Monday Dinner May 24

Bonus Crap Chef!

Tonight, chicken curry.  It's not complicated but it's time consuming.

First, chop up an onion and brown it in a generous amount of oil.  After a bit, add some garlic (about 6 cloves), some fresh chopped ginger and some chili.  Cook them for a couple of minutes on high.

 

Grind up the following - 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon of cardamom seeds, 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds, a stick of cinnamon, turmeric and some star anise if you have it (I didn't).

Throw that mix in the pot, turn the heat way down and cook for a bit.  Be careful not to burn it.  When it's all brown and gooey, put it in blender with a couple fingers of water and whizz it until it's smoooooth.

Throw it back in the pot and add a can of plain tomato sauce, or some fresh tomatoes chopped without the skin.  I was feeling lazy, so this is from a can.  Turn the heat up to medium and cook it for a half hour or so, stirring once in a while to make sure it doesn't stick.  It's going to bubble like a mud pit.

 Quick side dish while that is cooking - chop some carrots finely.  Heat a little bit of oil in a tiny frying pan and throw in a handful of mustard seeds.  They should pop immediately.  Pour over carrots and mix up.

Side dish two on the right - raita.  Finely chop a cucumber and some mint, add it to yogurt along with some ground cumin, turmeric and cardamom,  refrigerate.

OK, after all that, the sauce should be getting darker.  Add some cubed potatoes, seared chicken, whatever veggies you want.  Cook until the sauce is reduced and the potatoes are soft.  Add some cilantro if you have it and like it.  Taste.  Season with more chili if necessary.  Serve over rice.

It's also good if you mix in maybe half a green apple and some raisins when it's cooking.  But I didn't do that this time because Vero doesn't fancy the idea.

Double Bonus Crap Chef!

Today for lunch I was making some more spring rolls, to use up all the wrappers before we go away.  Today I used bean sprouts, cilantro, carrot, spring onion and enoki mushrooms.  Don't bother with the enoki, they get lost in all the other flavors and they're so good just by themselves.  But I wrapped some leftover curry in one wrapper, threw it into the oil and cooked it up.  It came out really really yummy.