Today, I did some christmasing. The holidays have officially started and I enjoyed spending some time at home, no stress, no time pressure, taking advantage of the beautiful daylight which was perfect for taking pictures. Even though my Christmas tree is a combination of red, fuchsia and silver, this year, I’m attracted to white, gold, fur (fake), feathers and fairy lights. I also received a Christmas card, written by my almost 7-year old beautiful goddaughter that just melted my heart! Her birthday is coming up and I’m thinking about the birthday cake that I’ll make for her. Vanilla cake with white chocolate frosting and red hearts. That’s her wish. I love that she’s so precise and knows exactly what she wants!
Last week, I also made macarons, the famous French meringue-almond cookies, which were filled with vanilla-gingerbread spice and milk chocolate-tonka bean ganache. The three on the picture were the very last ones that I ate after finishing with their photography session. The best part of food photography is that you always get to eat the “hero” of the picture when you’re done :-).
The day after tomorrow, I’m leaving my home in Paris to go home for the holidays, so today was clean-out-the-fridge-day. Breakfast and dinner were the green cleansing smoothie (I went overboard with sweets last week), perfect for a fridge cleanse as well as a body cleanse. Yesterday, I had lunch at my friends’ home and our master chef went all the way to whip up a Michelin star worthy gluten-free and dairy-free meal, which also included a shrimp curry as warm appetizer. Yumm, everything was so delicious and healthy! Checking my fridge today, I had a small pumpkin, some broccoli, some kale, lots of coconut milk… perfect for a vegetable curry! I was craving more curry after yesterday’s delicious lunch… A curry is so easy to make. Take any meat, fish or vegetables you have in your fridge, add coconut milk and curry powder, some garlic, ginger and coriander, top it off with some rice and you’re good to go. I’m ashamed to admit it but I ate two bowls.
For the vegetable curry
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
1 small broccoli
1 small pumpkin, about 500 g, peeled and cut into1-2 cm cubes
3 kale leaves, stems eliminated and leaves chopped
120 g chickpeas, soaked in advance for 12 hours
400 ml of coconut cream
400 ml of coconut milk
2-3 teaspoons of curry
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
freshly grated ginger, about 1 full tablespoon
Optional: freshly chopped coriander to top
Cook the chickpeas that you’ve soaked at least overnight (ideally for 12 hours) in salted water with 2-3 bay leaves for about 1 hour. Be careful not to overcook them as they will continue to cook in the curry. Drain them and set aside.
In a larger pot heat up the coconut oil and add the finely chopped onion. Decrease the heat and stir for a few minutes until the onion becomes soft. Add the the broccoli sprouts and pumpkin cubes. Stir well, set the heat on minimum and cook covered for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly in between. Add the chickpeas and the coconut cream and milk. I used a combination to give the curry a thicker consistency. Add salt, pepper and curry powder until you reach the desired taste Try not to add too much salt – curry has a delicate, slightly sweet taste; adding too much salt will completely disbalance the taste and it won’t be good. Add the freshly grated ginger and minced garlic. Cover the pot and cook for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables become tender but again, not over cooked. When the vegetables are cooked, turn off the heat and add the chopped kale leaves, stirring well. Leave the curry to “rest” for about 10 minutes before serving, so the kale leaves soften. They do not need much cooking.
Serve the curry in bowls, add some long-grain wild rice or quinoa and top with freshly chopped coriander, if desired. Enjoy!
Tiny Paris Kitchen 