Chickpeas, Couscous, Carrots, and Tea

The recipe for Chicken Kdra in the book A Taste of Morocco, by Clare Ferguson, looked way too tasty to be passed over. I knew I would just have to overcome the chicken isn’t vegan issue.

Lucky for me the recipe includes chickpeas, so I decided just to make it without its star ingredient. It turned out brilliantly.

Chickpeas Kdra

I wanted to serve it up with some traditional couscous.  Have you seen how couscous is supposed to be made? Its a far cry from my ‘pour it out and cover with water’ standard, and requires a lot of time, patience, hand-rolling and equipment.

I don’t have time, patience or equipment, so needless to say I wussed out and went with my packet method. I did try to imitate the amazing traditional couscous dishes I’ve seen in books though, by making an onion jam and some spicy tomato sauce to top the couscous with.

As a vegetable dish I made some spicy carrots, which were much tastier and more interesting than they sound.

From top right: Spicy Carrots, Spicy Tomato Sauce, and Onion Jam

As this was a weekend night, I also bother to make a dessert of sliced oranges with cinnamon and sugar, which was pretty tasty. Credit for the idea goes the front of one of the cookbooks.

Oranges with Cinnamon and Sugar

Again, I mostly referred to a recipe in the book, but I made a few changes, so I will post my vegan version of Clare Ferguson’s Kdra.

Chickpea Kdra

serves 3

• 400g tin chickpeas, drained
• big pinch of saffron (or in my case, a huge amount of the dodgy “Turkish” saffron I got from a market in Istanbul)
• 1 tsp Massel chicken stock powder
• 1 Tbs ground ginger (I used the dry version)
• 1/4 tsp tumeric
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1 tbs margarine
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 Tbs parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup white rice
• juice of one lemon
• coriander and parsley, to serve

1. In a large saucepan or frying pan, mix the chickpeas, spices, seasonings, onion and margarine over low heat until well combined.
2. Turn up the heat and fry, stirring constantly, until the onions start to sweat.
3. Add the rice and stir to combine.
4. Add 3 cups of boiling water and simmer until rice is cooked.
5. Squeeze lemon juice over it, salt to taste, and serve.

Devil Curry and Ais Limau

After the disastrous attempt at sambal, I decided it would be wise to go back to the world of following recipes.

This one is a recipe from The Food Of Malaysia, by Wendy Hutton, which by the time you are reading this, will be back in the Preston Library for you to enjoy.

Devil Curry, called so for its chilli content, is a Malacca Eurasian dish, with Indian, Malaysian and Spanish influences. I followed the recipe, being a little shy after the sambal-incident, however of course I left out the chicken and replaced it with tofu.

Devil curry didn’t end up being all that hot. I don’t know why, it just wasn’t. Maybe because we’d been eating chillies all week, or maybe I used the wrong variety. In any case, it didn’t bother us, as it was delicious.

Yum, Devil Curry

Hearty and full of potato and tofu, spicy with chillie, ginger, turmeric, lemon grass, garlic (I love garlic!), and a little sour with the vinegar, it was a perfect meal when served up with rice.

I also made us some Ais Limau (Lime cordial) to go with it. There is no trick to this, but I’ll post the recipe for the syrup-ly challenged.

Ais Limau

Ais Limau

• 4 Limes, juiced
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 litre water
• 2 Limes, cut into wedges
• ice

In a small saucepan add the lime juice and sugar. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the water and stir until mixed thoroughly. Remove from heat, decant into a glass bottle, and cool.

When cool, add ice and lime wedges to glasses. Pour the cordial over and enjoy

“Edible” Playdough: at least it wasn’t blue

Next up in our culinary trip to Tanzania, we tried Kuku Paka (tofu in coconut milk), Kachumbali salad, and Ugali, the national grain dish. I let you know now, it was a dreary night, with a rush to eat, bad photos, and not my best cooking effort. Sorry.

For the tofu in coconut milk, I reformed this omni recipe, substituting tofu for the chicken. It tasted great – a lovely mild curry, with lots of yummy coconut milk – but turned out a little thin. I figured that would be ok though, as it would be served with the Ugali.

Ugali is usually made with maize, and is basically a grain-mush, so far as I can tell. It is eaten with curries, by scooping some into your hand, putting a thumb-sized well in it, and using it to scoop up sauces and stews. We are big fans of eating sans-utensils, so I thought this would be fun.

I looked up various recipes, and eventually settled on this one. It is supposedly very popular, and served with most meals, and I was hopeful that it would turn out better than it sounded. Alas, water and corn-grit mixed together and heated until it is the consistency of playdough tastes and feels quite a lot like it sounds… gritty and beyond-bland.

After a few determined mouthfuls, I caved, and made some very quick cous cous instead, to help us finish the meal. This is one of those times when I just have to admit defeat, and sigh over the immense Western-ness of my palate. *sigh*

We also had Kachumbali salad, which is apparently the most ubiquitous salad in Tanzanian cooking. It consists of cabbage, tomato, chilli, onion, corriander, oil and salt. I used this recipe from Taste of Tanzania. I’m not usually a fan of cabbage, however this salad was divine.

A little salty, sour and slightly warm, it was the perfect accompaniment to the curry, but I think it would also work well with vegan BBQ or a spicy tomato-based dish. The dish I wasn’t sure about ended up saving the night!

