Author: me

I love being a hack of a cook. I have no shame in blending cultures and flavors. My latest was Curry Sacrilege blending a traditional Thai Yellow curry with a Indian Madras flavors. It made a perfect meal prep for the onset of cooler weather. The reality is I did not have the ingredients to make either traditionally, so why sacrifice. Tasty curry is all I care about.

I don’t peel my potatoes! I started out thinking traditional Japanese style curry because a friend taunted me with a photo of a recent batch he had made. I decided against the more traditional brown gravy of the Japanese style and went for the Thai Yellow, but was missing some ingredients. Also blending curry powder from scratch you can make it yours.

• 1 pound beef cut into chunks
• 500g potatoes washed but not peeled
• 500g carrots
• 2 small white onions
• Garlic to taste or a ton.
• Fresh Ginger
• 1 and 1/2 bell peppers
• Juice of one lime
• 1 can of coconut milk.
• I wish I had lemon grass
• homemade curry powder

Curry powder

I blended my own curry powder by adding the list below into my mini chop food processor and blitzing it until a fine powdered consistency.

• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp Fennel seeds
• 2 tsp of Indian three chili powder.
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder

Curry process

I had the chuck portioned and pre-cut into chunks in the freezer so I defrosted it naturally and then added one thumb sized piece of grated ginger, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, juice from 1/2 of the lime, and 1 tablespoon of mirin to marinate the meat. I would have added the missing lemongrass at this time chopped into a fine mess or grated like the ginger.

While the meat marinated I prepared all the vegetables by washing and cutting into bite size pieces. I don’t know why I peel my carrots, but not my potatoes. I also used the mini chop to make a garlic paste as it was already dirty from the curry powder. Normally I would have just chopped the garlic.

Brown the beef in oil or ghee. I used a combination of ghee and coconut oil as is my preference but vegetable oil would work. Once the meat is browned on the outside add the onions and garlic. saute slightly and then add the curry powder to bloom all the spices in the oils.

Once the spices are very fragrant add the coconut milk and the vegetables. Hot water or stock can be added to cover slightly and them simmer for at least 30 minutes until potatoes and carrots are firm but tender. Bell peppers can be added at this time as well as any spice additions like salt or i touched it up with a bit of Madras curry powder to add a bit more heat. I also added the juice from the remaining 1/2 of lime at this time to ensure the lime flavor was bright and came through a bit. 5 or so more minutes until the bell peppers are tender and portion out for meal prep.

Served with rice to double up on the winter starches.

I love the fall as it is time to bake. I only do it in the fall as with an electric oven it heats up the whole house which can postpone the need for a heater here in Texas. I got to test 3 different types of yeast breads. I wish I could bake regularly so I could keep a sourdough starter alive, but I am just too inconsistent to keep one alive and healthy with baking bread once or twice a year weather permitting. I’ll continue to make the sponge with Active Dry Yeast as the shelf life on that still amazes me.

Low Hydration

The first loaves were low hydration at about 50%, which is expected with 100 percent whole wheat flour. I find it hard to make a full hydration with the extra bran. This bread came out almost like an Irish brown bread, but was a full yeast dough and not a baking soda and baking powder bread. Great flavor and mouth feel but very dense and a very firm crumb, with hardly any rise. so hard to make loaves with a dough this stiff.

High Hydration bread

The next set of loaves were a full high hydration almost 68% hydration. I mixed it 50/50 with bread flour and 100% whole wheat. It made almost the perfect crumb for my taste. Light and airy with a firm mouth feel. It also retained the full whole wheat flavor without sacrifice. You can see the comparison with the low hydration(roundish slice) on the plate below.

Is Skillet cooking flatbread really baking?

I also threw in some Pita breads into the rotation. I cooked them in the cast iron skillet instead of the oven stone. I prefer the oven stone but it has to be down right cold to cook with the oven door open and on full tilt. I refuse to run the A/C on high just to heat the house with the oven. Maybe a pizza oven could resolve this baking outside.