From Our Kitchen: Vegetarian Chickpea Curry with Coconut Rice

Y'all. Our dinner last night was so good! I know it may be hard to trust a pregnant lady on something like food, what with our reputation for constant hunger, eating of weird things, and so on, but you will just have to trust me when I say that you should absolutely make this at your earliest opportunity.

It's no secret that I am a big fan of most Asian foods, and I absolutely love curry. Almost every curry recipe I have ever made at home has been vegetarian, but I just think that the flavors and colors are all so wonderful that I have a hard time deviating. This recipe might just take the medal for being my new favorite curry, and can we please just talk about sugar snap peas for a moment? Sugar snap peas are not something I would normally buy. I mean, they just seem a little boring to me, and I am not the biggest fan of peas anyway. But douse some of those bad boys in some curry and holy crap I could probably eat my weight in them (except not really right now because, you know, shrinking stomach capacity and all).

What You'll Need:

Coconut Rice

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 cup water (or coconut water, but I didn't have any)
• 1/4 tsp salt

Curry

• 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 leeks, cleaned and trimmed (white parts only)
• 1 red pepper, sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp red curry paste
• 3/4 bag of frozen sugar snap peas
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 can garbanzo beans

What You'll Do:

1. Begin by getting your rice started. Bring liquids to a boil. Add rice and salt. Cover and cook for 45 minutes (or just follow the instructions on your particular rice subbing out the coconut milk for part of your liquid).
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add coconut oil.
3. Once the oil has melted, add leeks and red pepper. Cook about 5 minutes.
4. Add garlic and curry paste, and stir to coat.
5. Add peas and coconut milk. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
6. Add chickpeas and cook another 5 minutes.
7. Add salt and/or red pepper to taste.
8. Serve curry over rice.
9. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is

From Our Kitchen: Thai Red Curry Lentils

As you may have figured out by now, we really, really love Asian and Indian food (although, Indian is definitely a new found love!). Thai food, especially, has definitely been one of my very favorites for many years now - probably since the days of Cha De Thai in Boone (any other Boonites out there remember that little gem?). I stumbled across this recipe when making my grocery list for the week, and trying to find a good vegetarian Thai dish. I made some modifications, and volia! - a new dish to add to the rotation! We tend to like things spicier than most, and this was nowhere near spicy enough for us, even with the addition of the red pepper flakes, so I just caution you to judge your taste preferences wisely!

What You'll Need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons (or more) minced garlic (I use more because we really like garlic!)
• 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1-13.5 oz can coconut milk
• 1 cup lentils
• 2 - 3 cups water
• 1 zucchini, cut into half moons
• 1-10z can baby corn, drained
• Salt, to taste
• Red Pepper (crushed or flakes), to taste

What You'll Do:

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until onion is translucent.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add curry paste, and cook another minute.
   
   
   
3. Add coconut milk, water, lentils, salt, and red pepper. Stir to combine.
   
   
   
4. Cook 30 minutes, adding additional water as needed.
5. Add zucchini and baby corn. Stir to combine.
   
   
   
6. Cook additional 10 - 15 minutes, or until lentils are soft.
7. Serve over brown rice or quinoa.