A Simple Curry with Coconut Milk

This adaptable curry recipe enables you to make curry with whatever you have on hand — as long as you have the core ingredients of coconut milk, canned tomatoes and curry powder, all of which should be pantry staples. You can even vary it from Indian-style curry to Thai-style just by substituting curry paste for curry powder and adding a little fish sauce at the end.

This recipe takes well to all kinds of vegetables, from eggplant to sweet potatoes. Last night I used kale. I usually make curry with diced boneless chicken, but you could substitute pretty much any meat or seafood as well, or omit it altogether; just alter the cooking time accordingly. Serve with rice or noodles for a full meal.

Curry with Coconut Milk

Yields: 4 servings
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 2 tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• 2 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 or more other vegetables as desired, sliced or cubed
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 tsp. curry powder or curry paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 sm. can diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp. fish or soy sauce (optional for Thai-style curry)
• rice or noodles to serve
• various garnishes as desired: fresh basil or mint, cashews or other nuts, diced hard-boiled egg, shredded coconut (optional)

Heat the oil over medium. Add the onion and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken and vegetables, and brown, stirring frequently. Add the curry paste or powder and garlic, and stir-fry 1 minute. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a bubble. Add the tomatoes and fish or soy sauce, if using. Stir, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer 10 minutes. Garnish as desired. If making an Indian-style curry, I like a selection of hearty garnishes, such as cashews, hard-boiled egg and coconut. For a Thai-style curry, I prefer fresh herbs and perhaps peanuts.

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• Curry Powder (craftzine.com)

Indian-style Summer Squash Stew

This growing season has been challenging me to find new ways to serve up summer squash. Sure, it tastes good sauteed or roasted, but there are only so many meals when you can get away with serving squash as a side dish. Sometimes it needs to be part of something more substantial.

Searching for just such a dish, I adapted this recipe to create a tasty stew with strong Indian flavors. Served over rice, it is a meal in itself. Enjoy.

Indian-style Summer Squash Stew

Time to make: ~30 minutes
Yields: 2 servings

What you need:

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• ½ thinly sliced onion
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger
• 1-2 minced chiles
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tbsp. garam masala
• ¼ tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 summer squash, cut into half moons
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• ¼ lb. boneless chicken, diced
• scallions for garnish
• cooked rice to serve

1. Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium.
2. Add the onion and sprinkle with salt.
3. Sauté until the onion turns golden brown, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the ginger, chiles, garlic, garam masala and mustard seeds.
5. Stir until the mustard seeds pop and the garlic turns golden, about 1 minute.
6. Add the squash and enough water to moisten, and cook until the squash softens a bit.
7. Add the tomatoes and chicken.
8. Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer about 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
9. Garnish with scallions and serve over rice.

Check Out My Mussels

I recently cooked mussels for the very first time. I know, why did it take me so long to make mussels at home? I order them a lot when I’m eating out and if they’re done well, there is nothing better. I suppose I was put off by all the dire information about mussels in my cookbooks. “They have to be alive when you cook them. You have to make sure you clean them really, really well. You have to debeard them” (a word that wasn’t in my vocabulary, nor did I want it to be).

It turns out that farm-raised mussels come already fairly clean and debearded. They just need a quick rinse and scrub before cooking. As for the dead ones, they are easy to spot — just chuck any mussels with open or broken shells while washing. I bought 2 pounds for the two of us, as the cookbooks advised, but was worried after throwing out about a quarter of them that we wouldn’t have enough for a decent meal. Turns out there were plenty, since the mussels were big and meaty. They were cheap, too, much cheaper than in restaurants.

I wasn’t the only one who felt trepidatious about the mussels. When I told my husband what we were having for dinner, his response was, “Mussels? Really?” Guess who gobbled up more than me?

It turns out that mussels are at their best in winter and early spring, so this is probably not the greatest time of year to buy them. Still, the farm-raised mussels we ate were large, chewy and had a slightly sweet, briny flavor — just as they should be. So I suppose there is not much risk in buying them “off-season” if they are from the farm. According to Mark Bittman, they can be stored in a bowl in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days — no need to store in water or on ice or anything complicated like that.

In the case of mussels, it’s better to buy farm-raised than wild-caught, not only because they are free of muck and beards, but also because this is one case where farming is ecologically sounder than fishing. According to epicurious.com:

Farmed mollusks such as clams, oysters, mussels, and bay scallops offer one of the least ecologically harmful choices, according to Environmental Defense: They require no feed because they strain plankton out of the water, which in turn helps filter the surrounding waters, sometimes improving water quality. Plus, harvesting methods such as ropes, nets, and rafts do little habitat damage.

There are several ways to cook mussels, but for my first try I went the classic route and steamed them. Mussels are insanely easy to cook. They take only a couple of minutes, and you know they’re done because they all open. (Throw away any that stay closed; they were probably dead to begin with.)

Because mussels exude liquid when cooking, not much more is needed for the pan. Add some flavorful elements and use the steaming liquid as a sauce when the mussels are cooked. Wine is classic, but this time I decided to go with a more Indian flavor profile.

I sauteed onion, garlic and ginger in olive oil until golden. I added chopped tomato, crumbled dried red chile, paprika and curry powder, and sauteed a little longer, until the tomato began to break down. Then I added just about ¼ cup chicken stock and brought it to a simmer. I added the mussels, covered the pan, and let them steam for about 4 minutes, until the shells opened. I scooped them into a bowl and put out another bowl for the shells, and we had an easy, fast dinner.

I certainly won’t be afraid of mussels anymore.

Spiced Nuts

Simple recipes like this one come in handy this time of year. They’re easy to make, easy to keep, and equally appropriate for the unexpected drop-in, cocktail party, antipasto tray or a homemade gift. Be sure to experiment with different nuts and spices.

Spiced Nuts

Time to make: ~20 minutes

• 2 cups unsalted nuts (any kind or a mixture)
• 2 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1-2 tbsp. sugar (depending on how sweet you’d like them)
• 1 tsp. coarse salt
• 1 tsp. seasoning mix (such as baking spices, curry powder or southwestern seasoning)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet. Toast the nuts for 8 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.

In a pot, combine the water, brown sugar and butter, and bring to a boil. Toss the nuts in this mixture until coated and the liquid has evaporated.

In a bowl, combine the sugar, salt and seasonings. Toss the nuts in the spices until well coated.

Let cool. Store up to 5 days in the refrigerator in a covered container, or freeze.