I don't know what it is about Nag Champa, but it always makes me crave curry. Not any particular curry- it could be indian, thai, or ethiopian... my tastebuds don't care. They just revel in the warth and complexity of the unique spice blends. So after 15 of wafting in the nag-champa-induced curry coma, i ran my little sweaty butt back to my place to whip up some red curry. The only problem was that i was just really not feeling the coconut milk part of the recipe i usually make. so i decided to use carrots for their rich, velvety, sweetness as the base and it turned out FABULOUSLY. I just had to share... so here you are.
Ingredients:
- 5 large carrots
- 1/3 eggplant, cubed (tiny)
- 2 cups baby kale (or spinach, whatever green you wanna put in...or not. This is totally about what you want in your curry.
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 2 sprays bragg's liquid aminos
- 1 cube vegan vegetable boullion
- 2 T Thai red curry paste (here's a link to homemade recipe if you can't find the pre-made stuff: http://thewanderlustkitchen.com/easy-homemade-red-curry-paste/)
- +/- pinch of turmeric and black pepper
Steps:
1. peel and steam carrots in about 4 cups water for about 10 min.
*tip: i put the boullion cube in the water here to kill two birds with one stone (not a very vegan saying, but you get the gist...), but you can always make a second cup of broth apart from the carrots if you really want to do more work. *
2. saute eggplant and garlic
3. put raw kale in bottom of bowl, layer the eggplant mixture on top of that
4. transfer steamed carrots, 1 cup of the broth, and the curry paste into your Vitamix (or other blender) and blend it until it's a thick sauce consistency.
5. pour over bowl. Add turmeric and pepper for anti-inflammatory purposes if desired.
This is what mine looked like (half-devoured); beautiful orange hue, no?
Why Carrots are Cool:
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, one medium carrot or ½ cup of chopped carrots is considered a serving size. One serving size of carrots provides 25 calories, 6 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of sugars and 1 gram of protein.
Carrots are rich in vitamin A.
Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, providing 210% of the average adult's needs for the day. They also provide 6% of vitamin C needs, 2% ofcalcium needs and 2% of iron needs per serving.
It is the antioxidant beta-carotene that gives carrots their bright orange color. Beta-carotene is absorbed in the intestine and converted into vitamin A during digestion.
Carrots also contain fiber, vitamin K, potassium, folate, manganese, phosphorous, magnesium, vitamin E and zinc.
Farmer's markets and some specialty stores carry carrots in a range of colors - like purple, yellow, and red - that contain a variety of antioxidants lending them their color (such as anthocyanin in purple carrots and lycopene in red carrots).
A little tid bit on turmeric and black pepper:
Black pepper enhances bioavailability of Turmeric: One important question which must be popping in your mind right now would be why among so many spices are we talking about black pepper? The answer is really interesting too. One problem with curcumin is its low levels of bioavailability. Most of the curcumin that is ingested gets metabolized before it can get absorbed. Piperine is said to help make curcumin more bioavailable. This could be because it could inhibit certain intestinal digestive enzymes. This increases the amount of any drug or supplement that can be absorbed by the body. They also do not get degraded quickly. Hence, there are studies to test if co-administering curcumin with piperine could improve the bioavailability of the former. These studies have been conducted on humans and laboratory animals. One study found that when even 2g of curcumin was ingested, its serum levels were very low. However, when 20mg piperine was added to curcumin the bioavailability increased by 2000%. The bioavailability, serum levels and levels of absorption of curcumin all improved dramatically. Thus, if one tales turmeric, most of it is unutilized unless supplemented by addons such as black pepper.
