Veronica's Green Curry

As a girl in 1960’s India, my mother-in-law Veronica slept on the floor with six brothers and sisters, as was customary for children. In the morning they rolled away sleeping mats to free their living space and ate a traditional crepe with a chutney of coconut, chili and lime. Rice and moong beans were ground on stone and fermented daily by servants to make these dosai. This was before automatic grinders and blenders were commonplace and meal preparation was labourious. School lunches were cooked mid-morning and collected by a dabbawala who piled stainless steel boxes of rice, lentils and stewed vegetables on her head and walked them to school. Once lunch was eaten, the boxes were gathered and returned to each student’s residence. The logistics were complicated, yet expertly executed. Spices were freshly ground with a pestle and mortar in the evening to make vegetable-based curries for dinner. Meat, such as goat and lamb, was enjoyed once a week as were prawns or fish that were bicycled in from the coast and local rivers. All of this might be washed down with a glass of milk collected from the neighbour’s cow.

Families of even average wealth employed servants to help with cooking and housework. Like the dabbawalas, they were women contributing to their family’s income. They ground spices and prepared meals under the direction of Veronica’s mother, who decided the menu and provided ingredients and instruction. Once a month she fed her seven children their dinner by hand from a communal plate. This custom connected the family through a meal the way we might convene over a Sunday roast. In later, leaner years her mother cooked every meal and Veronica began the arduous task of grinding flour for the morning dosai. When she was 18, a boy attending a nearby mechanic school tried to win her affections. He would sit and talk to her while she worked smoothing grains of rice against the stone of an aattukkal. Three years later they would emigrate to Canada together.

It wasn’t until I was pregnant with Lila that both Shane and I tried her green curry for the first time. It was deliciously tart and spicy. Unlike most of Veronica’s cooking which is learned from her husband’s family or out of Canadian cookbooks, this is her mother’s recipe. The name ‘curry’ may be misleading as the only spices are a dash of tumeric and black pepper, but the flavour is robust and distinctly South Indian. I ask Veronica to make it every time she visits and I’ve made it enough times that my husband can’t tell a difference between chefs (or so he says). It’s a fairly simple dish so a good place to start exploring Indian cooking, which is like learning another language. If only I had the same zeal and work ethic it takes to pulverize rice and beans by hand, I’d be fluent in no time. But Veronica is cut from tougher cloth than me.

Veronica’s Green Curry

3 tbsp oil
1 1/2 lb tougher cut beef like flank steak or round cut into small strips. Could also substitute any lean meat like venison or pork loin
3 waxy potatoes like yukon gold sliced into rounds
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
½ cup water
1 1/2 inch ginger chopped into bits
1 hot green chili
2 large green peppers
4 cloves garlic
1 yellow onion
½ tsp turmeric
¼ cup cilantro, packed
1 ½ tsp pepper
Salt to taste

Season meat generously with salt and pepper. Keep 1 tsp pepper aside.

Heat oil on medium high heat in dutch oven and brown the meat. Meanwhile put green peppers, onion, garlic, ginger, chili and cilantro in blender and blend until smooth. Once the meat is browned, dump the contents of the blender into the pot. Rinse out blender with the water and add to the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding small amounts of water at a time if sauce becomes too dry.

Season to taste with salt. It requires a fair amount. Add turmeric and stir. Add potatoes and cover to simmer for an additional 20 minutes or until tender and bitterness of turmeric is gone. Add vinegar and reserved pepper and cook for another minute or 2. Serve with rice and raita (recipe follows).

Raita

*This raita only has 3 ingredients but is delicious. Sometimes the simplest things are the best.

1 medium yellow, finely minced
2 cups 6% yogurt
Generous amount of salt to taste. It starts to take on a bit of a sweet flavour when enough salt has been added. Start with 1 tsp.

Mix ingredients together and let sit for 30 minutes before serving