Cashew tomato curry with cheese curds (and chicken) カシュートマトカレー

As we mentioned earlier, with an abundance of homemade buttermilk, my wife has started making cheese using 4% milk and the homemade buttermilk. (One aspect of using heirloom cultures such as the one we are using for buttermilk is that you have to keep using them to keep them viable and active.) As a result we now have an abundance of homemade cheese curd. Although we enjoy eating it plain or marinated in olive oil and various spices including jalapeño, there is a limit to how much we can eat. My wife found this curry recipe and thought it would be a good way to further diversify the use of our abundant cheese curd supply. The original recipe was vegan but our version is not, since we added barbecued chicken. This is a very interesting and unique curry (for us) since it uses emulsified raw cashews and pureed tomato in addition to the usual Indian spices. It has a nice fresh tomato flavor and slow heat. The browned cheese curd substitute for meat was something new for us and we really liked it. Later, since we had extra chicken meat from a Weber cooked chicken, we added the dark meat which meant the dish was no longer vegan. But the chicken really “kicked it up a notch”; adding an additional smokey layer of flavor. The next picture shows how we served it with rice, tomatoes and broccoli for lunch. As usual, I ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients:
for the cashew puree
1/2 cup (2 oz.) raw cashews
1/2 cup boiling chicken broth

For the curry
4 Tbs. (2 oz.) butter (1 tsp. to brown the cheese curd and 3 tsp. for the curry)
8 oz. cheese curd cut into 1 inch cubes (firm tofu could be substituted)
2 cups tomato puree
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne powder
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Optional chicken broth if the sauce gets too thick.

For the chicken
dark meat from barbecued chicken amount to taste
Since the meat came from the chicken legs it was a bit dry. So we cooked it again in the Instantpot (the chicken meat, 1/2 cup of chicken broth at high pressure for 35 minutes with natural depressurization). The chicken tasted much better and was extremely tender after its encounter with the Instantpot.

Directions:
To make the cashew puree combine the cashews and the hot chicken broth. Let soak for 30 minutes. Then puree until smooth in a mini food processor (#1). Puree the tomatoes and set aside. (We used canned tomatoes)(#2). Cut the cheese into 1 inch squares (#3). Put 1 tsp. of the butter in a frying pan and melt until slightly browned. Add the cheese curd and cook until golden brown on both sides (#4). Set aside. Add the remaining 3 Tbs. of butter to the pan. Once it melts add the cashew puree (#5). Then add the cayenne powder, garam masala, paprika and sugar. Bloom the flavors. Cook the mixture until fully blended. Add the tomatoes and blend completely. Cook until the mixture thickens slightly. Add the cheese curd and cook until the mixture darkens (about 5 -10 minutes) (#6). (A splatter guard would be recommended because the mixture may tend to spit.) If the mixture gets too thick add some of the chicken broth. Add the chicken and continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of cream on top. 

 

We really liked this curry. The browned cheese curd was something new for us. We didn’t know it could be cooked like that and it added a new dimension for our approach to cheese curd. We will probably use it in other recipes. It was crispy on the outside with a pleasant browned butter flavor and soft on the inside. The curry sauce was very smooth with a bright tomato flavor and a slow heat. We found the sauce itself was surprisingly filling. We realized this is because it is nut based, so in essence, we were eating handfuls of cashew nuts. The version without the chicken was very nice but we thought the addition of barbecued chicken really made it even better by adding chicken and barbecued smokey flavor. We learned a lot from making this curry and it really expanded our “curry horizons”. We’ll be making this and various versions of it in the future. 

Green Goddess dip and improved carrot miso dip 緑の女神ディップ

We made these three dips/spreads for a dinner we had with friends. We previously posted the carrot cashew spread (left) and Greek cheese with olive oil (center) recipes but the green dip (right) is new. All of these dips are great and the carrot cashew spread was a great improvement over the previous version. These are perfect with crackers and wine. We also used the green dip on a sandwich instead of mayonnaise and it was really good.

