Vorin Sweet Carrot and Prune Curry
Greetings food adventurers! Today we travel to the Shattered Plains of Roshar to enjoy one of the famous curries served at the king’s feasts. This sweet Carrot and Prune curry hits the spot after a long day of chasmfiend hunts. (the artwork at the Shattered Plains link says there is a story spoiler but there isn’t, it is safe and very pretty)
We hop a ride on a caravan to the Shattered Plains. We arrive mid-morning and get a tour of the Kholin warcamp. Some of the other highprinces are out with their armies hunting a chasmfiend today. This warcamp is not participating in the day’s hunt so it is fairly calm walking among the rows of tents. As always, we meet people and share stories, collecting more as we go. We brought notebooks to sketch the unusual plants and animals of this area, and some landscape drawings too.
As evening approaches, we follow the crowd out to the various large “islands” of rock with bridges over the deep chasms between them. There are islands set up for different groups of people according to status. We gravitate toward the one that feels like we are most likely to fit in and grab some food and a table. The Carrot and Prune Curry is popular, as we notice it on many other plates.
The atmosphere is that of a large party. People walk around with drinks or sometimes plates of finger-food, chatting and laughing in small groups. A man at the edge of the party is playing a lively tune on a flute. Each table is lit with bowls of brightly colorful spheres of what look like glass with gemstones in the center. There is lots to experience here and we have plenty of different foods to try so let’s stay as late as we can!
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Inspired by the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson and adapted from Reactor Mag’s Cosmere Cuisine series. They did great research and have an excellent write-up of the foods of Roshar along with several recipes. If you are a Stormlight fan who loves food, I highly recommend reading the article at the link above. This recipe is split into two parts because the base can be used to make either a sweet or a spicy curry; at some point I will post my version of the spicy one too.
Vorin Sweet Carrot and Prune Curry
Special Equipment
- Dutch Oven or large skillet
- Immersion blender (optional)
Ingredients
Curry Base:
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- 2 garlic cloves chopped finely
- ½ inch fresh ginger grated (see note)
- 2 Tbsp oil
- ½ tsp whole cumin seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 large tomatoes diced roughly (about 4 cups)
- ½ a large sweet onion diced
Sweet Carrot and Prune Curry:
- 2 tsp oil
- Curry base full recipe from above
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp garam masala
- ¾ tsp table salt
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk SHAKE the can; this is just over half of a 13.5oz can
- 1 lb sliced carrots
- 1 cup prunes dried plums, chopped finely
- Rice for serving
Instructions
Curry Base:
- In a small bowl, combine the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, chopped garlic, and grated fresh ginger. It will look like a chunky paste. Put the whole bay leaf on top. (Makes it easy to add the spice mix all at once – set yourself up for success!)
- Heat oil in a Dutch Oven pot or large skillet on medium heat.
- Sauté cumin seeds in the oil until they start to splutter.
- Add the spice mix and bay leaf. Stir, and cook for 30 seconds.
- Stir the diced onions into the hot spices and sauté them for about 6 minutes until they are transparent. (Reduce heat to medium low if the spices seem like they might burn)
- Add diced tomatoes and simmer them for 15-20 minutes or until they are cooked. If you have extra-juicy tomatoes, give it an extra 5 minutes or so to reduce the liquid a bit.
- Remove the bay leaf and then purée the rest after it has cooled at least 5 minutes. Leave with some texture to the tomatoes. (No need to let this cool if you use an immersion blender)
- ** At this point the curry base can be put in the fridge to be continued later or used immediately with the continued recipe below.
Carrot and Prune Sweet Curry:
- Start cooking the rice (I recommend using a rice cooker or insta-pot to keep it easy – instructions should be on the bag of rice or with your appliance of choice).
- Heat oil in a Dutch Oven pot or large skillet on medium heat.
- Add the basic curry to the pot.
- Add sugar, garam masala, and salt. Mix well until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
- Add coconut milk and stir gently.
- Add sliced carrots. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped prunes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Let the curry simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until carrots are tender.
- Serve hot curry over rice.
