Cooking By The Book


google search for Cooking By The Book

Return to Master Book Index.

Page
68 69 70 71 72

Quick Jump
1 28 56 83 111

FAVORING CURRY  
Excerpt from The Anti-Recipe Book:  
I still remember the time I invited Margaret back to my apartment after a very  
pleasant country walk having promised her a cosy meal and whatever else might follow.  
While she went for a bath I started to prepare. Or perhaps I prepared to start. Either way  
the fridge was empty and, as Winnie the Pooh might have said, the more I opened the  
door the more there was nothing there. I found a couple of eggs, and, in a cupboard, an  
onion and some potatoes and then bowed my head in anguish as I contemplated the  
success or failure of the next few hours of my life.  
Margaret was a theatrical woman. I’d met her at a social club that tried to put on  
an occasional amateur production.As far as she was concerned, she was the production.  
Used to meet people by holding out both hands. And now she was due to slink out of the  
bathroom and make her grand entrance. She would be nicely warmed for a romantic  
evening of conversation and togetherness and I was considering the options of making  
egg and fries or having to admit I had forgotten to buy any food. What was worse, I  
wondered, an admission, by implication, that I did not care sufficiently to plan our day  
out properly or the presentationof a wholly inadequate and anticlimactic meal of one egg  
each with some greasy potatoes and a slice of bread.  
In a second cupboard I found some rice and pasta and various cans of soups,  
beans and tomatoes. I also found a few herbs and, the final clue as to the way to get out of  
this mess, some Tandoori curry powder. Margaret was not a great cook and was very  
amenable to my experimentation, even viewing me at times with quizzical respect. Thus I  
decided to take a chance on a vegetable curry that was virtually devoid of real vegetables.  
Favoring Curry  
Ingredients:  
3
1
T oil  
clove of garlic  
Assorted spices (e.g., crushed coriander, cardamom, cumin seeds)  
1
inch of root ginger, peeled  
tsp curry powder  
small onion  
tin of tomatoes  
green pepper  
small cauliflower  
2
1
½
1
½
Salt and pepper  
8
1
mushrooms  
cup rice  
Touch of turmeric  
6
9


Page
68 69 70 71 72

Quick Jump
1 28 56 83 111