Curried Carrot Soup with Ginger Lime Barley

I'm obsessed with making "curried" soups, despite the fact that the "curry" I use is not in any way, shape, or form authentic. I only buy McCormick's because the Giant grocery was remodeling and changing everything around in the store, so I could no longer find my Mexican curry that was strangely amazing. Who knew?

This is pretty easy to make but takes a little while to prep and cook.

Curried Carrot Soup with Ginger Lime Barley

• 1 bag baby carrots, quartered
• 1 medium/large yellow onion, diced
• 1 TB (or more) olive oil
• 1-2tsp Curry powder
• 1.5c soy milk + .5c water
• .5 cup uncooked barley
• 1 square inch of peeled ginger, whole
• 1TB lime juice

For the soup, toss carrots in olive oil and sautee 15 minutes, then add onion. Cook until soft, 20 minutes or so. Add curry powder and cook for another 2 minutes. Add milk and water. Blend together.

Steam barley and ginger in 1 cup of water. Add lime juice when done.

Ladel soup into bowl and top with barley.

Curried Roasted Beet Soup

Today was the first evening this week that they predicted evening rain, so I actually had time to cook a good dinner instead of rushing to the dog park. I opted for the beets since I actually had time and they take forever to cook. This recipe came to me as I rode the Metro home, newspaperless because I was stuck in the Metro for 30 minutes this morning and already finished the sudoku, crossword, and all of the articles. So maybe this morning's fiasco was a good thing.

Curried Roasted Beet Soup

• 8 beets
• 1 red onion, sliced into half-rings
• Olive oil
• 1 ear white corn, uncooked with kernels sliced off
• 2 cups soy milk
• Curry powder
• .5c bulgur, uncooked

Fork holes in the beets and bake on 375 until tender, about an hour. Toss onion in olive oil and bake about 25 minutes (so 40 minutes after the beets go in). Meanwhile, cook the bulgur in 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt for 15-20 minutes until water is absorbed.

When beets are soft, let them cool down (I put mine in the freezer for a couple of minutes). Remove the skin, which will be soft and easy to take off. Chop the beets and add to a large pot or blender along with onions, curry, half (or all if you want it smooth) of the corn, and the soy milk. Blend to desired consistency. Spoon into bowl and top with bulgur.

This is one of my favorite dishes I've ever made! Since the onion and beets had cooled and the corn and milk were cold from the fridge, I chose to eat the soup cold. Usually I like my meals hot, but this was so good. It was sweet from the roasting and the corn, but the curry gave it a nice spice and flavor. The color was a beautiful magenta, and the chunks of veggies were delicious. I'm definitely making this again. And again...

Sauteed Beets with Greens, Baked Curried Tofu, and Brown Basmati Rice

This is a meal. All of my Omnivore's Dilemma reading over the holiday weekend contributed to me thinking I'm eating the best way possible. Really, though, the fresh beets I bought at the farmers market are the only local thing on the plate. But wow are they amazing. Thanks to the book, I assaulted the woman at the stand with a million questions about their farm- which she was excited to answer. No pesticides (no)? How far is the farm from here (2hrs)? Why are these beet greens different than the others (different variety)? $5 later I had a fresh bunch of pesticide-free beets with their greens attached. I may have skipped home a little.

Sauteed Beets with Their Greens
1 bunch beets with greens
olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Cut off the beet ends, peel, and chop into small pieces. Add to the pan and sautee until soft. As they cook, remove thick stems from greens and run the knife through the greens a few times so the pieces are more manageable. When the beets are soft, add the greens and cook 1-2 minutes until they wilt and turn a vibrant green.

Baked Curried Tofu and Brown Basmati Rice
Meanwhile, I had some firm tofu in my fridge that I wanted to do something quasi-new with, so yesterday morning I drained it, sliced it into 15 fingers, and slathered it with some of my random Mexican curry powder and olive oil. So it sat in the fridge soaking up all the curry goodness for almost 2 days. I put the fingers on a baking sheet and popped them in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes, flipped, and cooked maybe 15-20 minutes more until nice and brown.

Basmati rice is pretty easy- 2 parts water to 1 part rice, add a pinch of salt, and cook for 45 minutes. It can take awhile, so I recommend starting with this one.

The beet is perfection. The sweet beet and the bitter greens create something amazing. And amazingly beautiful. I might take the long route back from the kitchen at the office tomorrow so I can make everyone admire my dish. The whole thing was delicious, easy, and perfect for a lazy summer evening.

Easy Curry Lentil Stew with Quinoa

Earlier this week I decided to do a quick run by the grocery store after work, and evidently every single other person in the city decided to do the same. I popped in for the essentials- dog food and nut butters, but I also needed some cumin for a pink bean dish I made but didn't blog about because I was lazy. Some how I meandered into the international food aisle and stumbled upon dirt cheap spices, including smoked paprika (something I've never had but always wanted), cumin, chili powder, and curry powder. My last curry efforts have been less than stellar because I'm fairly certain the curry somehow went bad. Really bad.

My old curry was always in a teeny jar and that always spoiled, so of course I bought this giant jar that had no information other than a simple label with the word curry (it was from Mexico). Undaunted, I threw it in my basket and headed to the checkout with the rest of the world.

I wasn't exactly looking for something easy tonight, it just happened that I needed a lot of protein since I had catered lunch at a meeting with no real veggie option. So I went for my go-to lentils.

Easy Curry Lentil Stew
.5 cup lentils
3 cups water
1 medium/large red onion, chopped
2 red potatoes, chopped
15 baby carrots, quartered
salt
3-4 tsp curry powder (adjust to your level)

I brought the water to a boil and added all the ingredients. It looked for 15-20 minutes. With about 5 minutes left I added 2 tsp of the curry. Once it was done, I removed from heat and added the rest. It sat for a few minutes so the flavors could mingle, then I served atop a bed of quinoa.

This dish was one of my favorite things I've cooked in quite some time. The lentils were a bit mushy, which is how I love them, and the curry flavor was perfect. It made 2 portions at about 375 calories each (including the quinoa). Yum!