Potato & seafood curries

Rice and two curries

One thing that I miss about Brisbane is the food. Sure it's not as deeply populated by little exotic food corners as Sydney or Melbourne but it is my second home. There's this great restaurant that serves Malaysian and Singaporean fares called Little Singapore. Little Singapore started off in a little shop in Sunnybank's Market Square (before the square burnt down a few years ago) but since the opening, business has been thriving and they now have a branch in the city. My absolute favourite from this place is the butter chicken, which is deep fried chicken chunks accompanied by... wait for it... crispy curry leaves. Yeah, those green goodness rocked my world. Anyway, so when I saw curry leaves in the market the other day, I knew I had to have them despite not having any real plan on what to make. I'm sure they taste great with anything.

Fried curry leaves, mmmm...

So today, I got my act together and decided to make 2 types of curries with them and some potatoes and seafood. The first curry is Japanese curry. What exactly is Japanese curry? " (Japanese) Curry sauce (カレーソース, karē sōsu) is served on top of cooked rice to make curry rice. Curry sauce is made by frying together curry powder, flour and oil, along with other ingredients, to make roux (ルー, rū); the roux is then added to stewed meat and vegetables, and then simmered until thickened" (Wikipedia).

Japanese curry

Like most people, I used a curry sauce mix that are readily available in the supermarkets and it cuts out most of the work. All I needed to do was cube the carrot and potato, caramelize some sliced onions and add in the mix and fresh seafood. In other words, follow the instruction on the packet. :P

The second is a dry potato and seafood curry and this one is a quick easy to make do-it-your-self curry.

Ingredients

• a handful of curry leaves, rinsed and dried
• 1 teaspoon of dried chilli (you could increase the amount if you like your food spicy)
• 1 big potato, cubed
• 200 g of marinara mix
• 2 teaspoons of curry powder
• salt and white pepper for seasoning
• a handful of chopped spring onions
• a handful of fresh coriander, torn

First, boil potatoes and drain. Then heat up your pan or wok on medium high heat and chuck in 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 teaspoons of butter. It will start to froth up. Chuck in the curry leaves and dried chilli and just fry them for about a minute or so, after which you can chuck in the marinara mix and curry powder. Stir fry until the fish is done (they become opaque when done), add potatoes. Continue to stir fry and season with salt and white pepper, making sure that the potatoes are well mixed. Add spring onion and turn off the fire after 1 minute. Serve hot and top with coriander.

Rice and two curries

I made a neat mango skin bowl to contain the dry curry. Aesthetic aside, I think it adds an extra flavour to the dish and they're in season. Here's how to make one. Slice off the cheeks of a mango, then score criss-cross pattern on the flesh and scoop out the flesh using a tablespoon. Next, slit one side of the mango skin and pierce a little hole on each side of the slit. Thread a curry leave through it to form a bowl. Voila!

Mango cheek bowl