Sweet Potato Curry

This is another recipe I am leaving in here for legacy and memories. I used to make batches of this every couple days and bring it into the office for me and Susana to totally pig out on as we desperately waited for the phone to ring or where checking on the status of a death certificate. I can distinctly remember looking for plates and see that Susana had placed the windex next to them and me being like, “SUSANNNNNAAA WAHHHHHHHHHHT why?!” And then the two of us laughing about her terrible organizing skills, but also me hoping Susana hadn’t just poisoned us.

This picture is terrible, I know. It’s an early Mortician in the Kitchen recipe and maybe one day I’ll make this again and put a better photo up. For now it shows you what progress looks like. It’s never perfect in the beginning. It’s rarely clean and beautiful looking, but it tastes good. And maybe there is some metaphor for life or working in the industry? Sure it’s messy, but the part that matters? Well that’s good, and that’s what counts.

Ingredients*

• 1/2 Yellow Onion

• 2 Cloves Garlic

• 1 1/2 TBS Curry

• 2 C Water

• 1 Can Full Fat Coconut Milk

• 1 Sweet Potato (cut and cubed. I like to leave the skin on)

• 1 Block of Tofu (cut and cubed)

• 1/2 Bunch of washed and chopped Kale

• 2 TBS Soy ( I use Bragg's Amino Acid)

• 1 1/2 C Rice

• 1 Lime

Directions

1. Chop and dice onions and mince garlic

2. In a large pot simmer onions and garlic in either a small amount of high heat oil or 1/4 C water for 2-3 minutes. Onions should turn clear and just begin to brown

3. Move onions and garlic to side and add Curry powder to pot in order to toast the spices for 30 seconds. The spices can burn quick so I like to turn the heat down and watch this part closely. If it seems like its going to burn I will quickly mix the onions and garlic with the powder and try to toast the spice on the onions. Don't stress too much over this step your dish will be great regardless!

4. Add coconut milk, water, potato, and tofu to the pot and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. I will usually cover the pot but again, don't overthink it. If you do not have a lid this will still turn out fine.

5. Add the kale and soy sauce and cook for 5-10 minutes

6. The purpose here is to cook the kale down but not to zap it into mush so stir it a little bit and keep the heat low, you're not boiling you're simmering an infusion of veggies and spices!

7. Once done add to rice and season with more soy and a little bit of lime and salt!

*I have an instant pot so when I make this I cook the rice simultaneously. Usually the process is to rinse rice and pop in water to soak for 15 minutes. While the rice is soaking I am doing all my prep work for this recipe. Fifteen minutes is enough time to chop my sweet potato, onions, tofu, garlic and kale. As a note I use two sweet potatoes, an entire onion (yellow or white) and as much kale as I can fit into the pot ( I actually use a wok and love it). I have printed the original recipe but have added these notes to let you know that this is just a great fool proof and healthy recipe. I'll add carrots and cauliflower sometimes if I have it on hand an cook it off. The goal to cooking is to be inventive, healthy and most of all not wasteful! This recipe knocks it out of the park on all three.

When I recommend this recipe I get a lot of turned up noses because people assume that all curry is equally spicy. This is Yellow Curry and it is completely different from Red or Green in that it uses warm and aromatic spices rather than yummy spicy ones. So if you have an aversion to Indian food because you do not like hot stuff you can still use this recipe!

Instant Pot Brown Rice

1. Rinse the rice in a fine-mesh strainer and soak and cover in fresh water for 15 minutes

2. Strain the rice and add to the Instant Pot

3. Close and lock the lid. Select [PRESSURE COOK] and set button to 4 minutes of cook time

4. When time is up let the rice sit in the pot for 10 minutes and then release the pressure to open. If the rice is still soggy put the lid back on and hit [PRESSURE COOK] for 1 more minute. Usually this cooks off the last of the water. Look IDK how I fuck up easy instant pot rice but if you do too don't stress.