I love curry, but I tend to feel that I have no right making one since I know so little about Indian food. I didn’t even know that you could make your own curry powder until my mother in law said “I always make my own curry powder” and I said “really?” and she looked at Jonathan in shock. The good thing about making it at home is that no one has to know what you put in it, right or wrong. The other good thing is, coconut milk can smooth many small mistakes. I had the choice of two kinds, and I went for the “first pressing” Thai. It cost 2 dollars instead of 1, which is a crazy way to judge, but it didn’t make sense to me that anyone could squeeze a coconut into a can and send it across the world to sell in an overpriced deli for a dollar.
I sliced three green onions that were bulging at the bottom with the tiny red onion, just pulled from the ground. I crushed three cloves of garlic with the flat edge of my knife, minced a one inch piece of fresh ginger, and pulled six mint leaves from their stem. I put everything in a saute pan with olive oil, until everything was just beginning to caramelize. I added a bay leaf and a teaspoon of crushed cumin that I crushed myself in the mortar and pestle to help me feel that I was doing the curry justice. I then completely cheated and added about another teaspoon of Madras curry powder. After a second, I added about a half a cup of coconut milk and let it simmer for about thirty seconds, and then added a few spoonfuls of water. I tasted it for salt and black pepper. In a separate pan I had basmati rice going, two parts water to one part rice with a clove of garlic, a drizzle of olive oil and a bay leaf. In still another pan, I had a few cloves of garlic and a few chunks of fresh ginger, some olive oil and when the garlic and ginger were golden, I added steamed broccoli. Taste the broccoli for salt as well and give it another drizzle of olive oil when it comes out of the pan. When everything was done, I poured the sauce over the rice, and served it with the broccoli. A skinny barely cooked omelette with a little green onion is delicious with this, and naan…a little side of lentil with ginger and tomato, some toasted coconut, for dessert some fresh mango slices…and the in-the-knows would have had nothing bad to say about the not-so-much-in-the-know.