Vegetable Curry

I have had a number of people say to me that following a gluten free diet is too expensive. A few of these people said that they either don't bother or "cheat" often. Yes, gluten free products can be expensive. Especially those that try to mimic foods that contain gluten - breads, pastas, cookies. I find that these people have not been fully educated about a gluten free diet or have not expanded their thinking about foods. Many cultures use little in the way of wheat based foods. Asian and Indian cuisine are too examples. Traditional Mexican is corn based. Rice, corn, corn meal and potatoes are very inexpensive.

In our house we love Thai and Indain foods. We like spicey. Unfortunately when eaten at restaurants the sodium level is very high. Since the man has be careful for his blood pressure, I like to cook at home to reduce the sodium. Indian food also tends to be high is fat - using a lot of clarified butter (ghee). The ghee also increases the saturated fat in Indian food. Thai food tends to use peanut oil - high in monounsaturated fat.- but not an overabundance. Thai curries use coconut oil - a tropic oil high in saturated fats - the jury is still out on the benefits of coconut oil vs the high saturated fat content- so I still recommend moderation for the tropical oils.
I often make my own curry sauce (curry means sauce in the Indian language), but have found a good substitue at the local grocery store. Good Housekeeping - Good Food - Coconut and Chile Curry Sauce. It comes in a jar and is found in the Indian/Asian section. For a 2 Tbsp serving the sodium is 135 mg and the fat is 2.5 grams, 1.5 grams being saturated fat. This brand is gluten free. A typical jarred curry sauce might give you 8 grams of fat and 310 grams sodium in 2 tbsp.

Having an abundance of vegetable from the CFA vegetable curry sounded like an easy meal for a warm summer night. I had some cubed, firm tofu in the fridge, so I drained it, wrapped it in heavy paper towel and weighted it with a full gallon jug - this fits nicely into my collander. I let this drain for 1/2 hour and then put it in the fridge wrapped in a new paper towel.
I diced up some red onion, garlic, green pepper, yellow squash, yellow beans and carrots. My daughter helped with some of the veggie prep. A pot of rice goes on before the cooking begins - unfortunately my people do not like brown rice (brown rice has a lower glycemic index than white rice and is higher in fiber - we can get our fiber elsewhere) I like to use jasmine rice.
The tofu goes into a large skillet that has been prepped with canola oil. The tofu gets browned then the harder veggies go in - the onion, peppers and carrots as well as the garlic. We like it a bit spicey, so i popped in a 1/2 of a banana pepper. When the carrots start to soften and the onion is starting to brown the squash and beans go in. It all sautes for about 5 minutes, then the whole jar of sauce goes in and is cooked through. A lid goes on and the heat goes to low while the rice finishes up.
Any veggie goes well in this - broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, peas.

A note about the banana pepper. I was not sure if the pepper was hot or not. Banana pepper?? Bananas aren't hot, how about naming it diablo pepper or Burning mouth pepper. I cut into this thing not knowing, tasted it to check - ouch- then proceded to finish chopping it. My lips were tingly at this point. Then I brushed my fingers over my face to clear a piece of hair, the skin on my face started to burn. Wear gloves to cut these things!!

Easy, inexpensive, delicious and nutritious.