Spicy Root and Lentil Hot pot with Swedish lake Crayfish and Chipotle cream

what colors, flavors,textures. It's a fusion of goodness.

It's true. If you have not heard.... it is the autumn here. The leaves on the trees are turning those fabulous colors of reds and golds. There's a  familiar  sound of crunch under every step you take on your daily outings. The weekend markets are full of parsnips, carrots, potatoes of a trillion varieties. The lovely ears of fresh corn on the cob, the last berries of the season all begging to come home with you.

can not go wrong with home grown vegetables and organic 

This past weekend I spent in Varberg on the coast of western Sweden with the Goat as he played the Oktoberfest there. We took a lovely walk along the coast up to the towns center and as it was the weekend, and the local farmers market was in full swing. I could not pass up the opportunity to score, organic just picked home grown vegetables.

I like to mix a lot of different tastes and textures in my cooking. Especially when I am cooking vegetarian. I really have to give myself two thumbs up on this new discovery as I truly blew my socks off with just how good this combination is. I hope you will be able to find the time to make this in your part of the world. Would love to hear what you think. I realize it will be difficult for many to find KRÄFTOR (Swedish lake crayfish, but you can always use shrimp or a sweet flavored white fish or just have it with out.

For the curry:
1 large yellow onion
2 tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves peeled and sliced
700 grams Potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into large pieces
2 medium sized Parsnips, peeled and sliced as the carrots
1 liter of vegetable stock
100 grams red lentils

4 tablespoons of PATAKS  BALTI Tomato and Coriander curry sauce  available at fine Asian stores or if you live in Sweden www.englishshop.se or any of your favorite powdered curry. ATTENTION: Add one tablespoon at a time until you get a level of curry you like. 
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley chopped

Swedish Kräftor ie: Swedish lake grown crayfish with dill flavor gives this dish a depth of flavor and the sweetness helps cool the heat in the curry. Fantastic combination.


How to CHIPOTLE CREAM:


1 small container of cream fraiche, sour cream if you have too
2 tablespoons of hot chipotle paste available in the Mexican section of your local grocer. (In Sweden available at Ica made by Santa Maria.)http://www.santamariaworld.com/Produkter/Texmex/#!/chipotle-paste/


Add your chipotle paste directly to the cream fraiche stir and dollop your curry.Taste add until you get the flavor you like. Chipotle has a smoky flavor with a little heat attached. As always use a little at first and taste, taste, taste as you go. It is your best friend in the kitchen.


How to curry:


1.Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan and cook the onion and garlic over medium heat. Keep stirring as, you do not want to burn the garlic. If you think the heat is too high turn it right down, and allow the onions to cook until transparent and some what soft. 

looking good. Soon it will be time to add the vegetable stock

oh just lovely it is coming together nicely

2.Add in the potatoes, parsnips, carrots and stir. Let the root vegetables get some color on them if possible. Control your heat, as root vegetables have a lot of sugar in them, and they will tend to get stuck to the bottom of the pan, and burn. Add in your curry paste/powder. Stir and then proceed to add in the vegetable stock. Let it come to a boil, then turn down the heat  to low and add in your lentils. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Make sure it is on low so you do not burn the bottom. 

creamy,full of flavor fantastic.

It can take more than twenty minutes depending on your size of potaoes and carrots. I like to break a few of the potatoes up as it is cooking to help give the curry a more thicker consistency. When your root vegetables are to your likeness. Add in your chopped parsley and even better with coriander. Serve in bowls. Top with crayfish/shrimp/fish and chipotle cream and serve. A lovely, lovely dish. Enjoy.

Creamy North Indian Fish Curry via Anjjum's New Indian

I used fresh Scandinavian Cod 

The other day. I got a fix. It really is like any other form of addiction. My new cookbook arrived.
  Anjum's New Indian by Anjum Anand.   Is just what I needed. A real challenge in the kitchen. A chance to track down hard to find spices, and to really make something authentically Indian. We love Indian food. We try to get out a couple of times a year to our favorite restaurant in Göteborg, but now that I have my new cookbook. I can cook all year round. I ordered most of my spices from the internet and for my Swedish readers you can go to www.kryddlandet.se or your local Indian supermarket to find many of the essential spices you will need to cook Indian food.

I enjoyed this cookbook very much. For the beginner  Indian food cook this is a great cookbook to introduce into your library. Anjjum makes her recipes easy to read, with well thought out cooking directions. I find her books to be really tailored to the "at home cook". It is a lovely book filled with great stories of her personal cooking journey through friends, and family. I have to admit, you need to have time to cook Indian food. It is that time that makes all the difference.Go out and pick yourself up a copy. You will not be disappointed.

CREAMY NORTH INDIAN FISH CURRY
Serves 4-6

5 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves
 2 black cardamom pods
5cm piece of cinnamon stick
1 small-medium onion,peeled and chopped
5 large cloves of garlic, peeled
10 g fresh ginger, peeled'1-2 green chillies, left whole but pricked with the tip of a knife
½ tsp turmeric

everything pre-measured-prepared

frying the whole spices

1 rounded tsp ground cumin plus ½ tsp red chili powder, or to taste
1 rounded tsp ground coriander
1½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
4 medium tomatoes, pureed
50 g cashew  nuts, made into a paste with some water
500g fresh steaks or fillets cut into chunks
handful fresh coriander,leaves and stalks, chopped

NOTE: I pureed the tomatoes first and set aside, as well I pureed the garlic and the ginger paste and the cashew paste, before starting the cooking process. It makes it much easier to pre-measure everything as Indian cooking is a lot of steps.

Heat oil in a large non stick saucepan. Add the whole spices and fry for 20 seconds.Add the onion and cook until golden. Meanwhile, using your handheld blender, make a paste of the garlic and ginger with about 50ml of water. Add this to the pan with the green chilies and cook until the oil comes out, around 4-5 minutes, stirring as it gets thicker.

reducing the water and mixture

Add the powdered spices and salt and stir to incorporate. Add the tomatoes and 100ml water and cook over a medium-high heat until all the water has dried off. Then lower the heat and cook gently, covered, until the masala releases oil, around 6-8 minutes.Stir often as it get's thicker. Your house will smell delicious.

cod steaks, leave the bones in for more flavor

Add the cashew paste and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.Add 300ml water, and bring to the boil and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Taste, the curry it should be well rounded in flavor. Add more hot water for a creamy consistency. Taste again and adjust the seasoning if you want. Add the fish and coriander and cook until just done, around 3-4 minutes.( I used quite large cod steaks so it took much longer to cook, about 20-25 minutes) Shake the pan instead of stirring as to not break up the fish. Serve with a great pilaf or steamed basmatti rice. We had spiced mixed pickle and lime pickle on the side. A chutney would be lovely as well. It was a huge hit in our home. I hope you do not get overwhelmed with the amount of ingredients and time-methods it takes. I assure you, this is better than any take out.

very good indeed. Two thumbs up