A Curry Recipe

Once upon a time (some time around the 3rd grade I think) I wrote and illustrated a "book" for a school book fair; it was called "The Curry Monster". It told the story of the curry spice sitting on the grocery shelf and turning into a little monster that tortured children into eating it. The inspiration for the story was because my mom liked to make chicken curry and I hated it. Seriously hated it. But by about 6th grade I had grown to like the chicken curry dinners we would have. Tonight's dinner was a curry dish and I wanted to share it. (I also despise eggplant, but I followed the recipe and included it, and more importantly I ate it!)

This recipe is from the Weight Watchers Light & Easy cookbook.

Curried Vegetable-Rice Pilaf

• Vegetable cooking spray
• 2 t. vegetable oil
• 2 C cauliflower flowerets
• 2 C cubed unpeeled eggplant
• 1 C green pepper strips
• 1 C chopped onion (I used onion powder in deference to my husbands preferences)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 C water
• 1 C no salt added stewed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 t. curry powder
• 1/4 c. salt
• 15.5 oz can chickpeas, drained
• 2 T golden raisins
• Dash of ground cinnamon
• 2 C hot cooked brown rice (cooked without salt or fat)

1. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray, and add oil; place over medium heat until hot. Add cauliflower and next 4 ingredients to skillet, and cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 cup water; cover, and simmer 5 additional minutes or until vegetables are tender.
2.Stir in tomatoes, curry powder, salt, and chickpeas; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.
3. Stir raisins and cinnamon into rice in a large bowl; add vegetable mixture, stirring well to combine.

344 Calories; 64.6 g Carbohydrate; 5.6 g Fat; 9.5 g Fiber; 12.6 g Protein; 0 mg Cholesterol; 266 mg Sodium; 123 mg Calcium; 4.4 mg Iron.

The recipe says 4 servings, but it was much more like 6. We both really loved it (despite the curry and eggplant).