What's Cooking?

[Pie]

I am Indian (at least as far as food goes) and I wouldn't ever consider Alton Brown's curry to be either good or authentic.

It looked pretty miserable to me.

[Undertoad]

I did this chicken curry a few times

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008...q=curry&st=cse

Protip: they are serious about getting the temperature down before adding the yogurt. Pie, can I just stick with sour cream? Or is that wrong?

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Cyclefrance

This might set a reasonable benchmark above which virtually any other dish would sit - anyone disagree?

Crikey me. I'm unhealthy. I hold my hands up. But even I balk at that. Doner in naan - yes please, nom, nom, nom. But the rest? Heart attack in a box. And for the record, when I was eating 'babs (joke there, as bab means poo) I always asked for just a little meat, and not even a full salad with it (real salad, not Scottish). I always offered to pay full price, which is why the local purveyors of spicy lamb were all very nice to me.

Originally Posted by Pie

I am Indian (at least as far as food goes) and I wouldn't ever consider Alton Brown's curry to be either good or authentic.

Being very English, I have to agree it doesn't look great. I've eaten enough real Indian curry to know what's what. And enough faux curry to know what works. And my Mum's vegetable curry, which an Indian lady she worked with taught her in the 70s... nothing like real curry, just something generic and safe for a British family. It involved a pressure cooker for a start... Still, it got vegetables down our throats.

We grew up with quite a varied menu because Mum was a hospital cleaner until my brother started school (the shifts fit in with Dad's). She worked with mostly Italian, Polish and (one) Indian women. They were all feeding families on a budget and all (except again, the Indian - sorry) Catholic. So they swapped recipes and tips. Mum taught the mysteries of Yorkshire Puddings to any number of colleages. Even at the time I wondered how - when hers were so flabby!

Then again, I taught my Mum how to cook Mexican food. And you'd fall about laughing if you saw what we called Mexican.

UT - not to speak for Pie, but sour cream will serve equally well in this recipe. It's a flavour of India rather than an authentic curry (lile my mexican) so use whatever works. I don't know about India, but sour cream is still an unusual item in this country, so yoghurt is the default. I can't see that there's an awful lot of difference here.

[Pie]

Sour cream will be fine, and lend a lot more richness to the dish.
As a south Indian, I get worried anytime someone mentions the dreaded "curry powder". I have never seen such a substance used in situ. Every grandmother grinds her own many mixes, depending on the exact application.

And my grandmom's is better'n yours. :p

[Undertoad]

Your heritage is from the hotter lands where the spices grow. Mine is from where they had nothing but wild pigs and grassy grains, so they made sausage and beer. They moved to middle Pennsylvania and did weird things like fermenting their meats. It's disgusting, but we don't even want to mention limey's heritage, where if they had a beast to eat they ate all of it, boiling it in the intestines and making sausage out of the blood. Of course we could be from Japan, an island nation and have at our disposal nothing but fish, rice, and little energy to cook it with... thus sushi. Or Danac's northern England where they had plentiful cheap fish from the North Sea, and root vegetables, and thus created the fish n chips industry.

[Pie]

But see, I like sausage and beer!
I don't cook Indian food much, mostly because it's a sh*tload of work to do it right. I have enough of a background to know when it's not right, and that bugs me. So I rather make... I dunno, polish food? mexican? italian? chinese? That way, the little voice in my head doesn't criticize.

[bbro]

I will be making stuffed shells on Saturday for the first time. Plus waffles with homemade blueberry syrup. Little nervous

[Granola Goddess]

I dunno yet, but I could use a bit glass of Shiraz right now.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by bbro

I will be making stuffed shells on Saturday for the first time. Plus waffles with homemade blueberry syrup. Little nervous

Just a warning...Don't put everything on the same plate or the Brits will lose their shit.

[Aliantha]

and the australians

[binky]

pork simmered in the crockpot in enchilada suace and chilies, served on tortillas with fresh cilantro tonight.

[bbro]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Just a warning...Don't put everything on the same plate or the Brits will lose their shit.

EW! No, one is for breakfast and one is for dinner. Also, some almond cookies. MMmmm

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Crikey me.

Being very English . . . I taught my Mum how to cook Mexican food. And you'd fall about laughing if you saw what we called Mexican . . . sour cream will serve equally well in this recipe. It's a flavour of India rather than an authentic curry (like my mexican) so use whatever works. I don't know about India, but sour cream is still an unusual item in this country, so yoghurt is the default. I can't see that there's an awful lot of difference here.

Though you might look for the zingiest yoghurt you can lay hold of. Or try a German delicatessen for the sour cream, as the Germans favor the stuff. A Middle Eastern market might be a source for Lebni, which tastes like yoghurt crossed with sour cream and finishes with a hint of butteriness.

If your Mum likes chicken soup, introduce her to Mexico's Caldo Tlalpeño. There are links in The Latest Recipe Thread, or you can google 'em up for yourself -- there are ten thousand little variations. A peppery, clear broth chicken soup, it's Mexican Grandmama's Jewish Penicillin, and will surely cure what ails. If you can't get chickpeas, lima beans will do. Sliced fresh avocado and fresh jalapeño peppers give it added depth. Slice in a couple of serranos or similarly hot peppers for that high-explosive effect if you want not merely a cure for what ails, but to fuel what made the preacher dance.

Other things that will ramp up the authenticity of your Mexican-iana would be the chili powder in the Recipe Thread again -- and you can play with the proportions to control its heat. Main thing for sabor auténtico is not to skimp on the cumin. Not enough cumin is where chili may often go wrong -- just toss in some more.

For stew/soups like menudo, whose active principles are peppers and tripe and beef with broth, sprinkle on the Mexican oregano with a fairly liberal hand. Mexican oregano differs somewhat from the Mediterranean variety. The usual condiments for this ethnically formidable dish are nigh-equal sprinklings of red pepper, Mexican oregano, and minced onion. It's a popular weekend dish around here, apparently esteemed for its restorative properties after a hangover. Or so they say.