Tomato Coconut Drumstick Curry

Lucky me! I was about to walk out of the Indian grocery store when I saw a beautiful sight - a gorgeous pile of drumstick (botanical name: Moringa Oliefera) My Indian friends call them -Munaga Kaaya). They were absolutely fresh and long- possibly the longest drumsticks I have ever  come across! I grew up eating drumstick in Malaysia. My artichoke before I knew about artichoke.

Drumstick is the seed pod of a tropical tree. The seed pod are long. Some of  the pods I purchased this time were over long as 3ft!! Longer, than any I have ever seen in Malaysia. The vendor tells me in India, they have even longer drumsticks. The pods have a triangle cross section, splits open to 3 sections with a pulpy interior with winged seeds. When cooked, you scrap the delicious pulp against your teeth like an artichoke leaf, discard the hard outer skin. I remember a rented house we lived in for awhile, where the landlord would come each month to harvest the drumstick and collect the rent. You know me - at this point, I am not just thinking about eating the drumsticks but growing them!! A healthy bundle of drumstick followed me home............

Normally, I would cook the drumstick in a sambar/ dhall type curry. I decided I wanted to try something a little different. I remembered a tomato based drumstick curry I used to eat in Malaysia. A quick harvest of curry leaves from my garden, tomatoes purchased from the Farmers Market a few days ago and frozen grated fresh coconut from the freezer and I was on my way. I served it with Basmati Pilaf

Basic Dal

Ingredients
2 cups mansoor dal (orange/ red lentil)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 pieces tamarind slices
1 tomato, roughly chopped
2 dried chilies
water to cover

oil to fry
1 teaspoon sliced ginger
1 teaspoon shredded ginger
1/2 onion chopped
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon black mustard seed
2 springs curry leaves (optional)

Method
Rinse dal in a few changes of water. Place dal in a pot with enough water to cover. Add turmeric powder, tamarind slices and chilies. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 25 minutes. Add tomatoes last 10 minutes.

Heat up a pan and add oil. Fry garlic, ginger, onion and curry leaves if used, until aromatic. Add turmeric powder and black mustard seeds. Cook until mustard seed starts to pop. Add the sauteed spice to the simmering dal and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Updated Rendang - Tok Rembau

We like to try making and eating different types of Rendang.  Rendang is a Malaysian style curry spiced with ground spices and thicken with ground toasted grated coconut. Flipping through the cookbooks we could not identify the last Rendang enjoyed. So instead, we decided to make Rendang Rembau from Negeri Sembilan. However, inspiration struck! My dear husband had just bought a box of fresh young coconut. We decided to marry Rendang Rembau with Rendang Tok from Perak, which incorporates the flesh of young coconut in their Rendang in addition to the kerisik (toasted grated coconut).

We enjoyed the Rendang although it could have been spicier. I guess winter chilies are not as spicy as those in hotter months. I will use dried chilies the next time.

Dried Pork Curry

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin, cubed.

4 inches fresh ginger, coarsely grated

1 yellow onion, halved and sliced thinly

4 garlic cloves, smashed

2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

3 pieces cinnamon sticks

10 cardamons

6 cloves

2 1/2 tablespoon ground chilli

2 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon coriander

1 teaspoon salt

a few spring curry leaves

Method

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil over medium flame. Saute sliced onion until soft and translucent. Add garlic, cinnamon sticks, cracked peppercorns, curry leaves, the ground spices and salt. Saute until fragrant, stirring to combine and making sure it does not burn. Add 1- 2 more tablespoon of oil. Add pork tenderloin cubes. Stir to coat with spices and cook until cubes are brown. Stirring occasionally. Add 4 tablespoon of yogurt to the bottom of pan, deglazing the pan of the aromatics. Lower heat, cover and simmer until pork is tender and flavors develop, approximately 20 minutes. Remove cover and cook until most of gravy has evaporated.

Serve with rice and Smoky Spiced Eggplant

NB You can use beef, lamb or chicken in place of the pork.

Nonya Curry Powder

6 tablespoons coriander seeds
4 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
4 teaspoons black peppercorns
4 cinnamon sticks (6cm lengths each)
3 cardamon pods
10 cloves
1/2 nutmeg
5 tablespoon chilli powder
5 tablespoons turmeric powder

Over low heat, roast the whole spices separately in a dry frying pan until fragrant, shake the pan or stir the contents as necessary to prevent burning. Allow the spices to cool and grind to a fine powder in a fry blender or spice mill. I use a Braun coffee grinder specially dedicated to grinding spices. Sieve for a finer texture. Combine with ground spices with the chilli and turmeric powder. Store in a dry jar in the pantry.

* heat of the curry powder depends on the chilli powder. Adjust with additional chilli powder or fresh chillies when using in recipes

Chayote and Tiger Prawn Curry

• 1 lb of Tiger Prawns
• 2 Chayote Squash, peeled and cut into slices
  
• 2 large yellow onion
• 6 pips of garlic
• 2 inch knob of ginger
• 2 stalk of lemongrass (bottom part sliced and top part crushed)
• 3 Chipotle chillies in Adobo sauce(more if you like hotter curry). I use Embasa Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce
  
• 3 teaspoon of crumbled roasted shrimp paste (belachan)
• 2 tablespoon Nonya Curry Powder or Amy Beh's Curry Powder on Kuali)
  
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil ( I use olive oil)
• 2 cans of Chaokoh brand Coconut Milk (5.6 oz or 165ml each)
  

Grind together onions, garlic, ginger, sliced lemongrass, chipotle chillies and belachan until a smooth paste. Heat oil in saute pan. Add ground fresh ingredients and crushed lemongrass stalks, fry over medium heat, stirring continuously to prevent burning. Sprinkle over curry powder, stir in and continue frying, until fragrant.Add a little more oil to assist frying if necessary.

Add chayote squash slices and fry for 2 minutes. Add coconut milk ( I used 1 1/2 cans but 2 cans can be used for more sauce). Stir. When it comes to a simmer let Chayote cook until almost just tender. Add tiger prawns and cook until just done and the prawns have the beautiful colorful red strips.

Garnish with fried sliced shallots. Serve with white or basmati rice.

**fresh or rehydrated chillies may be used in place of the Chipotle Chillie in Adobo sauce. I have found them to be convenient substitute and invaluable in my impromptu cooking sessions!***