I ran out of curry powder and didn't even notice. Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
So long as you didn't run out of cumin, the word hasn't ended yet.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Will he notice?
I don't think running out of a spice a terrible wife makes.
Although we were all horribly shocked the first time my mother ran out of something; I remember it distinctly. I was 13. It was vanilla. We were horrified.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
And then I forgot to salt the fish.
And yes, it is a big deal. We eat mostly rice and curries.
Luckily, I am a good cook. No, scratch that, I'm a damn good cook. And I still have red chiles, black pepper, cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic, green chiles, garam masala and other such things with which to make fud.
Sigh.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Although this is also in jest partially. I'm just... shocked that I allowed this to happen.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quid, if you ran out of all spices, then I would worry...
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Quid, I am ashamed to know you. That's really dreadful. *holds hand up high*
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
*helpful* We have a great big bottle. I know because I just used it.
Want some?
[edit: Verbs. Use one in every sentence.]
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Raia, thank you.
ketchupqueen, I would NEVER run out of all spices. Never. I'm too much of a cook for that. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Yes, please, rivka! Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Great! What time will you be by to pick it up? I was thinking about getting to sleep soon.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Let me see, how about sometime in 2007? Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
*unsalted* fish?!
Dear oh dear.
*shakes head in grave sorrow*
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Exactly!
Thank you for understanding, imogen. It helps to share my sorrow and shame. Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Indeed. I only hope and pray that Fahim will be understanding this one time.
Of course, run out of curry powder again...
Well, we'll put you up for a bit.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Actually, you had the ingredients for making curries from scratch, though maybe not a full range. Commercially-prepared/advertised curry powders and pastes are dessicated of the aromatics which lend the essence of flavor, savory goodness to curried dishes. Besides, the curry pastes tend to be way too salty. However... And it is even more necessary to have good ventilation when frying chiles to add to the other spices. It may be possible to find those who specialize in making fresh*curries. Anyway here's some links to sites where you may find some recipes for SouthAsian curries. There are many many many more curries if you can find similar links to Thai, Malaysian, and Indonesian cooking sites.
* Curries refers to the various mixtures of spices, and not to the curried foods.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Aspectre, yes, I'm well aware of that. That's why the day isn't a total loss and I don't have to commit ritual suicide.
However. I'm lazy and like to use the curry powder I can get here. Although I do also make it from scratch. The blend we buy is a really really good base.
Besides, that's where the humour comes from.
Edit: Should have responded with:
Really? Is that how it works? I had no idea!
But no, I'm slow, my brain doesn't work, and I have no humour! Drat! Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
*Daniel doesn't know how to cook beyond boxed mac and cheese, hot dogs, grilled ham and cheeses, and ramen noodles*
*he offers sympathy anyway*
*he's also been playing Middle Earth Mud way way too much tonight, and shall cease to speak of himself in the third person and will go to bed*
Good night Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Thought that you might have known&teased, quidscribis, but also that most of the other readers wouldn't. So what's the name of this wonderful commercial curry? Cuz it's really hard to find any curry powder/paste worth using over here.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
It's a local variety that isn't available outside of the country, as far as I know. Or, at least, if it is, it'll have a different brand name or packaging or something.
You know, it's also not like I use curry powder in something and nothing else. I don't. I'll mix it with red chili powder, pepper, cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic, green chiles, cilantro, lime, turmeric, tamarind, goraka, cloves, cinnamon, or... Or a combination thereof. It's more accurate to say that our curry powder provides a nice blended background. At its plainest, it might be curry powder, salt, and coconut milk with fish. Or perhaps curry powder, yellow mustard, honey, salt on chicken. Or curry powder, red chili powder, salt on fish. But it's usually got other stuff added to it.
There's also roasted curry powder, which goes best with meat or mushrooms or eggplant.
But then, as you know, there are so many ways to mix curry powder that the list is almost endless.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Yummmm....
Curry.
Aspectre - I agree that it's hard to find curry powders (well, in Australia, but I assume in the US as well). I tend to always make my own dry powders.
