Images of curry over rice with a side of kimchi is what I remember when I think of comfort-food my mom used to make. It just so happens that the weather is now quite chilly after the long stint of a hot-hot summer, I think it even rained today for a bit :) which makes me very very happy (hence the smiley face. It also just so happens that I know, via a short chat on IM with Mr. Borscht, that he is having a very bad day, a day where nothing... and I mean nothing, is going right. So it's Tummy to the rescue! Curry over rice with the works will be prepared for dinner tonight, a perfect dinner for an awful & cold day. I can practically smell the aroma of spices and curry, I can practically taste the chunks of vegetables and meat, mmmmm~ so good.
Here we go!
WHAT I NEEDED:
All the vegetables I am using is optional, you can literally make curry with any vegetable you like or simply have in the refrigerator, you can also make this curry vegetarian and knix the meat entirely.
1. 1 small onion (peeled and medium diced)
2. 1 large potato (washed & cut up into large dices, peeling is optional)
3. 3 carrots (washed & sliced, peeling is optional)
4. 1-2 zucchinis (washed, halved lengthwise and sliced not too thinly)
5. Choice of meat enough for 2-3 people cut into bite-size piece (you can buy stewing meat which is already cut-up in pieces, or simply buy meat to cut-up)
6. 2- 3.5 oz packs of Golden Curry (mild, medium or hot spice level is up to you)
7. Water, enough to cover all the vegetable and meat in the heavy skillet or pot
8. 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet or pot, I used a heavy skillet with tall sides
9. Cooked white rice
DIRECTIONS:
Once you've prepped all your ingredients (cleaned and cut all your vegetables and meat), heat the skillet (or pot) on med-high heat and add olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet (or pot) just so that the vegetables won't stick.
1. Add your medium diced onions and meat, stir occasionally so that the meat and onions don't stick to the skillet (or pot). Cook until onions are just beginning to turn color, the meat will be cooked on the outside and fleshy light pink on the inside.
2. Add the hard (longer cook-time) vegetables, in my case they are potatoes and carrots. Stir all the ingredients together in the skillet (or pot) and allow it to cook for about 3-5 minutes more stirring occasionally.
3. Add the soft (short cook-time) vegetable(s), in my case it is the zucchinis. Stir all the ingredients together in the skillet and allow it to cook for a minute more.
*NOTE: Although it is important to first cook in the groups described above (1st onions and meat, 2nd hard vegetables, and 3rd softer vegetables) the amount of time to cook each group is up to you. If you like your onions completely disintegrated then cook your onions and meat for longer before adding the 2nd and 3rd batch of vegetables in. I tend to like my vegetables soft but not completely falling apart and so I cook each batch only a few minutes. If you like your vegetables like mine and cook each batch only a few minutes at a time and are worried that the vegetables will be too hard or the meat not cooked all the way through, not to worry because the next step is to add water and to boil away, this will give your vegetables and meat ample time to cook through if it hasn't already.
4. Add water to the skillet (or pot) so that the water just covers all the vegetables and meat in the pan. With the cover off let the mixture come to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil lower the heat to simmer, cover it up and allow the mixture to simmer for 10 minutes (or more if you'd like, but keep in mind the longer it cooks the softer the vegetables will become), 10 minutes is always pretty good for me.
roughly skim off any foam that forms at the top.
5. After about 10 minutes or so lower the heat to low, break-out the curry, break-up the curry and add it to the hot, just barely simmering mixture. Mix it up good! Watch the mixture become a lovely golden brown!
*Note: How much curry you add to your curry mixture is up to you. I've seen people who make their curry watery but I like mine slightly thick so I always add a little bit more curry to the mix. And remember the golden rule: you can always add more; so if you're not sure what consistency you like begin by adding the curry from one small box, stir, wait, and see, maybe even take a taste test, and if you want to add more curry for a deeper flavor or thicker texture add more. If you find that you added to much curry and the mixture is way too thick for your liking don't panic, just add a bit of water to the mix to loosen things up a bit.
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| This is what the block of packaged curry looks like, it's literally a block of curry. |
Below are pictures of different kinds of Golden Curry: Golden Curry medium spicy, Golden Curry mild spicy, Golden Curry hot spicy, I believe they also have Golden Curry super spicy.
Once the curry mix is complete, pour the mixture over rice, you can even pour the mixture over noodles as well- I've never tried this before but I bet it's pretty good.
I'm sure curry over rice is a good meal in itself but I always like mine with a side of Fresh Kimchi. I bought tonight's Fresh Kimchi from the Korean Market (located in LA, Beverly & Kingsley). The Fresh Kimchi here is absolutely wonderful, my favorite place to get Fresh Kimchi if I'm unable to steal any from my Ma's. Fresh Kimchi and curry over rice? Yum, so good. I'm sure this will make Mr. Borscht feel alllll better.
