Curry Off 2007

When Prasad and I had drunkenly challenged each other to a curry cook-off almost a year ago, I doubt either of us imagined that our friends would be urging us to make this a yearly event. Our last Curry Off ended in a tie, and so a rematch was in order. And, to make it interesting, we would cook lamb.

I had never cooked lamb before; neither had Prasad. And, because I didn’t have an Indian mother who telephoned in with her recipes, I spent several weeks before the scheduled date--which, admittedly, I kept pushing further and further away--trying out different recipes trying to find a winner. One practice run tasted like some weird British-style lamb stew, another wasn’t spicy enough and lacked that richness you feel in your mouth and on your tongue from the introduction of fat, and a third had an unappealing grainy texture. There was only one practice run curry that seemed like a possibility. It was time to cook.

Because we scheduled Curry Off 2007 as a Sunday night supper, I planned on prepping and cooking Saturday night. Jeanne was in town and since she was so hungover that she couldn’t rouse herself to go out again Saturday night, she helped with the preparation. I started by creating a curry paste. Onions, garlic, ginger, paprika, cloves, black peppercorns, red chilies, cumin seeds, poppy seeds, fennel seeds, ground cinnamon, and dried coconut went into the blender with a little bit of water. The mixture was pulsed, chopped, and blended until it became a smooth paste.

I sautéed some chopped onions in oil until they were nearly brown, which took much longer than I had assumed. Next, went in the curry paste along with some bay leaves and an armload of constant stirring. Then, the cubes of lamb were added, seasoned with salt and pepper, and browned. The chopped tomatoes were thrown in. And, finally, I poured in some water and let it simmer away. I put the lids on the pots (I had to use two because of the large quantity), turned off the heat, attached notes reading “Do Not Uncover” to prevent Scott from peeking underneath (although he ignored the notes and was stopped by Jeanne), and went to bed. When Sunday rolled around, I heated my curries back up, let it simmer away to evaporate some of the extra water, added some coconut milk and a touch of cream, and adjusted its seasoning. It was ready.

We headed over to Prasad’s house a little early with curry, rice cooker, and my favorite wooden spoon in tow, and set up shop on Prasad’s stove. Prasad was shit-talking, calling my curry a fancy-looking bean dip and even taking jabs at the rice cooker my mom bought me when I moved into my first apartment. Although he was barely just turning on the fire on his curry, I was nervous. He had a whole crew of folks, all on his side, in his house, and I only had my wooden spoon. Was my curry really just a fancy-looking bean dip?

When our friends arrived, we started serving. Ryan, thinking ahead, had numbered opposites sides of paper plates with 1 and 2. Rice went down the middle of the plate, flanked on both sides by the two different curries. Ballots with a numerical rating system that judged curries on taste, texture, and spiciness were made; however, the curries on the ballots were labeled “Susan” and “Prasad”--so much for a blind competition. Eating, and judging, began.

Our friends mmm’ed as they sweated in the living room. With about 20 people in that room all eating spicy curry, it felt like a sauna but our friends trucked through, even going back for seconds and thirds.

And, it was a tough decision. Prasad’s curry was good; it was spicy but not too spicy (last year’s chicken curry nearly knocked me to the floor with its intensity), the lamb chunks were still lamb chunks (my lamb had nearly disintegrated with all that slow simmering), and it tasted like Indian curry. Eleanor, Colin, and Carlo were huddled together in a corner discussing the merits of each curry, and I wanted to listen in, but they stopped talking when I approached. The Australian neighbor and the barbeque chef with an accent both said they enjoyed the texture of the meat of my curry. What did this all mean? I was still nervous.

When all the ballots were placed and counted up, Prasad’s friend came into the kitchen, where he and I were sitting, and announced the winner. After a little speech and some explanations that no one understood, it was deduced that Curry #2 was the winner by a one-point differential. People asked whose was #2, and I responded that my last name spoke for itself.

Even with all of Prasad’s trash talk earlier in the evening, I couldn’t gloat in my victory. It’s not my style. And, as Ryan had mentioned, the voting system was flawed. But, even more importantly, there was talk of a Curry Off 2008 with seafood. Prasad even came up with a campaign slogan, “Can’t wait for ’08!” We’ll see.

Curry test run #2

I’m getting closer at finding a lamb curry winner. Tonight was the second trial run in my quest to win the Lamb Curry Off and, quite possibly, the start of Curry Thursdays. And, this curry, unlike the last one I made, tasted like Indian curry.

Once again, it was a pretty straightforward recipe, as I’m starting to believe that most curry recipes are. It started by cleaning out my coffee grinder so that I could use it as a spice grinder. In it, I ground up some dried red chilies, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, paprika, cinnamon, coriander, and cloves. The ground spices then got moved to the blender where I also added garlic cloves, fresh ginger, dry coconut, and some water, and turned that into a smooth paste. I browned two onions, diced up, in some oil. Then, I scooped in the spice paste and cooked that for about 15 minutes. After, went in the cubes of lamb for about five minute and chopped tomatoes for another five. Finally, I poured in some water and let it all simmer for about an hour. And, when it had finally thickened up (it had looked very soupy and I added some more dry coconut to it at the end, which ended up added an unappealing little bit of textural bite to the curry), I poured in a little bit of coconut milk.

Eleanor had come over to help with the tasting and eating of the pot full of curry, and Scott had invited one of his work friends. They all mmm’ed and scooped up spoonfuls of rice and curry. Eleanor said it tasted like Indian food. And, it was spicy enough to make me sweat but not cry.

I smell a possible winner.

Lamb curry off test run #1

This time, I wasn’t drunk, but Prasad might have been. We were at his house, standing around in the hallway as people were leaving after watching the Superbowl on a very nice television screen, when we set a date in the spring for the next Curry Off. And, so, I would have a couple of months to prepare, to do test-run of curry recipes, to refine spice mixtures, and to learn how to cook lamb, since this time around it would be a Lamb Off.

Today, was Test Run #1 of lamb curry. (It was actually also the first time I’ve ever cooked lamb.) And, I invited Colin and Eleanor over to help me judge the worthiness of the curry.

The recipe was straightforward. Cook some chopped onions in some oil until brown. Add in chunks of lamb until brown. Sprinkle in ground black peppercorn, whole cloves, and green cardamom pods. Then, add a puree of more onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook that down until almost no liquid remains. Then, pour in some plain yogurt, along with some cayenne and ground coriander. After, add some water and garam masala and let it cook until the lamb is tender. Once it’s done, toss in some chopped cilantro and a drizzle of heavy cream. It was pretty easy, and I made some brown basmati rice with whole cumin seeds to go with the curry.

But, the curry was just okay. The level of heat from the spices was subtle, as were the spices themselves. And the lamb was tender and fell apart nicely when poked at with a fork. But, the curry itself was just okay; far from being a Curry Off winner. Its flavor lacked depth and distinction. It tasted more like an Irish lamb stew than an Indian lamb curry. There was no way that I would put this up against anyone’s curry. So, next week, I’ll try again with another lamb recipe and another hope at finding a winner.