Japanese curry

 

 

When you think curry, the first place that comes to mind is probably India followed by the UK and finally South East Asia with its multicolored variations.

What many of you might not know is that curry can be considered one of Japan's national dishes due to its popularity. It is served with rice, noodles or even as a soup and can be made with an incredible range of ingredients. This extremely widespread dish was introduced by the British back in the 19th century (the British Navy used to add curry powder to their otherwise traditional stews) and has become a more Westernized version of Indian curry as a result. Curry rice is probably the most popular kind (so much so that it is commonly just called curry) and is usually made with beef, pork or chicken and vegetables like carrots, potatoes and onions (but peas and mushrooms are popular too). Although it was originally cooked by preparing a roux with flour, oil and curry powder, nowadays adding instant roux - sold in blocks or powder - to the meat and vegetable stew is the most common way to make it. The blocks look like chocolate bars and come in varying degrees of spiciness: mild, medium hot and very hot.

 

 

 

 

The first time I had Japanese curry was in the early Nineties. My flatmate had sublet her room for the summer, I was still finishing my last exams at university before summer vacation, and so for a few weeks I crossed paths with a sweet, shy Japanese girl called Keiko. She was in Milan for the summer to study fashion design and one evening she said she would make us dinner. Those were the days when there were two, maybe three Japanese restaurants in town. The Japanese food trend had not caught on yet and the strange ingredients (raw fish! seaweed!) and high prices were eyed suspiciously by my friends. When a craving for sushi hit I usually went out to dinner with an English friend but it was not something we could do that often on a student budget. Naturally, I was over the moon at the thought of eating authentic Japanese food right in my very own kitchen.

 

 

A more liquid version you could eat with noodles

 

The last thing I expected upon entering the apartment, however, was the smell of curry. Keiko smiled at my surprised expression and explained it was one of her family's favorite meals. I dug in enthusiastically and loved it from the first bite.

 

Since then it has become a favorite of mine too. Back in the day I had to go to the only Japanese food store around to buy it and it was quite pricey. Now I can pretty much buy it in any Asian grocery (which have sprung up like mushrooms alongside the many Japanese restaurants in the city - there are at least 6 of them in a 5 minute walking radius from our apartment now) for under 5 euro and can whip up an authentic Japanese meal in under an hour!

 

It is one of those perfect pantry items to always have handy: it is simple to make, it is a crowd pleaser and an inexpensive and easy option to feed a large group. If you are not a meat lover, you can make a vegetarian/pescatarian version with shrimp or your favorite vegetables.

 

Plum galette with ginger ricotta filling

 

 

Plums may have been one of the first fruits to be domesticated by humans. Remains have been found dating from the Neolithic age. They were mentioned in writing by Confucius (also, in Chinese mythology, plums are associated with age and wisdom), the Greeks and the Romans.

 

They are the most cultivated fruit in the world after apples and they come in many colors, sizes and shapes. Plums are used in both sweet and savory preparations. They can be dried, pickled and are used to make alcoholic beverages in several countries.

 

Blah, blah, blah...

 

I know. You didn't come here for this. I mean, these facts may have been interesting and even amusing (in a nerdy-foodie kinda way), but this? This is just boring. Stuff you already know, and if you don't, maybe it is because you don't particularly care to know it.

Am I right?

 

I did want to tell you something... it's just that...

 

...

 

... my mind is a total blank...

 

For the life of me, I cannot come up with one single amusing or entertaining thing to write today.

 

 

 

 

 

But I have a dessert for you that I am just dying to share. I want to tell you about it even if I don't have a cutesy preamble for you. After all, this is a food blog, is it not?

 

So I am going to cut right to the chase and give you the recipe for a delightful, very seasonal, rustic yet elegant galette to make with your overabundance of plums.

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



 

 

Smoked salmon and scallion cream cheese pinwheels

 

 

 

I know that for a lot of people who love to cook being on vacation means lots of time to prepare food for family and friends. They like to spend long mornings at local markets sourcing for ingredients they cannot find as good, as cheap - or at all in many cases - back home. They never leave home without their knives or some other favorite kitchen tool or essential ingredient. They relax firing up the barbecue or mixing large carafes of frozen cocktails.

 

I often entertain such Martha Stewart fantasies about moving at ease around a kitchen in Provence, French windows open on a garden where the children quietly play hide and seek behind the bushes and trees, a light flowing skirt swirling just above my tanned bare feet. A pinch of tarragon here, a drizzle of dry white wine there...

