 When it comes to cooking and nutrition, I love eating by color. Yes, you heard me - color. The Five-A-Day diet or nutritional advice is provided by the Produce for Better Health organization in order to get people to eat more vegetables and fruits. So, I eat by color but the correct way. I know there are some ignorant people who could look at a pizza and say, “There’s color! You got red tomatoes, pepperoni, and white cheese. There’s basil on there too for green.” Ah, no. That doesn’t work. A prime example of eating by color is in curries, stews, or other one dish meals because they usually provide an assortment of vegetables packed with vitamins and nutrients.
And a helluva lot of flavor.
What makes a curry a curry? The spices. The difference between a curry and a stew is that curries are thicker, involve an array of flavors, and are generally multiple times spicier than a stew. A stew is thicker than a soup disregarding chowders and purees. Chowders are usually flavored with pork fat and thickened with flour more often a cream based than tomato. Manhattan Clam Chowder is one of those exceptions; you know there’s always one amongst the lot.
I prefer curries because I love flavor packed foods. I have two-three locations where I store my spices. The majority is in the fridge, the unopened are in shelves, and the bulks are tucked away in a cool area. I buy cinnamon powder by the bulk because I go through it like a chocoholic eats chocolate, dried garlic flakes, dried ginger, ground pepper, and fenugreek. Everything else like paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, anise, cheap curry powder, turmeric, celery seed, etc. are bought as needed and stored in the fridge. My pantry of other herbs and spices contain the uncommon like lemon grass, Indian basil, bay leaf, etc. Phil was amazed when he saw how stocked I was but in the end it pays off, especially when I can purchase them inexpensively at the Asian Market. Freezing/storing in the fridge preserves opened spices better than leaving them in a spice rack. Yes, they can go stagnant just as anything else can. Spices and herbs, over time, can lose their potency which is why it isn’t recommended to buy bulk items unless you seriously - like me with cinnamon - use it that often.
Cinnamon is spice that is very beneficial. It helps the blood circulate in your body, assist in aiding digestion, high in antioxidants, and has a whole slew of other medicinal purposes. It can be utilized in savory or sweet recipes, pickles, relishes, and drinks. Of course, there are varieties as well; there’s cassia, celyon, and Saigon with their subspecies. Malabar, also known as betel leaf, has a cinnamon-like taste but of course looks like a leaf where as the cinnamon is bark. In case you didn’t know, all the cinnamon we purchase in the supermarkets is actually cassia and not true cinnamon. When cinnamon is ground, it’s very clumpy and has a faint taste as opposed to cassia. So for the sake of manufacturers, they use cassia but pass it off as cinnamon. Just don’t tell mom to chance the name of her Cinnamon-Streusel topping to Cassia-Streusel…sounds weird.
This recipe also granted me the opportunity to experiment with cassava aka tapioca, manioc, or yuca. Oh my goodness is it delicious! Its texture resembles a starchy potato but very creamy and tastes just a tad sweet. I’d say it’s similar to the Japanese sweet potato but not as sweet and not as soft; although, there is a “bitter” category of tapioca roots as well. You can buy it fresh at your local Asian market or frozen as well. The frozen one comes already cleaned and prepared requiring merely defrosting time. Do take the time to defrost; that sucker’s hard to cut even semi-frozen. The bark of cassava is edible but very harsh to digest so I wouldn’t recommend consumption and the leaves are poisonous so uh don’t eat them. Cassava is also your source of tapioca pearls, sago, and starch if you didn’t get that by now. It has a fairly good source of calcium, phosphorus, and adequate amounts of Vitamin C but is mostly considered a pure starch.
In all honesty, I’m not fond of tapioca pudding but I rather eat the cassava. If I were to make “Tapioca” pudding, I think I would simmer mini chunks of cassava in milk and then make a pudding out of that or puree the cassava with milk and add in fruit. I think that sounds a lot better. Maybe even the similar effect can be applied to bubble tea since many people have an issue with the texture difference. Of course, in this recipe feel free to substitute any vegetable to your preference. Due to it being an African curry, I used ingredients popular in Africa such as tubular, okra, peppers, and cow peas. You can use any bean you desire or purely make it a vegetable-vegetable curry. I served it over brown rice which you can also substitute with quinoa (especially if you don’t add beans), millet, or maize.
With more knowledge about spices, become inventive and use them to your advantage. Create your own curry with the earthy essence of Africa or take another root - like rutabaga!
Yeah, that was lame.
 Cape Malay Curry
¼ of an onion, slivered
2 small scallions, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup diced bell pepper (any color)
1 small purple potato (or red, gold, sweet, etc)
1/3 cup baby carrots, chopped
1 small cassava root (or half a large), cleaned & coarsely chopped
½ cup chopped okra
½ cup Black Eyed Peas (or red or chickpeas), cooked
1 plump tomato, chopped
1 ½ cups water
½ tbsp crushed garlic flakes (or 2 tsp minced fresh)
4 pieces of dried ginger (or fresh)
Turmeric
Coriander powder
Cumin
Ground cinnamon
Curry powder
1 tbsp vinegar
Apricot jam
Yogurt
A few leaves of cilantro
Spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray and sauté the onions until soft. Add the peppers and sauté until the skin becomes blistered. Add your spices followed by the tomato with enough water to just cover. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat slightly, continuing to cook until the tomatoes break down. Once this has been achieved, add the potatoes and cassava with more water if the mixture appears dry. Add the vinegar and again cover; cook until the starchy vegetables become soft which would take five to ten minutes according to how small you have diced them.
