Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry

This recipe is brought to you by the letter C and this original recipe here.

We've found ourselves eating more curries rather than stir fries these days (a favorite stand-by until my son's soy allergies made recipes with soy sauce more difficult), and while I can only use the word curry in the vaguest sense and not in any way resembling authentic Indian cooking, I think they're turning out pretty good. This is basically how I make most of mine, but rotate out whatever vegetables/beans/meat I have on hand at the moment.

1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tsp cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans/chickpeas (I actually made some in the slow cooker, so I don't know exactly how many I used)
1 head of cauliflower, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

Cook the onion and garlic in the oil until they are soft and on the verge of carmelization, add the spices and saute until you think you've almost burnt it (or in my case, until you're done chopping the cauliflower, which was close to the same amount of time).

Add the chickpeas, cauliflower, and bell pepper - cook for a few more minutes while your children distract you and you try to get the can of coconut milk open. Add the coconut milk, cover and simmer until the cauliflower is soft (10-15 minutes, I think - I actually lost track).

We ate it over brown rice, and the 2-year-old shoveled it in his mouth faster than I thought possible while the 3 year old almost completely ignored his entire plate. Overall, I considered it a success.

Cashew Chicken - Mali style

I found a random little "around-the-world" type cookbook at a yard sale a couple of years ago (by American University, with contributions, I'm assuming, from students and faculty), and drooled over it at the time, and then put it up to never look at it again. Until today! I was trying to find my granola recipe, and dug this little recipe book out of the stack and decided to look through it since several different ethnic cuisines are naturally allergen-free. And it didn't fail me. We found a peanut chicken stew from Mali that was easily adaptable and very good (the grownups really liked it, at least).

Tiga Degue
(modified from Tales of Taste: Famiy Recipes Around the World. Senem Baker, American University, June 2008)

2 lbs beef, lamb, or chicken, cut into small pieces (we used chicken)
2 bags frozen chopped spinach (we used about a pound of fresh chopped kale)
5 medium tomatoes, diced (we used about 5 tiny roma tomatoes from the garden and a can of diced tomatoes)
1 large onion, chopped (half an onion left in the fridge from something else)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter - the real stuff (we used homemade cashew butter, since our boy is only allergic to peanuts, not tree nuts)
salt to taste
pepper to taste (we also used some red pepper flakes to give it a bit more kick)
2 medium carrots, cut in 1" pieces (I have no idea how close to 1" my pieces were)
1 bag from chopped okra (optional - we didn't have any, so none for us)

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot (I think I used a little less than that, since I also had a little less meat than it called for, and a little less of everything else, too, come to think of it - maybe about 3/4 of the full amount). Add meat, salt, black pepper, and tomato, and let cook at medium heat for 10 minutes (I'll admit I didn't precisely time any of the simmering/cooking times - I just tossed the next round of stuff in when I was ready).
Add nut butter, stirring with wooden spatula to combine. Add carrots.
Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
Add greens, onion, garlic, and okra (if you have any). Reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 1 hour, uncovered. Stir occasionally.

Serve with steamed rice.

-Thyme

Experiment Polenta: Success!

I remember eating polenta at my Italian grandafather's house and not being particularly impressed with it. I learned to enjoy it more after having a variation of it in Africa, and especially after a fabulous polenta dish I had in Italy when I was visiting relatives. But I'd never actually tried to make it before. However, since our son was recently diagnosed with multiple food allergies, we've been getting more creative than usual in finding complete meals that we can enjoy together, and it seemed time to bring polenta to the table.

I used a basic recipe I found on foodnetwork, and tweaked it just a touch:

5 cups vegetable broth, 1 cup water
2 tsp salt
1 3/4 c. stoneground corn meal
1 tsp olive oil

Bring the broth/water to a boil, add salt, then whisk in corn meal. Stir it frequently for about 15-20 minutes until it's thick enough for a spoon to stand up in. Once it's cooked, turn off heat, add some olive oil (the recipe calls for butter...but milk happens to be one of the wee one's allergies) to make it creamy.

We served it with a marinara sauce (sausage, onions, garlic, crushed tomatoes, fresh sage, oregano, and parsley). The three year old wasn't interested, but the rest of us enjoyed it.

-Thyme