experimenting

For those of you getting emails of my posts, sorry if you get some old posts.  Because the home page is getting quite unruly and not easy to search (at least for me), I have been trying to figure out how to rearrange my old posts by subject, sorted onto tabbed pages.  So far, I have achieved elevated blood pressure, a desire for strong drink, and an unseemly hatred toward the blogspot designers.

Assuming I don't simply implode, I am going to continue trying to figure this thing out, and I hope it doesn't mean that I cram your inboxes with old crap.

curry...in a hurry?

Jim and I love Indian food.  I have 3 or 4 Indian cookbooks I leaf through often.  So far, the end result is some Tandoori chicken and the stray kabob or two.  Because curry recipes make my eyes swim.  I have a chef's collection of spices, but I still don't have asafetida, fresh curry leaves, mace, white poppy seeds, sambar powder... the list goes on and on.  And, lest anyone forget, I am absolutely terrible about measuring and following recipes, particularly when they are 25 ingredients long.


So I close the cookbooks and we head out to the (very good) Indian restaurant up the street.  But it pisses me off.  There is no reason I shouldn't be able to make a decent curry at home on a Sunday afternoon.  So I cast about for some ideas, and realized that I had at least five different curry powders, as well as garam masala.  If they weren't for making curry, then WTF?  What were they doing living in my spice arsenal?  So, Sunday, curry was on the menu.

The list of ingredients was still long.  I let the spice mixtures stand in for the exhausting lists of spices toasted and pounded in pestal and mortar, but I still needed garlic, onions, ginger, and cilantro.  I set my sights on a curry with both a tomato component and a coconut base, because for reasons unknown I had always resisted Indian dishes with tomatoes in them, and adored those with a coconut component.  Why the tomato issue?  I love both Italian and Mexican dishes with tomatoes.  I eat tomatoes straight off the vine.  What could have been going through my brain?

The curry starts with a bit of browning.  I like chicken thighs for braised chicken dishes, because they don't dry out the way the breasts do.  Bone in for flavor, skin off to reduce the fat content.

browned chicken thighs without skin don't look so hot,

but trust me, this step brings a lot of flavor to the finished dish

Next, the thighs are set aside, and the spices are "bloomed" in the fat.  For some reason, a few minutes of frying makes spices noticeably more delicious.  Don't ask me why.  I just know that it works, and that it is a pain in the butt, because burning them is incredibly easy.  I think the "blooming" reference is because they become very fragrant after a few minutes in hot fat.  Use the term to look like a snobby high-brow chef to your friends.  

onions, spices, and broth, ready for the addition of the chicken

The heat goes down to medium low, and all the aromatics that also benefit from a few seconds in hot oil need to be right next to the stove.  The drill is:  spices for 30 seconds; then the garlic, ginger, chiles, and tomato paste go in for another 30 seconds; then the onions go in, and if nothing is burning (different from sticking a bit to the bottom of the pan--burning is turning black), those cook for a minute or two, until they begin to soften.  Then a cup or two of water deglazes the pan.  No need for chicken broth here.  The sauce is loaded with flavor already.

Chicken goes back in, and everything simmers over low heat for 20 minutes.  Then the chicken gets turned over, and cauliflower goes in, if you are using it.  It is one of my favorite curry veggies, because it is such a blank canvas.  It absorbs all the flavors of whatever sauce it is cooked in.

my latest discovery--small bags of pre-cut cauliflower--

not that I mind chopping up a cauliflower, but a whole head

is always way too much for two

Once the cauliflower is in, everything simmers, covered, for another 20 minutes.  Then the chicken comes out, a few wedges of tomato and half a can of coconut milk go in, and the heat goes up.  The sauce should reduce over medium high heat in about 10 minutes or so.  Once the sauce comes off the heat, a handful of fresh cilantro goes in.

a few minutes will produce a creamy sauce

Did I ever mention that there are a few herbs that are just expensive dust when you buy them dried?  If you have basil, parsley, cilantro, tarragon, or chervil in dried form in your cupboard, smack yourself upside the head, and pitch them in the trash.  Then buy them fresh at the grocery.  Yes, I know.  No one carries chervil.  Grow it in the garden next year, or substitute a smaller amount of it's stronger doppelganger, tarragon.  Dried tarragon can have some flavor, I will admit, but it loses its taste after about, like a week, and it's expensive.  Stick with the fresh.  Some time I'll talk a bit about freezing herbs, which is a handy way not to flush money down the toilet and still have that fresh herb flavor.

Okay.  Tirade over.  Back to the curry.  This is a perfect dish to serve over rice, but I have a soft spot for naan bread with Indian dishes, and naan is available in just about any store that dares to call itself a supermarket.  Jim would be happy with both naan and rice, but I am pudgy enough without two starches in one meal.  And the naan toasts up beautifully with about 5 minutes in the toaster oven.  Way less fussy than cooking rice.

 a final handful of cilantro, and it's curry for Sunday dinner