Curry feast to celebrate

Day 20: I mentioned that I was saving all my creativity for a weekend curry feast. It's for my friend, in order to belatedly celebrate his birthday. He loves a curry. Fortuitously for me, not for my friend, the gods have given us a rainy, bleak day that just begs a comforting curry this evening. So far I have resisted giving precise recipes, preferring to take the more Jamie Oliver dash-of-this-slosh-of-that approach. However, today I will plagiarise The Essential Asian Cookbook and give you the exact recipes for my feast...

Cucumber Raita
1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and grated
1/3 cup mint leaves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp mustard seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp ginger, finely grated
zest of 1 lime
salt to taste

Mix all these ingredients together and put a portion aside for the Paleos. 
For the non-Paleos add 1 cup of Greek yoghurt - I put several layers of kitchen paper towels in a colander, then put the yoghurt on top to strain out the liquid and thicken it.
Chill and serve with a sprig of mint and a sprinkle of paprika.

Coconut Prawn Curry
Serves 4
1 kg of raw prawns
1 tsp of turmeric
1 onion roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
pinch of ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
3 Tablespoons of oil
1 cup of coconut cream
2 T fresh coriander leaves

Toss the peeled and deveined prawns in the turmeric. I used raw, frozen prawns from Aldi.
Place the onion, garlic, paprika, chilli, cloves, cardamom and ginger in a food processor and whizz til a paste is formed.
Heat oil in a pan and add spice paste. Stir it over a low heat for about 10 mins. If the mixture starts to burn, add some water. The paste is cooked when it is golden brown and has oil around the edges.
Stir in the prawns and coconut cream, simmer for about 5 mins til the prawns are cooked. Garnish with the coriander, season with salt and serve.

Bombay Curry
Serves 6 - 8

1 Tablespoon ghee or oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
2 green chillies, chopped
1 T fresh ginger, grated
1.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin*
1 T ground coriander*
1/2 - 1 tsp chilli powder
1 - 1.5 kg beef or lamb, cut into bite-sized cubes (I used beef)
1 tsp salt
410gm can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk
fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Heat the ghee or oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic, chilli, ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander and chilli powder. Stir til onion is softened.
Add the meat, stir over high heat til the meat is well coated with the spice mixture. Stir in the salt and undrained tomatoes and simmer, covered, for 1.5 hrs.
Add the coconut milk and stir, simmer uncovered for another 5 mins.
Serve garnished with the coriander.
* I always use cumin and coriander seeds, toast them in a dry pan and crush them in the mortar and pestle, just because it always smell so delicious and the spice mix seems that little bit more hand-made.

Veggie Curry
Serves 4-6

2 carrots
1/4 of a butternut pumpkin (250gm any kind of pumpkin)
1/2 a sweet potato if large golden one; 1 purple one
2 T oil
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 & 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 & 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 & 1/2 cups veggie or chicken stock
1 green pepper/capsicum, chopped
200gm button mushrooms, chopped
300gm cauliflower, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped

Cut the veggies in as uniform a size as possible.
Heat the oil, add the onion and garlic, cook over medium heat til soft.
Add the spices and stir for 1 min til aromatic
Add the carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato and stock. Cook, covered over med heat for 25 mins, stirring occasionally.
Add the pepper, mushrooms, cauliflower and zucchini. Simmer for 10 mins til the veggies are all tender.
Note: you could use broccoli, parsnip or red pepper too.

I also made Butter Chicken for the kids - I used the Patak's Butter Chicken simmer sauce in mild flavour. I served it all with brown basmati rice and wholemeal parathas, with extra chilli straight from the garden for us few heat-lovers. 

For a wee treatie, I made these Salted Chocolate Coconut Pistachio Clusters...

Delicious. So rich but perfect with a few sweet and juicy gi-normous grapes.
Happy Birthday Mister!