Dinners & Dragons: Vegetable Curry

Some nights you just end up needing to have a warm meal and company. With Game Master Charlie taking his grandkiddo Jay to their concert and a few of our players away this week, our session was cancelled in lieu of food. And then there was the request for a recipe, so here it goes!

I make curry kind of a lot. It lasts a while, has plenty of time flexibility, and tends to make people pretty happy. I put a little extra effort into this one since I would hate to sour any of my witchy players ahead of Halloween, and it seemed to go noticed. I've made a few notes if you want to go the extra mile, but you certainly don't need to.

Image Credit: http://nyoutritious.com (totally spaced on food pictures, though it presented well!

Vegetable Curry

Great with brown rice, naan, paneer, and other add-ons.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 70 minutes, lots of downtime though, and it can sit after this

Makes a lot of servings, probably ten or twelve typical servings.

Ingredients

2-3 Tbsp coconut oil (or oil of choice)

1 large onions OR 2 medium onions, one of which should be red, diced

10 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

3 Tbsp ginger, chopped

2-3 Tbsp curry powder

1 Tbsp cilantro paste OR 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1 Tbsp bouillon paste & 2 cups water OR 2 cups vegetable bouillon

3 Tbsp tomato paste

1-2 tsp salt

1-2 Tbsp freshly ground pepper

1 can coconut milk, shaken

1 can diced tomatoes (I used the roasted tomatoes with garlic in it)

4-5 potatoes and/or sweet potatoes as desired (we used Yukon golds this time), in 1/2" cubes

2 cans chick peas or preferred protein (such as lentils, which will suck up juices)

2-3 cups cauliflower or broccoli (cauliflower this time), in medium pieces

1 cup frozen spinach OR 2 cups chopped fresh spinach (optional)

1-2 bell peppers, sliced then cut in thirds

If making brown rice, start it at the beginning.

Sauté onion in oil for 5-10 minutes on low-medium heat in a large pot. Once lightly browned, add garlic and cook for 5 minutes more, then add ginger and cook another 3-5 minutes. Add curry, pastes, salt, pepper, milk, and can of tomatoes (with juice) and bring to a simmer.

Optional: Use a submersion blender, blender, or large food processor to blend into a thick broth. If you do this, you can keep the vegetables chunkier and save time, though there is more mess with a processor. This gets you a nice, creamy broth later on.

If making white rice, start it now.

Add potatoes and chick peas and bring to a low boil. If your broth is thin, leave cover off to thicken, otherwise cover. After 15 minutes, add cauliflower. After 10 minutes, add bell peppers and reduce heat to a low simmer (or what we call a murmur in our house). After five more minutes, check the potatoes, though they should be soft. You can keep the pot low for some time and leaving the lid off thickens the broth (definitely do this if you didn't blend the broth). Be mindful that the bell peppers can go in later without an issue to keep them crisp.

Serves great with sweetened coconut, cashews, fresh garnish, and in our case pickled daikon radish for added heat--thanks Grace and Adrianne!

Rakshasa Tax