There's Just Something About Yogurt

     Greece - amazing is the only word for the food there. Who knew eggplant could be so delicious? Sizzling meats on the rotisserie, fresh squeezed orange juice that's as rich as eggnog, and the yogurt...you've never had yogurt until you've had it in Greece. In the morning, top it with thyme honey, and you'll never want to leave the breakfast table; you'll soon understand why the ancients had to recline.

     There is a passable substitute now. Whether it's sold in the States, I don't know, but here in British Columbia there's a fairly new yogurt on the market: The Greek Gods (brand) Greek Style Yoghurt, Honey Flavoured. It's definitely our go-to yogurt. We topped fruit salad with it last night for dessert. Vanilla or Lemon yogurts are also good for that.

     A friend who's family was Palestinian stayed with us for a while, and he loved to cook. One night he made a simple meal with cubes of beef and canned tomatoes. I watched him, and was surprised that he barely seasoned the sauce. It was just plain canned tomatoes over just plain beef - ugh. I knew it was going to be just plain awful. He ladled it over just plain white rice. How was I going to choke this stuff down? Then he topped it with yogurt. Just plain yogurt.

     It was one of the best dinners I've ever had. There's just something about yogurt.

Madras Chicken Curry - Pull Out Your Biggest Pot!

It's hard to believe how many foods I never tasted prior to adulthood - until I remember that for most of my youth I lived in a small town in South Georgia and then rural NW Florida. Taco Salad was considered ethnic cuisine. Then I married a seafarer and sailed the world for years. So I'd probably had chicken curry many times, but never made it before, when a friend, Julie, made it for dinner one night. She shared her recipe - she had relatives that were from India - and though I don't use the whole spices she does anymore, I still follow her pot-filling procedure. I simply LOVE the spice pastes made by Asian Home Gourmet. I haven't tried them all, but over time I'll review them. Indian Chicken Madras Curry is my go-to curry paste. Here's how to make a huge pot of chicken curry that beats every recipe I've tried.

2 packets Asian Home Gourmet Indian Chicken Madras Curry paste

3 tablespoons olive or coconut oil

1-3 onions - chopped - whatever you have on hand

potatoes - lots - they'll cook down - I've used as many as 8 large - chopped - I usually peel them

- you want your pot to be about half full of potatoes & onions

6-12 chicken thighs - pull skin off half of them (all, if you're being health conscious)

2 cans coconut milk

Heat oil in your largest dutch oven on med-low heat. Add spice paste and stir fry for 30 seconds or so. Add the onion & potatoes. Salt the potatoes a little. Add the chicken, then stir well with your biggest spoon to coat everything with spice paste. Cover and cook, stirring often, until chicken and potatoes are cooked through. Watch the temperature to try to avoid scorching. Once the chicken is done, add coconut milk. Continue to simmer until ready to serve - I usually let it simmer for an hour or two.

I have, on occasion, used so much chicken, onion & potatoes, that even 2 packets of spice paste wasn't flavorful enough. If that happens, I add some curry powder and garam masala from my pantry. But it's a rare occurrence.

Serve over hot basmati rice. Crosse & Blackwell's Major Grey Chutney is the best store-bought accompaniment, in my opinion. Cucumber Raita is heavenly with it. Check online for raita recipes. It's especially good if you find the curry spicier than you're used to. If you don't have time to make raita, just a dollop of plain yogurt on top will suffice to cool it down. This is, however, a mild paste, so you likely won't have that issue.

You can remove the bones as you come across them when stirring, or leave them in. But if you have leftovers, remove remaining bones before refrigerating, as my mom says the bones affect the flavor. They improve it during cooking, but make it dark & gamey if left in afterward.

Note: you can prepare this dish very quickly using boneless cubed chicken if you reduce the quantities of the ingredients and cut your potatoes a bit smaller. Follow the instructions on the back of the packet. I just personally like to let it all cook down in a huge pot and eat leftovers for days. I suppose it's my Deep South method applied to Near East cuisine.

Foreign Fare Fascination

My son was only three when we were at a Teppan-yaki restaurant in Singapore, being wined & dined by a supplier pursuing my husband’s business. I thought KJ would be fascinated watching the slicing, dicing and grilling going on right in front of him, but he quickly tired of the prawns being butterflied and the Kobe steak falling into perfect slices as blades flashed and flames blazed. Then our chef started the fried rice. Still KJ was unimpressed by the lightening fast mincing of vegetables, the skillful tossing of ingredients into the air, and the way the chef managed to keep the huge pile of rice moving the whole time. But his squirming was suddenly arrested when two large eggs appeared from under the counter; my little egg-lover was suddenly fascinated - by watching an egg fry.