Curry fest

It was a good night. Naomi was back in the Netherlands for a few days (she lives in Britain now), and the rest of the events unfolded naturally. We rounded up the gang of usual suspects, set a date, planned a menu, and started cooking. It felt comfortable in the way that a gathering of old friends feels comfortable - people you’ve known for years, people who’ve known you for years. You know what their story is, at least some parts of it, you remember who they were all those years ago. You can only wonder who they think you were all those years ago. And hope you (meaning we) will get together every so often for many years to come, and have a good night like this night was.

The menu

Pappadums

Mango chutney

Chick pea and pumpkin curry

Curry beef from Trinidad

Courgette and green pepper sabzi

Cardamom and lime rice

Chapatis

Carrot and sultana raita

Cucumber raita

Chocolate cake with tipsy cream and green chai

Curry beef – Trinidad

Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Bible.

this dish, the aptly if a tad syntactically unexpected yet unimaginatively named ‘Curry Beef’, was a collaborative effort: I made the marinade, naomi cooked the dish. it sounds like a lot of work, because there are a lot of ingredients and the marinating and cooking take a long time. all the ingredients for the marinade you chop up in one go in the food processor, and during the time the beef is marinating, and later, simmering away, you’re not really doing much of anything.

in other words, try this.

for the marinade

6tbsp chopped onion

2 spring onions

2 large cloves of garlic

2tbsp parsley

2–3tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro)

1tbsp fresh thyme / ½ tsp dried thyme

some chillies (see recipe)

½ tsp ground ginger

for the curry

450g stewing beef

2–3 cloves of garlic

1tsp hot curry powder

500–900ml beef stock (see recipe)

1tsp ground cumin

2tsp amchar masala (ingredients below)

amchar masala (a lot of it)

4tbsp coriander seeds


1tbsp cumin seeds


4tsp black peppercorns


2tsp fennel seeds


2tsp brown mustard seeds (we used black)


2tsp fenugreek

preparing the marinade:

put the following in a food processor: 6 tablespoons chopped onion (I used two medium-ish onions), 2 large garlic cloves, 2 spring onions, already chopped in smaller pieces (just use the white and light green parts), 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, 2–3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (cilantro), 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, or ½ teaspoon dried...

I pause here, because we are at the chilli.

madhur stipulates ¼ congo pepper (handle with care) or 3 bird’s eye chillies.

so, 3 bird’s eye chillies to equal one fourth of a congo pepper? quite.

I used one pretty mild chilli instead.

where was I? so, as much chilli as you think you and/or your intended audience can stand, basically, and then ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon salt, and some fresly ground black pepper.

add two tablespoons of water, and blend into a smooth paste.

cut 450g stewing beef up into 2½ cm pieces (madhur doesn’t say whether the pieces need to be 2½ cm square, or just strips - I cut the meat into squares), and place in a bowl. mix in the marinade, cover the bowl, and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes to 3 hours (we left it for, gasp, 5 hours. the meat did not complain, nor did we).

Then, the cooking. Over to Naomi:

First, make the amchar masala: dry-roast all the spices in a heavy-bottomed pan for a couple of minutes, cool, and grind in a spice grinder (clean coffee grinders work too). The amounts above make a lot of spice blend (keeps in an airtight container) and require a lot of grinding. Idling kitchen companions are a plus here.

Amchar masala ground, pour three tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan. Add two or three cloves of garlic, crushed to a paste with some salt. Stir through 1tbsp of hot curry powder, and carefully soften the garlic without browning (or, if you can stand browned garlic, follow MJ’s instructions and let it brown). Up the heat, add the beef with the marinade and stir for a minute, then let it heat through for ten minutes with the pan covered on a low heat (the mixture will be fairly wet because of the marinade). Then season with salt, and add 1tsp of ground cumin, 2tsp amchar masala, and 500–900ml of beef stock (or simply hot water). The amount of liquid to be added depends on how long you intend to let the curry stew for – for 90 minutes, as the recipe states, 500ml is about perfect; longer stewing means more stock (of course some can always be added later). Bring to a boil, then simmer with the lid on for at least 90 minutes, or longer depending on your cut of meat. Make sure the curry doesn’t dry out while stewing. Before serving, reduce the liquid until it’s thick and sticks to the beef.

Pumpkin and chick pea curry from Tender

This is the curry that started the Curry Fest planning this year. Not quite an Indian curry, but not really South-East Asian either, we thought. It was delicious though. We cooked the curry the night before, and added the coconut milk 20 minutes before serving as we heated it back up. Worked nicely.

400g tin of chick peas

2 onions

4 cloves of garlic

a thumb-sized piece of ginger

3 large stalks of lemongrass

2tsp ground coriander

2tsp ground turmeric (curcuma)

6 green cardamoms

2 red chillies

a pumpkin of about 750g–1kg

250ml vegetable stock

400ml tin of coconut milk

a tablespoon of yellow mustard seeds

a handful of fresh coriander leaves

Peel and chop the onions, and soften them on a low heat in a good splash of light vegetable oil (such as rapeseed or groundnut). Peel and roughly chop the garlic and ginger, remove any tough leaves from the lemongrass and cut this a bit more finely to avoid tough threads. Make into a paste in a food processor and add to the softened onions. Add the ground coriander, turmeric, lightly crushed cardamom seeds (minus the pods) and chopped chillies.

