We have always loved to cook and traveling around the world has not changed that one bit.  Cooking in a hostel is a bit different though, largely due to poorly stocked hostel kitchens.

In Central American hostels, for example, you have to overcome a few obstacles in the kitchen:

• No oven!
• Burners with limited temperature control
• Dull knives
• Probably no more than 1 pot and 1 frying pan

What we have come to love while traveling are simple dishes with easily found ingredients, that can be cooked in one pot with minimal fuss, and that smell and taste so good you’ll become the envy of every other hostel cooker.

Enter Hostelbookers.com and their #hostelkitchen approved recipes.  They are putting together a cook book just for us hostel cooks, created from entries like this, and voted on by their facebook fans.  For more details, check out their site here.

Coconut Curry:

Ingredients:

3 – large potatoes (skinned, and cut into 1/2″ cubes)
5 – cloves of garlic, minced
1 – can of chickpeas
1 – can of spinach
1 – can of coconut milk
4 – tbsp curry powder
1 – tbsp salt

Directions:

In a large pot combine all ingredients.  Include the liquid from the canned chickpeas and canned spinach.

Cook on medium-high.

When it comes to boil, turn down the heat to low and continue boiling for 30 minutes.  There’s no need to stir… go read a book, have a beer, or hang out in the common room.

Serving:

Spoon curry into a couple of bowls or just eat it out of the pot.  There should be enough to comfortably feed 3-4 people.  As a couple, we usually make it as one big supper for the two of us, and then eat the leftovers for lunch or breakfast.  (It’s even tasty cold!)

It can also be served over rice (as pictured above), on quinoa, or with a side of bread.

Substitutions and additions:

These additions/substitutions work well:

• Add eggplant cut into 1/4″ cubes (love it)
• Add cauliflower (curried cauliflower is amazing)
• Substitute 2 plantains for 1 potato
• Use fresh spinach instead of canned.  You will need to add a little water if you do this.

Have a suitable recipe for a hostel kitchen?

Head over to the contest’s site and submit your own!