Welcome to Project Paratha

This blog will chronicle our one year adventure to eat one Indian (or Indian inspired) meal or snack every day.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Time for the Curries!

We are now well into Project Paratha but have yet to venture fully into the curry terrain.  Last Sunday I found myself in London Heathrow killing time by browsing the book stores there.  I came across this lovely title, I heart Curry by Anjum Anand.  Anjum was the popular presenter of BBC2's Indian Food Made Easy.  This text contains about 50 curry recipes from different parts of India which are served up in a straightforward manner.  What a perfect entree for us into curry realm of our project.  She put's her finger on something key in the introduction, noting that is all too common for some to refer to Indian food generally as "curries" or to reference eating at an Indian restaurant as "going for a curry."  When I lived on the East Coast of the U.S. in a small city this was common there too and surprisingly culturally narrow in thought.  The book starts with Anjum's 5 secrets to making a great curry: (1) starting with whole spices - heating them in a pan to release their flavours; (2) using an onion base; (3) employing a garlic or ginger paste; (4) adding the ground spices; and (5) employing some tomatoes and/or yogurt which will add some soft texture/creaminess and slightly sour bite.  Tonight Lisa made a wonderful Bengali Fish Curry from the recipe in the book.  We'll add a separate post for that.  

Cheers.  Michael

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