The "Curry Coast"

Best cooking day ever! In a day of personal indulgence I spent all Friday, 10am to 6pm cooking. Delightfully delicious!

Diced chiles and onions for the Avial

I have to give mad food props to the Demeber issue of Food and Wine, from whence all my recipes were stolen. The article is about this small inn/farm in Southwester Indian and in predictable modern foodie writing talks just enough about the land and people to set the scene for the food. Check it out,

For me the odd name evokes a dreamy paradigm of south India—an arch of vermilion bougainvillea blossoms, the sheen of lake waters interrupted by a dugout’s narrow wake and, above all, the blissful silence, broken only by birdsong, the chatter of women washing clothes along the shore and the chants from a Hindu temple across the canal.

What could be better? The food, silly! For the feasty goodness I made "Red Fish (tofu) Curry," "Curry with Potatoes and Squash," "Anu's Avial" and "Indian-spiced String Beans." Huzzah!

Pineaplle and spices

The dishes were quite good, but very different from what you're probably familiar with around Indian food. Lots of coconut, curry leaves and fresh green chiles. All the dishes were pretty fast and didn't take too much prep work--so it was cool to be able to make so many for one dinner.

I think the best one turned out to be the red tofu curry, which was sour and spicy from the tamarind in it. I replaced the called-for fish with tofu because to make it vegetarian and it turned out quite well.

Curry leaves, pepper and mustard seeds frying

Another winner was the Anu's Avial which was a vegetable and coconut mash but with no mashing, if that makes sense. It was delicious and coconutty.

Yogurt mixed into the Avial to make it tangy delicious

All in all it was a yummy success!