Cricket Curry
45 minutes
4 servings
We are a big fan of creamy soulwarming curries, and have made our own ento version of curry. The crunchy crickets complement the creaminess of curry to perfection and add another special ingredient: serundeng.
INGREDIENTS
- 25 g of cricket flour
- 50 g of whole crickets
- 300 g of rice
- 1 red and 1 green bell pepper
- 500 g of cauliflower
- 200 g of fresh mung bean sprouts
- 1 big onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp of your favorite curry paste
- 25 g ginger
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 can coconut milk
- 250 ml veggie broth
- 2 tbsp 100% peanut butter
- 3 sprigs of thyme and about 10 basil leaves
- Secret topping: serundeng
PREPARATION
- Cut all the veggies into chunks of your liking
- Start sautéeing the onion, garlic, ginger and cauliflower on low heat for about 15 minutes
- Add the curry paste and fry together for 2 minutes
- Add the coconut milk, soy sauce, lemon juice, peanut butter, cricket flour and thyme sprigs and slowly bring to a boil
- When everything boils: turn down the heat and let it simmer for 20 mintues (but the longer the better!)
- In the meantime cook the rice according to the package instructions and fry the whole crickets in a separate pan for about 8 minutes
- 5 minutes before you stop simmering the curry, also add the bell pepper chunks
- And do the same with the bell sprouts for the last 2 minutes
- Remove the thyme stems, and add the basil leaves for the final touch
- Mix the rice with the curry and top with some fresh and crispy crickets and serundeng, enjoy!
Everybody loves a rich and creamy curry every now and then. Whether it is rather sweet, coconut-based and creamy like Korma, mild and creamy like Tikka, or spicy and tomato-based like Jalfrezi: there is a curry for everyone. One of the great things about all curries, is how a million flavours blend together into one awesome pot of deliciousness. And to do so, you simply have a little more shopping to do than for most of other recipes. But we promise: it's worth it!
We always cook with as many fresh ingredients as possible, but that doesn't mean you always have to re-invent the wheel. One of those things we have tried to do better ourselves many times but simply did not convincingly succeed is curry paste. After a couple tries, we gave in and went back to curry pastes that you can get in the supermarket: they simply are very tasty.
So now that we have saved you the effort of doing your own curry paste, the rest is actually pretty straightforward. There is a fair amount of veggies involved (vitamins incoming) so the preparation requires some cutting. But once everything is cut, the wok does all the work for you, and patience turns out to be the most important ingredient.
Start with the onion, garlic, ginger and cauliflower to especially give the cauliflower a roasted touch before everything else is thrown in. After frying the curry paste for a few minutes and adding the liquid ingredients to it, it is up to how much time you have. You can choose to be done five minutes after your curry boiled, to at least give the bell pepper enough time in there too. But to have all the ingredients perfectly melt together the key ingredient is time. That doesn't mean it needs to be simmering for hours and hours, 30 minutes would already be awesome and sufficient.
The crickets give the curry an extra protein boost and a nice bite in an otherwise creamy dish. And adding some cricket flour to the liquid ingredients, thickens the sauce as well. Don't forget to remove the thyme stems from the curry, and top it with fresh basil, freshly fried crickets and serundeng. Serundeng is originally Indonesian and is basically spiced and toasted shredded coconut. Although not Indian, it fits perfectly with curries and is delicious in general.
Curry is best served hot on those cold winter nights to warm up your soul!