Undoubtedly, one of the most important traits to have as someone who desires to help others (locally, and more so overseas), is the ability to stay flexible and adaptable.
During our time in India, instead of complaining about having rice and hot spicy curry at every meal, we saw it as a fun cultural experience. Even though Cliff usually doesn’t eat such spicy food, he was a hit among the locals, eating with his hands in the local indian way, and eating twice the amount of briyani rice. It wasn’t just to express his contentment- he genuinely enjoyed the taste of the indian briyani rice. (I suppose it’s hard not to, when there’s so much ghee that goes into it!)
You would have thought that by the time we returned to Singapore, we would be so tired of Indian food. But just a few days later, both Cliff and I had a hankering for something Indian again!
The intensity of the indian spices were a little strong for us after so many days of briyani rice and curry, so I decided on a fusion meal for the Hungry Husband, tempered with other flavors, and filled with all his favorite foods. Truly a feast for his sense to usher in the New Year!
Here’s presenting easy steps to
Indian briyani rice stuffed in sweet peppers, Thai green curry, served with salad Western-style, ha!
I used to think making Indian food was complicated. After all, so many amazing smells and tastes always seem to erupt from every mouthful. I realized, that with a few smart shopping choices, it can be a really easy deal at home. The best part is, you can customize the strength of the taste depending on what you feel like that day.
We bought some of these items from a little run-down store in India, while we were out with the missionary wife, J, but these can be easily obtained here in Singapore, or at an Asian supermarket if you’re overseas.
Food for Love:
Briyani rice
– Basmati rice (2 ½ cups) and water (4 cups)
– A pack of masala powder
– Spices ( I used whatever I could find in my cupboard- cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, cayenne pepper, star anise and cloves)
– Leftover vegetables in your fridge, honest!
Thai Green Curry
– A packet of green curry paste
– Onions
– Tomatoes (and any other vegetables like peas, okra or eggplant)
– Leftover meats ( I had some chicken and frozen prawns)
Western Salad
– Salad leaves
– Cherry tomatoes or sweet peppers ( I call them capsicum- it is the Canadian in Cliff who insists these are called Sweet peppers, heh)
– Cucumber
The Act:
1. First off, you’ll need to ensure you have some of these special items around the house.
Basmati rice and masala spices shouldn’t be difficult to find if you live in a cosmopolitan city.
What’s beautiful about basmati rice is how long and thin the grains are, its soft and fluffy texture, and distinctly aromatic fragrance.
Basmati rice has a “medium” glycemic index- this means that compared to other grains made with refined or white flour,
it is more suitable for diabetics.
(But of course, not if you pour in half a cup of ghee!)
2. Gather whatever leftover vegetables you can find in the fridge.
I had a shrivelling carrot, onions, week-old cucumbers and some cherry tomatoes.
3. Chop them all up.
4. Rinse the rice.
If you’re afraid of cooking rice like me and worried about how it will turn out, don’t be.
With a rice cooker, and a 2:1 ratio of water to grain, you should be on the right path. The instructions on the rice packet called for 1 ½ cups of grain and 4 cups of water, but I grew suspicious of this, especially since I was adding a chockfull of vegetables which contained much moisture.
So I used a 2 ½ cups of rice and 4 cups of water, and it turned out well!
5. Scour your home for spices.
I used a teaspoon each of cinammon, nutmeg, ground ginger, and cayenne pepper (top left).
Instead of the full pack of masala powder which the recipe called for, I used only half a pack/ cup (top right).
And I had brought back from India heh, a little bit of Star Anise and sweet-smelling cloves (on table).
6. In a rice cooker, put the rinsed grains, water, vegetables and spices altogether.
If there’s a recipe behind the basmati rice pack, it’ll most likely tell you to pour in a cup of oil or butter but don’t ruin this healthy meal!
I simple drizzled in some olive oil and the combined flavours of the spices made it smell AMAZING.
If you’re observant, you’ll see that this is actually my slow cooker-
it didn’t work out, so I transferred it to the rice cooker.
Thankfully it turned out well!
7. Leave it to sit in the rice cooker and let the magic happen!
While this is happening, you can get started on your Thai green curry.
8. Set aside your leftover vegetables and meats.
I wished I had some okra (ladies’ fingers) and eggplant, but I think Cliff was more than relieved that there was no eggplant in the house!
I wanted to simply dump all the prawns in wholesale, but I figured,
anybody you love immensely is worth you washing, peeling, and de-pooping the prawns for!
9. Brown the garlic and onions in a saucepan, with a little oil. (I used olive oil.)
And then, stir fry the chicken chunks and prawns, or whatever meats you have.
It’s a beautiful potpourri of color already!
10. Squeeze out the green curry paste from the packet.
I used two- one was a gift from a friend who had returned from Thailand.
It was hot, hot, hot!
11. While most recipes will tell you to add in coconut milk in the saucepan as well, I decided to transfer this mixture to the slow cooker.
The low and simmering heat will give the meats and vegetables a beautiful pungent fragrance.
In mandarin, they call this “chu wei”. Literally, it means, “come out flavor”.
Ten minutes before you’re ready to serve, add in a little coconut milk.
12. Then, go crazy on the decorations!
I made it as eclectic as the cuisines put together on the plate.
After hollowing out the sweet peppers, I could not resist stuffing them with the yummy rice and topping them off with some cashews.
This Fusion meal wasn’t deliberately planned- all these were simply Cliff’s favourite dishes.
Indian briyani rice, Western salad and Thai green curry for his New Year Treat!
The best thing is,
you can feel free to refrigerate the rice and it’ll be a super quick and easy meal to reheat through the week!
Here’s another crazy way of presenting a Happy Fusion Meal to a Hungry Husband
– with leftover frozen chinese dumplings given to us by our parents.
Cheers to a new year of more quick and easy Culinary Creations!
Love.