Sunday 22 March 2015

Curry Girls



As promised, this Saturday was curry day at Erenler Sofrası. Dina and Angie led 6 keen students step by step through the preparation of lamb vindaloo, butter chicken, samosas, raita, pumpkin and spinach dal and saffron and cardamom dessert.  We willingly peeled, chopped, diced and stirred in anticipation of the evening's feast.


Despite the cool weather, the benefits of an outdoor kitchen became obvious as the heady aromas wafted from the bubbling saucepans.


For most of us cooking is a solitary occupation so it was great fun to cook alongside others and we all enjoyed a good chat as we wielded our knives.



I would have liked to put a photo of the finished banquet here but hunger and greed took over and we had almost cleared the plates by the time I thought to grab my camera.



Dina's Vindaloo Paste
Dry roast a handful each of green and black cardamom, whole black pepper, coriander seeds , cumin seeds  and a cinnamon stick with pinch of fenugreek, cloves and bay leaves, then grind to a powder.   
In a food processor blitz 3 green chilli peppers, a peeled garlic bulb, 10cms fresh ginger, the spice mixture, a tbsp tumeric, a cup of white vinegar (a little water if needed) to a paste.   Add  jalapeno peppers to make hotter if required.
 This paste keeps well in the fridge and I recommend you keep a large jar on hand.  Just add to sautéed onions, any meat of your choice and tomatoes and cook until the meat is tender and the curry has given up a layer of oil on the surface. 


20 comments:

  1. What a nice glimpse into our fab day. Thanks for writing up such a concise version of Dina's Vindaloo..and then, too, for sharing with us, of course!

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  2. B to B, Sounds like a wonderful class. Wish I could have been there. I used to cook Indian food quite often in the U.S., but here I got lazy because it wasn't easy to find critical ingredients like fresh ginger and coriander. But lately, most of our manavs are carrying these items so there's no excuse. Thanks for the recipe.

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    1. I used to be the same, but now we can get everything, even popadoms.

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  3. I remember Dina's curries well - delicious!

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  4. That looked a lot of fun...and the state of the plates spoke for the quality of the outcome.

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  5. . . just enjoyed a home curry brought round by a friend - we supplied the rice, condiments and loads of wine - nuff said!

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  6. Can you get black cardamons in Bodrum? We had difficulty getting them in London but were fortunate to find some in Luton. I am sure that we will run out soon, though. As for coriander leaf, I can't even grow it here. Not in sufficient quantity so I've learned to do without it!

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    1. Our Aktar has them sometimes. I can grow spindly coriander but if I plant enough seeds, I can make a few curries. It is also sold fresh in Metro in Bodrum sometimes.

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  7. What a brilliant day you all had. Sadly vindaloo is much too hot for me and now I see why. :)

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    1. I used to think the same and avoid Vindaloos but this was delicious

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  8. Looks like great fun...and the results of all that hard work were obviously fabulous.

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  9. What a fabulous feast; cooking with friends is very memorable, afiyet olsun you all : )
    Ozlem

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  10. It looks that you had good fun. Love curry btw, surely it was delicious!

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    1. Thanks for commenting. Your apartment in Turkey is very close to where I live in the summer.

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