Good Neighbors and Veggie Coconut Curry

The next door neighbors are really super organized, a bit more modern than we, and also they like to travel. So we benefit from their organized hipness in many ways (hello, like tickets to Janelle Monae Sunday night at Cafe du Nord, reservations already made at Zuni, and their sitter to watch all our kids scheduled!) but to more to the point here - we get the uneaten organic produce from their weekly delivery box when they leave town. This might sound scroungy but not so - this is beautiful, local, organic, small farm produce that would be a shame to let go bad! In fact, this is how I learned to make my own hot sauce last year when their box included a whole bunch of Cayenne Peppers and they were off to Paris or something. In any case I only needed to add a few things from my Indian spices and made a great curry. I admit to having had a hard time with the lemongrass and my lovely friend and dinner guest had to make that she did not get too many woody pieces - but haste does make waste when it comes to beating your lemongrass. Word.

Saute the following spices in 3T oil over low/med heat until fragrant (2-3 minutes)

1T turmeric

1/2 t asafoetida

1/4 t fenugreek

1/2 ground cardamon

1/4 mustard seeds (black)

1 small hot red pepper sliced in half

Add one chopped onion and a little more oil if needed to keep it all from sticking and the following

1 bunch red chard, chop the stems that stick out past the leaf and add those stems now (leaves later)

1 Turnip, 2 parsnips, 1 sweet potato skinned and sliced 1/4 " thick

1/2 head cauliflower sliced 1/2 " thick

1/2 red bell pepper diced into big pieces

1/4 head cabbage chopped into big pieces

1 piece of lemongrass (white end only, pounded and then chopped fine)

2" piece of ginger minced

saute for 10 minutes or so, stirring to keep from sticking, then add

the red chard leaves chopped

1t soy sauce

1 can low fat coconut milk and water or veg stock to just almost cover the veggies.

cover and simmer on low heat until everything is cooked about 3o minutes.

It was good with rice, and yes we had white because unlike my neighbors I am not organized enough to get the brown rice cooking in advance. Next time.