This is an improved carrot miso spread. The last time we made this, we did not have raw cashews so we used roasted cashews. This time we used raw cashews which were also cooked in chicken broth before being pureed. This resulted in a much smoother consistency. Both the miso and the natural sweetness of the carrot come through. I also roasted the sesame seeds before grinding them which really added a fresh nutty sesame taste. I am not sure if using raw cashew nuts or cooking them or both made the difference but this version is much creamier in texture.

This Greek yogurt olive oil dip is our old stand-by and favorite. Two key points to making this dip are to straining plain yogurt (not low-fat) to make your own Greek yogurt and using high quality fruity and spicy olive oil like our favorite Spanish olive oil. This time, I garnished it with Japanese Yuzu peels (frozen) which added nice fresh citrus taste.

This is a new dip. The recipe came from the Washington Post. It is called "Cashew Green Goddess Dip". The green color makes it look like an avocado dip but there is no avocado. The green color comes mostly from parsley and tarragon. Another interesting ingredient is canned anchovies.

Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews*
1⁄2 cup water (we used chicken broth*)
1⁄2 cup chopped parsley
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons chopped chives
3 filets of canned anchovies, drained
1 teaspoon honey
1 clove garlic
1⁄2 teaspoon salt

*The instructs state that if you are using a high-speed blender such as Vitamix, you just puree the ingredients. (We have a good regular blender), otherwise you soak the cashews in water overnight before pureeing. We cooked the raw cashews in chicken broth for 5 minutes instead. This worked well. The broth, in which the cashews were cooked, was also used in leu of the water.

Directions:
Combine the raw cashews*, water (or chicken broth), parsley, lemon juice, tarragon, chives, anchovies, honey, garlic and salt in a blender. Puree until smooth. Chill before serving.

This is a very good and unique dip. We can really taste the tarragon and honey. The garlic and anchovies are there in the background and add "je ne sais quoi" but if we are not told, it is not easy to detect. The original recipe called for celery sticks as the dip "delivery system" but we just enjoyed it on crackers. All these three dips are excellent and different from each other and made an excellent start for the evening.

Carrot Cashew spread with miso 味噌味人参カシューナッツスプレッド

My wife found this unusual recipe in the WashingtonPost and made it (I helped). It is a spread made of carrots and cashew nuts with miso flavor. The miso flavor part sold this recipe to us, albeit the combination sounded very odd. We garnished with roasted sesame and spread it on flat bread.

This was a first snack with our usual red wine and we also had my salmon spread shown in the top dish.

Both were quite good and although the carrot cashew was a bit unusual it was very good.

Ingredients:
4 large carrots cut into pennies
1 1/4 cups roasted and salted cashews (original recipe calls for raw unsalted cashew but in general we like nuts that have been roasted)
2 cups 1/3-salt Swanson's chicken broth (original recipe calls for vegetable broth to keep it vegetarian).
3 tablespoons white miso
Roasted (although it was already roasted, we dry roasted on a frying pan) white sesame seeds, ground in a Japanese Suribachi until oil came out (1 tsp) (this is our addition) and save some for garnish.

Directions:
Peel and trim the carrots, then chop them into 1/2-inch pennies.
Place in a medium saucepan along with the broth. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes or until the carrots are very tender.
Remove from the heat. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and whisk the miso into it until dissolved.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked carrots and cashews, and the ground sesame seeds and the miso mixture to a blender; puree until fairly smooth.
Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the sesame seeds

We are not sure how much of the difference it would have made between using raw and boiled cashew and roasted cashew. Our addition of ground toasted sesame seeds added a nice fragrant sesame flavor. The combination of miso and sesame flavors are most noticeable. The carrot and cashew flavors are a bit muted, but the carrot did give a nice texture, slight sweetness and color to the spread. This was a very unusual spread and we liked it very much.