month of beauty: one yummy stew

My thing of beauty today is our dinner tonight:

I made it myself! With stuff I found in the fridge, using ideas I had in my head…

and the kids (and I! and my mum!) yummed it up.

Here's how I made it. I know you want to know! (Jess, this one is for you, especially, because you asked :) )

Inspired by the delicious soup we had with Ingi of Defying Gravity, I used this coconut carrot soup recipe as my base:

Ingredients:

• 2-3 large carrots, chopped small
• 1 onion, chopped small
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 14 ounce can coconut milk
• sea salt, to taste

Preparation:

Simmer the carrots, onions, ginger and curry powder in vegetable broth for 20-25 minutes, until carrots are soft.

Allow to cool slightly, and then puree in blender, working in batches if needed.

Return to heat and stir in coconut milk until well combined.

Season generously with sea salt, to taste.

Then, I mixed things up a bit!

I didn't have any curry powder, so I used :

1/8 teaspoon of paprika,
1/4 teaspoon of turmeric, and
1/4 teaspoon of cumin instead.

I didn't have a 14 ounce can of coconut milk (which came to about 400mL in Oz measurements), so I used:

Two 270 mL cans of coconut milk, instead!

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PLUS I wanted to add some other things, like

A quarter of a head of cauliflower

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and

One 320g packet of hard tofu

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so I put in quite a lot more vege stock (2+ cups extra).


In the end, I decided not to puree the veges.

I could say that was totally the Inner Chef in me, acting as a guide for all things soupy,

and sure, it didn't quite feel right to blend up all that tofu and cauliflower,

but the truth is, our stick blender broke! So the decision was made for me.

I'm actually really glad I kept this more like a stew. It felt Just Right, when we ate it all up.


So, to sum up…
here's my recipe, for

One Yummy Coconut Carrot Cauliflower Tofu Stew!

(name just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?)

Dice up
3 big carrots
1 onion
Stir fry for a bit in some olive oil. 

Then add
3 cups of vege stock 

Put in the spices
1/8 tspn paprika
1/4 tspn cumin
1/4 tspn turmeric 

Cook for a while, then add
1 pack of hard tofu (approx 320g)
1/4 cauliflower
and the coconut milk (approx 550mL). 

Simmer for about 20 minutes (or longer), 'til everything's nice and soft.
Serve and gobble up!

It ended up as a lovely stew, not too wet. I actually think it would be scrumptious served on basmati rice, too.

If you want it to be spicier, add more spice or curry powder. 

If you want it soupier, add some more coconut milk and/or vege stock. 

The whole dinner didn't take long at all, and was so tasty. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

I might show the photo of it again, because eating it made my family happy. And happiness is always, always, a beautiful thing.

Don't you agree?
:) 

Yum.