instant pot. 

The curry soup was a simple yet flavorful dish with onions, peppers, peas and a nice helping of sweet potato noodles. I opted to eliminate any oils from the dish to keep it “fresh” and cut down on the calories. I cooked the onions with just a little bit of water and roasted the spiralized sweet potato on my seasoned Pampered Chef stone sans oil as well - both turned out perfectly. 

The original recipe came from the Veggie Inspired blog. I made a few spice adjustments because I was looking for something with a bit more heat but the end result was delicious - this one definitely goes onto the favorites list. 

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato spiralized 

1 medium onion diced 

3 cloves of garlic - minced

1 Tbsp of fresh minced ginger

1 bell pepper - seeded and cut into thin strips

2 Tbsp curry powder

3 cups veggie broth - you can buy it or make your own with veggie scraps

1 can coconut milk

2/3 cup frozen green peas

juice of 1/2 lime

Cilantro

Cayenne pepper to taste - I used somewhere between 1/2 and 1 tsp

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place sweet potatoes on a large rimmed baking pan (I used the Pampered Chef large bar stone) in a single layer and bake until soft but not browned.

In a soup pot, saute the onions in 3 Tbsp water for 5 minutes over medium heat until softened. Add garlic, ginger and red bell pepper and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Mix in the curry powder, veggie broth, coconut milk and cayenne, stir to combine and simmer on medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes. 

When the veggies are cooked through add the green peas and lime juice and stir to combine. Add a few grinds of sea salt and pepper to taste. Check seasonings and adjust per your taste. 

To serve, place sweet potatoes in a large bowl and top with coconut curry soup. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and lime wedges (if desired). 

A Quick and Delicious Curry

Sometimes after a long day cooking isn’t what you have in mind but you still need to eat and man cannot live on veggie burgers alone - that’s where curry comes into play - who does not love curry?

One of my resolutions is to find more ways to make vegetarian dinners in under 30 minutes so that I can spend my evenings reading, gardening and hanging out with friends and family. Tonight I made a vegetarian curry in about 30 minutes - it was simple, flavorful and delicious; actually it’s going in the regular rotation. 

One of my favorite things from the garden last year was the Japanese eggplant; we used the long, skinny and bright purple produce for so many delicious dishes - our favorite was an appetizer that marinated the eggplant with balsamic vinegar and spices and then roasted it - it was hands down the best preparation I’ve had in a long time. 

Unfortunately we don’t get those amazing little eggplants here in Minnesota in the winter but we do get the beautiful large, deep purple variety that we can turn into so many dishes. Tonight I was feeling like a simple curry; onions, eggplant, chick peas, coconut milk and spices over a bed of nutty basmati rice - yum. 

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas

1 large eggplant

1 medium onion 

3 cloves garlic - minced

1 can coconut milk

2 T curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp paprika 

1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked basmati rice

Chopped cilantro 

Instructions

Chop the eggplant and onions into small pieces and put them in a large pan sprayed with olive oil. Cook for 5 minutes and add garlic. 

Drain and rise chickpeas and add them to the pan then add coconut milk, spices and salt and pepper - cover and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until eggplant and onions are tender. 

Serve curry over rice and enjoy! 

A Tasty Vegan Mushroom Pie

Happy New Year one week late. We’ve been sick here - since the Saturday before New Year’s Eve. If you’ve had it - I’m sorry if not, be grateful. The bright side is that we are on the mend. The cold has trickled to some light coughing and nose blowing, actually it was so nice out today that I bundled up and went for a walk - it was nice to breath fresh air for a change. 

We’ve been subsisting on Netflix, soup, scrambled eggs, water and juice with an occasional Cara Cara orange. I’m finally ready for some real food and I just happened to be feeling like a tasty mushroom pie with carrots, onions, celery and peas in a flaky crust served with a cabbage salad with oranges, apples and pomegranates. 

Pampered Chef has a new pie pan set - the pan bakes up 6 mini pies and you can totally cover or not cover the filling - I went with partial covering. 

Vegan Pie filling:

9 ounces portabella mushrooms quartered

2 medium carrots 1/2 inch dice

2 stalks celery - sliced 

1 large red onion - 1/2 dice

1 cup frozen peas

5 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Pie crust - standard 2 crust

Instructions

Place mushrooms in a bowl and add ground black pepper, salt to taste, and the all purpose flour. Toss well to mix. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large saucepan. Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute for a couple of minutes, or until the mushrooms start to soften and brown slightly. Remove to a bowl.

In the same pan, add 1 tsp of olive oil, the garlic, onions, carrots and celery. Add a pinch of salt and stir-fry, scraping the bottom of the pan for any bits of mushrooms or flour left behind. They will add wonderful flavor.

When the onions and carrots start to soften but not brown, add the mushrooms back into the pot along with the peas, the herbs and 1 cup hot water.

Stir well, bring to a boil, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Add more herbs (if desired) and stir well to mix. The stew should have thickened because of the flour you dredged the mushrooms in, if it is getting too thick, add some water to thin it out. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste and turn off the heat.

Assemble the Pies

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Roll out the pie crust and, using the Pampered Chef large pie cutter, cut out 6 circles and place each one of the lightly oiled pie wells. Spoon the mushroom filling into each pie and then cover the tops with 2 small circles of pie dough. Place the pie pan in the oven and bake 15 minutes at 425, turn down the heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

Remove from the oven, let stand 15 minutes before serving and enjoy!