Going International.

As we were preparing this meal, Bill and I realized that we have really traveled the globe with our recipes so far: Italian, British, Chinese, French, All-American, and this time - Indian. Bill has his roots in traditional French cooking and most of my experience comes from down-home country cooking, so I think we've done a pretty good job of expanding our horizons thus far.


I have to say, however, this was a total experiment. This was the most frantic I've ever been in the kitchen. Luckily for us, it turned out very well. Just as with barbecue, there are as many ways to make curry as there are people who make curry. There's a base of flavors to build from and you can put your own twist on it however you please. 


We decided on an Indian dish because we open The Secret Garden at Clear Space this weekend, which Bill costumed and I play Fakir - the only Indian character in our production. (You should totally BUY TICKETS and see our amazing show!) See, I told you there would be many themed dinners to come.


And, there's just a bit of melancholy with this post. Our guest director, David Ruttura, has been an honorary member of the Finer Things Club in his three weeks of residence here. This was his last dinner with the club. Hopefully, he'll be taking some kitchen skills back to New York with him!


The Meal: Yellow Curry with Lamb

(The Finer Things Club took a walk in the Cape Henlopen State Park in the early evening before dinner. It's my new favorite place. Thank you, Erin Stasi, for taking me the first time!)

As I already mentioned, there are innumerable ways to make curry. This was just what we decided to throw in. Always adjust to your own tastes. I enjoy spicy food, but only if it adds flavor to the dish. I don't like things to be spicy to the point where you can't taste any other flavors.

The Ingredients: 1 medium onion, diced

                                2 Large Russet potatoes, diced into large chunks

                                Olive oil

                                2 tsp. cumin

                                2 tsp. turmeric

                                1/2 tsp. cardamum

                                1/2 tsp. cinnamon

                                1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

                                1 tbsp. yellow curry powder

                                1/2 inch ginger root, grated

                                Salt and pepper, to taste

                                1 8 oz. can coconut milk

                                1 6 oz. container plain Greek yogurt

                                1 lb. lamb chops

                                2 cups jasmine or basmati rice

                                4 1/2 cups water

                                Fresh cilantro, for garnish

The spices are an investment. It can be quite costly if you don't have any of these in your kitchen before you make this meal. The good news is that they'll last you a while once you purchase them because they are powerful flavors and you only use a bit of them each time.

The Directions: We're starting with the rice. I learned this from Aarti Sequeira, host of "Aarti Party" on Food Network. You should wash your jasmine rice before cooking. All I did was place the 2 cups of rice in a mesh colander and rinsed it until the water ran clear through the rice.

Bring the 4 cups of salted water and 2 cups of rice to a boil uncovered, then cook covered on a low heat for about 8-10 minutes. Remove from and leave covered. The rice will continue to cook and absorb the water. You can leave it covered until you're ready to serve. 

Combine all dry spices (except salt and pepper) in a skillet. Toast on a medium heat until they become fragrant. This should only take 1-2 minutes. Be careful not to burn them, or you'll need to throw them out and start over. Remove from skillet and set aside.

In the same skillet, combine onions and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook on medium-high for 3-4 minutes and add the spices back in, adding the salt and pepper.

(I warned you that this meal was made frantically. There are no pictures of these steps. Instead, I'll put a nice picture of our spread of hors d'oeuvres. Naan, roasted red pepper hummus, and dried apricots. Yum.)

And one of my master knife skills/photography.

Stir in the coconut milk, 1/2 cup of water, yogurt and potatoes to the skillet. Peel the ginger root and grate with a microplane directly into the skillet. Cook on medium-high heat until potatoes are al dente, about 10-12 minutes.

(David: "Make sure to get my hand in there so they can see I'm cooking.")

Confession Time: We forgot to add the yogurt. We tasted the curry along the way to make sure it would turn out well, and couldn't for the life of us figure out what was missing. We decided it needed a touch of sweetness, but still didn't remember the yogurt. Instead, we added 3 heaping tsp. of brown sugar - on the suggestion of kitchen whiz David Ruttura. The yogurt will really add the sweet flavor and get the light yellow color you want from the curry.

Bill shows off his knife skills, cutting the lamb off the bone and dicing into bite-size pieces. 

In a pre-heated frying pan with olive oil, cook the lamb (seasoned with salt and pepper to taste) until just brown, about 5-6 minutes. You don't want to cook it completely here, because you're going to add it to the curry to finish cooking.

Add the browned lamb to the curry and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, until both the potatoes  and lamb are cooked through. Add water as necessary to reach the desired consistency for the curry. It shouldn't be as thick as a stew, but not so thin as a broth.

For plating, serve the curry over a heaping portion of the rice and garnish with chopped cilantro. This should serve four people. Four REALLY hungry people. It's quite filling.

We were pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out. For a complete kitchen experiment, it turned into a delicious dinner.

Mr. Ruttura - The Finer Things Club will miss you dearly. You're welcome at our table any time.