Dinner party time!
On Saturday night I had a couple of friends over for a small dinner party. I made some modified Caribbean food (I’ll explain what I mean by modified in a bit!) and we listened to some soca and reggae and had a a good time. In the picture above is the main course, which is a sweet Caribbean curry (used to be chicken curry, so this is where the modification comes in – I used paneer, an Indian cheese, instead) and rice. Accompaniments (in the small bowls) are, from left, mango chutney, cucumber and Greek yogurt, and chopped tomatoes. In the glasses is my own white sangria concoction. Recipes for both the curry and sangria are below!
Caribbean curry
I emailed my mom asking for the recipe for ‘Dad’s chicken curry’ and she sent it to me, along with the addition that this was not Dad’s recipe but actually hers. Whoops! Well, Dad tended to be the one to make it most times and he taught me how to cook it before I went off to university, and it was often a quick and easy dish I whipped up as a student. But I haven’t made it in four years – since I became vegetarian. So I decided to get creative and added an Indian flair to the dish by substituting pan-friend paneer for the chicken. It was wonderful!
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
2 onions
2 cooking apples (green, Granny Smith preferably)
1-2 tbsps butter/margarine
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white flour
2 tbsp curry powder (or more if you want it spicier!)
1 UK pint vegetable stock (about 1 1/3 US pints) – add more if needed
1 package paneer – around 400g (16 oz)
2 tbsp mango chutney
2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Branston pickle (a UK sweet pickle – you can get it in Canada in any Save on Foods or major supermarket1)
1 sweet potato
2 jumbo carrots
3 cups mixed cauliflower and broccoli florets
1 cup peas
1/4 cup sultanas
2-3 cups basmati rice
1 tbsp butter/margarine
1 cup baby tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 long English cucumber, peeled and diced
Mango chutney to serve
1 package pappadums
Method:
Peel and dice onions and apples. Heat margarine/butter and olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add onions/apples when fat is hot. Cook until browned and softened. Add flour and curry powder to form a paste, then gradually add stock until slightly thickened (it should still be slightly runny as it will thicken further during cooking).
You can either choose to cook the vegetables in the curry, simmering the whole lot for about 20-30 minutes, or pre-cook the vegetables on their own and add to the curry just before cooking. The first option is fine but may be a bit more complicated if you’re dealing with the vegetables I listed in the ingredients list, as they all take different amounts of time to cook (you can of course use entirely different vegetables than my suggestions, depending on your preferences).
For dinner last night I pre-cooked all the vegetables and added them towards the end. That way I could ensure everything was cooked properly. So I will give directions for that but if you want to add the veggies as you go that’s perfectly fine too.
Peel and dice sweet potato and place in a small pan of boiling water, boiling until just cooked (don’t let overcook as they will disintegrate once in the curry). Drain and place in a bowl to one side. Peel and dice carrots and also boil until just cooked in the same small pan of water. Drain and add to the same bowl as the sweet potatoes.
Chop broccoli and cauliflower into smaller florets and pre-boil in a small pan of water. Drain when cooked and add to a separate small bowl.
Cook peas in a small pan of water until just boiled; drain and put in a small bowl to one side.
Dice paneer into 1-inch cubes. Heat some more olive oil in a large frying pan and add paneer cubes, browning on all sides (or at least two sides). Drain between sheets of paper towel and place in a bowl to one side.
Now go back to your Dutch oven of curry. Add mango chutney, Worcestershire sauce, Branston pickle and sultanas. Let thicken and simmer for 5 minutes; add cooked sweet potatoes and carrots. At this point, your meal should look like this:
(Minus the ginger and white cat in the bottom right-hand corner scarfing down his own dinner :))
Now add the broccoli and cauliflower, the paneer and the peas to the curry and stir together for a few minutes. Put onto a warming ring (or if your oven does not have one, put onto the smallest ring you have on the lowest heat setting) and cover.
Place 3-4 cups of water into a medium saucepan and let boil. Once boiling, add basmati rice and the tablespoon of butter/margarine.
Prepare the pappadums as per the packaging. Usually this involves brushing some oil on them and pan-frying them lightly.
Dice some baby tomatoes and place in a small bowl. Mix the diced cucumber with the Greek yogurt and place in another bowl (you can add 1-2 tsp cumin to make it taste really good :)). Pour some mango chutney into a third bowl and place teaspoons in all for serving. Your accompaniments will look something like below:
To serve, pour the rice into a serving dish and ladle curry on top. Break up a pappadum and display by sticking into the curry like a fan. Surround with accompaniments.
As a starter, I served a simple tray of veggies and Ranch dip, as the main course is quite hefty. The freshness of those vegetables counteracts the flavour and stewed nature of the curried vegetables:
For drinks, I served my ‘made-up’ white Sangria. I don’t really like mixing alcohols, and traditional Sangria recipes call for liquor to be mixed in with the wine. So I make a fruitier, lighter version because I am a real lightweight. But the advantage is that you can whip up a pitcher of this and most people can still drive home! 🙂
Anna’s White Sangria
Ingredients:
1 750 ml bottle white wine (I used pinot grigio but Chardonnay works really well or any white, really)
2 cups orange juice
3 cups lemon-lime mineral water
2 cups ginger ale
1 lemon, squeezed
1 lime, squeezed
1 orange, sliced for decoration
Method:
Combine all liquids and serve in a pitcher with orange wedges floating.
Guiltless & Gourmet 