Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year's 2012 Good Luck Dishes - Southern Favorites

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When we entered the new millennium back in 2000 some of my Southern friends told me that it was very lucky to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day because they look like coins and Collard Greens since they look like paper money.  Although these are relatively inexpensive dishes, it's said eat poor on New Year's to bring you luck and eat rich the rest of the year.   It is also traditional to eat pork with the meal because pigs root forward and symbolize progress.  Pork is also very lucky for many Eastern European and Latin countries and they make it a part of their New Year's Day as well. So I created this all in one-pot Curried Hoppin' John with Pork and Bacon to really make it extra lucky.  Serve it with the "Curried Collard Greens" and you can double your luck.
Curried Hoppin John with Pork and Bacon


Curried Collard Greens


For more black eyed pea dishes:

Brown Rice and Black Eyed Pea Pilaf- Vegan Rice Dish

Curried Black-Eyed Peas

 


For more Pork dishes by Curry and Comfort:  

Smothered Pork Chops

Tandoori Pork Roast

Teriyaki Pork Stir Fry

Asian Pork Roast

Spicy Sausage and Potato Curry

Thai Pork in Red Curry

Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple

Sri Lankan Fiery Pork Curry

Thai Pork with Basil Stir Fry

Pork Vindaloo

Sri Lankan Peppered Pork and Potato Curry

 


Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Curried Collard Greens

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 Collard Greens are a staple side dish in the South.  I love leafy green vegetables, but it is seldom that I use Collard Greens.  I always say you can curry any vegetable so I set out to do just that with Collards Greens.  It turned out so well and went perfectly with my  Curried Hoppin' John with Pork and Bacon.

 Ingredients:
1lb of cleaned and stemmed Collard Greens chopped
1 medium onion chopped
2 green chilies chopped
10-15 fresh curry leaves
1 Tbs of grated fresh ginger
1 Tbs of grated fresh garlic
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1tsp of garam masala
1/2 tsp of turmeric
1 tsp of red chili flakes or to taste
1 tsp of sugar
1 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of water
1 Tbs of canola oil

Directions:
Heat 1Tbs of canola oil in a large pan on medium-high heat.  Add curry leaves, cinnamon stick, mustard and cumin seeds.  Fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.


 Next add your onion, chilies, ginger and garlic. Fry to 2-3 minutes.
 Then add your spices (turmeric, chili flakes, sugar and garam masala).  Stir for 30 seconds.






Finally add your collard greens,
water and coconut milk.  Turn heat to low and cook covered for 30 minutes until collards are cooked down.  Stir occasionally.




Enjoy with any rice and curry meal.



Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

New Year's 2012 Good Luck Dishes - Lucky Lentils

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I think we can all use a little extra luck at the beginning of a New Year.  I will be doing a few days of "Good Luck Dishes" to eat on New Year's Eve/Day to help you start off your 2012 the right way.   It is said that lentils resemble coins so I thought making them look like gold coins (with the help from some lovely turmeric) would make them even more lucky.  Here are a list of 7 wonderful Lucky Lentil Dishes.  







Channa Dhal-Indian Style Lentils 

 

 

 

 



Basic Lentil Curry-Vegan Version










Spicy Lentil Curry












Spicy Spinach and Lentil Curry- Vegan Version





 




Spinach, Tomato and Lentil Curry









Punjabi Lentil Curry (Vegan)
















Indian-Thai Fusion Lentil Curry












 Come back tomorrow to see more Lucky Dishes.....

Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Quiche Lorraine with Spinach

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 Okay, I'm going to start this post off with a small confession... I totally left the bacon out of the dish.  Traditionally Quiche Lorraine has bits of lovely bacon throughout and mine is missing this delicious ingredient.  So I am calling this my "ode" to the vegetarian Quiche Lorraine.  The quiche still turned out fluffy, light and fantastic and my bacon loving husband did not make one complaint of my small bacon omission.  He actually loved it so I'm thinking there is hope to make him enjoy more meatless meals in the future.  Of course, you can always add the bacon to the dish and it will make it more traditional and just as tasty. 


 Ingredients:
1 (8oz) brick of plain cream cheese (at room temp)
1 cup of plain milk
5 large eggs
1 cup of defrosted and drained chopped spinach
1tsp of granulated garlic
seasoning salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups of shredded Swiss cheese
1/8 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
red chili flakes to taste
2 (8inch)regular pie crust (not deep dish)



 
Note: if you would like to add the bacon, prior to making your egg mixture cut some bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy.  Drain on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.  Then add your bacon at the same time you add the cheese into the egg mixture. 


Directions:
Use an electric mixer to blend the (room temperature) cream cheese with the milk until smooth.  Then add your eggs and seasoning and blend well.  Next use a spoon to mix in the Swiss cheese and chopped spinach (and bacon) into the egg mixture.  Pour egg mixture into frozen pie shells and bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes until the quiche is set.
Note: bake in the middle of the oven and use a baking tray to keep the quiche mess free and easy to get in and out of the oven.



Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Grape Jelly Cocktail Meatballs

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 If you have not heard of grape jelly meatballs, then you must think I have lost my mind.  It's actually a wonderful way to make some amazing sweet and sour meatballs for any party.  I love to make these for parties and it's always the first dish finished. The sweetness of the grape jelly really makes these meatballs a perfect and fun appetizer.

