A Lesson On Cloves

Having never really used Asian spices, I am a complete novice at making things like curries and stews that require ingredients like coriander seed, cumin or turmeric. I've always been generous with thyme, rosemary, basil - European herbs and spices.

So when I made my first curry and first Moroccan lamb stew, it was disastrous.

DON'T GO OVERBOARD WITH CLOVES. They are evil. Really evil. Putting just a pinch too much in will ruin everything and turn it into a bitter, unsavable mush. The tiniest amount goes a really, really long way.

DON'T GO OVERBOARD WITH THE CLOVES.

I am used to tasting every element in a dish, and despite eating a lot of Asian food I never truly understood harmony between spices. No, you are not supposed to taste/identify everything in it, it is supposed to form into one new, amazing thing.

In an effort to make my second curry from scratch, I employed the help of my pou-pou to decide what should go in the curry and approximately how much of each. She had warned me previously about using too much clove powder.

-_-

It turned out not so bad.

Chicken Asian-Indian Fusion Curry (Serves 2)

Ingredients:
*3 onions
*1 semi-dried bird's eye chili or more if you like it spicy
*2 tsp minced garlic or 1 garlic cloves
*1 tbsp ground parsley powder
*1/2 tbsp ground coriander seed
*1/2 tbsp ground cumin
*1 tsp ground turmeric
*1/2 tsp ground cardamom
*1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
*1 pinch or 1/8 tsp ground clove
3 tbsp oil (non-extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil, if you have ghee even better)
1/3 can or 100ml coconut cream (omit this to make it a purely Indian curry)
2 tomatoes
3 potatoes
1/2 cup water
500g chicken wings, drumsticks or breast fillet cut into chunks

1. Blend blend blend everything with *.

2. Heat oil in a good sized pot and plonk the * mixture in. Stir until colour darkens, aromas are strong and oil leaks out around the edges.

3. Chop tomatoes and potatoes and add with coconut cream and water. Stir for a bit, then add chicken and leave to simmer on a medium-low heat for about 30-50 minutes depending on what kind of meat you're using.

4. Season to taste with salt. Serve when chicken is cooked through.

Eat with rice, bread, couscous or anything that will soak up all the curry juices. I had leftover couscous so I ate it with that, plus it is very quick to cook (like 2 minutes). Personally I think rice would work best with curry, only because I love the taste of white jasmine rice. My brother on the other hand prefers a hot, crispy bread roll.

And add a good dollop of natural yoghurt or sour cream ;)

If you find the curry a bit too sour for your liking, opt out of using yoghurt and stir in a few teaspoons of sugar. It's best to use very ripe tomatoes so you get more sweetness.

And how easy is this curry?! Everything goes in the blender or pot and you just wait for it to cook.