Monday, March 9, 2009

Dark Days of Winter Challenge - week 16 vegetarian



This week we had a vegetarian meal that was pretty darn good. For this week's bean dish I decided to try my hand at rajma (kidney bean) curry. I used light red kidney beans (variety: pink floyd) from local growers Pop and Judy, along with local butter, onion, garlic, cilantro, and tomatoes from the freezer. The salt and spices were the only non-local ingredients. I served it over locally-grown spelt berries, which was tasty but not texturally the best combination (there was a little too much popping going on!)

The side dish was a simple all-local slaw of apples and carrots, dressed with local apple cider vinegar and honey. I was in the mood for something crisp and fresh, and this was definitely a winner! Thank goodness for my Benriner mandoline slicer, which made the slicing quick and easy. (I've owned a number of cheap mandolines over the years, and the Benriner is definitely the best.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks absolutely delicious. I'd never think of pairing apples/carrots (sweet) with rajma, but now that I consider, it makes sense as a contrast to the spice. Did you cook the apples/carrots beforehand or use them raw?

Anne said...

The carrots and apple were both raw; slicing them so thin and fine really made all the difference, I think. The texture was really good.

It was my first time making rajma curry - I am trying to do something different with every pot of beans! It would have been much better with fresh chilis, I think, so I will try it again in the summer.