(Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free)

Simon takes my breath away.

On one of our earliest dates (so very long ago), he made what we now fondly refer to as That Stuff. A nice dinner-at-home date, he’d brought a delicious array of fresh vegetables, Indian spices, fragrant rice, lovely red lentils and a nicely chilled, not-too-sweet Riesling. I was impressed. I watched in awe and admiration as he navigated his way around my efficiency kitchen, chopping, dicing, tossing and stirring, and dramatically wiping his hands on a crisp white apron. This guy knows kitchens, I thought.

The most intriguing element to me was a jar of bright green chili-curry paste. I was relatively inexperienced in Indian food, but I liked the looks and smells of everything that was going in. I sipped my aperitif and watched.

When at last he brought a sizzling plate of sweet rice topped with a beautiful vegetable-curry sauce to the bar table that served as my dining spot, I almost forgot how cute he was. The food had my rapt attention, and he was loving every minute of it.

We toasted, then herded some of the curry onto our forks, lifted them toward each other, inhaled, then tasted. Like a rolling ocean tide, I was hit by a succession of flavors -sharp curry, tempered by sweet basil and rice, the meaty lentils, the pungent ginger, and then, oh my god, I suddenly went blind. And breathless. And numb from shock. The heat spreading along the insides of my cheeks, across my tongue and down my throat was … wow! I was choking and tears dripped from my eyes. Through the haze I could see that across the table from me, Simon was having the same reaction. Thank goodness for the Riesling!

Simon had been living in London, where some of the best Indian food can be found (Indian food saved the Brits from culinary shame). While there, he frequented fish-and-chips-and-curry stands, where he gained his appreciation for the intense flavors. At a certain point he began making it himself, and all was good. Except that he wasn’t using green chili paste. He’d been using a much milder red Garam Masala curry sauce, made by Patak’s. How then, did the green stuff end up on my plate?

Inspired by the prospect of impressing me, and also inspired by his dad, who he’d gone shopping with, Simon decided to try something new. His dad, who happens to be a wonderful cook, had encouraged him to go with the green curry. What he hadn’t told Simon was to use a mere teaspoon of the paste, rather than the heaping two tablespoons that Simon shoveled into our dinner that night. (For the record, Simon’s dad was aghast when he later heard the story, and the fact that I’d eat in Simon’s kitchen after that event earned me his early admiration).

Worry not. This recipe posted here is toned down. Way down. And we don’t use the green chili paste anymore anyway (but Jill, you’ll want to go green for sure. And add an extra tablespoon!). So read on and cook up without fear.

Before I move onto the recipe, though, I want to make you all aware of Noah’s new ark. Seed geekiness notwithstanding, this really is big news in the world of biodiversity

Last week, the Systems-Restore disk for the planet (or so I like to call it) opened for business. More technically, it’s a high-security seed bank drilled into a mountain on the snow-bound Norwegian island of Svalbard. The Arctic repository will preserve 3 million seeds at (barely) sub-zero temperatures, eventually representing all known varieties of the world’s crops. Operated by remote from Sweden and guarded by a Norwegian Ministry assisted by the hungry polar bear brigade, the Arctic “conflict seeds” reserve will be tapped only when human or natural disaster has obliterated all other sources. I’ve posted Seed News page to the site, for those of you who want to know more about this project. And thanks to a reader, Morph03, for emailing me a news story on the seed bank. Though I’ve been following this project for years, I hadn’t read that piece in the news, and it covered all the important points. On the Seed News page, I’ve posted a link to it.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program. Here’s our top secret recipe for That Stuff.

The Recipe:
The version you’re getting here calls for Garam Marala sauce instead of the green chili curry, so I promise it won’t taste like burning. If you like having a forest fire in your mouth, you can give it as much (or as little) heat as you want by adding dried peppers. For Asian dishes I sparingly use Tien Tsin Chinese chili peppers. I get them from Penzey‘s but they can probably be found other places.

We aren’t sure why we call it That Stuff. I guess because it wasn’t really concocted from any recipe, nor made to approximate any dish in particular. There are no rules. When Simon first started making this, he was merely going for the flavors. He’d use whatever vegetables he had available, and that’s how we make it now.

The red lentils came from my friend, farmer Paul Krautman (I mentioned him last week, since he grew the heirloom black beans used in the couscous cups). He didn’t actually grow these lentils, but he gave them to me because he “had about a bushel of ‘em” and he knew that I’m into heirlooms. I wish I could tell you more about these. Like his black beans, these pretty things have been sitting in my cupboard for about two years.

Lastly, a note on technique. When I’m stir-frying, I use a regular skillet. My experience with woks is that the sides are way too high and therefore the food doesn’t get or stay hot enough to cook well.

That Stuff

3 Tablespoons olive oil
Soy Sauce (have on hand for sprinkling into skillet)
4 garlic cloves, minced
Fresh grated ginger, about 1 ½ “thumbs” worth. (This probably translates to a heaping tablespoon).
1 small white onion
1 red bell pepper
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups portabella mushrooms, sliced
1 ½ cups cooked red lentils
2 TBSP Patak’s Garam Masala Curry Paste
½ dried Tien Tsin chili pepper (or any other kind of dried hot pepper), if you want heat
Brown basmati rice for serving

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet. When it’s hot, turn heat to medium and add the garlic, ginger and onion and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add bell pepper, shake some soy sauce into the skillet to taste and stir fry for another minute or two. Add broccoli, add the remaining olive oil if need be, douse the broccoli with soy sauce, turn the heat up to medium high and stir fry for 2 minutes longer. Add mushrooms and a shake of soy sauce, the Garam Masala, and the dried pepper if using. Stir well to coat all vegetables with the seasonings, then cook for 1 minutes. Stir in the lentils, gently (they will be soft and fall apart easily, but that’s okay because it adds texture to the curry, and stir fry until the lentils are heated through. Remove from heat and add another dash of soy sauce. Mound basmati rice on plates and scoop the curry vegetables on top, and serve.