Recipe – Oven-baked Spicy Brussels Sprouts Crumble and Sour Cream Curry

Oven-baked Spicy Brussels Sprouts Crumble and Sour Cream Curry

I was in need of a good vegetable side to serve with my Baked Fish recipe that I was serving to friends  for dinner and came across this recipe in my Vij’s At Home cookbook and have now found a new favorite.  It’s a fairly simple recipe and doesn’t require too much time or focus (which is a plus when multi-tasking in the kitchen:)).  While the Brussels sprouts are baking, start the curry and voila!  You’ve got yourself a damn tasty side dish that everyone’s going to want seconds of!

Serves 6

Ingredients

Baked Brussels Sprouts

• 1 1/2 lbs Brussels sprouts, cut in 1/2-inch dice
• 2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 1/2 tsp crushed cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 tsp mango powder (I couldn’t find this in my local grocery store so I omitted it)
• 1 Tbsp cooking oil

Sour Cream Curry

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 buttermilk
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 cup  chopped onion (1 medium)
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped garlic (6 medium cloves)
• 2 cups puréed tomatoes (4 medium, or canned is fine, but not crushed)
• 2 Tbsp ground yellow mustard seeds (optional0
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 Tbsp garam masala or ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground fenugreek seeds (optional)
• 3 1/2 cups water

Directions

Baked Brussels Sprouts

Preheat the oven to 400ªF.

On a large baking tray, toss Brussels sprouts with cumin, salt, cayenne, mango powder and oil.  Bake for 15 minutes, carefully stirring them once after 6 minutes.  (The spices should be cooked and the Brussels sprouts slightly dry but not wilted.)  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Sour Cream Curry

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and buttermilk.  Set aside.

Heat oil in a medium pot on medium-high for 45 seconds.  Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes, or until golden brown.  Add garlic and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until garlic is also golden brown.  Stir in tomatoes, mustard seeds, cayenne, salt, garam masala (or cumin) and fenugreek seeds and sauté for 5 minutes, or until oil glistens on top.  Stir water and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

To prevent curdling, spoon about 3 Tbsp of the hot curry into the sour cream-buttermilk mixture.  Stir well, then pour the sour cream-buttermilk mixture into the pot of curry.  Using a whisk, mix well and simmer, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes, or until the curry reaches a gentle boil.  Remove from the heat.

Top baked Brussels sprouts with sour cream curry and serve immediately.

*Serve this dish with bread or on top of a 2-inch cube of paneer per serving.