Beet, Eggplant, and Squash Curry, and our local beach

We have a whole drawer full of vegetables, including some summer squash that we don't like on their own, and some beets and potatoes that have been sitting there for a couple of weeks. So we decided it was time to whip out the curry pot!

Vegetable Curry with Coconut Milk
Serves 4

2 T Olive Oil
1 leek, sliced lengthwise and finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium beets, peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic
1-2 T curry powder (recipe follows)
1 tsp ginger
1 cinnamon stick
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 potato or 2-3 new potatoes, quartered and thinly sliced
3 summer squash, halved and sliced thinly
1 eggplant, quartered and sliced thinly
1 green pepper
fresh Basil leaves
14 oz can coconut milk
Brown Rice

1) chop the veggies up.
2) Heat some oil in a large frying pan or skillet. Add onions and leeks and saute for 10 minutes or more.
3) Toss in the beets. Because I used unroasted beets, these have the longest cooking time by far and need at least 13-15 more minutes cooking than the other vegetables.
4) When the onion has softened and browned a bit, add the curry, ginger, and cinnamon stick and let all the spices roast for 2 minutes.
5) Add the tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, squash, and potatoes. Stir well and cover the pot. Cook for 20 minutes or more until your potatoes and squash are cooked.
6) Add the coconut milk, and stir well. Cook for 5 more minutes.


Eggplants, ready to go

This picture is for Dianne, these potatoes were out of this world good. They cooked faster than the squash!

All the veg, save the leeks and onions, in various states of preparation


Sauteing the leeks and onions. To this I added the beets after about 10 minutes, and then let the beets also saute for about 10 minutes.

The curry minus the coconut milk, that goes in in the last few minutes.


Curry with brown basmati rice, on the plate

Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Powder, from World Vegetarian

Makes 6 Tablespoons
2 T coriander seeds
1 T cumin seeds
2 tsp peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
5-6 whole cloves
3 dried hot chiles, crumbled
1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Roast the whole seed spices until they smell a bit toasty. Add the turmeric and cook for 10 seconds. Transfer the spices to a clean coffee grinder and grind as finely as possible. Store out of direct sunlight and heat.

We ate our curry with brown basmati rice, and it was scrumptious!

This weekend, we finally ventured down to the James River, where we were promised a beach. I'm not sure I'd call it a beach, but it was pretty. H had a blast though, and ended up like our own little castaway. She met a little boy and together they caught a couple of tadpoles. Great fun!
Throwing rocks and pestering the water bug swarm.