 

The reality, however is very different: I rarely cook consistently on vacation, especially summer vacation.

 

When we visit my husband's side of the family, there is no doubt about who reigns in the kitchen. I humbly hand over my scepter wooden spoon to my mother in law and busy myself with other things.

 

 

 

 

If we travel to the States every day is a whirlwind of friends and family to catch up with. We eat out up to twice a day sometimes and when we are home I spend a lot of time trying to contain my jet lagged, overexcited and overtired kids while my stepmother cooks up a delicious meal. Or we do what so many other fellow countrymen do: order in.

 

When visiting my mother, things are pretty much the same, minus the jet lag. Although, come to think of it, given Spanish hours, perhaps we should put jet lag back into the equation. There are lots of meals in restaurants and even more at family/friends' houses since the kids. When we do eat in, my mom takes care of the food while I, like the Cat in the Hat, save a vase with my left hand and a silver ashtray with my right while shouting at the kids for the umpteenth time to leave the dead snails and those piles of almonds, carobs and overripe figs outside of the front door please, not inside.

 

When we are on our own, by the time we get our tired, salty, sandy selves back from a long day at the beach, the most I can get myself to do is open a cold cerveza for my marido and myself and put some jamon, sobrasada and manchego out on the table for the niños, perhaps accompanied with some anchovy-filled olives and a glass or bowl of gazpacho.

 

This means that by the time I get back I am dying to get my hands chopping and slicing again and simultaneously a little rusty.

 

 

 

 

If you are feeling a little out of practice too, here is a really simple starter you can make in a matter of minutes. This is the perfect appetizer if you are on a no-carb mission after overeating during the holidays. Or, like us, you sometimes just miss a good NY sesame bagel with Nova and scallion cream cheese.

 

I made this following a mish-mash of different recipes online. Most of them said to refrigerate the roll for about an hour before cutting. That wasn't enough for me, so I stuck it into the freezer for another half hour and that made the process a lot less messy.

I'm back

Back to real life again. While I find my bearings, here are some snapshots (all with my phone, almost all without filters thanks to the beautiful Mallorcan light) from our lovely vacation (if you haven't already seen them on Instagram or Facebook - see sidebar to follow me on either or both).

 

 

 

Peaches 'n' cream (no-cook) ice cream

 

 

 

It is late in the afternoon. The shutters are half closed, a woman lies on a bed covered in a patina of sweat, her tanned limbs splayed over tangled white sheets. A ceiling fan hums quietly above her.

 

If this is were one of those movies set somewhere in the tropics in the Fifties, she would be the sultry love interest, shining with a post-coital glow. But this is Milan, summer 2013. And that lady is me. I lie sprawled on my bed, gasping for air like a fish out of water, my bangs stuck to my forehead and my hair scrunched up unattractively on the top of my head while my kids chase each around noisily in their underwear, my son resembling one of the Village People in his briefs and hard hat, my daughter in panties and costume jewelry (less is more, as Coco would have said).

The awareness that we will be lying on sandy shores and swimming in crystal clear waters soon undoubtedly makes the high 30's and suffocating humidity much more endurable.

 

 

 

In the meantime, however, we have been battling the August heat however we could this past week.

On the week end we discovered a corner of paradise that I am fondly reminded of whenever I look at the blisters on my feet, brush against the sunburn on my shoulders or feel my sore thigh muscles. Mental note: maybe it isn't just the heat that is keeping DH stubbornly turned the other way in the marital bed.

I have been making lots of iced tea, the latest with rooibos, which *round of applause* I found at my local the supermarket.

Then I made ice cream using an ideal recipe because it did not require standing next to a hot stove stirring the custard base.

 

 

 

 

When you use a Ben & Jerry's recipe, you usually know you are going to get a good result, even when it is so hot that your Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment has trouble freezing the cream (at one point it actually started melting and I had to quickly mix in the peaches and put it in the freezer) and when you invert the amounts of milk and cream (because you don't have enough of the latter). If you manage to churn the ice cream all the way and use that extra cup of cream (because I am giving you the original quantities), you will be in for an even creamier delight than ours.

 

 

 

Recipe from Ben & Jerry's

Ingredients (makes 1 quart)
4 small ripe peaches, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
1 to 1/4 cup sugar (depending how ripe the peaches are)                 

juice of 1/2 lemon

3 eggs (or 2 large)                  

2 cups cream

1 cup milk               

 

Combine peaches, 1/2 cup of sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours, stirring the mixture a few times.