I usually make my pastes also but if I'm feeling lazy it is possible to get some quite good pre-prepared ones, actually made in various SE Asian countries.
Go to your local asian grocery store and check 'em out - my favourite ones usually come in foil packets. The brand I have in my pantry is Mae Ploy Brand, made in Thailand.
Masman, Panang and Tom Yam paste. The ingredients are all good and happy too - no colours or flavours or nasty numbers.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Quid - what is goraka? Sounds intruiging...
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I wouldn't even know how to explain. Well, I'll try anyway, though. I've only seen the jar with the paste and it has a picture on the front of something that looks like a gourd, but this is Sri Lanka, so there may be a lot of creative license taking place. It's black and it's kinda bitter & sour. I use it when I'm making hot & sour fish with red chili pepper, black pepper, turmeric, salt, cumin, and lime, for example. I got it when I thought I was picking out tamarind (had just ran out) and wasn't paying attention to the labels but just to the color of the contents. Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Ahh, google thinks it is related to tamarind.
The gourd would be the fruit it's made of, I'm guessing.
quote:Sri Lanka has already produced and exported two value-added products from goraka and gotukola. Goraka is used in the USA to produce an expensive “over the counter drug” which is taken to reduce body fat
Quid, you should really put some curry recipes on the Hatrack recipe site.
Please? Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :
I should make that curry dish that I liked and my husband didn't like but I forgot about it before I decided that I have a right to like things he doesn't like. It's pretty lame, just curry in some cream of chicken soup over chicken, broccoli and rice.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
I must be the worst wife ever, because I've never had any curry (powder or otherwise) in my house. Garlic, either. I can't stand the smell and taste of either of them. Andrew is not allowed to kiss me for 48 hours after consuming either of them. I shudder to think what those smells would do to me now.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Maybe you'd *love* them!
Pregnancy curry cravings to the extreme...
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
I'm so hungry
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I got Indian and Middle Eastern food cravings when I was pregnant. (I wanted LAMB of all things! And spicy, spicy curries.) The up side is, we ate it enough, the baby got used to it; and then, in those early months, when I wasn't cooking much and we ate out quite a bit, when she nursed after I'd eaten spicy food, she seemed to enjoy it more. At five months, she had her first spicy lentils (she wouldn't leave me alone until I let her try a bite, thinking she would spit it out, cry to be nursed, and leave it alone; boy, was I wrong!) At 13 months, she eats all the foods we eat (although the REALLY spicy stuff sometimes has to be mixed with rice or avoided, since babies taste things much more strongly than adults, and she can't eat TOO much, or the diaper changes are h-e-double-hockey-sticks.) My family thinks it's the coolest thing ever, and frankly, so do I; she's coming with us when we go for Indian food at DallasCon, and you can bet she'll be eating at least some of the food!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I just thought of something. We are going to have to make sure to have a toast at dinner to quidscribis, and make sure to get a picture of it for her. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I hate curry
Sorry. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
imogen, thanks for the link. I didn't know that about goraka. It also said that gotakola, which we use in sambols mainly, is good for improved memory.
Um, would you settle for me adding more curry recipes to my own site and providing a link?
My niece, who was the biggest spice wuss ever, emerged on the other side of 6 months in the Maldives being able to handle spicy food. 14 years of my sister trying to get her to eat spicy food, and no luck. But the Maldives... kq, I love your baby already! And kq, I love you even more... You're so sweet!
Kwea, you can just go away. I have nothing more to say to you. Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I'll settle for that.
In particular I want to know how you make the hot and sour fish - it sounds delicious.
We eat hardly any fish based curries and I'd like to know how to make more.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Ok, so I actually went to your site and found the recipe.
Looks great. I think we might be having it this week.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
רבן יונתן רמי ברבקה הא דכתיב
quote: What time will you be by to pick it up?
והא כתיב
quote: Verbs. Use one in every sentence.
