It’s an ambition to cook a dish from every country in the world – a sort of travel by fork.
So I was disappointed to learn that my long-time favourite Singapore noodles won’t earn me my Singapore stamp. Turns out they are a Cantonese creation, and probably originated in Hong Kong.
I certainly ate them regularly when I lived in Vancouver and worked a short walk from Chinatown. Continue reading
Kuku paka – Kenyan chicken and potato curry – is both simple and delicious. Mildly spiced and creamy, my girls both love it.
Unlike many curries, the chicken are cooked separately – which keeps the flavours and textures distinct– and folded into the coconut curry sauce just before serving.
(Which is similar to chicken tikka masala, now I think of it.) Continue reading
Mattar paneer is one of my favourite curries to make at home. It’s just never as fresh when you order it in a restaurant. The peas will have gone a bit grey and sad looking, and the paneer will be rubbery.
More often than not, they will have added cream as well, which seems unnecessary in a curry that contains cheese.
Cari ga, or Vietnamese chicken curry, is almost a chicken stew. With its familiar vegetable trio of carrot, potato and onion, it’s hearty enough to serve on its own, with maybe a hunk of baguette to soak up the sauce. Continue reading
Flipping through cookbooks for ways to use a package of frozen lamb I’d unearthed from the freezer, I came across this recipe for lamb uppakari in Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Bible. Uppakari is a lamb curry originating from South India – which I’ve always associated with vegetarian food. But apparently the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu is renowned for highly spiced meat and fish dishes such as this one. Continue reading
This potato and spinach dish is what I call a dry curry – there is no liquid used in the cooking, resulting in no sauce. It’s an easy weekday, store-cupboard meal. I prefer it with fresh spinach, but frozen also works.
The original recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, one of my all-time favourite cookbooks. Continue reading
Prawn malai curry (or chingri malaikari) is a classic Bengali dish. Prawns simmered in a coconut milk sauce that is fragrant with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. It’s meant to be mild, which worked for the girls. My version is based on the recipe I found on the Something Special website.
