Bengali Inspired Spinach Curry

I love Indian food - the blend of spices, the comfort-food textures - it's my idea of heaven. Unfortunately The Carnivore disagrees. To him Indian food is just so much weirdness rolled into one - and the fact that there's about zero chance of getting any kind of meat with the meal tends to put him in a 'lovely' frame of mind.

Because of that, I rarely make Indian food -- it's not worth the dirty looks.

So you can imagine my utter joy when my oldest son (whose turn it was to pick dinner) asked for ingredients that really and truly couldn't combine into anything other than... INDIAN FOOD!

This meal is really more of a fusion food than truly authentic Indian Food - I've been having massive cravings for black beans and spinach in some sort of combination (don't ask), so I had to tweak the original Bengali recipe a bit to make flavours mesh.

Contrary to popular belief, curries don't have to have loads of tumeric or (gasp) curry powder to work. Curry, according to a childhood friend of mine, is essentially any kind of a vegetable stew.

This particular curry is sweet and spicy, creamy and fresh, and blends well with the tumeric scented pilaf that I made as a side dish, using none other than our beloved Seamaiden's rice recipe as inspiration. It also happens to be super high in protein and fiber.

Enjoy!

Bengali Inspired Spinach Curry

1/4 c olive oil
1/3 c raw sugar
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp tomato paste

4 oz diced green chilis
1 onion, diced
2 pounds frozen spinach, thawed
2/3 c slivered almonds
1 c dehydrated coconut
4 c cooked black beans (1 can)
1/4 c water

In a large pan, saute the oil, sugar, mustard seeds, cumin, sea salt , and tomato paste until the sugar and tomato paste begin to caramelize.

Add the chilis and stir well. add the onions and saute till soft. Add the spinach, almonds, coconut, beans, and water, and simmer until heated through.

Serve with pilaf and naan.