The other day I was noodling around the food blogosphere and came upon a recipe for an apple quinoa salad with a curry dressing. It looked inspiring as I had 2 apples left over from my galette and everything but the curry. No worries, I say to myself, this would be pretty awesome with a honey mustard. I didn't make that.
My ADD & OCD kicked in simultaneously and I'm suddenly obsessed with curry, which is just damned freakish because I don't even know if I like curry. I've dined out at my neighborhood India Clay Oven exactly twice in the ten years I've lived all of 10 blocks from the place. In spite of its remarkable under $10 all-you-can-eat buffet lunch, I didn't find the food all that remarkable. It was fine. Given a choice, I tend to go Chinese when I'm looking for a quick inexpensive meal out.
Remembering that I'd be needing to make a trip to Menlo Park for costume related business, visions of Penzey's danced in my head. Curry? you ask? I didn't know there were that many curries outside of India or an Indian market. They've got 9 different curries. I ended up with Sweet Curry Powder and a Tandoori Seasoning. I already had an unopened bag of Garam Masala, purchased earlier this year with no purpose or plan.
I spent the hour train ride home on my netbook searching for curry recipes, none of which I found inspiring. I should have known better and started with Smitten Kitchen. You'll note that I have still not made that Apple Quinoa Salad with the Curry Dressing that set this whole business in motion to begin with. Those apples will no doubt shrivel up and die right in front of me. As soon as I got home I decided to make a simple rice curry to test out the flavor. I sauteed some garlic and onions in olive oil, added a tablespoon of the sweet curry powder and a cup of Trader Joes brown basmati rice, stirred that up in the skillet for a bit and then transferred it to the slow cooker with vegetarian chicken seasoning and water. Then I went out for a margarita and a trip to Fresh & Easy, my new favorite grocery store.
Anyhoo, SK has a handful of Indian recipes and each one inspires. I started with this Chana Masala, knowing that I had a couple of cans of garbanzo beans in the pantry. I picked up some dried chick peas on my way home from the train station anyway and threw them in the slow cooker before I went to bed. They were perfect this morning. I'd roasted three pounds of tomatoes last night, planning to make soup but they got diverted here.
So this was what I whipped up for breakfast. Curried rice with Chana Masala and a poached egg on top! It's been cooking around in my ADD-led brain for days now.
I just had it again for lunch and I bet it'll be tasty in a breakfast tacodilla tomorrow.
Note to self: Naan?
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