Veggie curry and salad brighten up a rainy Saturday night
After hosting a group of ladies for a Mary Kay party this afternoon, I had absolutely no desire to cook. My man was on his way back from a fishing outing without fish when he called from the intersection nearest our Kroger. I was tempted to suggest pizza, but didn’t really want something that heavy. A container of frozen homemade vegetable curry called out from the freezer and I asked him to buy a rotisserie chicken. Typically, I don’t really want that either when it comes to quick food. But he picked out a great one. I defrosted the curry, cooked up brown rice and made a salad. It was a very good dinner. It was well-rounded and dressed up with mango pickle and mint chutney for the curry, and Greek yogurt dressing for the salad. (Feta dill for me, blue cheese for him). I’m not specifically advocating for veggie curry or any curry for that matter. The point is always have great standby dishes in the freezer. It does not have to be the entire meal. Curry does provide a wonderful, warm focal point. Other freezer standby dishes I favor are: portions of homemade tomato sauce made in batches, chili, Mexican bean soup, baked chicken and crock pot shredded pork.
Ingredients for veggie curry:
green lentils
diced sweet potato
green beans
red bell pepper
canned tomatoes
onion
curry powder and/or paste (I like Madras curry rather than yellow curry)
Directions (off the top of my head given I pulled this out of the freezer tonight): Saute onion in a saucepan in olive oil or butter. Separately, cook the lentils in water, per the bag instructions. Add curry powder and/or curry paste to onions and stir until thoroughly combined. Fold in diced sweet potato, drained green beans, chopped bell pepper and canned tomatoes. Fold in lentils. Simmer for about 20 minutes to let flavors combine. When serving, you could ladle some into a serving bowl and add buttermilk or light coconut milk there. I think I prefer it without the milk and it stores better without it. The beauty of curry is you can make it with whatever veggies you like or have on hand. Enjoy.
