Hurry up with my curry!

When Mike and I went to London last year, we walked. And walked and walked and walked. So, by the time dinner time came around, we were ravenous. We had also become addicted to really good beer/ale. So, one night after traversing most of London by foot — or at least that’s how it felt — we figured we’d give Indian food a try. There was a little place right down the street from our hotel — maybe four or five tables, but it always seemed packed every time we went by — we were starving, it sounded a good idea, and so began an unmitigated love affair with curry.

I wish I could remember exactly what we had. It was delicious. As soon as we got back and this whole “cooking better to eat better” thing started, I figured I’d give it a try. And succeeded. I followed a mish-mash of a couple of recipes at first and have just kind of been wingining it ever since. We were kind of tired of meatloaf, chicken salad and fried/baked chicken, so it was time for curry.

Now, I use whatever meat is on hand — usually it’s ground chicken, which I find bland and rather flavorless and useful for nothing other than putting in things where you might usually use a fatter meat (e.g. ground beef, etc.). The trick here is make sure that the ground chicken is skinless — if they’re grinding the skin in with the meat, just go ahead and get a real lean beef — it’ll have less fat and it’s beef, fercryinoutloud, so it’ll have some of it’s own flavor (a quick aside: whenever I use ground chicken I always season it with a tsp or two of poultry seasoning; it just gives it a little bit of life, regardless of what else you’re putting it in).

But we didn’t have any ground chicken. I did, however, have about a 1.5 lb top round that needed to be used or frozen. So, I diced that up along with 2 carrots, 4 scallions, 3 garlic cloves and grated a knob of ginger.

Once the mise en place (oh, go look it up if you don’t know what it means — you can do that here) is “en place”, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a large saute pan or wok (I use a wok). That sesame oil has a pretty low smoke point so it’s going to heat up quickly — but boy is it going to add some nice flavor. If you’ve never used it before, DO. The smell alone is glorious.

D’ja notice the subtle shift from first person to third person? Yep, from here on out you’re doing the cooking; my kitchen is clean.

OK, so once that oil gets hot, drop in the carrot — of these ingredients, it takes the longest to soften. Saute for a couple of minutes until it just starts to soften; the color will change ever so slightly. Then add the scallion, garlic and ginger. Saute those together until, well, honestly, it’ll start to get pungent and the colors will change. (I TOLD you I made this up). It’ll look like this:

 

Now add whatever meat you’re using and get it nice and brown. I suppose, technically, you should brown the meat, take it out, saute the veg — I’m lazy, I worked hard, this should only take about 20 minutes to make. I cut corners, ok? I do, however, salt the meat while it’s browning and so should you.
Once the meat is brown and starts to caramelize, add 2-3 tbsp curry powder — or to taste. We like it hot. Then add 1 tbsp garam masala (For Pete’s sake do I have to explain everything? You’ve never had garam masala? Oh, it’s terrific — a blend of cinnamon, cumin, caraway seeds, clove, nutmeg and cardamom — the mixture varies. Once you see it/smell it you’ll go, “Oh! Indian food.” It’s delish. McCormick makes a really nice blend that I find very easily at grocery stores).

I like to add the curry powder and garam masala at this point, because it’s going to coat the meat AND get sauteed, thus toasting the spices a little bit. Regardless of what meat you use, it’s going to stick to the pan. You’re going to get a really nice fond going at this point. Oh, my gosh, we should deglaze that with something. Bring on the . . . . . . .

One can of LIGHT coconut milk. Can you REALLY deglaze with coconut milk? I don’t know, but it picks up all those cooked brown bits NICELY and makes the beginning of a delicious golden brown sauce.

Now you want to start tasting. How hot do you want it? We like what Mike calls, “The back of the throat burn.” Not so hot that you can’t eat it, but not so wimpy that you’re not getting at least a little bit pummeled. I add 1/2 tsp of green curry paste and 1/4 tsp of red curry paste. Play with it. Adjust it based on what you want it to taste like. Now get this bad boiling and let that sauce reduce a bit. After it boils, add 1 12 oz. bag of frozen peas (unless you have fresh and then, please, just eat those lightly steamed with a little salt and maybe a bit of good butter).

 

Now comes the best part — add 1/4 to 1/2 cup fat free yogurt and 2 tsp lime juice. Why? The yogurt thickens the sauce, gives it some body and cuts through some of the heat a little bit. The lime juice gives it a high note, a bit of acidity. It makes it sing. And the yogurt helps with that, too. Now let that simmer for a while and get those flavors together.

Serve that over some steamed rice and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds for garnish and you have a belly-fillin’, mouth-waterin’, doggone good meal. I’ve never really sat down and counted the calories/fat, but it follows the general principles — go easy on the oil, use fat free yogurt and fresh veg and a really lean cut of meat and you should be in great shape. Both for this dish and yer body. Get it? It’s kind of a double entendre.

I’m telling you, it is so good you will actually understand a Bollywood film.

 

The best gawl-dang chicken sandwich ever . . .

“Gawl-dang” — it’s a Southern expression that we use when we want to say something stronger but we can’t because, well, what would the neighbors say.  Much like Southern women will “swan” instead of swearing, as in, “Well, I swan it is just hotter than a junebug in July.”  Because people of quality do not swear.

