Potato Pea Curry
This is a wonderfully simple lunch. I’m all for making things from scratch, but I haven’t yet got up the gumption to make my own curry paste. Instead, I use a jarred commercial paste that I can keep in the fridge for up to six months. It’s ready for me when I need it, and it makes a lunch like this one a breeze to prepare.
If you don’t already use frozen peas, the quality might surprise you. If you do use frozen peas and think I’m lying, perhaps you don’t treat your peas gently enough. I find that they are best when they’re not cooked, but gently defrosted by the residual heat of the dish when the cooking is complete. I treat baby spinach the exact same way. The result are firm, sweet, bright green fresh tasting peas – non of that brown-green mushy business you might have had before.
Simple Potato Pea Curry
Serves two
2 Medium Potatoes, I used yukon gold, but russets would work
1/2 Cup Frozen Peas
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tbs Curry Paste
1/2 Cup Water
2 Tbs Soymilk
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Tbs Earth Balance
Oil
Chop the potatoes, leaving skins on, in a medium dice. Heat a couple tablespoons vegetable oil in a large skillet. Add cumin seeds and powder and sautee for 1 minute until bubbly. Add potatoes and stir to coat with oils and spices. Add water, salt, and curry paste. Stir to combine. Cover with a tight fitting lid and turn heat down to low.
In about 15 minutes, the water should be evaporated and your potatoes should be soft. Add soymilk and earth balance to make it a bit “saucier” and richer. Add peas to the top of this mixture and cover again, gently steaming the peas for a minute or two until they are defrosted. Serve over rice.
I think I might make this for dinner tonight if I can shake the tofu scramble craving I have. Could curry powder be subbed for the paste?
I think so! Might need to adjust other things, too, since the curry paste is wet and powder, well, isn’t. (What an observation, I know…)
Maybe add a bit more liquid and a hint of tomato paste to make your own curry paste?
mmmm, tofu scramble…
Thanks for the link! I will definately try it out..
After seeing this post, I think I know what I’m going to make for dinner tonight…
wow, i don’t visit for a couple days and come back to this and the beautiful cookies and yummy-looking seitan! you rock. :)
I made this dish today and, wow, was it ever tasty! I did wind up having to cook the potatoes for an extra 15 minutes — I guess my idea of medium dice is bigger than yours — but it was worth the wait. (Also, I found that a large skillet was too small and used a dutch oven instead.)
I will definitely be making this again!!
I made this tonight, but with Patak’s Madras Curry Paste. It came out very good! I also added garlic and onion, because there are few dishes to which I don’t add those ingredients! Thanks for the easy and good recipe.
I pan fried 12 oz of tofu in some olive oil and added it to the dish with the peas and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Hi, I saw both curry paste and curry simmer sauce at my local health food store. The curry paste looked a little scary but I suppose that is why you include water in your ingredients. Has anyone tried this with curry simmer sauce? The simmer sauce was made by ‘Seeds of Change.’
This is delish. I make it all the time.
I made this dish tonight using Thai Kitchen brand red curry paste and it turned out OK. Like a previous reviewer, I had to cook the potatoes for an extra 15 minutes despite my efforts to make my dice look like the potatoes in the picture (Claudia, we must be dicing twins!), which caused the sauce to get VERY thick by the end. I still added the Earth balance and soy milk but ended up adding another ~1/2 cup of water to try and thin it out. It still ended up very thick, so I will be dicing the potatoes up smaller than the picture next time and adding even more water. This dish is yummy, but it could use an infusion of nutrients (I try to stay away from the ubiquitous vegan potato-based dish); adding tofu sounds great. I am also going to add some chopped red bell pepper next time for flavor and color, and definitely an onion!