I have a rather ironic secret being that I am a food blogger. Here it is: I am not a good meal planner. What I mean by that is that I never know what I am going to cook ahead of time and therefore planning shopping is a nightmare. But even when I try to organize myself and plan and shop according to plans, on the weekend it doesn’t work out. When I am really in the mood to cook, I usually cook what I feel like eating at that time and most of the time that means painful runs to the store tagging at least the twins along. Most of the time I try to make do with ingredients I have in hand.
I recently had a craving for Indian food - something I haven't mastered - but didn’t want anything too spicy. So I browsed Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook in search of recipes that would work with things I had at home. The result was a Veal Curry adapted from a recipe for Lamb Curry, a gentle Chicken Curry made with chicken breast and not spicy with the twins in mind, and a Spinach with Yogurt salad which my 8-year-old devoured almost all by herself.
Veal Curry
Adapted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey by Madhur Jaffrey
The original recipe was made with boneless lamb and mainly baked in the oven which would take about 1 ½ hours. Since I don’t have that kind of time for a mid-week dinner I turned to my precious pressure cooker which churned out this very flavorful meal in about half an hour. Gotta love the pressure cooker!
About 1 ½ lb veal with bone
About 1 ½ cups onion, chopped
8 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks
8 whole cloves
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp anise
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 ¼ cups plain yogurt
Salt to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Heat olive oil in pressure cooker at medium heat. Add cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and anise. Stir.
Add onions and fry until they start to brown.
Add veal and all remaining ingredients and let veal brown mixing.
Add one cup of warm water. Lock lid in place, bring to high pressure and cook for about 20 minutes. Release pressure according to manufacturer's directions. Remove lid.
If necessary, open and saute contents in pressure cooker over burner set to medium low heat to let curry thicken for another 5 minutes. Make sure to stir once in awhile and be careful not to let it dry out.
Serve with plain basmati rice or bread.