My friend just introduced me to a program in our area called "The Interfaith Country Kitchen". It is a completely FREE program where you come in and cook two recipes that they provide you with, along with providing you all the ingredients and the equipment for making the recipes. At the end of cooking, you get to take home your creations for your family. It has been a real blessing discovering this program since we will be trying to cut down our food budget a bit really soon, and this provides us with one free meal a week. There is also FREE childcare! I went with my friend and we had so much fun cooking together and visiting and meeting new people. I plan to attend every week.
I showed up this past week as my first session, not sure what to expect. To my pleasant surprise we were making curry! My family members are curry fiends so it was nice to discover a new curry to make....and there's no meat involved so it's really frugal too.
If you need any other frugal meal ideas, check out $5 Dinners.
*Recipe adapted from Company's Coming Slow Cooker Dinners
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Serves 4
1 can coconut milk
2 tbsp Madras curry paste (I really like Patak's)
1 1/2 tbsp flour
3 cups cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 potato, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, cut into thin slices
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
In a large pot, stir together coconut milk, curry paste and flour. Then add all other ingredients and set on medium-high heat. Once mixture has come up to a boil, turn down to a low simmer and continue cooking covered for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are softened.
Serve over basmati rice.
Click here for printable version of Madras Vegetable Curry
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THE RESULTS?
This curry was ridiculously easy to make, inexpensive and our family really liked it. I was so surprised that my husband didn't even mention the lack of meat. The chick peas really fill it out and make it hearty. Madras is a bit spicy, but has delicious smokey cumin flavors. You could always cut down a bit on the curry paste if your family doesn't like spicy food.