Once the starchy vegetables are tender, add the okra, carrots, scallions, and beans. Cook for an additional five minutes, adding more water if it appears dry. Once finished take off the heat to cool slightly. If you don’t, the yogurt will curdle once it touches the very hot curry. After about five minutes, add the apricot jam and yogurt.
Serve over rice or other grain of choice sprinkled with torn cilantro leaves.
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And a helluva lot of flavor.
What makes a curry a curry? The spices. The difference between a curry and a stew is that curries are thicker, involve an array of flavors, and are generally multiple times spicier than a stew. A stew is thicker than a soup disregarding chowders and purees. Chowders are usually flavored with pork fat and thickened with flour more often a cream based than tomato. Manhattan Clam Chowder is one of those exceptions; you know there’s always one amongst the lot.
I prefer curries because I love flavor packed foods. I have two-three locations where I store my spices. The majority is in the fridge, the unopened are in shelves, and the bulks are tucked away in a cool area. I buy cinnamon powder by the bulk because I go through it like a chocoholic eats chocolate, dried garlic flakes, dried ginger, ground pepper, and fenugreek. Everything else like paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, anise, cheap curry powder, turmeric, celery seed, etc. are bought as needed and stored in the fridge. My pantry of other herbs and spices contain the uncommon like lemon grass, Indian basil, bay leaf, etc. Phil was amazed when he saw how stocked I was but in the end it pays off, especially when I can purchase them inexpensively at the Asian Market. Freezing/storing in the fridge preserves opened spices better than leaving them in a spice rack. Yes, they can go stagnant just as anything else can. Spices and herbs, over time, can lose their potency which is why it isn’t recommended to buy bulk items unless you seriously - like me with cinnamon - use it that often.
Cinnamon is spice that is very beneficial. It helps the blood circulate in your body, assist in aiding digestion, high in antioxidants, and has a whole slew of other medicinal purposes. It can be utilized in savory or sweet recipes, pickles, relishes, and drinks. Of course, there are varieties as well; there’s cassia, celyon, and Saigon with their subspecies. Malabar, also known as betel leaf, has a cinnamon-like taste but of course looks like a leaf where as the cinnamon is bark. In case you didn’t know, all the cinnamon we purchase in the supermarkets is actually cassia and not true cinnamon. When cinnamon is ground, it’s very clumpy and has a faint taste as opposed to cassia. So for the sake of manufacturers, they use cassia but pass it off as cinnamon. Just don’t tell mom to chance the name of her Cinnamon-Streusel topping to Cassia-Streusel…sounds weird.
This recipe also granted me the opportunity to experiment with cassava aka tapioca, manioc, or yuca. Oh my goodness is it delicious! Its texture resembles a starchy potato but very creamy and tastes just a tad sweet. I’d say it’s similar to the Japanese sweet potato but not as sweet and not as soft; although, there is a “bitter” category of tapioca roots as well. You can buy it fresh at your local Asian market or frozen as well. The frozen one comes already cleaned and prepared requiring merely defrosting time. Do take the time to defrost; that sucker’s hard to cut even semi-frozen. The bark of cassava is edible but very harsh to digest so I wouldn’t recommend consumption and the leaves are poisonous so uh don’t eat them. Cassava is also your source of tapioca pearls, sago, and starch if you didn’t get that by now. It has a fairly good source of calcium, phosphorus, and adequate amounts of Vitamin C but is mostly considered a pure starch.
In all honesty, I’m not fond of tapioca pudding but I rather eat the cassava. If I were to make “Tapioca” pudding, I think I would simmer mini chunks of cassava in milk and then make a pudding out of that or puree the cassava with milk and add in fruit. I think that sounds a lot better. Maybe even the similar effect can be applied to bubble tea since many people have an issue with the texture difference. Of course, in this recipe feel free to substitute any vegetable to your preference. Due to it being an African curry, I used ingredients popular in Africa such as tubular, okra, peppers, and cow peas. You can use any bean you desire or purely make it a vegetable-vegetable curry. I served it over brown rice which you can also substitute with quinoa (especially if you don’t add beans), millet, or maize.
With more knowledge about spices, become inventive and use them to your advantage. Create your own curry with the earthy essence of Africa or take another root - like rutabaga!
Yeah, that was lame.
Cape Malay Curry
¼ of an onion, slivered
2 small scallions, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup diced bell pepper (any color)
1 small purple potato (or red, gold, sweet, etc)
1/3 cup baby carrots, chopped
1 small cassava root (or half a large), cleaned & coarsely chopped
½ cup chopped okra
½ cup Black Eyed Peas (or red or chickpeas), cooked
1 plump tomato, chopped
1 ½ cups water
½ tbsp crushed garlic flakes (or 2 tsp minced fresh)
4 pieces of dried ginger (or fresh)
Turmeric
Coriander powder
Cumin
Ground cinnamon
Curry powder
1 tbsp vinegar
Apricot jam
Yogurt
A few leaves of cilantro
Spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray and sauté the onions until soft. Add the peppers and sauté until the skin becomes blistered. Add your spices followed by the tomato with enough water to just cover. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat slightly, continuing to cook until the tomatoes break down. Once this has been achieved, add the potatoes and cassava with more water if the mixture appears dry. Add the vinegar and again cover; cook until the starchy vegetables become soft which would take five to ten minutes according to how small you have diced them.
Once the starchy vegetables are tender, add the okra, carrots, scallions, and beans. Cook for an additional five minutes, adding more water if it appears dry. Once finished take off the heat to cool slightly. If you don’t, the yogurt will curdle once it touches the very hot curry. After about five minutes, add the apricot jam and yogurt.
Serve over rice or other grain of choice sprinkled with torn cilantro leaves.