It's suddenly cold.

Wet, grey and cold. Summer is gone. I guess it had to happen. Cold nights make me think of curry. This is a new recipe to me, one of the ones I had taken from a magazine. I probably should have made notes on these recipes - whose recipe it was, which magazine I found it in... but I didn't... , so I hope I don't tread on any toes in writing it out here.

Chicken Korma

1 onion - sliced
3 garlic cloves - finely chopped
chicken thighs or breasts - thickly sliced
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
300ml chicken stock - home made this time, but Massel brand is gluten free
60g (1/4 cup) creme fraiche or yoghurt
60g (1/2 cup) ground almonds

Cook onion in oil over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes, then add garlic and cook for a minute.
Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes
Add the spices and cook until fragrant.
Add stock, creme fraiche or yoghurt and ground almonds.
Bring to the boil then cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked.
Add vegetables of your choice for the last few minutes - peas, zucchini, green beans, chopped spinach etc.
Serve with rice.
Sprinkle with coriander leaves if you have some.

This is a very quick curry to make, so perfect for a last minute, what the heck to I want to make for dinner thing. It tastes really good, the spices are warm, but gentle - nothing to offend any fussy eater - not that there are any of those here.

how to ruin perfectly good lamb and stay married

Rick grew up on a farm. His idea of heaven is roast lamb every night. I like roast lamb too, but not all the time. Rick likes this curry, which should be a testament to how good it is.

Lamb Curry with Pomegranate
1/4 cup raw cashews - chopped (or 1/4 cup ground almonds)
1 large onion - roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic - chopped
large knob of fresh ginger - peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp canola oil
700g lamb shoulder - trimmed and diced 2cm
2 tbsp garam marsala
2 tsp ground pomegranate seeds (anardana powder - I get mine from the FABULOUS Indian grocery just around the corner from us)
1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp tomato paste - I didn't have tomato paste, so I used a little container of tomato passata that I made last month and froze
1 tsp salt
fresh coriander to serve

Soak the chopped cashews in 1/2 cup water for a few hours, then puree the nuts and water to a smooth cream in a food processor. (I used cashews and blitzed them, but they didn't go to a smooth cream - I'm not sure that it isn't a problem with my new food processor... anyway... the end result was really tasty, just a bit nutty/lumpy if you know what I mean. Ground up nuts in Indian food are often used as a thickener and I can't think of any reason that you couldn't use ground almonds instead of the cashews. Don't soak them, just stir them in a spoonful at a time and add a bit of water or stock too)
Puree onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor until smooth
Heat oil in a fry pan and stir-fry the onion paste for 2 minutes - make sure it doesn't brown
Add the spices and cook for 1 - 2 minutes
Add the rest of the ingredients and cook a further 2 minutes
Add the meat and cook gently until just tender (about 40 minutes )- add a little water or stock if necessary Serve with chopped coriander on top
Serves 4

And now a confession - I didn't use lamb. I used mutton - not only that, but it was left-over roast mutton. I made everything exactly as in the recipe, but the mutton only needed to be reheated really. It was still really good :-) You will have to take my word for it, because I forgot to take photos.... sigh

Steady grew some green chillies

and he gave us some. So I made this sauce - rude not to really. This is adapted from the book called Complete Indian Cooking published by Hamlyn. It is a great book that I use heaps. A lot of folks are frightened of curries - because the list of ingredients always looks a bit daunting. Harden up people. I wasn't going to actually cook the curry here - I was just making the sauce to freeze for another day when I can't be bothered doing it all from scratch, so the method is quite different from the original recipe... I did it my way (sounds like it should be a song doesn't it?)

Bangalore Chicken Curry Sauce - My Way

2 onions - cut into quarters
6 cloves garlic
1 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp ground cumin
40g fresh coriander leaves - I didn't measure this, I had 1 1/2 bunches and I just bunged it in - stalks included - rip it up a bit

3 large, fresh green chillies - deseeded and chopped a bit

1 can coconut cream

1 tsp salt

Blitz everything in a food processor.



The smell is fresh, clean and mouth-watering



 Put it in a container and freeze.



I LOVE these containers!



When you want to actually make the curry - put sauce, chicken pieces and a little chicken stock in a pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer, turning the chicken pieces occasionally until the chicken is done.

Stir in some lemon juice (about 1 tbsp), add some more salt if you need to.

Serve topped with some more fresh coriander.

Japanese Curry Rice

I miss Japanese food. We used to have HUGE nights at Izakya Yatai (a sort of Japanese Tapas bar). I can't eat Japanese food these days unless I make it myself. Back when we hosted International students while they studied English Language at the university near us, a favourite dinner for homesick Japanese students was curry rice, made with a roux mix you can get at the supermarket. Japanese curry is delicious - quite different from Indian or Thai flavours (which are also delicious), and I have missed it. THEN, I found this blog www.norecipes.com - the guy who owns this is called Marc Matsumoto - he is as cute as a button and he posts ingredients and a method to encourage you to wing it - to try something you might otherwise not even dream of. He has a post for Curry Rice. I tried it the other day - I changed his recipe a bit - used up some caramelized onion marmelade I had (so I left out the apple Marc suggests); I'd run out of cayenne - so I used a bit of curry powder... It worked just great - we both had seconds! Check him out - he's not only into Japanese food...