A collaboration between Andrew Schloss and Cookthink, the Sunday Dinners project is designed to help those of us who love to cook but have trouble finding the time. Each week, we bring you recipes for a leisurely weekend meal — and show you how to spin the leftovers into easy weeknight dinners. (For more on this, read Andy’s introduction to the project.) 

A good curry can seduce the senses to the point of overload.

Starting with a floral fragrance of coriander and cardamom, it fast reveals an earthy heart of turmeric and the honest musk of asafoetida.

There’s the sweetness of onion and a numbing scent of clove. Black pepper perks along the tongue, as pin pricks of cayenne stab at the back of the throat, waiting for a balm of yogurt to bring relief.

Even after you swallow, flavors continue to spark and jostle: an afterglow of chili is fanned by a cool breeze of mint. An acid-sweet glint of lemon cuts through the salty fat crunch of toasted cashews.

The cacophony of curry is the inspiration for this week’s Sunday Dinners.

A stew of hearty winter vegetables is seasoned with a paste of warm curry spices, refreshing herbs, sautéed sweet onion and a jolt of lemon juice.

There are many varieties of curry-style seasoning mixtures, and mine is a fairly common one. Its core is garam masala, a premixed spice blend which can be found in Indian groceries or the spice section of most supermarkets.

You can also make your own garam masala by combining a variety of aromatic seeds, buds and barks. The specific spices and amounts are a matter of personal taste, but coriander usually dominates. It is blended with at least two of the following: chili, cumin, cardamom, fennel, cinnamon, mace, ginger, black pepper, nutmeg, bay leaf and clove.

All of the spices start out whole. They are toasted until they color lightly and their aroma is strong. This is most easily done in a dry iron skillet over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Monitor the toasting carefully — if the spices burn they will become unpleasantly bitter. After they are toasted, cool them briefly and grind in a clean spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.

If you can’t find garam masala in your grocery store, all-purpose curry powder is an adequate alternative.

Sunday’s curry tastes great with basmati rice and a variety of side dishes, which add color, texture, heat-relief and a different depth of flavor with each bite. Some, like red onion and cucumber-mint raita are salads, which should be made the day of the dinner. Others, like eggplant chutney and cardamom toasted almonds can be made days ahead and refrigerated for weeks after the meal.

During the week, the flavors of Sunday’s feast recombine and transform into a Moroccan-style vegetable pie, that is fragrant with savory spices and sweetened almonds; a baked fish stuffed with vegetables and rice; and a hearty soup of sausages and lentils.

Sunday Dinner:
Recipe: Curry of Winter Vegetables (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Red Onion Raita (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Eggplant Chutney (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Curried Lentils (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Spicy Cucumber And Mint Raita (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Toasted Cardamom Almonds (Sunday Dinners)

Weekly Spin-Off Dinners:

Recipe: Vegetable Bisteeya (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Baked Fish Stuffed With Vegetables (Sunday Dinners)
Recipe: Lentil Soup With Italian Sausage (Sunday Dinners)