The Perfect Pantry®

Honey (Recipe: mango lassi)

First published in February 2008, this updated pantry ingredient post features new photos and links. Often served for dessert, lassi, an Indian smoothie, makes a perfect breakfast or lunch, and best of all, you can use frozen fruit from the grocery store at any time of year.

Oooooooooooooooh!
Sugar pie, honey bunch
You know that I love you
I can't help myself
I love you and nobody else

When I saw this squirt jar of Canadian honey in our village grocery store, I knew I had to write a little valentine to my resident Canadian honey bunch.

Then I started to wonder, "Are there really honey bees in Canada? Isn't it too cold?"

Ha! Not only are there bees, but, according to the Canadian Honey Council, the government actually has invested in the long-term sustainability of the honey bee population. Which, of course, makes me wonder why the US government is investing in war, while Canada is investing in bees.

War and bees...

(I know. I can hear the groans.)

Recipe for Thai red curry tofu and broccoli with basmati rice

My husband Ted, more than three-and-a-half decades into our life together, still doesn't understand the very specific food cravings I get from time to time. I don't want chocolate; I want a Hershey's milk chocolate bar. Or shrimp salad, or Wheat Thins, or ice cold cantaloupe. (Am I the only one who craves?) At least a couple of times a month, I absolutely must have a quick-and-easy Thai curry. I can't explain it, and I never know when the craving will strike, so I make sure my pantry is always up to the task. With a tub of red curry paste in the refrigerator and cans of coconut milk in the cupboard, I toss in whatever protein and vegetables I have on hand, for color and texture. I make rice in the rice cooker, up to a few hours in advance, so this Thai red curry tofu and broccoli with basmati rice comes together in less than 30 minutes.

Recipe for red curry shrimp dumplings

Buried in the deepest corner of my freezer, an "emergency" bag of shrimp and vegetable dumplings waits for the times when I crave dumplings and nothing else will do. The dumplings I buy from the Chinese market are okay, not great, not sensuous like these spicy, salty, red curry shrimp dumplings. I can microwave the storebought dumplings in a couple of minutes and get my fix, but it doesn't take all that much longer to create these one-bite shrimp dumplings from scratch, especially with all of the ingredients sitting in my pantry. The technique is the same one I use to cook potstickers: pan fry the dumplings to get a nice chewy crust on the bottom; then, steam them in the same pan to finish the cooking. Once you master the method, you can build your own dumplings with wonton skins and any mix of fillings (chicken, cabbage, tofu) you have on hand.

Creamy Indian-spiced vegan sweet potato soup recipe

Once upon a time, I didn't need a scorecard to remember my family's culinary preferences. Now that I'm firmly entrenched in middle age, I forget who loves olives, who hates mushrooms, who likes tomatoes on their pizza and who won't eat anything green. So, it was inevitable that, when I cooked a big holiday dinner for my stepson and grandkids, I would get something wrong, and I came home with three pounds of leftover mashed sweet potatoes that none of the kids would touch. Lucky me: I turned those already-mashed potatoes into this rich and creamy Indian-spiced sweet potato soup. It's vegan and gluten-free, and you can make it even if you don't have leftovers. Top each individual bowl with traditional curry garnishes (cashews, raisins, chopped apple or shredded coconut) to create a hearty one-dish meal.