Meera's curry
The Cast:
Protein Options That I Think Would Work, one of the following:
- Chicken, all formats supported (eg whole chicken cut up, or drumsticks, or boneless pieces). Yesterday I used 10 drumsticks, with the bone extracted after cooking.
- Mixed veg
- Not Tempeh, because everyone knows that tempeh tastes like ARMPIT
- Prawns or firm fish
- Any combination of the above (except the Tempeh, see ARMPIT for more details)
The Base
- Peanut or vegetable oil – maybe 2-3 tbs
- 2 Onions, sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- About 1 tbs of minced ginger
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
The Spices
- Some hot dried red chillies. The recipe calls for 12 (southern food can be quite hot); but I used about 6 medium-hot dried chillis
- 1 tbs cumin seeds
- 1 tbs peppercorns
- 3 cloves
- ½ a cinnamon stick
- 2 cardamom pods
- ½ tsp salt
The Sauce
- A tin of diced tomatoes
- A tin of coconut milk
- Some water
The Method
- For Old Skool - Grind up all the spices in a mortar and pestle, or coffee grinder (one that you don't want to use for coffee anytime after). Alternatively, just measure out pre-ground spices.
- Prep your protein (eg cut fat off, leave fat on, sacrifice intestines to Flying Spaghetti Monster)
- Fry off the onions in the oil til they've coloured up, then add in the garlic, ginger, turmeric and salt and fry for a minute or so.
- Add the chicken (or whatever) and brown.
- Add the spices and give those a good 2-3 min frying, til it smells nice and you look totally awesome and like you should be on Master Chef.
- Add all the runny stuff and bring to a simmer.
- Go watch an episode of Sex in the City. Every time Carrie wears something completely stupid, like spats and a rasta hat, or a fur coat with shorts, check on your curry and stir it.
- Time will vary – seafood might only take 5 min, in which case cook the sauce for 15-20 min before adding seafood. But chicken and potato may take 20-30 min.
- Garnish with chopped coriander (if you can tolerate that ghastly herb), and serve with plain rice. Or Smarties.
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