Curry
Discussing curry in a curry restautant on Saturday night, we talked of how children aren't introduced to curry at an early age. Or if they are, it's the classic English mince, curry powder and sultanas curry.
My experience was a little different. I don't remember when I was first taken to a curryhouse, but for as long as I can remember we've cooked curry at home. Especially I recall my Dad cooking the prawn curry from a booklet of Rajah Brand Spices recipes. This was always exciting - Dad cooking, smell of spices, and PRAWNS! - for reasons that nowadays seem a little unimpressive.
The other thing is that my Dad comes from Leicester, which has a big Indian community. It's in no way a suprise to me to go into a curryhouse in the early eveing and find it full of families eating out.
This post has kind of gone off in a variety of directions, that I can't really tie back together, so here's a recipe for curry parsnip soup.
Curry Parsnip Soup
4 large servings
1 large and 1 very large parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped
a piece of ginger about the size of my thumb joint, peeled and grated
2 small cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons mysterious curry powder out an unmarked packet
boiling water
vegetable oil[1]
Heat the vegetable oil. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger for about the time it takes to cut up the parsnip. Add the parsnip and stir in the oil and onion for as long as it takes to boil the kettle. Add the curry powder and turn the parsnip pieces so the powder is spread throughout. Add the water, stir and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for about an hour, or until the parsnip is soft, then whizz up. Serve hot.
[1] Enough to fry the onion with, unless you're Vas, in which case slightly more.
My experience was a little different. I don't remember when I was first taken to a curryhouse, but for as long as I can remember we've cooked curry at home. Especially I recall my Dad cooking the prawn curry from a booklet of Rajah Brand Spices recipes. This was always exciting - Dad cooking, smell of spices, and PRAWNS! - for reasons that nowadays seem a little unimpressive.
The other thing is that my Dad comes from Leicester, which has a big Indian community. It's in no way a suprise to me to go into a curryhouse in the early eveing and find it full of families eating out.
This post has kind of gone off in a variety of directions, that I can't really tie back together, so here's a recipe for curry parsnip soup.
Curry Parsnip Soup
4 large servings
1 large and 1 very large parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped
a piece of ginger about the size of my thumb joint, peeled and grated
2 small cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons mysterious curry powder out an unmarked packet
boiling water
vegetable oil[1]
Heat the vegetable oil. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger for about the time it takes to cut up the parsnip. Add the parsnip and stir in the oil and onion for as long as it takes to boil the kettle. Add the curry powder and turn the parsnip pieces so the powder is spread throughout. Add the water, stir and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for about an hour, or until the parsnip is soft, then whizz up. Serve hot.
[1] Enough to fry the onion with, unless you're Vas, in which case slightly more.