Listen to the Rain

The first thing that hit me when I was coming up the stairs to our apartment was the smell. I feel like I start a lot of these blog posts talking about the smell, but I think it makes sense. It had that kind of normal curry smell when I was outside our apartment, and I didn't think much of it because there have been other occasions where I've been led astray by that. But when I got into our apartment, the smell changed completely, becoming a lot more complex and rich. The apartment smelled inviting and warm, and it instantly made me disappointed that the curry wasn't quite done and I had to wait before I ate.



Basically, this is bori curry done right. Whereas bori curry's flavors never really came together, Andhra-style mutton curry (actually short rib curry, because we can never find stew lamb) came together right from the second bite. I say the second bite rather than the first bite, because the first bite had a cardamom pod that flooded my mouth with that bitter cardamom taste and almost put me off it right away. I do love cardamom, but not usually so directly. I mentioned it to schoolpsychnerd, and she told me that it wasn't representative of the actual curry. And she was right. When it comes to food, she usually is.



Words from the Chef

I love this curry. It was a pleasure to cook! It was so easy but yielded a complex flavor where everything really blended well. I realized it used a technique that I hadn't used as well when I made my first curry from this book. I diligently stirred this curry three different times for 5 minutes each. This time the flavors all came together with occasional bites letting us pick up more cardamom or clove. Gravy is sometimes hard for me to balance. If I followed the water content exactly then I would have a very watery curry that would have to reduce for an eternity. I know this may be the point but I don't have a ton of time on Monday nights. I used a bit less water had the gravy was thicker but satisfying. I'm constantly trying to balance my love of dry curries with Brian's preferences for wetter ones. I loved it and I would make this again in a heartbeat!

The flavor was great. It was a perfect blend of the fat from the short ribs, the yogurt sauce, the curry spices, and the occasional flavor bomb as I ate another cardamom pod that I hadn't noticed before shoving another giant spoonful of curry into my mouth. I think the tomatos helped a lot to blend the flavors together. Or at least, I'm going to leap to that explanation, since bori curry didn't have any tomatos in it at all. Clearly, nightshades are the culinary equivalent of glue. Please ignore that bori curry had a bunch of potato in it.

Actually, I suspect what it really was was the explicit edition of a yogurt sauce. More things should have yogurt sauces, in my opinion. As schoolpsychnerd points out, and as I've pointed out in past posts, the sauce is one of my favorite parts of a curry.



The true sign of a good curry is that now I want to try this with some other side dishes. We were planning to put last week's curry into pita, but I decided against it when I heard that it had potatos in it. This one, though, I think would be pretty good spooned into some toasted pita and eaten. And then dip any remaining pita into the sauce. Yum!

Would I Eat It Again?: Yes!
Do I Prefer It to the Usual Thai Curry?: Hmm...I don't think so. It was good, but it wasn't that good.
What Would I Change?: I would dig out the cardamom pods beforehand to prevent another false impression.