Curries, Chutney, Coconut Rice And Fried Snacks

Admittedly, making curries when you're suffering stomach ills isn't the most obvious thing-but the rest of my family still needs to eat. I did sample about two tablespoons of dinner just so I could say if I liked it (I did) but I'm afraid this sort of thing is off my menu for a while.

The dinner consisted of curried potatoes and peas, a chickpea curry with coconut rice and apple yoghurt and tomato chutney as sides. I also made some fried snacks from chickpea flour. Those, I was less crazy about, though the flavour was good and they were light and crunchy. I should have cut them much thinner or forced them through a sieve so they would look like noodles, but this worked OK.

This whole meal was built around my inability to toss the remaining ¼ cup of coconut milk left over from the cake and frosting. Talk about thrifty! I was thinking I would need paneer and ghee so I made both and ended-up forgetting to use them. I guess I can make naan and saag tomorrow. I swear, my mind just hasn't been right this week and I'm blaming it on the mega doses of prednisone to counteract the iodine allergy on Tuesday. This has been the most miserable week (I won't go into the details, being a food blog and all) made all the worse by the feeling of being a hamster running in a wheel (not so good for getting much sleep either, but damn, my cupboards are tidy. I have one more dose of this stuff to go and probably a week after until the effects start fading, but wow, did this week ever stink. Well, enough about that, and on to the food.

You Will Need:

For The Chutney:

1 pint grape tomatoes
1 medium red onion, chopped
¼ cup chopped dried apricots
1-cup sultanas
1 large sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup water
½ teaspoon salt
A few flakes of dried red pepper

Toss it all in a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook until tomatoes pop and most of the liquid evaporates. Cool, pack in jars and use within a week.

For The Apple Yoghurt:

1 apple, finely chopped
1-cup plain yoghurt
1-tablespoon honey

Mix well and serve with curries.

For the Potatoes:

2 tablespoons oil
4-5 boiled potatoes, drained and quartered
1 cup cooked green peas
3-4 shallots, finely sliced
1-tablespoon madras curry powder
Salt to taste

Cook the shallots in the oil until softened. Add the peas, potatoes and curry powder. Mix well and cook a few minutes more. Adjust salt and serve.

For The Chickpeas:

4 cups cooked chickpeas
3 tablespoons oil
3 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped ginger root
Salt to taste
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons coriander
½ cup hot water
2 teaspoons garam masala powder

Cook the onions, garlic and ginger in the oil in a large frying pan until golden and softened. Add the chickpeas, then the salt, cayenne, turmeric, coriander and hot water. Increase heat and cook off excess water. Boil for a minute or so and remove from heat. Stir in garam masala and serve hot over coconut rice.

For The Coconut Rice:

Stir in ¼ cup of coconut milk to cooked, hot rice.

For The Chick Pea Flour Crackers:

1-cup chickpea flour
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1-teaspoon oil
½ cup (or more) water for mixing
2 cups oil for frying

Mix the dry ingredients and rub in the oil. Add enough water to make a stiff dough. Heat the oil for frying. Cut into long strips (or force through a wide-holed sieve if you have one). Add to hot oil and fry until deep gold. Store in airtight container.