Curry

Lorelai: "What about Paris? Does she ever sleep?"
Rory: "I think she periodically makes a whirring noise and then just shuts down." 

-Gilmore Girls, "The Bracebridge Dinner" 

I think that I'm about ready to make that whirring noise. Last night, Justin woke me up when he went to bed at 2:30 (!!!!) and I didn't go back to sleep until 6:30. But I woke up at the usual time feeling fine. Today I took the kids to Alana's speech therapy, then to the post office, and then got to Costco with the intent of picking up more pills and oranges. But when I got there, I figured I'd look at the phones since we needed to upgrade them. I noticed that they not only had the phones we wanted, but at a cheaper price, no activation fee and they gave you a free bundle of "stuff". As if I didn't love Costco enough before. I called Justin to get his butt over there as fast as possible, did the rest of our shopping, and then we bought some phones (seriously, easiest thing in the world). Then we fed the kids a costco deli lunch, and then Justin went home for a phone call and I took the kids back to the therapist for Liam's appointment. Then I went home and thought about raking leaves, ignored them, moved a shelf from my garage into the back shed, thought about moving stuff from the garage onto the new shelf, ignored it, ignore the boxes of clothes I keep meaning to repack into plastic containers and then went inside to make curry and rotis.

So my productive day ended up being not so productive and I didn't get to the gym or ballet class, which was really my goal today. Oh well. Anyway, here is my recipe for yellow chicken curry and roti (a fried Indian bread):

Taken with my new phone, but still doesn't change the fact I'm a crappy photographer.

Yellow Chicken Curry (adapted from this recipe), makes 6 servings

Ingredients

Yellow curry paste:

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds (crushed with a pestle)

2 tbsp hot madras curry powder (regular curry works too, but hot madras really adds to the flavour. If using regular curry powder, use 3 tbsp)

2 tsp crushed red pepper

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 small onion, peeled and quartered

4 large garlic cloves (or minced equivalent)

Put all  ingredients into a blender. Add 1-2 Tbsp of water to help the ingredients mix better. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary. Set aside.

Curry:

2 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks

1 small onion, chopped

1 recipe yellow curry paste (see above)

1 can of coconut milk (14 oz / 400 mL)

6 golden potatoes (yes it really makes a difference to have yellow potatoes), cut into 1" chunks

2-4 carrots, cut on the 1/2" bias

1 red bell pepper (optional because I hate bell peppers), seeded and chopped into 1/2" chunks

1/2 tsp sugar

Instructions

In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat until it shimmers. Add the chicken and chopped onion, sprinkle liberally with salt, and saute just until the point no pink remains. Transfer the chicken pieces into a bowl and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium. Scrape in the curry sauce from the blender jar (be careful - it may splatter if the pan is too hot). Stirring constantly, cook until the liquid evaporates and only a fragrant, golden brown paste remains, 3-4 minutes.

Carefully pour in half a can of coconut milk and stir until the curry paste is dissolved.

Add the potatoes and carrots, the rest of the coconut milk, and the sugar. Heat until the coconut milk begins to bubble.

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender, 10-15 minutes.

Add the chicken, any accumulated juices in the bowl, and the red pepper. Stir to coat with curry sauce, and simmer 5 minutes, or until the chicken is just done.

Serve with jasmine or basmati rice.

Roti (from this recipe), makes 8-10 rotis


Ingredients

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter
1/4-1/2 cup water
vegetable oil

Instructions
1. Mix wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt, and sieve them together.
2. Pour melted butter in the flour and add water bit by bit and make a smooth & elastic dough and set aside covered with moist muslin cloth for 1/2 an hour.
3. Cut off small balls of dough, slightly bigger than a golf ball, and roll out thinly into circles of about 10" diameter, dusting with AP flour.
4. Heat an oil in a frying pan or electric skillet until hot. Place the roti carefully over it and cook for about 1 minute. The bottom will puff out a little bit and the edges will start to bubble a little. Flip and cook about 1 minute on the other side. Removed from oil onto a plate.

A variation of this is to beat a couple of eggs with water and dip the rotis into the egg before frying. The egg cooks on the outside of the roti, giving it more flavour.