Ouch! This curry burned me!

This is the Black-eyed pea Jamaican Curry with Plantains from Appetite for Reduction. Why do I keep making curry? I know I don’t like it. At all. But I liked everything in this dish except for the curry powder. And I’ve never eaten a habanero before, so I had to give it a go.

First of all, ouch. Second, aaaaah! My hand is on fire! That’s right. I decided to cut up and seed the habanero pepper without wearing gloves. Do you know how many days my fingers burned? THREE. On the upside, I was basically walking pepper spray. If anyone tried to mess with me, I’d just poke them in the eyes. They wouldn’t see that coming!

So, back to the actual recipe. While I would not make this again, I’m betting it’s a great curry for people who actually like curry. My husband thought it was awesome, and looooved the spicy flavor. I also messed up the plantains, AGAIN, letting my steamer burn out of water. So, yay, those were still a little starchy, but they were so ripe it almost didn’t matter.

Yeah. I’m guessing this means curry and I are through.

Finally, a use for my Thai Holy Basil!

And what a great use for it! Oh baby. My husband rated this dinner a “9.5” on the vegan scale. Which is impressive, since he usually isn’t that fond of green beans or tofu. I think the real standout here was the Pineapple Rice, which I didn’t even make with fancy rice at all. Just with plain old short grain brown rice. You’d think that wouldn’t work, but it gave the whole deal a lot of creaminess–almost like you’d doused it with coconut milk.

Also, pineapples. Is there anything they can’t do? I think I should belong to some sort of tropical fruit fan club. And the more I get to mix it into dinners, the better.

But what about that basil? You know, I didn’t notice the taste too much. I think it has sort of a basil and licorice taste to it, but my plant had gotten rather withered in the 100+ degree heat we’ve been experiencing lately. So maybe if you had a nice, robust thai basil plant, it would give off more characteristic flavors? Oh well. I will for sure be making this dish again!

Recipes from Appetite for Reduction.

Ethiopian Night

In an effort to get outside my comfort zone, I made the all Ethiopian night from Appetite for Reduction. Millet, collard greens, mushroom tibs. DEAR GOD THE CURRY. I thought my taste buds were going to leap out of my mouth and run for cover. I once heard that a criticism of the cookbook was that the meals were bland. Bland? BLAND? No way. This was all a little too much for me all together, since all the flavors tasted so so similar.

Though I did learn that I love collards, even though they smell like armpits and sweat socks and bad breath when you cook them. But they come out pretty tasty!

My First Curry

I made curry for the first time! This is Curry Laksa, from, you guessed it, Appetite for Reduction. I happened to buy coconut milk for my breakfast, since I’m trying to increase the amount of B12 that I get from food, not just from my supplement. Did you know that it isn’t always included in vegan milk? I think that is super weird. Anyway, I know coconut milk probably isn’t the healthiest thing I could ever eat, but it does taste good. And is great for making curry!

This was super easy to make, especially if you press your tofu first. I just pressed mine in a kitchen towel between two plates, with Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and the Veganomicon perched on top. Such a good idea, I’ve been making the worst tofu ever before this.

I used fairly strong veggie broth to make this, but I think it probably still needed that extra dash of curry paste. And I believe we did hot sauce it up, using our favorite Dan’s Prime Texas Dew Drops. If you find this hot sauce, buy it. BUY IT. I had to order five bottles directly from Texas, since they stopped carrying it at our Whole Foods. Even after I practically broke down crying in the store. What’s up with that, WhoFoo?