Cooking By The Book


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Instructions:  
(
Curries are so versatile that it’s difficult to know what to exclude. This is a vegetarian  
example.)  
Lightly fry the chopped or crushed garlic, chopped onion and finely chopped ginger in  
the oil until softened. Add the chopped pepper, cauliflower, tomatoes, spices, salt, pepper  
and curry powder. In a separate saucepan, heat a pint of water with salt, pour in the rice  
and cook in accordance with the instructions. Add a touch of turmeric to the rice for an  
interesting color. Add the chopped mushrooms to the vegetables and keep heating. When  
the rice is just soft, drain and serve with the curry.  
A simple meat curry can be based on minced beef. This should be gently fried with onions and garlic until  
browned before adding the vegetables. Another version that goes down well is prawns,which can take a lot  
of ginger for extra sophistication. The prawns should be added late, say 5 minutes before you finish  
cooking. Chicken is another favorite but can be messy unless you buy something like ready prepared  
breast. Beef, lamb and pork can all be bought ready diced but is still much more of a hassle. If the meat is  
of cheap quality, it can take a lot of cooking. Strictly, these meats should be sitting in the curry flavors for a  
long time before the process begins in earnest and there is a whole range of powders and pastes that can be  
used for the purpose.  
To get a smoother, more liquid finish, try half a tin of mushroom soup mixed with the  
spices before adding it to the curry. You may need to use real tomatoes rather than tinned  
to avoid the whole thing drowning. Other soups work subject to your experience and  
courage but too much and you might find the mixture wandering all over the table. One  
outrageous but simple example might be Scotch Broth and Potato Curry.  
Any vegetable will work in a curry. Try carrots, beans, courgettes and potatoes. Some of  
the hard vegetables, like carrots and potatoes, may need to be chopped and boiled first to  
make sure they soften up in good time. If you need greater volume, boil some lentils for a  
few minutes and add these. Try any spice and curry powder or paste that you find. Given  
the right measures, I haven’t found one I dislike yet.  
Author’s Bio:  
Michael Chapman lives in England. He started out in the public services, tried a  
couple of spells in the private sector and finally left both to live life on his own terms.  
Along the way he discovered travel, photography, writing and how to be single for the  
second time. This publication, The Anti-Recipe Book (ISBN: 90-76953-44-9)  
(
www.gopherpublishers.com), describes some things he learnt when single again and  
how he managed romantic candle lit dinners, did it badly but got away with it. When he  
is not writing, he dabbles in public sector management consultancy, keeping fit, and  
teaching English as a foreign language.  
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Page
69 70 71 72 73

Quick Jump
1 28 56 83 111