The young miss finishes up her last final exams today. Summer vacation beckons. She’ll be getting home in an hour or so. Algebra is hard work, so we have a little chicken korma and fruit-flavored rice prepared to start the decompression from academics.
Over the years, I don’t bother with the fine points of preparing ghee anymore. I might skip or substitute traditional spices too. Saute coriander, cumin, garlic, and ginger in butter. Add a puree of mango (a great tenderizer for chicken), red pepper, shallots (my wife doesn’t like onions), and usually jalapeño. This mix I forgot to add the spicy stuff.
Then I fold in carrots, cauliflower, and white meat chicken pieces. Cook 25 minutes, then add chopped cashews and cilantro. Oops on the last one–we ran out of it.
I save the juice from “light” canned fruits. They say it’s pear juice from concentrate. After grilling basmati rice in olive oil with turmeric and paprika, use the juice of about a half lemon and cook as usual.
The family prefers potatoes to cauliflower, but I had the latter, not the former. The sauce was a little runny, so I threw in some potato flakes. So there: they got it after all. Again, I usually use fresh ingredients, but we’re heading out of town for a few days this weekend, and the larder is a little low on some key items.
