One day last week was sunny and the sky was so blue I thought I could swim in it. But daylight only lasts about 5 hours here, and just one day --- wasn't enough.
So my solution? Lots of cooking out of my new cookbook - from Lynne Rosetta Kasper and Sally Swift of The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper --- thanks Deev! As far as cookbooks go, this won't replace my beloved New Basics Cookbook from the Rosso and Lukin's of Silver Palate Cookbook fame, or Kimball's Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, but it's a worthy addition, as it really is about techniques for making good food - fast. And LRK & SS have included a bunch of asides in this book. At the beginning of the book they list their favorite vendors and varieties for fresh and canned products, which if I were in the USwould be very helpful for stocking a good pantry. They have interesting little cultural notes, too, and quotes that are hilarious, and they have something called "Building the Library" where they briefly discuss other good cookbooks.
I have three favorite recipes, so far, but this one is a really great gray day tonic, and the Big Guy is thrilled to now have a curry recipe that is not made with coconut milk. So I thought I would share it with you. I hope Lynne and Sally don't mind.
Chicken Curry with Gentle Spices -
Ingredients for the Curry Paste
1 large onion
6 garlic cloves
3" slice of peeled ginger
dash of ground coriander
ground cumin and ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 ripe tomatoes (or 1 can)
optional - jalapeños stemmed and seeded (I didn't use them)
1/2 cup water
Meat Item -- Chicken (or I used lamb..., you could use potatoes and peas, add almonds and raisins...)
about 1/4 c. Vegetable oil
2cups of plain whole milk yogurt - nothing skinny here you need this for texture.
2# of chicken thighs (or white), lamb, potatoes, whatever - cut into bite sized pieces. I prebrowned the lamb that I used for this recipe, but LRK doesn't say that in her recipe.
1/3 c. water
salt and ground pepper
2 tightly packed T - fresh coriander leaves, chopped finely for garnish - but don't skip it, it's a good flavor
- To make the curry paste - purée about half of the onion with the garlic, ginger, spices salt, cinnamon, tomatoes, jalapeno and 1/2 cup of water in a blender or oster or something. Then set aside.
- Chicken(or whatever) - Thin slice the remaining half onion. Pour the oil in a pool at the bottom of a straight-sided 12-inch sauté pan with vegetable (olive, safflower...) oil, and heat it over medium-high heat (I used the same pan I had pre-browned the meat in). Sauté the onion in the oil until onion become just soft. Add the curry paste, reduce the heat to medium, and sauté the onion and paste together for 10 minutes, stirring with a wooden spatula, until the oil separates from the curry. It did seem to start to have pools of oil on top. ~ authors say don't rush this step, and stir often, as this is where the flavor forms.
- Now add 2/3 cup of yogurt into the curry sauce and simmer, stirring and scraping up the curry paste from the bottom of the pan, until the yogurt thickens and then nearly cooks away, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Stir in the chicken, and add the remaining yogurt and 1/3 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 8 or so more minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
- Lift the chicken out of the pan with a slotted spoon and place it in a serving bowl. Raise the heat until the sauce is boiling. Boil it down until once again it is so think that the oil separates from the curry paste. Taste the sauce for seasoning, and pour it over the chicken on individual plates. Throw the minced fresh coriander on top. Enjoy
And as a special treat -- the sun is back out today.
Thanks for listening to my whine. I will get back to being thankful for this amazing opportunity - soon I hope.
