Sunday, October 29, 2006

Curry Good? Good

Well, I'm just tickled that there is a study showing that something is good for you. That's right, it's seems curry is good for your brain. Of course the sticks in the mud at Center for Science in the Public Interest will immediately set to work on proving that Indian food is too greasy so eat all you can before the next study comes out. From the article:

In their study, Dr. Tze-Pin Ng from National University of Singapore and colleagues compared scores on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) for three categories of regular curry consumption in 1,010 nondemented Asians who were between 60 and 93 years old in 2003.

Most of the study subjects consumed curry at least occasionally (once every 6 months), 43 percent ate curry at least often or very often (between monthly and daily) while 16 percent said they never or rarely ate curry.

After taking into account factors that could impact test results, they found that people who consumed curry "occasionally" and "often or very often" had significantly better MMSE scores than did those who "never or rarely" consumed curry.
What could be better? Food that makes you smart - well, that makes you less dumb anyway. (and I've always aspired to be nondemented)

Want an dead easy curry dish? It's a mild enough curry to serve to kids; just skip the garam masala for the younger ones. Here's something I make often:

Chicken Curry

1 13.5 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
2.5 oz Patak’s Mild Curry Paste
1 to 1.5 lb Chicken breast
1 tbs. Cornstarch to thicken (or I’ll use roux)
Garam Masala to taste

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and brown on medium high
heat 2-3 minutes per side.

Pour in coconut milk and add about 1/4 of the 10 oz jar of curry paste.
(this is to taste, you may prefer more, or less, curry paste) Bring up
to simmer and finish cooking the chicken for 8 or so minutes.

Thicken with cornstarch (mix cornstarch with water first to form a paste) or
roux. If you use cornstarch, you have to be sure not to overheat the sauce.
With either cornstarch or roux, you have to come back up to simmer in
order for the thickening to occur.

I like roux, though it’s not the Indian way to thicken a sauce. Mix a melted stick
of butter with roughly a cup of flour. Gently simmer for 10 or 12
minutes-- it should become blond, or golden in color. Then save what
roux you don’t use in a small container in the refrigerator. It will keep for weeks
and you can use a fork to break off a piece any time it’s needed.

Sprinkle Garam Masala to taste (1-2 tsp) and serve on basmati or jasmine rice.

1 comments:

lumberjack said...

Tim Curry would work, just prepare as you would Tim Conway and simmer until tender.

And of course if you're unfamiliar with either of them.... their flavor is very much like Tim Robbins only with much less of a smug flavor, and without the self-righteous aftertaste.

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