Curry up your life

We can all buy a jar of currypaste, coconutmilk, put them together with vegetables and meat and your curry is done. Easy, cheap and tasteful. Even I started out that way and still I use the premade paste. It's just easier and always successful.

For years and years I didn't know the differences between a lot of curries. I mostly ate Thai or Southeast Asian curries. I knew they made curries in India, but in my opinion the only difference was they will add dairy instead of coconutmilk. During my visit to New York in the summer of 2012, I had my first Indian dinner. In a nice traditional Indian restaurant somewhere in Brooklyn. Since then I'm wondering about their cuisine, wondering about other kinds of curries. Going outside of my comfort zone.

This post is not about making the complicated and intriguing already premade and easy to buy curry pastes. This is about taking a whole new look on the curry, with different nationalities, flavors and star-players for your curries.

Sindhian Indian Lentil curry
for 2-3 persons
125 grams of red or yellow lentils, washed and soaked for 1 hour
5 cm of fresh ginger, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of tumeric
1 big tomato, chopped
2 teaspoons of cumin
6 curry leaves
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Optinal: a bunch of fresh cilantro

Rinse the lentils, put in a big pan together with the ginger, chilli, tumeric, cumin, tomato and garlic. Add 250-300 ml of water and bring to a boil. Tear the curry leaves and add to the pan. Simmer for around 20-30 minutes or until the lentils are cooked and yellow. The substance will start to be more creamy when the first lentils start to fall apart.

When chilled down the curry will become thicker. Chop the cilantro and add as a garnish. Serve warm, best on rice.

Beetroot curry, lentil curry served with poppadums, pickled vegetables and sauce.

Sri Lankan Beetroot curry 
for 4 persons
600 grams of beetroots
3 tablespoons of coconut oil or other vegetable oil.
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 cinnamon stick, smashed
12 curry leaves
1-2 green chillies, chopped
1-2 onions, chopped
2 gloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of currypowder
1 teaspoon of cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon of tumeric
1 can of chopped tomatoes
Squeeze of lime
Optional: 200 grams of carrot

Peel the beetroots and carrots. Cut them in 7-8mm thick slices, then cut them into 7-8mm strips. Heat the oil on medium high heat, in a high frying pan or a wok. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, the cinnamon and curry leaves, saute until the mustard seeds stop popping. Add the chilli, onion and chilli and saute until soft, it will take around 5 minutes. Add the curry powder, cayenne powder and tumeric. Saute for a few seconds, then adding the beetroots, carrots, tomato and a teaspoon of salt.

Cover and let it braise for 15 minutes, on medium high heat. Stir regularly, until the vegetables are just cooked and still a bit crunchy. Add some water if you feel the vegetables are sticking to the bottom of the pan. When done, turn of the heat and remove the cover, add a squeeze of lime and serve.

Both curries are great flavored and giving everybody a new view on lentils and beetroots. Great with rice and crispy poppadums. (Poppadums are Indian (mostly lentil flour based) crisps. Pop them in the microwave for 30-40 seconds, or heat in a dry skillet.) These warm curries will heat up your life and dinner. Suitable for rainy and cold Dutch autumn days like today, to warm you up. Enjoy!