spicy cashew curry

How do you like tofu?  Growing up, I knew of a lady who ate tofu.  And did yoga and milled her own flour.  Until a couple of years ago, I'd never had it much, because I love and eat meat and had no need for it.  Shortly after moving to Atlanta, though, I ate some that was hidden in a salad from Whole Foods.  It was an accident!  Remarkably, though, I liked it, and started eating it with some regularity, and did not, in fact, start wearing sandals with socks or chain myself to a tree.  

I enjoy the texture of extra firm tofu, and the ability to flavor it any which way you choose.  But you may not, and that's okay, because the beauty of this curry is that you can substitute things to personalize it to your taste.  I used tofu this time, but if you don't want to go there, use chicken, or shrimp.  The original recipe from 101 Cookbooks called for just green beans and cauliflower, but I also added snow peas, because I'm CRAZY LIKE THAT.  Carrots would be good too. 

I can't tell you how pleased I was that this turned out to be edible.  I generally stay away from cooking Asian food at home, because I just don't know what I'm doing at all, and figure curries and dumplings and tikkas are best left to experts.  So the fact that I actually made something that resembled Thai food at home, and in a decidedly cheaper and probably healthier way than the neighborhood noodle house, sort of blew my mind.  Feeling all crunchy granola with the tofu, I packed in the vegetables, and used light coconut milk I found at Trader Joe's.  We had this curry over rice on a very cold night last week, and with a liberal (borderline excessive) amount of spice, it was just the right thing.

Recipe below . . . 

mushroom marsala pasta with artichokes

My cooking has taken a turn for the methodical.  On any given day, I take the following steps:

1.  Go to Smitten Kitchen
2.  Literally salivate
3.  Cook the dish Deb posted
4.  Reap praise

It is fool-proof, unless you count the step where I print out the recipe and make an extensive and detailed grocery list and then leave them both sitting on my desk very nearly every. single. day.  But don't count that.

I wanted this pasta the minute I saw it.  I still have a thing going on with mushrooms, and I'm still on a neverending quest to eat enough carbs that I am rendered home-bound.   And, as it turned out, I could eat and eat and eat this particular dinner forever and ever without stopping.  For maybe 5 years, uninterrupted, I could cook and eat this delicious earthy masterpiece.  Would you come visit at my bedside?

This is probably the 20th recipe of Deb's that I've made and then immediately composed fevered emails to family and friends demanding that they do the same, in all caps.  The 20th thing that I've literally written home about.  How's that for endorsement?

Get the recipe here.