Spicy Spring Vegetable Curry

Spicy Spring Vegetable Curry with Brown Cardamom and Rhubarb Chutney (or Braised Lamb)

To please a large crowd with some folks who eat meat and some who don’t, we make vegetarian curry and separately braise meat with similar flavorings to serve on the side. This is a spicy recipe, both in terms of depth of flavor and heat. If you prefer a milder dish, cut back on the green chiles or serve them on the side. Chard is available in the spring and is a nice choice for the curry as the stems cut from the leaves and into pieces is like a second vegetable. Feel free to add other seasonal vegetables such as asparagus, peas, spring onions, fiddlehead ferns, spinach, kale, mustard greens, and, if you have time, artichokes. Though not in season, cauliflower is a nice addition to this curry.

Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients 

• 1 cup dried chickpeas 
• Assorted aromatic vegetables to flavor the chickpeas, such as:  
  • 1 carrot  
  • 1 celery stalk  
  • 1 quartered onion  
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled but not chopped 
• 1 bay leaf 
• Salt 
• Black pepper 
• ¼ cup vegetable oil 
• 3 Spanish onions, sliced 
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted and ground 
• 2 to 6 small dried red chiles, depending on your spice preference, toasted and ground (optional) 
• 1 Tbsp. turmeric 
• 1 Tbsp. peeled and minced fresh ginger 
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic 
• ¾ cup coarsely chopped cilantro 
• 2 to 4 small green Indian chiles such as jalapeño, serrano, or habanero, depending on the heat you desire (optional) 
• 6 brown cardamom pods 
• 1 cup canned pureed tomatoes 
• 2 tsp. brown mustard seeds 
• 1½ cups chard stems, cut into ½-in.-long pieces 
• 3 cups chard leaves, cut into 2-in. strips 
• 3 cups freshly cooked basmati rice 
• ¼ cup plain yogurt (I like whole milk yogurt, especially Greek style) 
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges (for garnish) 

Instructions 

1. Place the chickpeas in a pot and cover with water. (Soaking the chickpeas will speed their cooking a bit, but it’s not necessary.) Add the aromatics (if using), bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until tender but not mushy, 50 to 60 minutes. Drain chickpeas, discard aromatics and bay leaf, reserving the broth, and set aside.

2. In a saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the onions until soft but not brown. Add the cumin, dried chiles, turmeric, ginger, garlic, 6 tablespoons of the cilantro, and fresh, green chiles. (If you want the curry slightly milder, leave the green chiles whole so that you can remove them. Thinly slice them for a hotter curry.) Add the cardamom pods. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the curry is medium brown. 

3. Add the tomatoes and brown mustard seeds and cook until the flavors meld, a few minutes. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. The mixture at this point should be spicier than you want the curry to be in the end. 

4. Add the chard stems and simmer for a few minutes before adding the chard leaves. Add the chickpea stock or water to your desired consistency and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes. It will be quite thick. Add more liquid as needed. Add the chickpeas and reduce the curry to the final preferred thickness.  

5. Use a rice cooker to prepare basmati rice. We use a 1:1 ratio for basmati. 

6. Just before serving, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the yogurt (The yogurt will break if it gets too hot.) The more yogurt you add, the milder the curry will be, so taste and adjust. Add more salt if necessary.  

7. Serve with freshly cooked Basmati rice, the remaining chopped cilantro, lemon wedges, and extra sliced fresh chiles on the side. 

Chef Notes & Variations 

I buy the best quality spices I can, often from Penzey’s in Wisconsin, but also from our conventional grocery supplier. I frequently buy whole spices, and we grind them in the kitchen as we use them. This is very much worth the effort for most seeds, pods, bark, etc. Sometimes we toast our spices first, although this step is not always necessary. Raw fennel seed is sweeter and tastes more Italian to me, while toasted fennel tastes more Indian, with a sharper, more acidic note.

