Gajar, Palak, Ane Sengdane chi Bhajee (Carrot, Spinach, and Peanut Curry)

I needed a vegetable dish to round out tonight's dinner. I was initially planning on doing something with peas and spinach... until I remembered we were all out of cream. A bunch of the other curries I was looking at relied on cabbage or cauliflower -- neither of which we have right now. And the bell pepper curry that I'd finally settled on making turned out not to be a viable option either. Of course, I didn't realize this until I'd already started the mise en place for it. Luckily I hadn't done much yet, just mixed a bit of turmeric with some chickpea flour. And, since this recipe took the exact same amount of turmeric, I just decided to toss my extra-yellow flour in so as not to waste the ingredients.

Given that the original recipe doesn't call for any chickpea flour, it did come out a bit different than if I'd made it as written, but I was happy with the result. And it saved me having to either throw out or store the turmeric'd chickpea flour. I just added a bit extra water (~125mL) to compensate for the chickpea flour's thickening effect.

Gajar, Palak, Ane Sengdane chi Bhajee

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. raw peanuts
• 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2-3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. chickpea flour (optional)
• 450g carrots, peeled and sliced crosswise
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1-1 1/2 c. water
• 100g fresh kale or spinach, chopped

Directions

1. Combine peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut, chilies, and garlic in a food processor (or blender with a "chop" setting) and process until the texture of breadcrumbs.
2. Heat oil over medium heat.
3. Add peanut mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add turmeric and chickpea flour (if using) and cook for another minute or so.
5. Add carrots, salt, sugar, and water. Use more water if using chickpea flour, less if making without flour.
6. Bring to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes.
7. Add greens and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
8. Serve with rice and/or flatbreads.