לא קשיא הא באירוניא והא דלא באירוניא ואיכא דאמרי קסבר רבן יונתן הא בקלאוזה מתוחכמת והא בקלאוזה לא מתוחכמת ס"ד קלאוזה הוה קלאוזה בין תחכום ובין לאו ואמר ליה רב נדב לרבן יונתן כי אירוניא תוקפה לעד ממאי דכתיב והארץ לעולם עמדת אל תקרי ארץ אלא ארן נו"ן וצד"י הן נ"ץ ובהנץ החמה י[ש]תמשו בפעלין רב נדב אמר בהנץ החמה כרבולתו של השכוי חווירתא קא משמע לן שנאמר אל זועם בכל יום וכמה זעמו רגע ומאי רגע אחת מחמש ריבוא ושלשת אלפים ושמונה מאות וארבעים ושמונה בשעה זו היא רגע ואין כל בריה יכולה לכווין אליה חוץ מבלעם הרשע דכתיב ויודע דעת עליון אפשר דעת בהמתו לא הוה ידע דעת עליון מי הוה ידע מאי דעת בהמתו לא הוה ידע בעידנא דחזו ליה דהוה רכיב אחמריה אמרו ליה מאי טעמא לא רכבתא אסוסיא אמר להו ברטיבא שדאי ליה מיד ותאמר האתון הלא אנכי אתונך אמר לה לטעינא בעלמא אמרה ליה אשר רכבת עלי אמר לה אקראי בעלמא אמרה ליה מעודך ועד היום הזה ולא עוד אלא שאני עושה לך רכיבות ביום ואישות בלילה כתיב הכא ההסכן הסכנתי וכתיב התם ותהי לו סוכנת אלא מאי ויודע דעת עליון שהיה יודע לכוין אותה שעה שהקב"ה כועס בה ודכתיב עד יעבור זעם ומתי יעבוא אמר רבן יונתן בתלת שעי קמייתא כי חיורא כרבלתא דתרנגולא כל שעתא ושעתא מחוור חיורא כל שעתא אית ביה סורייקי סומקי ההיא שעתא לית ביה סורייקי סומקי
My attempt in Gemarrah Writing.
EDITED FOR SHORTER LINES, FOR THOSE WHO DON'T SUPPORT HEBREW CHARSETS.
[ May 18, 2005, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: Jonathan Howard ]
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
JH, for those of us without whatever character sets you're using, you are breaking the frame something awful. Could you please either delete that or add some hard returns? Thanks.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Um, does it have relevance to this thread? In any way? Would you mind providing a translation?
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
Not really, but this is a semi-dobie...
And it's problematic to translate, since it's the Aramaic humour, based on root ambiguity.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
So, what's it doing here? Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
For rivka to review.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Here? Why?
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
I've solved your problem, quid. May you never run out of curry again.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
Because here's where I found two of rivka's contradicting statements, with my Gemarra-style analysis. (Potrtions actually taken out of the books.)
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Val, if she's like me, she buys her curry powder by the pound to begin with...
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Yup, I can. Well, by the 8 ounces, at any rate. Still, that link is pretty cool. Thanks! Yeah, I suspect I have more and better access to curry powder than anyone else on this forum. There are a lot of varieties available at the grocery store... A lot of locals make theirs from scratch every day, I'm just too lazy.
Oh, and when I mean from scratch, I mean whole spices, roast, then pound to powder, et cetera ad nauseum.
Grocery shopping tonight. Finally!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Oh, good grief. Jon, I don't understand spoken Aramaic too well. You can absolutely forget about me trying to decode a screenful!
In any case, even without decoding it, I can answer your objection. I didn't say use exactly one verb per sentence. I said, "Use one in every sentence." This would include situations where more than one is used.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
So*. I did it again.
Not with the curry powder this time, although I did run out of that again a few months back. Whatever is this world coming to? I'm horrified at the thought!
But no, this time, it was both red chilli powder and red chilli flakes.
Sigh.
This time, I was cooking up roasted peppers in a cream sauce (peppers roasting in one pan, cream sauce making in another) and was about to add some red chilli powder to the cream sauce. Well, it wasn't cream sauce yet - it was, at this point, onions, garlic, and Thai chillies sauteing - and I'd just added salt and was about to add the red chilli powder.