Now, much like I can’t escape the Southernisms in speech, I can’t get past that good ol’ Southern style of cookin’.  Which is to say that the word “salad” means “smother something in mayonnaise, add some nuts and fruit, mold and serve.”  Ever had jello salad?  Oh, yeah, jello, mayo, pecans, canned fruit cocktail.  It’s what God eats when he wants a little something to block his arteries.  Good stuff, I’m telling you.

 Point is — I love chicken salad.  Love it.  So, if we’re supposed to be eating healthy, how will I ever have chicken salad.  Especially since I’ve got so much of last week’s roast chicken left over to deal with. 

Boy did I hit on a combination after reading several different recipes and ideas:

1/2 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1-2 tbsp light mayonnaise (Hellmann’s or Best Foods, please, depending on which coast you live on)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp good mustard (I used Colman’s grainy style — Dijon works well, too)
2 ribs celery, medium dice
3 scallions, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

 Mix that all up with the left-over shredded chicken and add some toasted sesame seeds.  Now stuff hat onto Sunday’s really good 7-grain bread that’s been toasted (go easy — remember serving sizes).  Add some really fresh lettuce.  Oooooooh, yeah, that’s the stuff.  Didn’t miss the mayo at all.  I’ve had this for lunch two days in a row now and it is good.  I haven’t even gone back for a meatloaf sandwich yet.  Crunchy, zingy, tart but a little sweet, too.  Gawl-dang that’s good!

You could sweeten it even more by adding some pickle relish — do you know, though, that nearly all commercial pickle relish contains some sort of yellow dye?  Thank you, no, I’ll pass.  You could also add grapes, which give it a really nice sweetness in there — use red grapes to add a little color.  I’ll try it next and let y’all know.

Now, remember, as mama always said when talking about people who just weren’t all together, “You can’t make chicken salad out of bologna.”  That’s right, mama, that’s right.  But you can make it out of yogurt!

Bread redux

I obsessed over -and ate – last week’s bread all week long.  I read recipes, looked at websites, read bread books — it just didn’t have that yeasty, satifying bread-tastic taste and feel I was looking for.  Then I stumbled across a recipe for a 7 grain bread that sounded good.  Off to the store we go — and I bought fresh yeast.

 Yep, that was it.  This bread is light and crunchy and yeasty and gorgeous.  Seeds, wheatberries, oats, barley — it sounds a little whole earth granola birkenstocks crunchy, but I gotta tell you it is absolutely wonderful.  Nothing like it with real butter (just a little bit) and some good berry jam.

 Last Sunday, being the first of this “Let’s cook something new every Sunday” deal took all day — I started at 8:00 a.m. and left the kitchen about 5:00 p.m.  Today, I was pretty much in and outta there — once you get the principles down, it starts to flow.  So I figured I was on a roll and thought I’d make enough food for the week.  If last week was about the basics, this week is about comfort food — meat loaf and fried chicken!  Yum.

I’ve been making this meatloaf for about a year and have it just about down — lots of veggies (carrots, celery, onion, garlic), very lean ground beef, oatmeal and an egg.  Glace it with tomato sauce with a little worcestishire, mustard and really good honey.  Delish.

 It really is quite good with baked or mashed potatoes.  I can’t wait for Monday’s lunch — meatloaf sandwich on 7-grain bread.  I’m salivating.  So was Duncan:

 

Starting at the beginning . . .

And now that we’ve all resisted the urge to make Sound of Music references . . . Happy 2008 and welcome to the beginning of the Get Real food blog.  Since we started really focusing on what, and how, we eat last year (and lost nearly 50 lbs. in the process), there’s been a lot of talk at my house about what should we eat.  So, having learned a lot about cooking and food in 2007, I thought 2008 should be about really learning to deal with food.  And get real about it.

 What could be more basic than bread?  Warm, crusty, fresh from the oven . . . staff of life, man shall not live by alone, and all that . . . 

  There’s just not that much to it — some flour, some yeast, some water. 

The hardest part of making bread, at least in my to-date limited experience, is that it’s time consuming.  But I tell you – got any frustration, anger, resentment or bitterness you want to work out?  Knead dough.  You get into it, after a while, sort of a zen state of you and the dough.

I made a total of three loaves – one white and two whole-wheat – and thought I’d use the mixer for the 2nd one.  After it got the ingredients together, I just wanted to get my hands into it – threw it out onto the counter and kneaded it myself.  There’s something very rewarding about it.Right out of the oven, piping hot, that smell of yeast and home and comfort.  Worth every minute of the waiting for dough to rise.

Mike suggests it should be a Sunday tradition.  Ohhhhh, hot, fresh bread and good butter (just a little bit), I can’t think of anything better.  Admittedly, this loaf was  little bland – didn’t quite have the punch I was looking for – indeed, it had very little taste at all – but I think this is the kind of thing I can keep trying until I get it right.

I’d bought a loaf of bread the week-end before – whole wheat, natural kind of stuff — it had like 20 ingredients and all kinds of additives.  At least I know what’s in the bread I made.

Conundrum – if you put bread in a toaster and toast comes out, where did the bread go?