A Writer Has to Eat: Marrakesh Vegetarian Curry

A year ago or so I found a recipe for a curry that used orange juice, cinnamon, and raisins. The total combination intrigued me and sounded really yummy. I made the recipe. It was crazy spicy. While I like to think of myself as spicy, I am really a mild person. Extra mild. I tweaked the recipe and made it a little less spicy. This recipe creates an absolutely heavenly aroma while it is cooking.

Marrakesh Vegetarian Curry


Ingredients
6-7 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
2 teaspoons mild curry powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 medium onion, diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into small cubes
2 sweet peppers, diced
1 15 ounce can of garbanzo beans or 1 1/2 cups cooked dried garbanzo beans
1 zucchini, diced
2 cups chopped mushrooms
2 tablespoons garlic
5 ounces fresh spinach leaves
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup slivered almonds
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pour the olive or vegetable oil into a dutch oven or deep frying pan. Put the ground tumeric, mild curry pepper, and cinnamon in the pan with the oil. Stir over medium heat so that the spices are mixed into the oil and become heated.



2. Put the diced onions into the pan with the oil and spices. stir to saute and coat the onions with the spices. Saute the onions for 3 minutes.

3. Put the sweet potato, carrots, eggplant, and sweet peppers into the pan with the oil, spices and onions. Stir to coat all the vegetables with the curry mixture and continue to saute the vegetables for about 7-10 minutes.

4. Put the garbanzo beans, zucchini, mushrooms, and garlic into the pan and stir them into the mixture. Continue to stir and saute the mix for another 3-5 minutes.

5. Stir the spinach leaves into the mixture in the pan.



6. Pour the orange juice into the mixture. Put the raisins in the pan. At this point you may want to put in 2-3 tablespoons of salt-- the salt will help bring out the flavors of the vegetables in addition to the curry flavor. Stir the mixture and cover with a lid. Left the curry simmer for about 10 minutes over medium heat.

7. Stir in the slivered almonds. Turn off the heat. Serve over brown rice and enjoy!