Curry and curries, comfort and wake up.

No I didn't, I don't make quiche. I make egg custard things, all off hand.

Say, take six large eggs, crack into a mixing dish. Add six half egg shells (whatever, some tablespoonsfull) of water. Beat. Add stuff from your refrigerator or cupboard - say, chopped fresh olives, slivered garlic, pre sauteed onions, some cheese bits, some previously cooked potato slices, some ham or some shrimp, some sweet red pepper, diced, some bits of salami, some peas, some chopped scallions.. you get the idea, refrigerator melange. To all this I add salt and lots of pepper, and some chile pepper, and a smidge (don't tell dlowan) of curry powder. Maybe some leftover pasta.

Pour into a pie dish that you have buttered. Bake it until done. I guess I usually use 375 for, uh, 40 minutes. Usually I don't use all those things, of course. Sometimes it's just some pesto and maybe leftover chopped potato.




Now then, what is a curry paste? I've made curries with, say 14 ingredients, or thrown something together with curry powder and this and that, but I don't know about pastes. Is that like those japanese pellet things?

A paste is what you usually end up with when you have blended all the spices, herbs, garlic, onion, galangal, ginger, whetever the hell the particular curry is made up of together...and what you begin to cook with some oil, or ghee, as the foundation of the curry.


Lots of comapnies, here, at least, offer these already made up, and seale in a moist state in a jar.

Some are really high quality.....many are not.

This call for 6 half egg shells? Why?

Does it make it crunchier?

Sounds delicious.

Snort...

that was from the original recipe, wherever I got it. Let's say LA Times, 1978.. some kind of asian recipe - only a guess. One used a half egg shell as a measure, sort of as a measuring spoon. I liked the idea and have held onto it. I take it as a tablespoon. The amount of water really doesn't matter much. I probably add some olive oil, as I add olive oil to much that I cook as a kind of evil riddance measure.

One could get fancy with this, or just chop and cut the entire refrigerator. Paying attention to what works together, much as in quiche recipes, is valuable.










(ack, don't add actual egg shells..)

OK, now I'm envious.

I have a couple of Thai girlfriends, both own Thai restaurants in Hilo and both are fabulous cooks. I'm going to check in with them on curry.

I never liked any of the curry dishes I had on the mainland. But I do like the curry dishes I have had at their restaurants. Everything is prepared from scratch.

Thank you Osso. Now I know what to do with my egg shells.

Really?


That's interesting.

I guess Asian food, or a fusion of it and other cuisines, is such a massive part of Australian cooking now that we may take for granted stuff that isn't readily available where you are?


I don't know.

Anyway, why not just say three egg shells?

Could be, Deb.

The availability of spices & any number of other "ethnic" ingredients are often the result of migration to particular areas, or to particular countries. I have very easy (& very inexpensive) access to all varieties of Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc, etc, ingredients because there are so many little shops & markets opened by people from those countries. Same goes for the influence on Australian cooking. Trends are often started by by migrants in little ethnic cafes & catch on with the locals (including chefs!) after they become popular. Look at how all those little post-war Italian cafes in Carlton (Melbourne) influenced Oz cooking! (Which sounded pretty dreary prior to such influence, by the sounds of things!)

SOUNDED pretty dreary?


I woz THERE!!!!

Kinda timely this topic - do you know that Saturday is India's independence day?

We are having some India specialities at work on Friday - want to try some out - love curry but honestly haven't cooked a whole lot with it. The shrimp recipe sounds good minus the apples (at least for my personal taste).

Most of the markets around me have a tiny asian section, if that. There is one international market far across town that has whole aisles for different countrys' foodstuffs - and sometimes more than one aisle each. Fabulous market, and they might carry curry pastes, but I haven't noticed them and I explore pretty thoroughly. That market might as well be in Spain, though, as far as convenience for me.

Yes - I think of Los Angeles as a terrific food mecca because of its very diverse population. There were wonderful small markets, and several larger international ones. Albuquerque, on the other hand, has a comparatively narrow selection..

Come back and report on Friday's work lunch..

Well, curry.

This weekend, the world's first 'curry sausage museum' ("Curry wurst Museum") will open in Berlin:

German Cult Sausage Gets Own Museum:





German Currywurst Museum


The best organic curry sausage is served at 'Edel Curry' ("Luxury Curry"), a poche "fast" food restaurant in Hamburg's noble shopping street:

Well to be honest I don't have huge expectations as this is a workplace cafe, but I'll give it a go any way.

But, I love that stuff!

My cooking is astonishingly low-brow and probably, well, stupid.

Still I pop some el cheapo curry powder into all kinds of things: spaghetti sauce, bean/rice dishes, salads, you name it! Good on frozen pizza too.

Heck, I can hardly think of any dish that I wouldn't like better with curry powder... a spot of cayenne pepper, too, usually.

Well, that's amazing Walter (at least to me).

Am I the only person who thinks the photo has little curried penises in there, all cooked up and red? Dang, that's gross.

Still I really dislike German food. Must be just me.

I looked up currywurst about a year ago, probably from a reference from Walter, and absorbed the information. My qualm would be about using ketchup. On the other hand, our hot dogs are horrible in many ways.