Red Kidney Bean Curry

Mother Nature is such a freaking tease. And I fall for it every year.

Me on Monday: 'Oh hey! It's all sunny out! I'm going to be super happy and eat a bunch of cereal!'.

Me on Wednesday: 'I don't even remember what the sun is. Give me the warmest, most hearty comfort food you got so that I may cry into it.'

And that's what this is. It's easy, cheap, and will do its damnedest to warm your soul.

Red Kidney Bean Curry [Rajmah]
Via Smitten Kitchen/Adapted from an Arora spice blend

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 plum tomato, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large green chili, chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
8 ounce can of tomato sauce
3 cups boiled red kidney beans or 30 ounces canned red kidney beans, undrained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

Heat oil in a deep sauce pan over medium heat for one minute. Add ginger, garlic, onion, green chili, and let sizzle for one minute. Add the tomato sauce, salt and remaining spices and cook for an additional five minutes, stirring frequently. Add the kidney beans with water or canned red kidney beans (undrained) plus one additional cup of water, and tomatoes. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and let cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Garnish with cilantro.

curried chickpea and cauliflower stew

After moving on the first, I didn't have internet until yesterday, so it was all Amish for me for a while. That's absolutely not true. I had lights, I rode in cars, I zipped up my pants, but it all felt very old timey without the magic box. To get recipes I had to look in this thing called a magazine and flip through its pages. My boyfriend actually had to call 411. Yeah, that does still exist. It's cool, I didn't know either.

So I looked through my old Bon Appetits and actually made some of those recipes I dog-ear every month. Turns out they're really good! Last week it was an awesome oil and vingegar potato salad. Unfortunately I only seemed to make it late at night and then finish the left-overs by the time I remember to take a picture of it the next day (this actually happened twice). I'm sure I'll make it again next week, so just cool your jets.

Last night I went with the curried chickpea and cauliflower stew recipe. Oh my! So simple, so tasty, I'm all aflutter. I forgot that cooking is fun when there's good food at the end! Don't call it a comeback, cause I never left.