This week I thought I'd let you all in on a little secret – the secret of instant vegetable curry. My in-laws all make this curry, and sometimes I do too, when I need to get food on the table quickly and with minimal effort. It's better tasting, healthier, and much cheaper than takeout. The secret? A bag of frozen mixed vegetables. No chopping required! You see, I understand. Sometimes you don't have any fresh vegetables in the house. Or you just don't have time to chop, sad as that is. Or maybe you're just afraid of what you might do if you were to find yourself holding a knife in your hand. No need to tempt fate. Simply stock a couple bags of mixed frozen vegetables in your freezer, and you're good to go in these types of situations.
I should mention that this curry is most definitely an Indian-American concoction, as for the most part frozen vegetables don't exist in India. This is because most people in India don't have refrigerators. Those who do have refrigerators often don't have a freezer, or if they do, the freezer is about the size of a glove compartment. At any rate, with black-outs being a common and regular occurrence across much of the country, I'm not sure you'd want to trust your fridge or freezer for saving much of anything for very long.
You might wonder, how do people live without a fridge? Well, the answer is simple. Dry goods like rice and lentils need no refrigeration. Milk comes every day and is boiled, and used in coffee or tea, or made into yogurt. You go to the market every day or so and get what vegetables you need, and prepare the exact amount to be eaten, so that there are no leftovers. That way, nothing spoils. If you do this enough, you get very, very good at estimating how much food to prepare. Also, if you are Indian, wasting food is something you just do. Not. Do. Period. This cultural imperative is a strong motivator. (America is diametrically opposed to this ethic: Here, wasting is something you just do do.)
I think having a refrigerator may actually contribute to food wasting, because of our tendency to put leftovers in a container which over the course of a week gets shuffled to the back of the fridge and then forgotten about until a month or so later, when we finally get around to throwing out everything that's gone bad. So, kill your refrigerator! They use too much electricity anyway.
I'm assuming you didn't listen to me and you still have your refrigerator/freezer. So you can stockpile a few bags of frozen vegetables and make this curry when you need something fast. I guess that's just how life is in America sometimes.
This recipe follows my formula for Universal Curry, which I wrote about back in April of last year. As I wrote back then, you can sub in any number of vegetables, and get tasty results.
Mixed Vegetable Curry
2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
1 tablespoon urad dal (black gram)*
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida powder*
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
2 pounds frozen mixed vegetables
salt
4 tablespoons dried, flaked coconut (unsweetened)
cayenne pepper to taste**
wedges of lemon or lime (optional)
Heat oil on medium high heat, along with mustard seeds and urad dal, in a large skillet or saute pan. When the urad dal is light brown and the mustard seeds begin to sputter and pop and turn grey, lower the heat and add the asafoetida and turmeric (if using). Mix quickly with mustard seeds and urad dal, then quickly add the mixed vegetables and stir to distribute oil and seasoning. Add salt. Cook uncovered on medium heat until the vegetables reach the desired tenderness. Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom of the pan occasionally to avoid sticking. Add the coconut and cook for a couple minutes more. Add more salt to taste if needed. Separate the portion of vegetables you will feed your children, then add desired amount of chili powder to the vegetables remaining in the pan and cook a minute longer. Serve with wedges of lemon or lime. This is optional, but sometimes a little zing of lemon or lime juice helps to brighten the flavors. This dish goes well with dal or sambar, and rice. It also would be nice with chapathis, or pongal, for something simple.
(You can try adding other spices depending on the vegetable. For carrots, I usually add some powdered cumin and coriander as I add the asafoetida. Also consider leaving out the coconut depending on the vegetable. For example, coconut works well with carrots, but I don't like it with eggplant as much.)
* Just get yourself on over to an Indian grocery (or DeKalb Farmer’s Market if near
**If you are cooking for people who don’t mind a bit of spiciness, you may add the cayenne powder at the same time as you add the asafoetida.
Posts
6 comments:
I love it! I've been wanting to write a post "in praise of frozen food" for a while now.
You're totally right about refrigeration leading to increased waste. If you want to totally geek out about the structure of the food system, our dietary habits, and how the two coevolve check out this report, "Cooking Up a Storm," from the Food Climate Research Network in the UK:
http://www.fcrn.org.uk/fcrnPublications/index.php?id=6
It really blew my mind!
Thanks for the link. I'm always up for geeking out. I sometimes think about what would happen if everyone in the world who doesn't own a fridge suddenly owned one. I do think of all the mountains in West Virginia and Kentucky that are being leveled, just so we can keep our spoiled food cold. And I actually have toyed with the idea of not getting rid of my fridge, but replacing it with a tiny one, just to keep milk and a few things. But that would only work if we never want to sell our home, 'cause no one wants a tiny fridge. Sometimes it's hard to be that much of a non-conformist. This world is just crazy, that's all I can say.
Lovely post, it really is sad to think about how much we waste. Will definitely try out the recipe soon, frozen veggies are so handy!
Here in my country, ROmania, we do the same. We have a lot of food in refrigerator, but we forget to eat it. And after a couple of days we need to throw it.
Jenny... 2 dumbo questions...sorry to ask... i got dried dal (they look like split peas) i have to cook 'em first, right? Would it be OK to use rice instead of dal (or am i missing the point)? thanks Love your posts Scott, in Decatur.
Hi Scott,
I can totally see how it might not be clear. The tablespoon of urad dal is actually NOT cooked, but thrown into the oil dry. As the dal fries, it soaks up the oil and flavors of the seasoning. When the curry is done, you have little crunchy bits of flavorful dal. Urad dal are fairly small white lentils. If you have something the size of split peas, it will be crunchier and more noticeable. But not necessarily a bad thing. In potato curry my mother-in-law often uses dry chana dal, and those are basically yellow split peas.
I am not sure what would happen if you used rice! My guess is if you used uncooked rice, it would be too hard. A little bit of cooked rice might be good, but most likely you would be serving with rice anyway, so would be a bit redundant! Anyway, thanks for asking! Good to know folks are out there reading.
Post a Comment