New Year, New Curry

I'm slightly cheating in saying "new year" because I made this on Dec. 30, but I plan on including this curry in my life often in 2011. It was utterly wonderful. I found the recipe by googling "brussels sprout recipes indian" and came up with a slightly quirky one that still showed potential. I had to adjust an item here and there, but the results were great. The photo to the left best captures what it looked like... but I confess I didn't take it -- I stole it from the internet. Cheater cheater pumpkin (brussels sprouts?) eater!

I'm calling this Brussels Sprouts Curry, but honestly, this sauce would be amazing on just about anything -- especially potatoes and/or cauliflower.... There may be a couple of new ingredients for you to purchase but DO IT. They are handy to have around if you want to continue to cook Indian dishes.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS CURRY

Ingredients

1 lb Brussels sprouts

2 onions

1 cup tomato puree (I adapted here: I used a small can of TJ's organic tomato paste. I slowly added 3 cans of water into the recipe as I cooked)

2 green chilis or your favorite temperature pepper sauce (my favorite is green "Picamas" from Guatemala)

1 tbsp crushed ginger

½ cup tamarind water (yet another adaptation: I have a jar of tamarind paste, which is also used to make pad thai; I put 2 heaping tsp of the paste in a half cup measure, filled it the rest of the way with water and dissolved it. Voila! Tamarind water.)

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander powder (called "dhaniya powder" here. Learn something new every day.)

1 tsp garam masala (optional)

Salt

Oil

Mustard seeds

Directions

Start your rice.

Cut brussels sprouts in half (or even in quarters if you want). Boil in water for 5-7 minutes.

In a frying pan , add 2 tsp oil and fry mediumly chopped onions till soft.

Add chilis (or hot sauce) and ginger together. Saute together for 1-2 minutes on medium low heat.

Add tamarind water, turmeric and salt and blend in. Let it bubble a bit. Then add tomato puree/paste to it. Then add coriander powder, garam masala. Stir together, slowly adding water, 1 can at a time. Keep stirring

Bring it to boil, then turn it down. When all the ingredients get blended together and the sauce is thick but not too thick, add the brussels sprouts and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Crush some mustard seeds in a mortar & pestle (or spice grinder) and sprinkle on top. You can also top this with plain yogurt, raisins, chutney and nuts.

Serve with hot rice.