Pilchard Curry

When Mrs Sciencebase was a student, she used to make an inexpensive curry: tin of pilchards, tin of tomatoes, chopped onion, crushed clove of garlic, teaspoon each of cumin, coriander, and turmeric powder, salt & pepper, and a half a teaspoon of chili powder. Served on a bed of whole-grain boiled rice. It sounded a bit grim, but wasn’t too bad. (Brown-bread icecream for pudding or Granny Grape Pudding). It was all certainly a whole lot more adventurous than the boiled noodles and soy sauce I once cooked her because I had nothing else in the cupboard. Don’t know if it compares well with a camping meal we once had together, which amounted to half each of a raw calabrese head, half a bag of Bombay Mix, and half a bottle of red wine. Oh, how the other half live, I hear you exclaim. Chopping weapons-grade, home-grown Scotch Bonnet chili peppers Anyway, back to that “curry”. The powder mix works well with other main protein ingredients, but at some point, having taken on the mantle of chief-curry-cook in our house, I wanted to stretch out the recipe a little further. I began adding various other spices, crushed cardamom seeds, cinnamon, grated fresh ginger, cloves, and mustard powder. Over the years, the list grew and grew. At some point, I used to make up a jar of the mix that would last several weeks and it usually contained well over 40 different ingredients. Ludicrous. I think at one point I was even adding garam masala as well as frying and crushing...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Food Source Type: blogs