Tag Archives: curry

Like a dog with a bone

8 Jul

If you enjoy Caribbean food, specifically roti, I am hoping you already know about Trini to D Bone, but if not then please stop by ASAP. And tweet or call so I can join you, ok? I haven’t been back since Mr. ST and I discovered it the first week we moved to our new place and I am dying to see someone else’s face light up as they tuck into some of this toasty, earthy lentil and potato mixture; or this spongy light roti and goat curry; and this tart chutney full of vinegar and chilli battling for dominance and coming together to somehow refresh and set fire to my tongue all at once.

As I slurped it up, it only made me want to jam more of that creamy chicken and chickpea mixture into my mouth. It reminded me almost of the cool sambal at Ayo Eat.

Trini to D Bone can be found on the quiet end of Burnside Road near the Spectrum, Colquitz, Marigold cluster of schools in Saanich but it might as well be miles away. It felt a bit like being on vacation, when you find that charming little hole in the wall and you can just tell by the smells, and the people, and the anticipatory energy that you are somewhere special. That and Mr. ST found that it had a wicked awesome rating on Urbanspoon ;-)
Trini To D Bone on Urbanspoon

We plopped ourselves down at one of their outdoor picnic tables with a malt soda one sunny Saturday afternoon and just let time stop for a while. A lunch date is one of our favourite ways to kick off the weekend and reward ourselves for getting all of our errands done early in the day. I highly recommend it! Luckily we’d been especially productive already that day, because this was one nap-enducing delight!

I had the dhalpuri-style roti with chicken. Between two stretchy layers of roti is a dusting of ground cumin, yellow split peas, garlic and sometimes other spices and seasonings. The roti was rolled burrito-style around a mixture of lentil, chickpea, chicken brought to life with turmeric and coriander. Mr. ST’s rich goat curry wasn’t served rolled up because it had bones in it, so he got to use his roti skins like a scoop and just ate with his hands. Plus it was called “buss up chop” which was just fun to say and ridiculous to hear him order.

Trini to D Bone is a bit like dining in someone’s home and having them make you their time-tested and perfected family celebration meal. Except it’s not fancy or pretentious – it’s unique, comforting and takes you on a mini mouth vacation for less than $10 (and without all the tourists!). We will definitely be back.

Tags: , , , ,

Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

26 Mar

As we are always ones to take advantage of seasonal veggie bargains, those three and five pound bags of carrots have been calling my name with their ridiculously low prices lately. In a household of two, however, they can easily sit in the bottom of our fridge getting all soft and frownie before we can eat them all. Sure, I toss them raw into salads and I roast them with dinner, but there are only so many carrots I can eat in the day. And since we’re big on variety in the ST household, the best way to get us to eat our veggies is to switch them up and make them seem different from meal to meal.

You’ve probably seen a lot of carrot soups on the internet. I am not pretending to be original here – I’m just saying that carrot soup has never ever appealed to me before and this one was awesome. My recipe below reflects the fact that I made some minor modifications to the spices originally suggested by Joy the Baker. If you already know what spices you like best, I suggest you do the same!

If you’re craving soup for lunch and just can’t get your act together to make some of your own, head over to the Soup Peddler on Cook Street. Serving up luscious bowls of lovingly prepared organic soups every day, this place is a great addition to the lower Cook Street food crawl.

Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 tablespoons minced ginger

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

Dash of cayenne

4-5 cups diced carrots

3 cups vegetable broth

1 cup light coconut milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh chopped cilantro and sliced limes for garnish

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and saute until onions are translucent, about four minutes. Add ginger and saute for another four minutes, until softened and fragrant. Add the dried spices and diced carrots.  Stir to incorporate.  Let the carrots and spices brown in the pan for 3-5 minutes then add the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and let the mixture simmer until carrots are completely softened, about 20-25 minutes minutes. Remove from heat.

Blend the soup with a hand blender, or transfer to a food processor once cooled and process until smooth. If you don’t like your soup totally smooth, here’s where you should yank out some of the carrot. You can add it back once the rest of the soup has been blended. Return to the pot, stir in coconut milk. I also added a few handfuls of fresh spinach at this point too. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro and a squirt of lime juice before serving.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Spot On: Cowichan Pasta

6 Dec

The best impulse purchase we made at the Downtown Winter Market in November was this stuff:

These babies were pillowy soft and you’d never know they were cooked from frozen in just three minutes.

Our only complaint was a bit of inconsistency in the filling. Some of the raviolis had a few bits of prawn while others had nearly whole ones. Even despite this, they were worth every penny of the $12 they cost and we can’t wait to try some of the other flavours. As either an appetizer or a dinner for two, it’s about as fancy as you can get in less than ten minutes.

I served ours with my curried corn sauce, which I’ll share with you now because it’s incredibly versatile. I must confess, however, that it wasn’t the best compliment to the raviolis. It kind of stole the show from the delicate, subtle flavour of West Coast spot prawns. Next time, I’ll take the advice Cowichan Pasta gave me on Twitter and serve their goods with just a good olive oil, a few thin slices of parmegiano reggiano and a good crack of black pepper.

This sauce is great as a stew based with chicken and veggies or drizzled over scallops, tilapia or snapper on some greens. My instincts were good–corn and seafood are usually a winning combination. I think it was the curry factor.

Curried Corn Sauce

2T olive oil

3/4 cup red onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups corn kernels, raw

1 cup light coconut milk

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 T yellow curry powder (or more to taste)

1 t cumin

1 – 2 t honey, to taste

1/2 t salt

Fresh chopped herbs (we like cilantro and Italian parsley)

Puree 1 cup of corn kernels in food processor. Reserve half a cup of kernels.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and onion and saute until softened and transculent. Stir in curry powder and cumin and continue to cook for 1 minute. Spices will become fragrant.

Add chicken broth and scrape up any bits from the pan. Add coconut milk, honey, and salt and bring to a simmer. Turn down to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. Add the reserved corn kernels and simmer until they are heated through.

Tags: , , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 247 other followers

%d bloggers like this: