Tomatillo Chickpea Curry

 

I just love it when supper is something to get excited about. This one, which I found while perusing Pinterest, was wonderful, a relatively simple, plant-based concoction with lots of flavor and a healthy nutritional profile. A bit of broiling (or grilling if they weather still allows it) gives some delicious vegetables some depth of flavor and the whole saucy combination is so satisfying.

The star of this chickpea-based curry dish is a perky and zesty green sauce made from roasted tomatillos and poblano chile. The tart and acidic tomatillos make up a thick puree that’s spiced up by the chile and enhanced by fresh cilantro and oregano. This spicy-sour sauce is a great accompaniment for starchy, creamy chickpeas, but they also get a bit of earthy curry powder and some sweet and creamy coconut milk. The whole thing goes over rice, which not only soaks up the delicious sauce, but also builds a complete protein with the chickpeas.

 The flavors of this dish are actually somewhat complex, but the process of creating them is relatively simple. The methods here can serve as an introduction to making saucy, stewy curries with deep flavors without requiring so many ingredients or complicated methods. This is still a practical dish to make for a weeknight supper. And since the leftovers are easy to pack up and reheat, lunch can be something to get excited about, too.

Tomorrow, October 1^st, is World Vegetarian Day, and this would be a great dish with which to celebrate that. You don’t have to be vegetarian (I’m not) to love these flavors or benefit from such a healthy and satisfying meal. This particular recipe is not about replacing animal products, but enjoying plant-based ones in a delicious combination. Something to get excited about indeed!

Roasted Tomatillo and Chickpea Curry

Adapted from Chef de Home

6 medium-size tomatillos

1 medium-size poblano chile

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

½ cup chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

3 cups cooked chickpeas (about 2 15-ounce cans), divided

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/3 cup coconut milk

1 cup water

1-2 limes, sliced for garnish if desired

1. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and scrub off the sticky residue. Preheat the broiler or a gas or charcoal grill. Broil or grill the tomatillos and the poblano chile until the tomatillos are charred and soft and the skin of the pepper is charred all over.

2. Remove from the oven and place the tomatillos in the bowl of a food processor. When the pepper is cool enough to handle, peel of the thin layer of charred skin. Remove the stem and seeds and chop the remaining flesh coarsely. Add to the food processor with the tomatillos.

3. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, cilantro, oregano, and 1 teaspoon salt. Process until smooth. Pour into a medium-size saucepan and place over low heat to warm through. Stir occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, add ½ cup chickpeas to the food processor (no need to clean it out first.) Pulse until well-mashed.

5. In a large skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the curry powder and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add ½ cup of the warm tomatillo sauce. Cook and stir about 2 minutes.

6. Add the mashed and whole chickpeas, coconut milk, and water. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce is thick. Taste and adjust seasoning, especially salt, as desired. Serve over rice with additional tomatillo sauce and a lime wedge to squeeze over it if desired.

Makes about 6 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Chickpea and Spinach Curry, Winter Squash and Onion Curry with Yogurt Sauce, Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

One year ago: Mozzarella and Olive Baked Pasta

Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

 

Every few years I plant tomatillos. They tend to be easy to grow and produce prolifically. This year has been no exception in my garden, although the plants are particularly robust, bushing out all over their raised bed space, while the fruit production is just moderate based on my previous experience. That still means that there are plenty of tomatillos to work with.

I grilled some, along with onion and chile to make a grilled version of green salsa. The piquant sauce gets a subtle, smokiness from charring the vegetables on the grill. I use a gas grill and a grill pan, although you could grill your vegetables however you like.

You also could roast the tomatillos and onions in the oven if you can’t or don’t want to use a grill. You could skip the charring altogether, but you should cook the tomatillos in some way. Simmering them in water until they are tender would work, as would using canned tomatillos, which are already cooked. As long as I felt like it was still grilling season, however, I was happy to do things that way.

 

You may get some variation in this salsa depending on how tart your tomatillos are and how spicy your chile pepper is. It would probably be simple to adjust the flavors with more or less lime juice, or even a bit of sugar, honey, or agave nectar, if it needs some sweetening. You can also adjust the amount of chile you add to suit your taste for spiciness.

This salsa is a delicious mix of the complex flavors of tomatillo, chile, cilantro, and lime. It’s great anywhere you like to use your favorite salsa: with tortilla chips, on a big plate of nachos, in burritos, on quesadillas, on a bowl of beans. You don’t need me to tell you this. Salsa is fun stuff, and since this one also uses the grill and the garden, I found it even more fun! And delicious!

 

Coming up: I have a cookie recipe I need to tell you about, but I can’t find my notes on it, so I’ll have to make more cookies. The sacrifices I make for my art….

Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

Adapted from The Best International Recipe

1 pound tomatillos, husks removed and sticky residue scrubbed away

½ medium white onion, cut into wedges

1 medium green chile pepper

½ teaspoon coarse salt

1 clove garlic, chopped

½ cup chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon lime juice

1. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Place the whole tomatillos, onion wedges, and whole chile pepper in a grill pan on the grill. Alternatively, cover the grill rack with foil and place the tomatillos onion and chile on the foil.

2. Grill the vegetables, turning them occasionally, until they are charred all over and soft. Remove each item from the grill when it reaches the desired state and continue until everything is finished.

3. Place the grilled tomatillos and onion in the bowl of a food processor or in a blender jar. Add the salt, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice. Process until smooth.

4. Remove the stem from the grilled chile and discard. Chop the grilled chile very finely. Stir into the tomatillo mixture. Taste the salsa for seasoning and add more salt or lime juice if needed. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes about 2 cups. The salsa may get very thick upon standing. You can stir in some water or lime juice if needed.

Other recipes like this one: Spicy Cilantro Mint Pesto, Cucumber Salsa with Cilantro and Mint, Tomato and Cucumber Pico de Gallo

One year ago: 12 September Favorites

Turkey Tomatillo Chili

I’d like to take a minute to tell you how happy I am that fall seems to have arrived. It’s been a hot summer, but right now, the days are sunny but cooler and the nights are crisp. I know it’s still possible for the temperatures to soar again, or for there to be a Hot-tober for a third year, but for now, I’m comfortable. Sigh.

This cooler weather and the beginning of the televised football season (I’ve had another grumpy baseball year, so have more or less given up on that sport for now) means chili, of course. It also means bratwurst and bean dips and grilled potatoes and such, but my most recent indoor tailgating meal involved a light and tangy chili with ground turkey, peppers and tomatillos.

 

This recipe is based on the Turkey Chili Verde recipe from The Ultimate Cook Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. I suppose you could find other similar ones out there, but these authors publish reliable recipes. I’d made this one before, keeping closer to the original, which contains poblano chiles. Again, I had nice bell peppers and jalapenos instead, so I substituted them with good results. I also skipped the step of roasting the peppers. I think I must have just done that because I was too tired to include the extra step.

While I’m sure roasting (or grilling) the peppers would have added more deliciousness (I can’t remember whether I did that when I made this chili a few years ago), my chili was quite good with plain peppers. I used a red bell pepper, which erases the “verde” part of the original, but which is also nice and sweet (and was what I had on hand). This time of year all the peppers seem to be excellent, so I think any bell pepper will do.

 

Really, the tomatillos are the most important part of this chili recipe anyway.  I just love them. They’ve got a texture and acidity like extra-firm tomatoes, but also an especially tangy, kind of fruity punch that goes so well in a light chili. The original recipe gives permission to use canned tomatillos, and I’d say that if that’s all you have available, they make a fine substitution. I had some lovely fresh ones from the farmer’s market. They were so delicious and really didn’t require much extra preparation. Yes, the papery husks need to be removed, but they come off easily. They should also be scrubbed or rubbed well with a brush or cloth to get the slightly sticky residue off their skins.

 

Since this is basically the same as any other chili or stew, there’s just a lot of chopping and simmering and waiting. Waiting while it slowly bubbles away to make a rich, meaty, tangy, spicy and satisfying bowl of hot and comforting goodness to celebrate the arrival of fall.
 

Turkey Tomatillo Chili

Adapted from The Ultimate Cook Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough

2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
½ teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt, plus more to taste
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (more or less to taste) jalapeno chiles, stems removed, minced
1 to 1 ¼ pound ground turkey
1 pound fresh tomatillos, husks removed, scrubbed and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (or about 1 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups cooked white beans (about 2 16-ounce cans), drained and rinsed
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and salt and sauté until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and chiles and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds more.

2. Add the turkey to the pan and cook, stirring to crumble, just until it is all no longer pink. This should take about 5-8 minutes. Add the tomatillos, oregano and cumin and cook about 1 minute more, stirring frequently.

3. Add the chicken broth and beans. Bring to a gentle boil. Cook, uncovered, at a very low boil for about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Taste for salt and add more if desired.

Makes 6-8 servings

 

Other recipes like this one: Chorizo and Chipotle Chili, Squash and Pinto Bean Chili, Beef Stew with Tomatillos and Roasted Poblano Chiles

Kicking off the Season

I have neither a ticket to the hometown game (be it football or late-season baseball), nor a pickup truck in which to celebrate it, so I do my tailgating in the comfort of my own living room. This means that while I enjoy a pre-kickoff meal of grilled bratwurst or burgers as much as the next fan, I can also make a long-cooking beef stew.

I know, stew again. Yes, I just posted a stew recipe, and it was kind of ugly. Well, this one went a little better. This time the crust that formed on the bottom of the pot earned the label of fond as revered by French chefs (or “black stuff,” as it is affectionately known by Harry and his brothers). It was the dark and rich foundation of a tangy beef stew.

Not only did I want to prove that I could make a stew without burning it, but I wanted to post this before the weekend arrived, in case you needed some inspiration for your own tailgate party, whether it takes place in your home or in a stadium parking lot. I made this Beef Stew with Tomatillos and Poblano Chiles to celebrate the kickoff of the NFL season on Thursday night.

I was not only inspired by the beginning of the autumn sporting season, however, but by a lovely bunch of tomatillos in our CSA box. Tomatillos are kind of like a green tomato, although they’re actually related to gooseberries. Since I know next to nothing about gooseberries, however, I tend to treat them more like tomatoes. They taste and smell like a cross between under-ripe tomatoes and Granny Smith apples, and they’re great as a base of salsas or in chili and stew.

Tomatillos need to have their papery husks removed and a sticky coating scrubbed off of their skin before they’re ready for the stew pot. In this recipe, they are then chopped up and added to the stew to cook away and form a tangy base for the beef, potatoes and peppers. The poblano peppers in this stew are significantly spicier than, say, a bell pepper, which they resemble, though they are darker green in color. They do not come close to the intensity of the smaller chiles, however, such as jalapenos or serranos. I grilled them and peeled them using the method I would use for a red bell pepper, as I did in this post. (Since my hands tend to burn hours later when handling even mild chiles, I used rubber gloves to handle the poblanos.) The resulting tender flesh sort of melts into the stew, giving it a slow burn of chile spice.

This stew does take a long time to make, but most of that time is hands-off. It might even be a good candidate for a make-ahead slow-cooker meal. I used some of my waiting time to make cornbread and pico de gallo as well as to get acquainted with my new blender and whip up a couple of margaritas to accompany the stew. Now it’s a party, tailgate or no tailgate.

Beef Stew with Tomatillos and Roasted Poblano Chiles
Adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light magazine.

2 poblano chiles
1 pound tomatillos
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, divided, plus more to taste
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 pound beef stew meat, cut into about 1-inch pieces
4 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil, divided
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic (depending on their size), minced
1 (12-ounce) bottle dark beer (such as Negra Modelo)
2 cups beef broth (I used reduced sodium)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and chopped into about 1-inch cubes

1. Preheat a broiler or grill. If using the broiler, place the whole poblano chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil or grill, turning the peppers as each section gets charred until the skin of the peppers is blackened and blistered all over.

2. Place the peppers in a bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. The peppers will steam themselves, allowing the skin to be removed. Let stand for 20 minutes or until the peppers are cool enough to handle easily. Remove the peppers from the bowl and peel off the blackened skins. Use rubber gloves if your hands are sensitive to chile peppers. Remove the stem, seeds, and membranes from the peppers. Chop and set aside. You can do this up to a few days ahead and store the roasted peppers in the refrigerator until ready to use.

3. Remove the papery husks from the tomatillos. Wash them well and scrub off any sticky residue on their skin. Chop and set aside.

4. Mix together the flour, 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper on a large plate or a shallow bowl. Dredge the stew meat in the flour mixture to coat.

5. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the stew meat in a single layer and brown on all sides. Remove the browned meat from the pan and set aside. You will need to do this in at least two batches. Add an additional tablespoon of oil as needed.

6. When all of the meat has been browned, add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add the onion and green bell pepper and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. The onions will begin to appear translucent.

7. Stir in the garlic. Add the beer and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the beef broth, oregano, cumin and coriander. Stir in the beef, tomatillos and roasted poblanos. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat. Boil gently for 1 hour.

8. Uncover the pan and add the potatoes and remaining teaspoon salt. Boil gently, uncovered for about 1 hour and 30 minutes more, or until the potatoes and beef are tender. Taste them to determine if they are done. Also taste for salt and add more if desired.

Makes about 6 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Chorizo and Chipotle Chili, Beef and Guinness Pot Pie

One year ago: Bean Dip with Sour Cream, Salsa and Cheese