Massaman beef curry

Massaman beef curry.

My ongoing project to perfect my favorite restaurant dishes is going along swimmingly!

My third attempt at making massaman curry was quite an improvement over the previous attempts.

I have discovered that fresh spices can make a world of difference.

Left to right: Red curry paste, cinnamon sticks, fresh green cardamon pods.

While I was able to find the green cardamon pods at a teeny tiny Indian market just round the corner, I could not find whole star anise anywhere. Oh, well I can just use the search for star anise as a nice excuse for exploring more local markets:-)

On to to the recipe:

Massaman beef curry 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs of beef stew meat
1 14oz can of light coconut milk
1 cup of water
2 small shallots, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 yellow onion, quartered
1 Tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp of tamarind paste
3 Tbsp of massaman curry paste
1/2 tsp of red thai curry paste
2 cinnamon sticks
5 green cardamon pods
5 basil leaves
1 Tbsp of peanut oil

Instructions:

Combine the cubed beef with the 3 Tbsp of massaman curry and set aside.

Add oil to the pan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add in the cardamon pods, cinnamon sticks and red curry paste. Fry for about 2 minutes until the spices become aromatic.

Add in the chopped shallots and onion and allow to cook for another 2 minutes or until the onions are golden brown. 

Toss in the beef and curry mixture and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and allow to simmer for 25 - 30 minutes. The curry is done when the potatoes and carrots are fork tender.

Enjoy!


 

Trying something new

Potatoes, carrots, broccoli rabe, onion, red pepper and mushrooms in a soy glaze.

Pretty much all I have been wanting lately is vegetables. This, in an of itself, is not a bad thing. But when you are trying to make sure you get enough protein everyday? 

The constant craving for tons of veggies is not really supporting my protein plan.

My breakfast was delicious. I set the potatoes, carrots and broccoli rabe into the steamer.  While they steamed I put a little olive oil and butter on low heat and tossed in some chopped onions to caramelize.

When the onions were just starting to caramelize I tossed in some chopped red pepper and some chopped mushrooms.

I let that simmer for a few minutes then I added the rest of the veggies from the steamer and splashed everything with some soy sauce and gave it a stir.

A very yummy (if lacking in protein) breakfast.

I will have to try and eat this a little later:

Here is a shot of Connor, the sweetie who is still recuperating, showing avid interest in my protein bar.

Why is he lusting after my protein bar?

You just can't keep that guy away from anything remotely related to peanut butter.

 I will have to make him a peanut butter treat later.

Oh, and the new thing I am trying today? Bodyrock.tv

I have seen people mentioning the workouts on their blogs and while I was not that impressed at first (the site is heavily geared towards being eye candy for guys IMO) when I stopped to actually check out the workouts I was fairly impressed.

And I like the idea of doing a short, intense workout as opposed to hours in the weight room.

Has anyone else tried the Bodyrock.tv workouts?

Vegan scalloped potatoes

Vegan scalloped potatoes.

Wow, what a morning it has been. I was up all night with Abby trying to figure out some way to make her feel more comfortable.

We had an appt. to see our regular vet early this morning. And she took one look at Abby (we have been going to her for over 15 years so she knows us well) and said a big upping of pain medicine was needed immediately. Oh.thank.goodness!

The vet seems to think it may be back pain instead of tooth pain. All I know is that Abby, for the first time in days, is relaxed and sleeping like a log. 

But back to the really interesting stuff - the potatoes.

I started off with a mix of yukon gold, red and russet potatoes.

Slice them nice and thin.

Grease a pan with some Earth Balance spread.

The ingredients for the layering: Shallots, garlic and nutritional yeast.

And the layering begins:

A sprinkle of shallots, garlic and black pepper.

A sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

Ok, right here is where I would have changed things. I went way too overboard on the nutritional yeast. I would use a light sprinkling not the avalanche of yeast that I used. Don't worry I corrected for it in the recipe included below.

Then I made what is essentially a white sauce with soymilk, Earth Balance spread, Tofutti cream cheese and salt and pepper.

This is also where I would change things. I carefully tried to pour the sauce so I wouldn't disturb any of the precious nutritional yeast.

And, meh, there is really no need to be fussy at this step. You, of course will only have put a light sprinkling of nutritional yeast on top so you can feel free to just dump it on top.

I didn't end up using the whole pot of sauce because I thought it was going to be too much (and, yes, I was wrong about this too).

Into the oven went this and out came this:

Garnished with a sprinkle of sweet paprika.

 Now I do think it came out looking quite pretty. And I am sure most people would be very happy with it at this point. 

I was not. In my opinion this should be a comfort dish and it just wasn't creamy enough for my tastes. Yup, I should have put in the whole pan of sauce. The potatoes soaked up a lot more than I expected while they were cooking.

So this morning I made more sauce, this time adding some white wine and other seasonings, poured it over what was left of the scalloped potatoes.

And, yes, I went a bit overboard on the sauce. But this sauce came out really, really good. The recipe I have included should put your dish right in the middle between a little dry and too over sauced. In other words, hopefully, it will turn out perfect.

Vegan Scalloped Potatoes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 large russet potato
1 large yukon gold potato
1 large red potato
2 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast
2 cups of unsweetened soymilk
1/2 Tbsp. of all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. of Tofutti sour cream
1 Tbsp. of Tofutti cream cheese
1 1/2 tsp. of Earth Balance Spread
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
1/2 tsp. of onion powder
1/2 tsp. of dried parsley
2 Tbsp. of dry white wine
salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Finely slice the potatoes and the two shallots. Finely mince the garlic. Grease a 61/2"X81/2" pan with some of the Earth Balance spread (if you are using a 9"X12" pan you will need to increase the amounts a little bit).

Start your first layer by overlapping the potato slices to cover the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with a bit of the shallots and garlic and add a pinch of ground black pepper.  Sprinkle on 1tsp. of the nutritional yeast and then begin the next layer. After the third layer is complete, top with a light sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

Next, pour the soymilk in a pan and whisk in the flour. Add the Tofutti sour cream, Tofutti cream cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, white wine and a dash of salt and pepper. Let the mixture come to a simmer and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to thicken. Pour the sauce over the potatoes. The sauce should come almost to the top of the potatoes. It is fine if the sauce covers them a bit.

Cover the dish with tin foil and place it in the oven for 1 hour. After 1 hour, uncover the dish and sprinkle with any vegan cheese of your choice. I chose to just dot the top with some Earth Balance spread. Let it continue to cook for 5-10 more minutes. Take it out of the oven and let cool. When the dish is no longer hot - serve up with a sprinkle of sweet paprika for garnish.

Enjoy!