My family and I had dinner at Indian Flavour buffet a few nights ago. I’ve been to this restaurant twice now and each time I’ve been there the place has been empty except for two or three other people. This is a bit surprising as the food, in my opinion, is quite delicious and full of flavour. Maybe the look of the restaurant isn’t very appealing, not as clean or nice looking as, say, Babur on Queen Street but we’re here to eat food, not judge the decor. And I haven’t felt sick after eating here so that’s a definite positive, right? The restaurant is located at Bay and Dundas and at $13 per person for dinner buffet, I think it’s worth visiting again.
The beer they serve there is my kind of beer; refreshing, bubbly and a little mild. Cobra beer:
I loaded my plate with tons of meat: tandoori chicken, goat curry and butter chicken.
Since then, I’ve had a craving for more Indian food so last night I pulled out my new vegetarian cookbook I purchased at Winners. I love that I can find cookbooks for less than $10 at Winners. It makes me very happy.
Anyway, there is a recipe in this book for vegetable and coconut curry and I was very glad to discover I had all the ingredients, including a can of coconut milk. I always keep a chunk of ginger in the freezer because I never know when a recipe might call for fresh-ish ginger. I also keep a jar of pickled jalapeño peppers since I don’t often buy fresh peppers. The recipe asks for fresh green chilies but my pickled peppers did the job. Mm! So spicy!
As soon as I added the the coconut milk to the pot, it dawned on me that this was in fact a Thai dish. It smelled a lot like green curry, which I absolutely adore. Jay and I both enjoyed it immensely, though this is one dish where I wish I could have added salt. And Jay, the carnivore, said it would taste even awesomer (is that a word?) with shrimp or some sort of meat. I agreed. But, for all you vegetarians out there, this dish is awesome. Next time I make this I’m adding shrimp to it.
Recipe for Vegetable and Coconut Curry
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
2 fresh green chilies
1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used peanut oil)
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2lb mixed vegetables such as: cauliflower, zucchini, potatoes, carrots and green beans cut into chunks
1 cup coconut cream or milk
salt and pepper
freshly cooked rice, to serve
Put the onion, garlic, ginger and chilies in food processor and process until smooth. Heat the oil in a pot over medium low heat and add the onion mixture, stir constantly for about 5 minutes. Add the spices and stir frequently for 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetables and stir well to coat them in the spices. Add the coconut cream or milk, cover and let it simmer for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender. Serve with rice.
I tried this dish last night, and I can attest it was absolutely delicious. Although I must say I made a few modifications, like I used onion powder, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper, instead of the fresh variety, just to make chopping vegetables less time-consuming
. I also used broccoli instead of cauliflower, and added cubed tofu to add a bit of protein. I also found that I could get away with 15 minutes for cooking the vegetables. In the end it turned out as good as if I was treating myself to a dish from a fine Indian-Thai restaurant. Thanks for posting this yummy recipe Pat!