Coconut and Chickpea Stew over Quinoa

Over the past few years I've seen many recipes calling for coconut milk and I never understood the hype.  It reminded me of the days when my mom and I would make virgin pina colodas before watching TGIF, and of course, 20/20 with Hugh Downes and Barbara Walters.  Turns out that the drink calls for the classic Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut while the popular food dishes call for coconut milk.  My bad.

Anyway, I found this recipe on The Kitchn and adapted it to what I had in my actual kitchen and with items I could quickly pick up from the grocery store (i.e. coconut milk).  The result was a somewhat spicy, flavorful meal that yielded several servings that got better over time. 

Cooking for Friends: Beef and Chicken Kabobs with Three Dipping Sauces

Last Saturday, I invited some of my closest friends over for dinner and pre-dancing drinks.  My goal was to be creative and to stay away from the more traditional group foods like lasagna and pizza.  I also wanted to give my friends the opportunity to personalize their dish as much as possible (it's probably important to note that I'm a big fan of food personalization...so, bring it on!).  And so began my quest to offer a variety of flavors and options...

The focus of this post is the three dipping sauces that accompanied the beef and chicken kabobs, roasted peppers, and brown rice.  And, of course, the fresh bread.

In the photo above, the dipping sauces from left to right is a tomato-ginger chutney, a feta/herb sauce, and a lime/cilantro creme.  And below, a complete plate of food...

Vegetarian Chili Sin Chili

Okay, I'll admit that making a dish that completely forgoes its namesake is a bit off kilter, but I'm a bit off kilter with my dislike of spicy food.  I'm getting there; a few years ago, I would have never considered making chili.  I've come a long way and this dish still packs enough flavor to satisfy the most daring of palettes.

In any case, try it - you can always play with the spices to pack more of a punch than a beginner like me.