I'd just filled up the jar two days ago. The jar holds an entire bag (100 grams, I think) of chilli powder. So*, no, not running out yet.
But then I dropped the jar.
It landed on the counter, bounced off, and landed on the floor.
Tiled floor.
Hard as concrete tiled floor. Probably because beneath the tiles is concrete.
And it shattered.
All that red chilli powder on the floor mixed in with shattered glass.
And because I'd just filled up the jar, I didn't have a spare bag on hand. Or, er, in the freezer, since that's where I've taken to keeping our spices so the bugs don't get into them and they don't go bad. Cuz that's what ya gotta do in this country.
So* I grabbed my jar of red chilli pepper flakes.
There was only a couple teaspoons left.
I wasn't worried before the jar of red chilli powder broke. About the red chilli flakes being so low, I mean. It could have lasted us until we go shopping on Friday. But now, with no red chilli pepper powder...
I dumped it all in with the onions, garlic, and green chillies.
And I'm sad.
Sad that, now, for the rest of the week, I have no more red chilli powder or red chilli pepper flakes to use.
The only good news to come out of this? At least I have enough Thai chillies in the fridge. And in the cream sauce (I put in four or five). We won't have to go without spicy food in its entirety.
But it just isn't the same. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Oh, and the roasted peppers in cream sauce, inspired by a conversation with ketchupqueen (thanks, kq ) turned out really really really really really good. If I do say so myself. Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
You really do like your chilli. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Um, yeah.
It's a sickness. I know that.
Luckily, Fahim likes 'em, too. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Glad you liked it. Sorry about the chili powder. Luckily, you live in a country where it is neither horribly difficult to get or expensive. Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
Oh dear. *shakes head sadly.* Dropped the chili powder and used up all the chili flakes? If it weren't for those Thai chiles, I'd have to start to worry about whether you really are a bad wife!
Umm, seriously though--I like to cook w/ Patak's curry paste in the jars. Does that make me an ignorant philistine?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
*laughs* No, not really. I used to use Pataks when I was in Canada. I *loved* Pataks. Wonderful stuff, and I'm beginning to drool just thinking about it. No, no, it's great stuff with great flavor. Keep enjoying your Pataks. Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
*relieved -- someone in Sri Lanka says I can keep using Patak's to make curry!*
(I've checked Indian cookbooks out of the library, stared at the recipes, read about how there is really no such thing as "curry" because each and every dish has its own unique blend of spices, etc. etc. . . and that all sounds admirable and delicious but when it comes down to it I'm lazy!)
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Hey, I understand. Believe me. This is why I also use blends of spices such as unroasted curry powder, roasted curry, and garam masala. They're just a dried form of the paste. Sort of. Except they have other things, like garlic, chillies, ginger, lime, or tamarind or such in them as well - but those are all things that we always have on hand.
The only kinds of curry pastes we can actually buy here are Thai, and that's a very recent import. Have to say, though, that they also make me very happy.
Um, and I'm not Sri Lankan, so it would still be taken as heresy by the locals. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Garam masala is probably my favorite seasoning to cook with. This child is not letting me eat much of it, though. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I feel your pain. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I guess I got spoiled my last pregnancy. Indian food cravings were an excellent excuse to eat Indian food (which is very healthy, anyway, for the most part.) This time around, all I've got is an aversion to meatballs and meatloaf and severe heartburn. I mean, I crave salty foods, but I can't have those. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Seriously, I feel your pain.
Well, only sorta. It's not like I've actually gone through that.
Oh wait, yes, yes, yes I have. When I was waiting for my gallbladder surgery and I was on a stupid no-fat diet (can you say skin peels on in sheets and hair falls out in clumps, boys and girls?) and all I could eat was applesauce and jello. No skinless chicken breasts, no skim milk, not even bread.
Yeah. I feel your pain, and its name is hell. So I declare, and so it be. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Oh, most evil mistress, my suffering is but a shadow of yours. But I am weak and whiny. And so I shall whine. And eat chocolate instead.
