Rainbow Curry and Crisps!

I was at the drugstore, and happened to see cans of beans on sale. I had just pinned a bean curry recipe from Lunches Fit for a Kid, so figured I'd give it a try. The store only had black and kidney beans, so I figured I could use the kidney beans instead of white ones. And I was pretty sure I had canned tomatoes plus curry and masala spices at home. Hoo-rah!
Since beans and rice together make a complete protein, you don't need meat, so I thought I'd add some brown rice we had just bought. I made some other changes too, since I didn't have any Vindaloo spice, and my husband thought potatoes wouldn't be as good with the rice.
Turns out I didn't have tomatoes though. Oh well. What I threw together came out great!

Crock-Pot Rainbow Curry

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can cut green bean -or- 1 cup cut fresh green beans

1/2 to 1 cup carrot coins

1 Tbsp curry powder, your favorite

1 Tbsp Masala powder, any variety* (can find at Indian or Asian groceries, specialty spice stores, or online)

3 cups water

*She used Garam Masala, but I used Tandoori Masala. Not sure what the differences are.

Directions: 

Step 1: Mix curry and Masala spices with 3 cups water. Set aside

Step 2: Add rice into the bottom of the pot, and add vegetables and beans on top. Pour water mixture over everything.

Look at those colors! Red beans,
Orange carrots, Yellow curry, Green beans
and Purple beans! Like a Rainbow!

Step 3: Cook 6-8 hours on Low (or 200 F in an oven) or 3-4 hours on High (300 F in an oven.)

Serve with Curry Crisps or Naan bread. Enjoy!

My tip: eating the chip upside-down puts the seasonings on your tongue first, enhancing the flavor experience. 

And then you don't feel you need to add so much salt!

Curry Crisps

Ingredients:

2 wheat or corn tortillas per person

salt (roughly 1/8 tsp per person)

curry powder (roughly 1/2 to 1 tsp per person)

garlic powder (roughly 1/2 to 1 tsp per person)

olive oil or olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Step 1: Cut tortillas into 6ths with a knife or rotary cutter. Or into fun shapes using cookie cutters.

Step 2: Lay the cut tortillas onto a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Try not to let them overlap too much.

Step 3: Brush or spray on olive oil (or olive oil cooking spray.) Sprinkle on seasonings as desired.

Step 4: Bake at 400 F for 8 to 10 minutes, until crispy and edges begin to brown. Yum! 

I also used a bunny cutter to make custom crisps for Princess Sparklepants. She loved them!

It might also be fun to try this with little tortilla chip bowls you can make using the tutorial from Bobbi's Bentos!

Here's how I almost messed it all up:
I figured that since there was no meat, I could get away with just cooking it for 2 to 3 hours on High. Newp. That stinkin' rice was still crunchy after 2 hours! At that point it was past dinnertime, so in a panic I dumped the whole thing into a pot on the stove and put it on High/10. It did the trick. That rice was only slightly al dente after about 10 minutes... but since I wasn't able to stand there stirring it with a hungry baby on my hands, I left it alone while the crisps cooked. I came back to stuff starting to burn on the bottom. Everything still turned out delicious, but the rice, carrots, and fresh green beans that I used were a little firmer than I was expecting. Another hour or two would have mushed everything up nicely, and made it easier to eat on the crisps.
And it smelled like burnt beans, even though there was no burnt flavor. Ah well. Lesson learned. Make Hubby cook from now on. Plan ahead.