Squash, Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Curry

I'm back!! 17 weeks pregnant and I've renewed our subscription to Food Connect after my trip to the USA. It's great to feel my energy coming back. First trimester was quite a fog. Still, I'm not quite back to normal, so we're going to try buying a mini-box for a month.


How inspiring! Those green things are like zucchini, but so fresh and sweet. I'm calling them 'squash'. Please let me know if you know a more precise name for them. I wanted to honour the cauliflower tonight. This dish is a warming, winter curry full of comfort. Even if you skip on some of the spices, make sure you use the cardamom.

Ingredients

20g butter (or ghee)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 small red thai chillies (makes it quite hot)

1-3 cloves of garlic minced or chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander seed
1 tsp cardamom seeds (or six bruised pods)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp tumeric

1 can coconut cream
1/2 cup stock
1/4 cup dried shitake mushroom slices (use fresh mushrooms if preferred)

2 sweet potatoes chunks roughly peeled
1/2 head cauliflower broken into small florets
1 can chickpeas
2 squash sliced

1 tbsp palm sugar
3cm x 1cm lemon zest in strips
Lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

Paneer cheese cubes (or haloumi)

Method


Cook onion on low heat with the oil. Add chillies after 5mins. Add spices after 10 mins. Cook until fragrant (1-2 mins).


Add a can of coconut cream (not coconut milk--you want the richest stuff they have). I used Trident coconut cream. Add stock, shitake mushrooms and sweet potato cook for 15mins. I love using dried mushrooms to add a thick umami flavour to dishes. You can grind them up in a spice grinder to really release a gorgeous mushroom flavour. I'm also being conservative with my fresh mushrooms. I'm holding on to them for use later in the week.


Add cauliflower and chickpeas. Cook for another 10mins.


Add squash, palm sugar and lemon zest.


Cook until squash is tender (approx. 5mins). Add lemon juice salt and pepper to taste.


Serve with fried paneer cheese. To cook cheese, heat up some vegetable oil (not olive) and drop cheese cubes into the oil for a minute or two until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.

Yummo! We don't have much of a winter in Brissy, but it's cold enough to enjoy a cheesy, flavourful winter curry. I hope you're all snuggled in!

BBQ Roast Kangaroo

Sunday is a good day to do some work on my PhD. After messing about for the morning I cycled off to the office with my lunchbox full of treats.



Banana cake, figs, banana, honey-encrusted macadamia nuts and apple slices. I took a side jar of yogurt to schlorp over the top of the fruit when I got to work. Yummo!

For dinner Morgan and I made BBQ roast kangaroo. We cooked the mini-roasts by searing the roo on both sides for a couple of minutes and then covering the lid of the BBQ for 25mins on a low heat. Once off the heat wrap in foil and let sit for 10mins before slicing. Cooking times are similar to the same amount of medium-rare beef, but without the damage to the Aussie environment! :)

I served roasted sweet potato and butternut pumpkin in rosemary and olive oil (30mins on 180 degree oven). I made a quick rocket salad with lime juice and olive oil. Plus chickpeas and quinoa on the side.

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1 tin chickpeas
2 cups beef stock
3 tbsp sour cream
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 red onion finely chopped
handful of olives finely chopped

method
simmer quinoa, chickpeas 1/2 garlic and stock for 5mins (covered). Add red onion, sour cream and remaining garlic and simmer for 10mins. Take off heat and add olives and pepper to taste.


Serve roast kangaroo with sides, cranberry sauce and Dijon mustard


What you're going to see on this blog is some repetition of ingredients. This is what happens when you're a real person with a finite kitchen and fresh produce.


Some items get used over and over again until they're used up. Sorry if it seems predictable! luckily we get a new box of exciting ingredients each week to experiment with.


Speaking of exciting ingredients. I've begun storing my vegetables inside these crisper snap-lock bags. They let the ethylene out, which helps prevent spoilage. I reuse the same bags over and over again. They really help keep all my produce fresh.