Dorm Cooking: Vegan Barley Kamut Curry Pot
12:01:00 PM
I love food. Duh. But something you may or may not know about me is that when I'm stressed, uncomfortable, or upset I usually crave food. So, earlier this week I was craving Indian food. But, being a poor college student I didn't want to spend $10-20 on just one measly meal. So I decided to spend that money on groceries that would last me several, several meals. And it happens to be healthy and rice cooker friendly.
These are the main ingredients of the curry (except I didn't end up using the garlic. The curry is aromatic enough and it just didn't really fit together) . This recipe is really customizable, mine just happens to be vegan but adding meat or yogurt is definitely an option.
Parts List.
- Rice cooker
- Red potatoes
- Carrots
- Celery
- Peas
- Kamut & Barley or other grain of your choice
- Concentrated curry paste or curry mix of your preference
- Coconut oil or vegetable oil
- Salt or soy sauce
- Water
You could also use meat, beans, lentils, or nuts. I used a few almonds and cashews.
Kamut, also called khorasan wheat, is an ancient grain which basically means it's a whole grain that has remained largely unchanged for at least the last 100 years. Why is this good? Well, recently there's been a lot of speculation about why were developing these wheat and gluten in tolerances now when our ancestors lived their entire lives off of these foods. One of the theories, is that we've changed the plant and the recipe so much that we've disrupted the natural nutrients and the way we break them down in our system. Ancient grains take us back to our roots and they grow with less fertilizer, pesticide, and irrigation than modern grains do, making them more ecologically safe for the environment as well as yourself.
I actually cut and washed all the veg I bought at the beginning of the week because I knew that I would be a lot more likely to put in the effort to cook if I also ready had all the ingredients pretty much ready beforehand. I just keep them in the fridge so if I get hungry, something healthy is more easily at hand.
RECIPE
STEP 1
Cook your grains. The first time I made this, I just threw everything uncooked into the pot at the same time. Which worked fine, but the veg cooked faster than the grain so it left me with nicely cooked veg and slightly harder grains, which could be nice to some people but for me I like them slightly tender and just al dente.
STEP 2
While the grains are cooking, cut your veg! Amounts of veg isn't really that important. You do it to your tastes and preferences, just make sure it all fits into the pot! You could throw whatever you want in there, I've tried baby corn, butternut squash, edemame beans, tofu (not a veg I know)... whatever. I just based this selection off of a mirepoix minus the onions.
STEP 3
Oh... this is that picture from the first time when I used the uncooked barley.... but oh well. This is the supposed to be the part where your grains are all cooked and you add your vegetables in to the mix.
STEP 4
Add about 1-2 tablespoons of oil and curry paste each (or to taste), turn on your rice cooker and sort of fry off your veg and grains for just a few minutes. This sort of toasts the spices and helps the flavors cook into the veg before you dilute the flavor with water... you're basically doing a braise.
After that, ADD WATER until you can see the water level and it just slightly covers the first layer of veggies you have. Cover and cook, stirring as you see fit. The water should be cooking off so don't worry about the water level dropping, but if it gets to the end and the waters almost completely gone, add a bit more to get it to the consistency you want.
It's DONE. Stir and try not to drool.
** OPTIONAL. Adding tomato paste is an option that will deepen the flavor, I had frozen marinara sauce and added too much the first time and it came out pretty acidic, I used only about a teaspoon the second time and it was perfect.
Basically just use what you have! Dorm life requires some creativity sometimes.
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