Hello Hivers! I am finally able to do a post after a crazy week of insomnia and working extra hours due to the kids leaving for school. The city is scrambling to hire restaurant workers. Some places had to close due to no staff.
We have been living on quick fix scraps on the run. We also had a crazy night the other night where we woke up after a couple of hours and couldn't sleep. We go to bed late. At 7 a.m. we heard someone trying to get our lock open. We jumped up immediately and then Marc tripped and body slammed himself on the floor. I thought he was dead. The person was still trying to get in. We thought the worst like this would be a crazy apartment invasion. Marc got up and I asked loudly if he was okay. The person was still trying to unlock the door. We got to the door and I held the lock in place and said loudly "hello"!!!!? They continued to try to get the lock unlocked. Marc looked through the peep hole and after a few long seconds this woman finally stopped and paused before she said, "oh, sorry". She sounded very unapologetic so I guess she was drunk or something. I got paranoid after hearing that someone was stabbed to death outside our building.
After that the upstairs people were stomping around like elephants for three hours before they cranked the music. Anyway we had to go to work exhausted and it took a while to recover. Yesterday I finally worked up the energy to make a proper dinner. It was long overdue.
I desperately needed to do something with two gigantic bags of fresh spinach so I went in the curry direction. I haven't had spinach curry for a while. I added some potatoes as well.
Spinach and potato curry
Approximately 6 cups of spinach after it's cooked down
1 large potato
1 chopped onion
1 large chopped tomato
1 cup chopped cilantro
4 or 5 cloves minced garlic
4 green chillies
1 teaspoon of minced ginger
1 cup cashew cream
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon asafoetida
1teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 cup chickpea flour
Salt to taste
After toasting the seeds I fried the seeds and the spices together. I like to use a mortar and pestle to pound the toasted seeds. I added the onions and garlic to brown in a pan with oil, then the potatoes. Then after adding the tomatoes and coriander I poured vegetable broth over it. I added the chickpea flour after not knowing if it was the right timing or not but it worked out. I usually don't put this in but I wanted to thicken it.
I added cashew cream to replace yogurt which is commonly used. I could have used vegan yogurt if I had some. I prefer cashew cream. I made it by soaking cashews, then blending with some lemon juice, cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, salt, olive oil and a little water to make it smooth. When the curry was cooked I blended it with a hand blender then added the cream.
I wanted to go all out and make some flat breads. This is so simple that I wish I had done this all my life instead of buying it. Although I am no expert at these things, I got a satisfying flatbread which Marc loved.
I used around 4 or 5 cups of wholewheat flour, a few cups warm water as needed to make a dough that can be formed. I also added salt and a few tablespoons of oil to the mix. The water was added gradually until it was doughy. I rolled it into a ball then cut it into equal pieces rolling each one in a ball then flattening with a rolling pin. I put it in a hot pan and waited until bubbles formed to turn it over.
I made a mango salad which was more like a Mexican salsa. It kind of sneaked in there like a squirrel on a bird feeder. I guess it wasn't that out of place since it had ingredients also used in Indian cuisine. It was mango, onion, cilantro, chili powder and lime juice. I topped it with roasted cashews.
I always like to have rice so I made some basmati. I only have a little of the bread or I get too full. Marc prefers the bread.
I would like to make curry more often but I'm afraid my apartment will smell like curry and spices. We can't open the windows because there is too much pigeon dust outside. We just have the air conditioner on all the time. Soon it will be the heater. This is life in the middle of a concrete jungle.
Thanks for stopping by!
