{"id":13459,"date":"2019-04-22T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=13459"},"modified":"2019-04-15T11:41:39","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T15:41:39","slug":"watermelon-curry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/22\/watermelon-curry\/","title":{"rendered":"Watermelon Curry?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Rissa Miller, Vegetarian Journal<\/em> Senior Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kind of thought\u2026 there\u2019s no way. Not that I doubted Vegetarian Journal<\/em> columnist Nancy Berkoff. She\u2019s a chef and dietitian, a food expert. Every quarter she has great ideas on easy things to do with vegan eats. But watermelon<\/em> curry? As I stared at her monthly column (page 32 coming up in Issue 3, 2019), I wondered if Nancy was mistaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never one to back down from a vegan culinary adventure – or a\nchallenge – I decided to check it out. As it happens, there are many, many\nvariations of this traditional dish from Rajasthan, the largest state in India,\nwhich is in the northwest corner of the country. I rarely meet Indian food I\ndon\u2019t love, so I set about making my own version with\neasy-to-find spices and directions simple enough to prepare on any weeknight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watermelon curry is sweet and savory; it comes together in 20\nminutes, about as long as it takes rice to get fluffy in my rice cooker. I used\npre-cut and seeded watermelon from the grocery salad bar. If you\u2019re\nambitious enough to cut your own melon, make sure you remove the seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watermelon Curry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serves 4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 cups cubed, seeded watermelon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 tsp. ground cumin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 tsp. turmeric powder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 tsp. curry powder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\/2 tsp. ground ginger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\/4 tsp. powdered mustard seed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\/4 tsp. ground cardamom <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinch salt (optional to taste)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinch red pepper flakes (optional to taste)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Tbs. neutral oil, such as canola oil<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 small onion, cut into half moons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped into rings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 cups cubed, seeded watermelon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1\/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional topping)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 small jalape\u00f1o, seeded and minced (optional\ntopping)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Tbs. chopped cashews (optional topping)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lime juice (optional topping)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 cups prepared rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prepare the\nsauce, pur\u00e9e watermelon cubes in a blender or food processor until liquid. Add\npur\u00e9ed watermelon and all spices to a large pot. Cover and cook over low heat\nuntil infused, about 5 minutes. Set aside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a second pan over medium heat, saut\u00e9\nchopped onions, green pepper, and minced garlic in the oil until\nfragrant and lightly browned, about 4-6 minutes. Pour into large pot with the\nwatermelon sauce, adding chickpeas and cubed watermelon. Stir gently to coat.\nCook to warm through, about 5-7 minutes over medium heat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serve over one cup of warm cooked rice. Top as desired with\nchopped cilantro, cashews, jalape\u00f1o, and\/or a splash of lime juice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rissa Miller, Vegetarian Journal Senior Editor I kind of thought\u2026 there\u2019s no way. Not that I doubted Vegetarian Journal columnist Nancy Berkoff. She\u2019s a chef and dietitian, a food expert. Every quarter she has great ideas on easy things to do with vegan eats. But watermelon curry? As I stared at her monthly column […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13461,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13459\/revisions\/13461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}