Curry - As In the Spice!

Today, I've been searching for anything on curry - photos, quotes, quips - anything, really. What do I find?  Adam Curry, Ann Curry, Bill Curry,  Stephen Curry, Tim Curry.  No!  Not curried people!  Curry spices!  Good grief.  I had no idea there were so many curry people.  


I love curry.  It brings to my mind rich, exotic, warm, spicy, flavorful beauty.  It reminds me of my favorite Thai restaurant on Indian Rocks Beach in FL.  It was right across the street from my apartment and it was fabulous.  There was also an Indian restaurant I used to go to with my boss in Dallas that I've long since forgotten the name of. 


What I'll never forget is the horror we experienced on leaving there one fateful day.  She was a fantastic boss - powerful, creative, energetic, & tons of fun.  We had quite a relationship as I was much younger and WAY more aggressive than I have the time or energy for now.  She had an after-lunch meeting with the top level money people at one of my accounts.  We were working on a multi-million dollar deal with them and she was going to answer final questions.  Did I mention she had braces? This was back in the day when the clear bands were a new deal, and they were hardly noticeable. On this day though, there was no getting around them.  


We had lunch together, deciding Indian food would put just the right fire in the belly before having a high power meeting.  As we were getting into her car after a fabulous lunch, we were laughing about something (who knows what).  When she turned my direction, mouth agape with laughter, I screamed. "What?!!" she panics.  "OH MY GOD! Look in the mirror!" I'm screaming at her. hahahaha...it still makes me laugh.  Those clear, barely noticeable braces were a flaming fluorescent yellow!  It was only an hour until the meeting.  She dumped me back at the office & raced to her dentist.  He fixed it.  She made it to the meeting and we landed the deal.  But that was one of my favorite moments in my sales career. 

Anyway,  curry is a colorful blend of aromatic spices, and can range from totally mild to very spicy.  Being that I'm a control freak, making my own is the only way to go.  Again because I know what's in it and I love the smell of the process.  So let's whip up a batch for my soup de jour, Curried Coconut Cream Chicken. Yummmmm...


Please take the time to make your own curry spice mix.  It smells so absolutely wonderful.  I use a pile of each one.  I'm sorry, I don't measure it, so I'd have to guess each one is a Tbsp with the exception of the cayenne.  I probably used only a  1/2 tsp of cayenne.  You can leave it out altogether if you don't want it to be spicy.  We like it hot at our house though.  I use turmeric, cardamom, cayenne,  cumin seeds, coriander seeds & ginger powder.  The cumin & coriander seeds were crushed with my mortar & pestal before being lightly toasted in a small skillet.  I combine them all in a food processor and blended it until it was a fine powder.  


While all that was happening, I removed my leftover shredded chicken from the freezer.  If you  made your own chicken broth, shredded your chicken and froze it like I did, it's ready to go. If you didn't, you can quickly grill up a couple chicken breasts, chop 'em up really nice and throw them in.  But if you're pulling stuff from the freezer, place the storage bags in a container of hot water to defrost enough to get them out of the bags.


Warm up a couple Tbsps of olive oil in your soup pan.  Take a large yellow onion, mince it up good and toss it in the pot on a low flame.  Let the onions turn a lovely caramel color while you smash up 5 or 6 cloves of garlic, tossing them in as well.  Keep an eye on them so they don't brown, but let them stay in there 2-3 mins.  


Now take the curry powder you've made and dump it in the pot.  (Yes I used all of it.  I'm kind of a flavor junkie.) Stir it up good before adding your chicken and your broth and - are you ready?  Remember the salt we didn't put in the broth recipes?  Time to add it!  Salt is subjective, so add it, taste it & repeat as necessary.


If you have one on hand, chop up and add a large sweet potato.  It's gorgeous orange flesh will make your soup even more beautiful.  OH MY GOSH!  I'm so hungry and it smells crazy good!  We're almost there.  Lastly, you're going to add a 13-14 oz can of coconut milk to the batch and give it a good stir.  Let the whole thing simmer 20 minutes or so to cook the sweet potatoes, depending on the size chunks you put in the pot.


Ideally, I'd have some chives & creme fraise to top this off with. But I was a slacker and didn't get any made ahead of time.  As you probably guessed, I'm too cheap to pay the price of it in the store so if I can't make my own I do without.  It takes a day & a half to make it so plan accordingly.  Watch for a post about it.  You'll love it if you've never had it.  If you've had it but paid a premium for it, you won't believe how simple it is to make.


I did have some of my yummilicious croutons so I topped it off with that.  Get ready, you'll have a fire in your belly for sure tonight!!!

Feed the ones you love!