THE `PERFECT’ CURRY!

I was watching an episode of Junior Masterchef Australia, where the kids were asked to cook the perfect curry. Is there a 'perfect' curry? I wondered. As a matter of fact, is there a perfect anything?

There are so many versions of curry. Each, different in flavor and texture... Curries made with spices and ground coconut, curries made with onions and tomatoes, curries made with ground onions and tomatoes, curries made with coconut milk... The Sri Lankan curries differ from the Goan curries or the Thai curries... Each region of Asia has a unique take on their curry.

Let's take an Indian curry for example... There are so many versions of Butter Chicken in restaurants in India alone, and each different from the other. Butter Chicken is a dish the Punjabis are proud of. And they will vouch the Butter Chicken made in theri homes is better than any Butter Chicken. One of my hardcore Punjabi friends laughed when he recently saw the judges on Masterchef go gaga over a contestants' Butter Chicken! To him, that dish was anything but a butter chicken!

As blasphemous as this sounds, I couldn't stand the Thai curry at The Thai Pavillion at the prestigious 5 Star President hotel in Mumbai! So much so, it put me off Thai food, until I made my first trip to Thailand. When I ate the Thai curries and the Tom Yum soups there, I was instantly a Thai convert!

I've eaten some of the best and authentic curries, butter chicken, dal makhanis in small, obscure restaurants. I truly believe the gourmet restaurants make the dishes sound exotic and make them look beautiful, but most of the times, it lacks the taste that one associates with that particular dish. For example, I love the Kaali Dal or Dal Makhani at this small restaurant in Bandra, called Mini Punjab. I would rate it better than the Dal Makhani in most 5 or 7 Star restaurants here. I'm a Goan food fanatic, but each time I go, finding the perfect prawn curry or fish curry is a mission. Most restaurants in Goa hire cooks from the North who have their own take on the supposed Goan curry. You really have to find the right places to find the right curries. 

Each person thinks the curry in their home or their establishment is the best... Like my friend Warren claims his grandmother makes the best Goan food. No one else comes close to her cooking, not even his mother! So, the 'perfect' curry is actually quite debatable.

Anyway, all this talk of curry inspired me to cook one. A curry, that has never been cooked in my household... not by my grandparents, my mother or me... It's a curry where I just made with my own imagination and what my palette wanted to taste! And since I was dying to eat beef, I decided to cook beef curry! 

BEEF CURRY 

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Beef, cut into cubes

3 potatoes, skin on, halved

2 medium Onions, sliced

5 cloves garlic

1 ginger, around 1 inch

5 Tbsps. grated, fresh Coconut

4-5 dried Kashmiri red chillies

2 Tbsps. coriander seeds

1 Tsp. cumin seeds

2 large, black cardamoms

3 green cardamoms

3 cloves

1 large (one inch) piece of cinnamon

1 star anise

1 Tsp. Fennel seeds

1 Tsp. Black Peppercorns

1 dry Bay leaf

A small, lemon sized ball of Tamarind

Salt to taste

2 Tbsps. Vegetable Oil

A handful fresh cilantro/coriander leaves, chopped

Method:

Wash and cut beef and keep aside.

In a pan, heat one tsp. oil and add the grated coconut. Roast it till it's nice and brown. Keep aside to cool. In the same pan, add one sliced onion and roast it till it's brown. Keep it with the coconut. Dry roast the red chilies, coriander seeds, garlic, ginger and all other spices individually and mix with the coconut. 

Grind the coconut and the spice mixture to a fine paste with tamarind. 

In a pressure cooker, heat oil and add the remaining sliced onions. Sauté till it is translucent and add the ground masala. Fry nicely and add beef and potatoes. Shut cooker and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves and serve with steaming hot rice.