Links I found interesting for 10-08-2015
- The Holy Book versus the bank book
Tales from the Coffee Shop on form again.
- Brian Aldiss: pioneer of British sci-fi
About to turn 90; great interview with @telegraph.
August 10th, 2015
Lamb and banana curry
Tried this one tonight. No idea where I got it from - it was in my recipes folder from several years ago.
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Comment: I am generally a bit suspicious of curry powder - I prefer to do my own spice mix from first principles - but I was not inclined to work too hard this evening, so I used it anyway.
The hairiest moment was the nonchalant instruction to brown the curry/flour coated meat chunks in a heavy pan. The recipe clearly implies that only wimps would use cooking oil at this stage. Well, I'm a wimp, and even so kept scraping away at the pan with my wooden spoon to prevent the flour from sticking and burning - successfully, I'm glad to say.
My biggest concern, as ever with a stew recipe, was that the stew would be too runny and the meat too hard. I think it would have benefited from another 15 mins but basically it had reached the point where it was fine after an hour and a bit. The amount of liquid recommended in the recipe, 500ml, is absurd; half of that was quite enough.
The bananas are sheer genius and lift what's basically a rather average curry recipe into something quite special. Bananas should be used more often in savoury recipes; they add a great texture to a main dish. Because of the bananas, I felt justified in not being too adventurous with the spices. A touch of allspice, cardamom or fenugreek might have helped though.
The family enjoyed it. It took quite a long time, but not really a lot of work, so I will probably try it again some time.
( Collapse )
Comment: I am generally a bit suspicious of curry powder - I prefer to do my own spice mix from first principles - but I was not inclined to work too hard this evening, so I used it anyway.
The hairiest moment was the nonchalant instruction to brown the curry/flour coated meat chunks in a heavy pan. The recipe clearly implies that only wimps would use cooking oil at this stage. Well, I'm a wimp, and even so kept scraping away at the pan with my wooden spoon to prevent the flour from sticking and burning - successfully, I'm glad to say.
My biggest concern, as ever with a stew recipe, was that the stew would be too runny and the meat too hard. I think it would have benefited from another 15 mins but basically it had reached the point where it was fine after an hour and a bit. The amount of liquid recommended in the recipe, 500ml, is absurd; half of that was quite enough.
The bananas are sheer genius and lift what's basically a rather average curry recipe into something quite special. Bananas should be used more often in savoury recipes; they add a great texture to a main dish. Because of the bananas, I felt justified in not being too adventurous with the spices. A touch of allspice, cardamom or fenugreek might have helped though.
The family enjoyed it. It took quite a long time, but not really a lot of work, so I will probably try it again some time.