It was, as I said, a bit of a rushed night, but I’m not sure that even that can excuse this photo:

Top left: Ugali. Everything else: Tofu in coconut milk

Curry squash, Makubi, coconut rice

For the first night of cooking Tanzanian, I wanted to try a mixture of foods, as well as get some vegetables into us, after a few days of not-so-healthy eating. We tried curry squash (actually butternut pumpkin), makubi, which is greens with tomato and peanut butter, and some coconut brown rice.

To make the makubi, I used this recipe. It was very easy, and a very tasty way to eat our greens. I used some kale, which our garden happily offered, instead of the spinach, for an extra green kick. I used chopped ripe tomatoes with a little bit of tomato paste instead of tinned tomatoes, and used crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth, because we don’t have smooth around much.

Makubi

The coconut brown rice was just cooked in a saucepan, with coconut milk added when the rice had about 10 minutes to go. I don’t think brown rice is particularly Tanzanian, but I wanted to up the nutrient and protein content to make up for past sins

A triangle of coconut rice

I had come across a recipe for curry squash somewhere on the internet, but of course I can’t find it now that I want to link to it! I’ll add the recipe as I remember it, and if/when I find the link I will credit the original poster.

Curry Squash

This was a healthy-ish, fun dinner. I loved the peanut butter in everything, and the curry using Keen’s curry powder was reminiscent of our childhoods, which was nice. The food was quite mild, though, and could probably use a little salt to make it appeal to western tastes (I’ve said to add some in the recipe below, but we didn’t). The makubi was an interesting way to prepare greens, especially kale, which needs some cooking, and made them very flavourful.

All dishes I would eat again, and happily, no changes had to be made to veganise, which could be a first for this blog.

Dinner

Tanzanian Curry Squash, serves 2

• a little oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cups of butternut pumpkin, large dice
• 1 teaspoon curry powder (the bright yellow stuff)
• 1 tin tomatoes
• some water
• 2 cm ginger, minced
• 1 green sweet pepper, sliced
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• salt, if you use natural peanut butter

1. Fry the onions in the oil until soft.
2. Add the garlic and continue to fry until fragrant.
3. Add the pumpkin and curry powder and stir fry for about 3 minutes, until everything is coated in curry powder and goes bright yellowy-orange.
4. Add the tomatoes, ginger, sweet pepper, and enough water to almost cover the pumpkin. Simmer until pumpkin is soft and the liquid has reduced.
5. Add peanut butter and keep over heat until the mixture thickens a little.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Serve with a grain.

White-girl curry tofu

I haven’t heard many other Aussies talk about this dish with the fervor my sister does- she is a true fan. When we were kids its was a big hit at our place, and the only point of tension would be the debate about using sausages, or barbecued chicken. I used tofu this time, after suffering from sausage-overload during a weekend away. I fully expect to bear the wrath of my sister for committing this atrocity

When I was a kid this was just called curry. Curry chicken, curry sausages. I learned to call it ‘white-girl curry’ after moving away from home and eatng a lot of actual curries. Its nothing – really nothing- like curries from anywhere else in the world. Turns out curry doesn’t usually have flour in it!

So, what is white-girl curry? It is basically just onion, celery and meat, in a white sauce flavoured with chicken stock and Keen’s curry powder. Its fluorescent green, and you eat it with white rice. Sound familiar?

It may have originaly been an Australian Women’s Weekly recipe (I’m almost sure it would have been), but I learned to make it from my Mum when I was a kid. Its one of those recipes that was never written down, and yet everyone makes it the same way.

Being a Monday night, the night I work and Mr and I don’t see each other, I didn’t get a good photo. I did manage to take a quick snap of some leftovers after work, which may not look great, but at least it gives you an idea of the colour.

A very small amount of curry tofu

So, without further ado, the White-girl Curry Recipe. Please note I don’t often measure, unless I’m trying to write up a recipe for you. I fell into bad habits last night, so the soy milk measurement below is a guess. Add more if you need, and add it slowly so as not to make it too thin.

This recipe serves 2-3

• 1 onion, small dice
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped into small pieces
• 300g firm tofu, cubed
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp Keens curry powder
• 1/2 tsp Massel Chicken flavoured stock
• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 2 tbs vegan margarine
• about 1  1/2 cups soy milk, maybe more
• 1 tsp Keens curry powder
• 1 tsp chicken flavoured stock
• salt to taste
• White rice (we used basmati) to serve

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook for 5-10 minutes, until soft.
2. Add the tofu, celery, and the first lot of curry and chicken stock powder. Cook for a few minutes, until tofu and vegies are coated with the curry powder (it will go yellow when it’s ready). Remove from saucepan, put tofu and vegies aside.
3. In the same saucepan (don’t wash it!) add the flour and margarine. Stirring, melt the margarine. The mixture will form a dough. Stir over medium heat until the dough starts to form crumbs.
4. Lower heat. Add a little milk, very slowly, whisking to form a paste. Continue until all the milk is added.
5. Add second lot of curry and chicken stock powder. Turn heat up to medium, and continue to stir until the mixture begins to thicken to about the consistency of pouring custard.
6. Turn heat to low. Add the tofu and vegies mixture, and stir until heated through (if they have cooled).
7. Taste now. Add salt, more curry or pepper if needed.
8. Serve over cooked rice.