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Vegetable Madras Curry
Vegetable Madras Curry
When most people think of Indian curry, this is what they are generalizing. Madras curry is a popular South Indian dish consisting of a variety of vegetables in a soupy curry sauce made from madras curry powder, onions, garlic, ginger, and tomatoes. Serve the curry with steamed basmati rice and parathas.
Ingredients
- 1 onion diced
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp ginger minced
- 4 tbsp madras curry powder
- 4 roma tomatoes diced
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 head cauliflower cut into florets
- 3 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 bunch spinach chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and ginger and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add in the curry powder and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes.
- Pour in the stock. Add in the cauliflower and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add in the spinach and peas. Cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
Beef Pares
Beef Pares
Beef pares is a classic Filipino dish influenced by Chinese asado(meat braised in stock/soy/sugar/star anise). In this case, I used beef brisket. You can also use cheap braising cuts like chuck, arm, short ribs, shanks, or bottom round. The first part of this dish requires the brisket to simmer for a couple of hours, while creating a clear and flavorful beef stock(using another Chinese technique that’s influenced this dish). Once the meat is tender enough, it is sautéed with onions, garlic, and ginger and simmered in the asado sauce until the majority of the liquid has evaporated. The beef is served with garlic fried rice and a side of the broth to dip the meat in.
Ingredients
Beef Broth
- 2 lbs brisket cut into 1 1/2” cubes
- 6 cups water
- 1 onion quartered
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp salt
Beef Asado
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp ginger minced
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 star anise
Garnish
- green onions chopped
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add in the cubed brisket. Simmer for 10 minutes, skimming the top of the water for scum. Drain the brisket and rinse any excess scum off.
- Add the brisket back into the pot with 6 cups of new clean water. Bring to a boil. Skim off any remaining scum.
- Add the onions, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and salt. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 2 hours.
- Strain the broth. Set the beef aside. Discard the bay leaves. Keep the broth warm.
- Mix 1 cup of the hot broth with the soy sauce and brown sugar. Set aside.
- Heat up the cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger for 5 minutes.
- Add the brisket in. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the sauce. Toss in the star anise. Simmer for 10 minutes until the majority of the liquid has evaporated.
Sopa de Zapallo (Pumpkin Soup)
Sopa de Zapallo (Pumpkin Soup)
Most people think of something sweet when they think of pumpkin flavored anything. This is the exact opposite. This soup is as savory as it gets and is high end restaurant quality in flavor; I kid you not. When making this soup, I was a little underwhelmed…until I tasted it. I know something is really, really good when I say “Holy Shit” out loud. The tomatoes help balance out the pumpkin, so it’s not so dominant. What it really tastes like is a cross between tomato soup and butternut squash soup. You can garnish it with green onions and crumbled queso, unless you want to keep it vegan. Either way, if you want to impress some people, serve them this as the soup course.
Equipment
- immersion blender
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 white onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 4 roma tomatoes chopped
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1 small pumpkin seeded, peeled, and cubed
- salt and pepper to taste
Garnish
- green onions finely chopped
- queso fresco crumbled; omit if you want the soup vegan
Instructions
- Heat up the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, tomatoes, cumin seeds and ground, for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the veggie stock. Add in the pumpkin. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.
- Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth.
- Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for a couple more minutes until it is your desired consistency.