(Which is why I've gained 4 1/2 lbs. in the last 4 weeks. )
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Eh. You're pregnant. You're supposed to gain weight.
And chocolate? That you haven't been sharing? That is not permitted! Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
But I do share.
Sometimes.
Okay, rarely.
But it happens.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
So*. We went grocery shopping yesterday. Yay!
Since I've recently started storing my spare spices in the freezer, it's opened up the opportunity to buy bigger, bigger bags of spices.
So yesterday, I tossed a 500 g bag of red chilli powder and a 500 g bag of red pepper flakes into the shopping cart. One full pound of each. I'm so happy. I won't run out for a while now.
And that's all. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Gee, aren't you glad you had the wonderful idea to store them in the freezer? Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Um, yes, yes, yes, yes I am. Thanks!
That bruise on my forehead is from me banging my head against the brick wall for not thinking of that sooner. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I was thinking of you as I made chocolate lip balm tonight.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Ooooooooh, I'm so jealous! I love that recipe. Wait, where is it? What's in it? From what I recall, I think I might even be able to make me some. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Cocoa butter, chocolate chips, oil or almond extract, and vitamin E.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Oh rats. Not, then. At least as far as I know. Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
I was thinking of this thread yesterday. At home lately I've been enjoying Patak's and other brands of sauces and modifying them and coming up with some really yummy meals. So I wanted to make some for my mom while I'm at her house in East Texas. We checked all the grocery stores in town. No sauces at all. No powdered stuff. No Indian foods of any kind. The International foods sections are all stuffed with Mexican stuff and a tiny bit of Asian foods.
Oh, but I did buy a little box of pocky, to try it. My whole family liked it.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I feel your pain. Life is just shades of grey when you don't have curries.
Do they at least have cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric, red chilli powder, and the like? With some coconut milk, lime, maybe some yoghurt or cilantro, tomatoes even, you can make some pretty good curries. More work, I'll grant you, but still possible.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
I doubt they had much of that in town. And it would have requred buying a bunch of ingredients my parents will never use again, and I wouldn't want to drag them back to Indiana with me, plus I have no recipes, so I didn't get too involved into looking for that.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Places that don't have the food selection of Indiana worry me. I mean my town is lucky, we have 4 Marsh's, 4 Kroger's, one small store of a different name owned by Marsh, two "value stores," Sam's, and 3 or four different international or health stores (Bloomingfoods, two Asian markets I can't remember, Sahara Mart, and Saraga.) But other towns aren't, and I've found in other states, they're lacking that.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Theaca, since most of those ingredients are used in Mexican and American cooking, you could probably get most of them. But if your parents don't already have them on hand, yeah, I wouldn't bother.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
I liked curried rice, otherwise i dont like the smell.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I miss my curries!!!
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
quote: So long as you didn't run out of cumin
NEVER run out of Cumin! It's the only Sumerian word left in use in common English, if not at all in English!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
And that's a reason not to run out of it? Isn't "it makes stuff taste yummy" a better one? I think it's so funny when Rachel Ray starts talking about cumin. She doesn't seem to have grown up eating it, and she seems to be enthralled with the flavor. I just kind of accept as a fact that if you're making a protein dish or a savory sauce, there will more likely than not be some cumin in it. That's how I was raised.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
The legacy of the Sumerian civilisation is at stake here, and you, you... You little ignorant Yank, worry about flavour?!
Hmm. I can see why!
(This was completely in humour. I hope it was reflected well.)
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
*smites JH with the Ketchup of Righteousness* So there!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
I had no idea cumin was a Sumerian word. Interesting.
Theaca, yeah, I can understand why it wouldn't be worth the bother. It's too bad that it won't work out. But if recipes was the only impetus you need, I'm sure I could provide you with some...
And you know what? I think I might start smiting with the Sambal Oelik of Superiority. So there!
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And I still have red chiles, black pepper, cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic, green chiles, garam masala and other such things with which to make fud.![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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What time will you be by to pick it up? I was thinking about getting to sleep soon.
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I won't run out for a while now.