 

Drain the juice into another bowl and return peaches to fridge.

 

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, add the remaining sugar a little at a time and whisk until completely blended.

 

While whisking, pour in the cream, the milk and then the peach juice until blended.

 

Transfer the mixture to your ice cream maker and freeze following manufacturer's instructions.

 

When the ice cream ice ready, add the peaches and freeze for a few hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you leave extra space for in your expat suitcase?

We're back!

 

Our trip to NYC was shorter than usual but we managed to condense everything that really matters to us into one week.

 

 

 

There were visits to several museums and even an interactive NYFD event with CPR training thrown in for good measure (plus a couple of coveted shiny red fire fighter helmets and flasks).

 

 

James Turrell

 

 

 

  

There was plenty of delicious food, including the caloric must-eats that were burned off running in Central Park.

 

Chelsea Market

  

 

Wondee Siam

 

 

 

 

There were long walks downtown and lots of things to see, some more complicated to explain to the kids than others.

 

 

 

 

Three-layer vegetarian Mexican dip (or tortilla filling)

 

 

Why didn't anyone tell me how good layered dips are? Did you know?

 

I mean, I've seen enough of them them on blogs and Pinterest to imagine people were on to something. But never in my wildest dreams did I think the whole would so exceed the sum of the parts.

 

Sure, it is summer'n'all and we all like some guac and chips with a cold bear. But this is so much more, plus it solved an embarassing urge I get. I know I am not alone, I know you are out there to comfort me and let me know it happens to everybody all the time.

 

You know how, when you grab a tortilla chip, you can't decide what bowl to dip it into first? How you want to forget everything your mama ever taught you and dunk that corn chip into all three dips, one after the other, and then noisily snarf them up, all at once?

 

Crickets.

 

No?

 

 

  

Come on, I know there are some closet triple-dippers out there, so if that is you, problem solved. This recipe combines all of those Mexican flavors you love and crave in one tortilla chip scoop. Or if you are filling a tortilla with it, in one large spoonful.

 

The earthiness of the black beans, the luscious creamy green of the avocado, the zestiness of lime, the zingyness (ok, I just made that up) of cilantro, the little nuggets of ripe red tomatoes and the crunch from the spring onion, the heat from the chili and the fresh, tangy flavor of sour cream all in one bite.

 

I came out, I did it for you my friends. Now follow suit or make yourself a hefty portion and hide in your kitchen wolfing it down. I don't care, just do it.

 

We are flying across the pond tomorrow for a little over a week. I don't know if I will be posting, but you can catch up on our whereabouts and adventures on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (see side bar). 

 

 

Ingredients

 

black bean puree

black beans

olive oil

salt

lime juice

crushed chili peppers or black pepper

cumin (optional)

garlic (optional)

 

guacamole
For ingredients and recipe see here

sour cream
as much as you like

tortilla chips (to make your own, healthy version, see link above)

You  may have noticed I did not give specific amounts for the bean puree. Just add the ingredients to taste, according to how much you want to make. I cooked a whole pack of black beans the day before and used about at 2 cups of cooked beans to make it.

 

If you are using dried beans, pick through them discarding any little stones you might find. Soak them for about 12 hours or overnight with lots of water. I changed the water a couple of times, but this is not  a necessary step. I just did because the water got very dark and murky. Drain and place in a saucepan with plenty of water (I added a few garlic cloves and some toasted cumin for flavor) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, making sure the water continues to boil and cook until tender. Skim any foam off of the top of the pot with a slotted spoon. Add salt when the beans are almost cooked, they say they get tough if you salt  them at the beginning. I, however, have never verified this personally. When the beans are ready drain them, reserving a cup of the cooking water and few beans to add into the puree later on for texture.

 

Transfer the beans to a food processor. Add some olive oil and a little cooking water (as much as you like, depending on how thick you want your dip). I actually added some warm tap water as I had cooked the beans the day before. Puree until very smooth and then season with salt, some black pepper or crushed chili and the juice from a lime (or more or less). Mix in the reserved whole beans. Transfer to a bowl or large serving dish.

 

Prepare the guacamole following the link above and then top with some extra olive oil, chopped coriander and sour cream. Sprinkle over some more pepper or crushed chili peppers.

 Serve with tortilla chips or use to fill warm tortillas, with extra beans and chunks of avocado.