Cut the pumpkin into large-ish cubes (peel or leave the skin on, according to preference). Add to the pan, together with the drained chickpeas and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the pumpkin is soft yet maintains its shape. (If you want to serve the curry the next day, here’s a good place to stop.) Stir in the coconut milk. Heat the mustard seeds in a bit of oil until they pop, then add to the curry. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the coriander leaves.

Courgette and green pepper ‘sabzi’

I have to give you the official name of this dish, because it’s too good: ‘Tori Aur Hari Mirch Ki Sabzi’. Oh yes. It’s dead simple and made for a nice veggie side dish. The recipe was, again, adapted from The Curry Bible.

Peel about 500 gr. courgettes and cut them into thick fingers, 4 cm long and 1 cm thick. Then take a green bell pepper, quarter it lengthways, remove the seeds and cut it crossways into 1 cm wide slices. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil (olive or corn) in a wok or a large frying pan, over a medium-high heat. Put in ½ a teaspoon of cumin seeds and ¼ a teaspoon brown mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds start to pop (which could be a matter of seconds), add the courgette and the pepper. Stir and let them fry for 5 minutes. Then add 2 tablespoons of yoghurt, and cook until it has been absorbed, stirring all the while. Reduce the heat to low and add a tablespoon of chopped coriander and ½ a teaspoon of salt. Stir for a minute, then add a generous pinch of cayenne pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss, and taste if the balance of flavours is to your liking.

The cayenne pepper and the lemon juice at the end is a shortcut – Madhur Jaffrey writes you can add them if you don’t have any chaat masala on hand. In the spirit of not getting too stressed out, we took this short cut. But if you have some time, do make chaat masala. You can use it on other veggies as well. To make it, mix together 4 teaspoons of lightly toasted, ground cumin seeds, 1½ tablespoons amchoor, 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, ¾ teaspoon black salt (I have never seen that in my life! has anyone here? what does it taste like?) and 1 teaspoon salt. Make sure to break up any lumps in the mixture. Put it in a jar with a tight lid, and store it away from sunlight and heat. If you want to use the chaat masala instead of the cayenne pepper and lemon juice, put ½ a teaspoon on the vegetable mix at the end.

Raitas, rice, pappadums

we made two different raitas, one with cucumber and one with carrots and raisins. two raitas might seem a bit much, but I knew there were going to be some people whose eyes would light up at the sight of raisins in the raita, and also some people who would be, shall we say, less pleased. and if you’re gonna make it a party, make it a party, you know? two raitas it was, then.

I usually don’t use a recipe for raita, but this time I did. sort of. that is, I read madhur jaffrey’s recipes for them, and followed her instructions for the amount of spices and salt, but I didn’t go so far as to measure the yoghurt or anything. still, it felt good to just be able to follow instructions without having to think about what I was doing too much.

Cucumber raita

first, roast some cumin seeds and put them into a spice grinder or a mortar & pestle. peel one half of a cucumber, and grate it into a bowl. add a teaspoon of ground cumin seeds, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. add a dollop of yoghurt, stir everything together, and check for seasoning. add some salt and pepper if needed.

Carrot and raisin raita

peel two medium-sizes carrots, and grate them into another bowl. add a handful of raisins, a teaspoon of ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, a good dollop of yoghurt, mix, and check for seasoning. you can always add some more yoghurt if you want to change the consistency. the raita I usually make is less ‘liquid’ than the ones you get in indian restaurants. questions of authenticity aside, and questions about the importance of authenticity aside, I like it better my way. but you may not.

Rice with cardamom and lime

depending on the rice you use, you may need to wash the rice before cooking. the best way to cook rice, for me, is to measure it in a glass or a mug, and then to add twice the amount of cold water. so, one cup of rice, two cups of water. cook rice this way often, and you’ll learn which cup in your cupboard will give you the desired amount of rice. as a point of reference, a good portion is usually 75 gr. per person. put the rice and the cold water in a pan, add 5 pods cardamom, and bring to the boil. once the rice starts boiling, reduce the heat to the lowest flame, and leave the rice to cook slowly until all the water’s absorbed. it completely depends on the rice you use how long this will take. when all the water’s absorbed, turn off the heat and let the rice sit and steam for a little while longer.

serve with a few wedges of lime alongside, to be squeezed over the rice à volonté.

Pappadums

the most convenient way of cooking pappadums is in the microwave. place the raw pappadum on a plate - as flat as possible - and put in the microwave for a minute. alternatively, heat up a dry frying pan, and let the pappadums cook and crisp up in there, making sure they don’t catch.

we served them as an appetizer of sorts, with very (very) good mango chutney alongside.

Chocolate cake with tipsy cream and green chai

We could have made kulfi or red bean ice cream or tapioca pudding… but somehow we both weren’t really up for anything quite Asian for dessert. Besides, chocolate had been looked forward to. So for dessert we had, once again, Kate’s Winning-Hearts-and-Minds cake. We served tipsy cream to go with it, inspired by Michel Roux Jr (hands up who misses Michel and Monica Galetti?). Ours was slightly sweetened whipped cream with a couple tablespoons of whisky. To remain somewhat curry-appropriate, our drink of choice was green chai (by Clipper – delicious).

Thanks for the good times, R, N, A, S and G!

- An & Na