A richly-spiced vegan curry made with tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and peas is served with a creamy, zippy cardamom yogurt.
Ok family, here’s the post you’ve all been waiting for. Last night was the night we almost burned the house down.
All of the pieces were there. It was late, we were tired, and dinner was just about ready. I gave Jack the “five minute warning” to get the camera and computer set up, and he decided right then to do a bunch of software updates on the computer because he must always do this at the most inopportune moments possible.
What’s this have to do with a fire? Between being annoyed 20 minutes later at the “5 minute” update, and being whiny and malnourished at 11pm, I had completely forgotten about the naan I had put under the broiler for “just a minute” to brown. I smelled burning, opened the oven door, and my naan was on fire. No big deal, I do this all the time so a few flames are nothing new. So I shut off the heat, close the oven, and expected the flame to go out. Instead, I opened the oven to find the flames getting bigger and I didn’t know what to do. Jack offered the genius idea of “open the oven door so the fire will go out.” I helpfully offered that adding oxygen to a fire will only make it worse.
The kitchen was now filling with smoke and panic was starting to set in. I felt like it might be time to get serious (or at least prepared), and I yelled, “Where’s the fire extinguisher?!” To which Jack replied “We don’t have one, remember?” And I do remember. We had a discussion last year when we moved in about how my dad has one in every room in his house. Suddenly, I had mental images of the placement of every single fire extinguisher in “crazy dad’s” house and my in-denial mind thought “I’ll just go grab one of those off the wall and this will all be ok.”
Luckily, one of us stayed calm and in a rational state of mind. We cleared a pathway to the back door. Jack took the hot sheetpan out of the oven, made it outside without catching anything else on fire and dropped the charred naan on the ground in the dog run. I’m sure Pandora appreciated the snack later.
Veggie Curry with Cardamom Yogurt
- 1 individual package yogurt of your choice (Icelandic, Greek, soy, coconut)
- Seeds from 6 cardamom pods, minced
- ½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Pinch sugar
- Tiny squeeze lemon
- Sea salt, to taste
- ½ package tofu, cubed (about 1 cup)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 serrano chile, minced
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek
- 1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
- 1.5 cups chopped mushrooms
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 2 cups cauliflower florets
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- Pinch sugar
- 1 cup light coconut milk
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Sea salt
- Chopped cilantro, for garnish
- Make the cardamom yogurt: Mix the yogurt, minced cardamom seeds, brown mustard seeds, olive oil, sugar, lemon juice, and salt and adjust the seasonings to taste. Set in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the meal. If the yogurt is too thick before serving, thin with water until it has a creamy consistency.
- Prepare the vegetable curry: Bake the cubed tofu in a 400-degree oven for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden brown and a little more firm.
- Meanwhile, prepare and chop all ingredients so you have them ready to go before you start cooking.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil and butter over medium/high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and chopped chile. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to turn translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the curry powder, cumin, fenugreek, and mustard seeds and stir for another couple of minutes until fragrant.
- Add the mushrooms and a few pinches of salt and cook another minute or so. Add the carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower and cook for another couple of minutes until the mushrooms have started to cook down.
- Add the tomatoes, a pinch of sugar, and coconut milk and stir to combine. Turn heat down and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 more minutes. Add the peas and baked tofu cubes and let simmer over barely any heat until the peas are warmed through.
- This is forgiving – ours sat longer due to our fire situation and it tasted better the longer it sat, giving the flavors a longer time to marry together.
- Taste and adjust seasonings as you wish. If you would like it creamier add more coconut milk. Garnish with the chopped cilantro.
- Serve with the cardamom yogurt, naan, and rice if you wish.
We made this curry for dinner last night, and it was delicious! The cardamom yogurt was outstanding…thank you for sharing your recipes!
glad you liked it, thanks for sharing!
Looks great!! One question – what size container of yogurt? We always buy the 1/2 gallon tubs of plain yogurt b/c we eat so much, so I need to know how much to pull out – ounces or cups would be super helpful. Thanks!!
I made this tonight. Used the rest of the can of coconut milk because I didn’t want to throw it away. Also used garbanzo beans instead of tofu. It was absolutely delicious. I will definitely make this for friends. The yogurt topping was perfect, just added another layer of flavor. I will be checking for more recipes from Love and Lemons. Just perfect.
Ha! I know these “5-minute updates” all too well! They can’t resist ’em, can they? Your story, while fun to read, is a good reminder that we all must know how to react if something goes wrong in the kitchen… Yep, I don’t have a fire extinguisher either. Taking a mental note to look into it! At least, after the turmoil, you still had a delicious dinner 🙂
it drives me up the wall… he’s updated my computer the night before huge deadlines… leaving me the next day with no fonts working, InDesign quitting, etc, etc. There are definite perks to being married to a programmer, but some real drawbacks too.
oh, and I bought a fire extinguisher yesterday 🙂
This sounds delicious. Curry is my f a v o r i t e food ever, so this will certainly be in my near future. Hopefully burning my house down, will not.. 🙂
You are an awesome storyteller (and this story is hysterical…sorry about the ruined naan). Despite everything, the meal looks fantastic and I can’t wait to try it (and we can’t tell that the curry sat for 20+ minutes before getting its picture taken…) 🙂
It actually tasted way better 20+ minutes later. Happy accident 🙂
Your story about almost burning the house down cracked me up. Love your variations on the recipe. Cardamom yogurt sounds like the perfect accompaniment!
perfect looking curry… i wish i could eat it NOW. good for you that one of you stayed calm 😉 great story… have a lovely day.
Oh no!!! Good thing you got that fire out. I would have been freaking out! I didn’t make mine into a soup either….yours looks phenomenal! What is fenugreek?
Thanks!
It’s an Indian spice that I’ve never tried before. When I looked up Makhani (which is what the recipe was based off of), it was one of the spices listed so I thought I’d give it a go. I find that going beyond the pre-blended curry powders gives a more authentic flavor.
So glad you got that Naan out of there!! I am totally making some of that cardamom yogurt – that sounds awesome!
Whoo-hoo for husband’s saving the day!
I can’t wait to try that cardamom yogurt- it sounds absolutely wonderful!
So glad you guys are safe 🙂 The curry looks perfect!!
Glad you guys are ok! And that dinner looks worth the fuss. Can’t wait to try your cardamom yogurt.
Love the tofu addition… and oh my, cardamom yogurt… gotta try that!
Awe, the way you told the story had me thinking of an “I love Lucy” skit. *hah* 🙂 You are a great story teller. That being said, I am SO glad to hear you & Jack and your home were all okay! And that you still were all able to enjoy an incredibly tasty looking dinner. I adore Indian-inspired food and cannot wait to make this recipe. Thanks for sharing such a delicious looking curry! Love the addition of the cardamom yogurt. Yum! 🙂
about four years ago, my oven caught on fire when i was baking biscuits. i cried and cried because i thought i was burning the house down and my roommates were going to KILL me.. turns out the gas oven backfired on itself and something internally went wrong. so glad it wasn’t my fault (although my friends still laugh at me to this day). and i’m glad everything was ok for you 🙂
You create a great visual with your story 🙂 Glad all was not lost and you finally got to eat 🙂
Oy, glad to hear that you *didn’t* burn down your house! I’ve totally had that moment, too…And I also love that you started this post with ‘Ok, family.’ Brilliant introduction.
yum that looks divine, must try!
Fact: you are an awesome storyteller. It’s nice to look back and laugh at near catastrophe, right? Your curry looks delicious too. Love that serving dish.