I tend to talk with my friends when I cook ━ no, not face-to-face or on the phone, ━ I talk to them in my head. Mostly it’s one-sided conversations, in which I do most of the talking and questions asking with them replying occasionally. Just as well, since I would be too busy tending to the pot to be an attentive listener.
Today’s question was:
Can you objectively taste the food you are cooking while cooking it?
My answer is no ━ and my friends agreed with this ━ in my head.
Alas, the (dumb one-sided) convo inspired me to write this post. A post of the random cooking-related thoughts I have. Kind of like Julie & Julia, minus the skills.
Today’s menu is Karuveppilai Eral (curry-leaves prawn) curry. It’s the first recipe I marked and tried from the Curry Guy recipe book I bought recently after declaring to Fafa that cooking curries will be one of my 2022 goals. Prawn because it’s my fave seafood, second to crab. And a curry dish from the coastal side of Tamilnadu because, well, I am a Tamil; I thought it would be somewhat familiar to my palate to start my curry gal journey with.
Familiar, it wasn’t.
The recipe required both urad dal and chana dal, which I got from the supermarket and used for cooking for the first time in my life. It’s also cited as “mildly spicy”, but even after only putting half of what’s written on the recipe (15 chillies – I only put six), it could easily be the spiciest curry I have ever made. And I think I overcooked the prawns.
The worst part, though (and in hindsight, I feel dumb for not immediately noticing) was the recipe called for 15 prawns for five people serving. That makes three prawns per person. Who eats only three prawns for a meal??? I ate three prawns during the taste testing itself.
The last one ━ and this was my own mistake ━ I misinterpreted the sizing of tamarind, and put twice as much, which made the curry super sour. I called Amma right away to rescue it; she suggested coconut cream, milk or sugar. Only after all three were added it was salvageable.
Finally, I put freshly cooked rice and the curry for an early dinner. It wasn’t good. After my fourth spoon, I realized that I forgot to put any salt in the drama of salvaging the acidity. Oh lord…
When Fafa ate the curry later, with salt added, he said it was okay ━ good even. He also liked the dal parts ━ “adds texture to the curry“, he said. But I can’t help to feel bad. Bad enough to research all about salt layering all night.
Why do I do this to myself??
Ps. when I complained about the prawn-to-people ratio to my parents, they disagreed with me! Who are these people??? Where are my parents who taught me the important values in life ━ including the amount of prawn per person per plate?
Pps. I also learned that for Tamilnadu dishes, better to put red instead of brown onions.
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The curry was great boo, also 5 prawns per head makes sense right
so you don’t want more than five yeah? okay – noted…