Busy Day Slow Cooker Meals
- this week i've teamed up once again with the great people at audible.com to bring you another episode of our healthy weekly meal prep series. if you're not familiar with audible, it is a great app that allows you to download and listen to audio books. now, if you're anything like me and you spend a ton oftime in your kitchen,
you'll understand why audio books are so valuable. i love listening tothem while i'm chopping and sautã©ing away. most recently, i've been re-reading one of my all-time favorite books, "fall on your knees"by ann-marie macdonald, and it's actually betterthe second time around. the coolest part about this partnership
is that audible is offering each of you a free audio book download,and all you have to do is go to audible.com/thedomesticgeek, and you can choose from anyof their 180,000 titles. the best part is, you can be downloading and listening in minutes. how great is that? now let's get startedwith this week's menu, it's all inspired by theyummy flavors of india,
and it is completely vegetarian. to kick things off thisweek, we are making a wonderful coconut curry. so i've got a large saucepan on the stove, and i'm just gonna get started by melting some coconut oil. once my oil is heated up, i'm going to add some yellow onion. i'm going to sautã© my onion for three
to four minutes, and then i'm going to add even more yummy flavorwith some minced garlic and some minced ginger. as far as i'm concerned,these three flavors are the holy trifecta of indian cooking. as soon as these guys become fragrant, i'm going to add my curry powder and then follow it up with some tomato paste. i'm gonna let this all cook up
for about 30 seconds, and then i'm going to add my coconut milkand some vegetable broth. to this beautifulmixture, i'm going to add all sorts of veggies, like carrots, sweet potatoes and cauliflower. then i'm gonna finish it offwith some canned chickpeas. i'm going to bring this all to a boil, and then turn my heat down to low, cover my pot and let is simmer.
about five minutes beforeyour curry is ready, you can stir in your greens. today i'm using somebeautiful baby spinach. when it's ready, you'llknow because your house will smell amazing. you can eat it rightaway or you can store it in your refrigerator forbetween four and five days. next up, i'm going toget started on my rice. so in a small saucepan on the stove,
i'm just melting some coconut oil. to that, i'm going toadd some cumin seeds. i'm going to toast these seeds for between 30 seconds and a minute. as soon as they start to become fragrant, i'm going to add my basmatirice and some water. i'm going to bring this to a boil and then reduce my heatto low, cover my pot and let this cook forbetween 15 and 20 minutes.
once it's done, i'm going toturn my heat off entirely, and then let it sit foranother five minutes. i'm going to finishthis beautiful rice off with some chopped greenonion, some fresh coriander, and some salt and some pepper. this rice makes the perfect accompaniment to our yummy coconut curryand also to our next dish, which is an amazing eggplant curry i know you guys are going to love.
all i'm going to do istake my whole eggplant and rub it with some olive oil. next i'm going to poke it with a fork to make sure it cooks evenly. next i'm going to put it in the oven under a high broiler. the secret is making sure you turn your eggplant regularlywhile it's under the broiler so it doesn't get overcooked in one spot
and undercooked in another. after between 20 and 30 minutes, your eggplant should be ready. you'll know it's ready because the skin will be completely black. all you wanna do is wrap your eggplant in some foil and let it sit for between 15 and 20 minutes, or untilit's cool to the touch. next you are simply goingto peel off the skin
and then mash up all theeggplant goodness inside. then you can set yourmashed eggplant aside and get moving with therest of this recipe. so in a skillet, i'mheating some coconut oil, and i'm going to toast my cumin seeds very much the same wayi did it with my rice. as soon as those cuminseeds become fragrant, we are going to add ourchopped yellow onion. we're going to cook theonion until it's softened,
and then we are going to adda whole lot of yumminess. so i have some garlic and some ginger and a minced green chili. now, if you are not into the heat, you can feel free to leave that chili out. next i'm going to add awhole lot of yummy spice. so i've got some ground turmeric, some ground coriander, some red chili powderand some garam masala.
all of these can be foundat your local supermarket. once all your spices have had a chance to toast up, it's timeto add your tomatoes. you wanna cook your tomatoes until they start to break down completely. once that happens, youcan add your eggplant, give this a good stir and then simmer it for between 10 and 15 minutes, or until all of those flavors come together.
when it's done, it packs quite the kick, which is why i like to cool it down with the amazing raitai'm about to show you. raita is an incredible indian yogurt dip that is perfect for coolingdown super hot foods. so i'm getting startedwith some plain yogurt in a bowl, and to that i am going to add some shredded cucumber that i've just drained the water from.
to that i am going to add some freshly squeezed lemonjuice, some fresh mint, a little bit of cumin,and some salt and pepper. it's as simple as that. this refreshing raita can be served with either of those yummy curries or quite simply with some fresh veggies, like some red pepper, some cauliflower or some peas.
for our salad this week,we are putting together a very simple, but veryflavorful, carrot salad. and it all starts withsome freshly grated carrot. i am going to make a very simple dressing by combining some vinegarwith some fresh lemon juice, a little cumin, some pepper and salt, and finally, some freshly grated ginger. we are going to pour our dressing over our carrots and finish this off
with some freshly chopped coriander and some freshly chopped mint. (indian music) we're finishing things off this week with my mango yogurt parfaits. now, i'm using plainyogurt in this recipe. you could absolutely do this with some vanilla yogurt instead, oreven some coconut yogurt. how yummy would that be?
so i've got some yogurt in the bottom of my jar, and theni'm going to drizzle it with a little bit of honey. to that i'm going to addsome freshly chopped mango and top it with a little more yogurt, and finish this off withsome crushed pistachios. if you can't find shelled pistachios in your supermarket,don't sweat it at all. you could also do this with some almonds.
that would be just as delicious. these will last in your fridge for between four and five days. i really hope you love this week's menu and that you'll givethese tasty recipes a try. and if you do, be sure to tweet or instagram me a photo because you know i love seeing what you're coming up with in your very own kitchens.
and, if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to "the domestic geek" because there's lots more deliciousness where this came from.