 Ingredients:
To make the meatballs you will need:

2 lb of lean ground meat (I used ground chicken)
2 tsp of paprika
1/2 onion grated
4 cloves of garlic grated
salt and pepper
3 Tbs of fresh parsley minced
2 bread slice worth of crumbs moistened with some milk


Mix the meatball ingredients and make your desired size meatballs.  In 2 Tbs of canola oil, brown the meatballs on all sides.

Note: if you are making a lot of meatballs for a large crowd you can also substitute prepared frozen meatballs from the store and skip the homemade meatball step.  


 For the Grape Jelly Sauce:
1 cup of grape jelly
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 Tbs of ginger garlic paste **
red chili flakes to taste
black pepper to taste

Note: **or 1/2 Tbs of each ginger and garlic separately.

 Directions:
 Cook the meatballs with the sauce ingredients on medium-low heat and allow to simmer in the sauce until it forms a glaze (at least 20 minutes).  Taste for seasoning.  If  you need more sweetness add more jelly, more salt add soy sauce. Serve with toothpicks for your guest to enjoy.







Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Healthy Carrot Bread

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The New Year is around the corner and it's time to start thinking of healthy food again after indulging over the Christmas holidays these past few weeks.  After eating all the rich holiday foods and delicious Christmas baked goods who wants to eat just a pile of carrots.  This Healthy Carrot Bread is a great compromise because it satisfies that sweet tooth but is full of healthy ingredients like whole wheat flour, carrots, applesauce and walnuts.  So whip up a this quick and easy bread for breakfast or snack time and start to feel good about eating sweet treats again. 

Ingredients: 

  • 1 cup grated carrot
  • 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
    (to toast walnuts, bake in oven for 5 minutes at 350 degrees)





Wet Ingredients
  • 1 cup sugar (to lower the sugar content, I did use half a cup baking splenda and half a cup regular sugar)
  • 3/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Mix together wet ingredients with a whisk.

Dry ingredients:
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder
  • pinch of salt

 Directions:
 

Mix all ingredients together well with a mixing spoon.





Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly coat loaf pan with vegetable spray and then dust with flour.  Pour into pan and bake for 50 minutes or until done.
Slice and serve.  Enjoy the bread for breakfast, as a snack or even with a meal.


 Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. 

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!

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Curry and Comfort wishes you all a Happy, Safe, Wonderful, Delicious, Merry Christmas....  May all your wishes come true and your day filled with magic!


If you're looking for more Holiday Recipes... check these out:

Rice Krispie Christmas Wreath

 

Christmas Sugar Cookies



Decked out Deck the Halls Fudge



Candy Cane Hearts


Hershey's Candy Cane Cookies




Candy Cane Milkshake


Cinnamon Roll Christmas Tree



Peppermint Bark Cookies





Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Sugar Cookies

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 Every year my kids leave cookies for Santa and every year I give them store bought cookies to put out. I didn't even own any cookie cutters.  These cookie cutters were bought only a few weeks ago with the hopes that I could try my "cake/cookie dough" to make our Christmas cookies this year.  Well, it didn't go as well as I planned and my first attempt was a bit of a disaster.  The cake/cookie dough was too fragile and I was not able to pick up my cookies and put them on the baking tray without the cookie falling apart.  I thought I was defeated and my new cookie cutters would go to waste.  Then I read a great method using parchment paper so I decided to make a 2nd attempt and this time failure was not an option... Santa deserved some freshly baked cookies this year. :)  The new method worked wonderfully and I had success!  My husband ate a cookie and thought I actually made them from scratch sugar cookie dough when he tasted them. He was blown away they were cake/cookie dough cookies because they had the right Christmas Cookie texture.  Woohoo... Santa we've got a great big surprise for you.  Merry Christmas Eve!!!


Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/3 cup of canola oil
parchment paper
flour for dusting
white chocolate
2Tbs of milk
sugar sprinkles



Directions:
Mix batter well and place in the fridge for several hours to chill.  I actually allowed mine to chill overnight.








When you are ready to make your Christmas cookies, roll out parchment paper (the size of your baking sheet on a cutting board.  Sprinkle the cookie dough all over the parchment paper in an even layer.  Then flour your rolling pin well and roll gently until it forms an even cookie dough.  

Note:  the parchment paper is a key component here because it will help you transfer your cookies without being moved onto your baking tray and into the oven.

Place your cookie cutters onto the dough and press down, but don't move the cutters off the dough.  You want to remove all excess dough  around the cutters and place it back with your bowl to make more cookies.


Once all the excess dough has been removed, just slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies).  When your cookies start to brown at the edges, they are done.  Allow cookies to cool on baking pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.




Note:  Decorate cookies as you wish. You can use powdered sugar to ice them or melted white chocolate like I did here.  Then sprinkle with festive sugar sprinkles and allow to set for 5-10 minutes.  Store in an airtight container.

Merry Christmas!!!!!




Copyright: All recipes, content, and images (unless otherwise stated) are the sole property of Curry and Comfort. Please do not use without prior written consent. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.