The Taste Traveller

curried rice with celery and almonds

Served hot or cold this is an easy dish to add to a range of meals. In my case it went along with a lemon and garlic-stuffed roast chicken and sweet potato garlic mash. There is a little crunchy element with toasted almonds, and a change from plain old brown rice by using brown basmati. A generous amount of curry powder adds a little extra spice. Cumin would be another good spice with this - but you could also go a totally different direction and add basil, oregano, or parsley. Of course you'd have to call it something different then! The chopped roasted garlic adds a bit more interest, but you could skip this and it's flavourful enough. I happen to love roasted garlic with many dishes, this one included. You could add so many things to this - it is rice afterall - always a versatile starter to so many yummy recipes. 

Here's the basic recipe to get you started.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown basmati or brown rice, uncooked
• 1/2 cup almonds, sliced or chopped, and toasted lightly 
• 1 cup celery, finely diced
• 2 to 3 tablespoons (30 ml to 45 ml) cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup (50 ml) fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) curry powder
• 3 or 4 garlic cloves, roasted and chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook the rice (stovetop or in rice cooker). Set aside. If you want to serve this dish cool allow enough time for the rice to cool down. 

Slice the top off of the bulb of garlic (exposing the tips of the garlic cloves), drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and wrap tightly in foil. Place in the oven to roast. Around 30 to 40 minutes at 375⁰ F (190⁰ C) should result in a nice soft bunch of garlic cloves! Let cool and use the tip of a knife or your finger to lift the cloves out of their skins. You can also squeeze them out (this might be a fun job to give the kids). Place them onto a chopping surface and chop. It will be quite soft, which is what you want. You are aiming to break it up more than precisely chop it.

If you don't have sliced almonds on hand, roughly chop the almonds. Heat a saucepan until warm, add the almonds and gently move them around until they get a little toasted. 

Finely chop the celery. 

Chop the cilantro.

Add the celery, almonds and cilantro to the rice mixture. 

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, curry powder, salt and pepper.

Add the dressing to the rice and other ingredients. Mix well.

Serve warm or cold.

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sweet potato, feta, tomato salad

I was walking through our wonderful Granville Island market yesterday morning for an entirely different purpose than recipe inspiration -and ended up with an idea that I ran with! I had a good feeling when I got a perfect parking spot, and breezed through the errands I had before heading into the market. It was early enough to be mostly locals shopping and vendors still stocking up. There was a warm buzz, but it wasn't elbow-your-way-through busy (particularly good when I was wheeling my stroller around and wanting to be as quick as I could). I picked up some Thai Red Rice (watch out for something using this in the near future) and then walked by one of the wonderful Italian delis there. It was here that I saw it -'it' being the spark of an idea, a delicious looking salad that I've expanded on here. From there I weaved through the weekly farmer's market outside and couldn't take my eyes off the wonderful tomatoes at one of the stalls. I had to get some, but which ones? I decided they had to go with my key salad ingredient, sweet potato, and ended up with the little gems pictured below. Another time I will get some of the vast array of heirloom tomatoes they had - they looked so interesting and I imagine taste fantastic.

So, the two main ingredients are sweet potatoes and little tomatoes - any sort that you can find that are perhaps out of ordinary, but most importantly, packed full of flavour. What I love about these are the different colours - this dish really became about a wonderful variety of colour aside from being really delicious.

Ingredients:

• 10 to 15 tomatoes, any small variety will work
• 1 (large) sweet potato, peeled, then steamed or baked, and chopped
• fresh basil, about 6 medium size leaves, torn or chopped
• 3/4 of a cup (more or less to suit your taste) feta cheese, chopped into cubes/small pieces
• 2 tablespoons/30 ml (approximately) extra virgin olive oil, drizzled over salad
• sea salt, a few pinches
• fresh lemon, about half if it's a really juicy one, squeezed
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) approximately, garlic, chopped

Method:

In the interest of time I steamed the sweet potatoes, but if you have time, bake them - it brings out the best in any vegetable of this sort. Ideally, cook the sweet potato until just slightly soft, you don't want it getting mushy when tossing the salad. Slice and chop the sweet potato into cubes or small pieces and allow to cool. Slice the tomatoes in half, add to the bowl with the sweet potato, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over and sprinkle some sea salt on top. After a light toss add the chopped feta, basil leaves, garlic, freshly squeezed lemon, and a bit more oil. Toss and serve.