Serves 8 people
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total time 45 minutes
The Devine Smell of Curried Rice
We’ve been fortunate that great cooks have married into our family. Two of my brothers remained on the compound after they got married, and their wives brought a whole new flavor profile to our food repertoire. Coming from different lineages in town, their families had heirloom recipes they held close to their hearts.
Many of the dishes they prepared were familiar, but cooked differently. Some of the new ones hit the spot and embedded themselves in my mind. My mother would say they were like over-whipped yucca on the gums. But one of the most unforgettable dishes was the curried rice my older brother Ibrahim’s wife, Mariam, used to cook.
Nothing lingers in the hot, humid, tropical air more than the scent of curry powder toasting in sizzling oil. It’s not an exaggeration; you could smell it a mile away.
Mariam would heat oil over a charcoal cook stove for about two minutes. Next, she would fry the bay leaves, followed by the curry powder for just a few seconds. Once the curry hit the hot oil, all the hungry kids in the yard, myself included, would flock toward the lower part of the compound where she was cooking, like vultures descending on road kill. At that point, there was nothing to do but sit there, watch, and hope to get a bite.
The aromatic smell of the curry marinated through our clothes and stuck to our hot and sweaty bodies.
I’m sure none of my siblings paid any attention to the process. They were just there for a handout. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the subtle movements of my sister-in-law’s hands grabbing and dropping ingredients from one end to the other. I knew then that connecting the way a dish is made to the fragrances it produces could one day help me to reconstruct the process.
In any case, the best part of the dish was the burnt part left at the bottom of the skillet. It was crunchy with a hint of smokiness.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, ½ inch diced
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 large potato, ½ inch diced
- 3 small carrots peeled and chopped large
- 2 cups red cabbage, cut in large pieces
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, whole
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 teaspoons curry powder
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 3 cups water
- salt to taste
Preparation
- Place chopped tomato, onion and garlic in a blender and purée to a thick paste. Remove from the blender and set aside.
- Heat onion and bay leaves in oil in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add tomato paste and curry powder, cook stirring for 1 minute.
- Stir in rice and cook for an additional minute.
- Then Add the tomato purée mixture, carrot, potato, grape tomatoes, cabbage, water and salt.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover pan with a lid. Cook for 15 minutes or until the vegetable and rice are tender.
- Remove pan from heat and let rice stand, covered for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
Tips
When pureing the tomato, onion and garlic, you can add water to the mixture if needed.