Braised Lamb with Rhubarb Sauce 

Locally raised lamb is widely available in the Hudson Valley. Cuts such as shoulders and shanks braise well. A great vegetarian curry will please everyone, so serving lamb on the side for those who really enjoy it works nicely. This is a very adaptable recipe. And if you’re interested in a lamb curry for everyone, simply brown the meat on the bone or cubed and cook it along with the chickpeas as in the Spicy Vegetable Curry above. Rhubarb has a fairly short growing season and the thin stalks from the local plants are tangy, crisp, and delicious. If stone fruit are in season, use plums, peaches, or nectarines to make chutney. 

Serves: 4 to 8 

Ingredients  

• 2-lb. to 4-lb. lamb shoulder or shanks, cut into 2-in. boneless cubes, or left on the bone 
• Salt 
• Black pepper 
• 4 Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil, divided 
• 1 large Spanish onion, cut into ½-in. dice 
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1-in. pieces 
• 2-qt. vegetable stock, water or chicken stock 
• ½ cup roughly chopped cilantro stems 
• 2 limes or lemons, cut in quarters 
• 6 garlic cloves, slightly crushed 
• 4 dried or fresh red or green chiles 
• 4 thyme sprigs 
• 1-in. to 2-in. piece cinnamon stick 
• 1-in. piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced 
• 1 bay leaf 

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Working with the lamb in pieces or whole, season the meat with salt and pepper in a saucepan, and sear meat in 2 tablespoons of the oil until medium brown. (You may skip this messy step altogether and proceed with the raw meat. The results will be milder, sweeter, less “brown” tasting. You may also roast the meat in a 475 F oven for 5 minutes. You will get some color and pan juices but not as much as if you sear the meat in a pan, turning it as it cooks.)
2. Pour off the excess fat from the saucepan and toss in the onions and carrots, cooking over medium heat until just browned, about 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Transfer the lamb, carrots, and onions to a deep, ovenproof baking dish or Dutch oven. Add a little water to the pan you seared the meat in to release the brown bits stuck to the bottom and add to the baking dish along with the vegetable stock, cilantro, citrus, garlic, chiles, thyme, cinnamon, ginger, and, bay leaf. If you’re using cubes of meat, they may be fully submerged. If you’re working with meat on the bone, it may be only partially submerged. Either is fine.
4. Place meat and vegetables in the oven and roast until completely tender. Cubed meat will cook in 45 minutes or so; large pieces of meat on the bone will need to be turned and basted and may take up to 2 hours to become tender. I like to stop cooking lamb before it falls off the bone.
5. Remove the meat and skim the fat from the broth. (At this point, take the meat off the bone, if you haven’t already.) Remove bay leaf and citrus. Reduce the broth, taste and adjust the salt and pepper, and add it to the meat. Serve the meat beside the curry for people to add as they wish. 

Rhubarb Sauce  

This simple, chutney-like sauce is a refreshing accompaniment to meat. 

Serves: 4 to 8  

Ingredients  

• 1 tsp. vegetable oil 
• 2 Tbsp. minced shallot (substitute red onion) 
• 8 rhubarb stalks, sliced into 1-in. pieces 
• 1 sprig thyme 
• 1 bay leaf  
• 2 Tbsp. cider vinegar 
• 2 Tbsp. raw sugar or maple syrup 
• 4 whole cloves 
• Salt  
• Black pepper 

Instructions 

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté the shallot for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rhubarb and herbs and toss to coat with the oil. Cook until just slightly softened, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Remove the bay leaf and spoon the rhubarb pieces into a bowl; you will be left with rhubarb juice in the pan.
3. Add the vinegar, sugar, and cloves to the juice and cook until the mixture is syrupy, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the cloves and add the liquid to the rhubarb. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. I like to chill this sauce for about 30 minutes before serving. 

 

Our recipes are provided by Fresh Company, a catering service led by Executive Chef Shelley Boris, who has published recipes in various books and journals, including the New York Times and Food & Wine.