Jac: A packet of minced mutton had been languishing in the freezer for a while and in the lazy waking pre-breakfast hours of Sunday morning I’d been concocting gleeful designs on it; minced mutton curry to be specific even though Bran had bought it with an Italian slant in mind. Aping Bran’s modus operandi (Bran: Monkey see, monkey do? ), I used no measurements whatsoever which was unusual as I’m a stickler for precise recipes given that cooking is hardly my forte (Murphy’s Law is especially strong when I cook). So in no particular order and sans measurement, this is what I did:

Minced Mutton Curry

A packet of minced Australian mutton

Baba’s Meat Curry Powder

Potato’s cubed

An assortment of spices:

- cinnamon (kayu manis),

- star anise

- cardamom seeds

- cloves

Curry Leaves

Chopped onions and garlic

1. Fry the chopped onions, garlic and dry spices with some curry leaves in a little oil until fragrant.
2. add in the mutton and cubed potatoes
3. Form a paste by mixing the curry powder with a little water and add to the pot
4. Add some water and let it bubble away until potatoes are cooked
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Add more salt to taste.
7. Frown, scratch forehead and rub chin agitatedly when after the 5^th salt adding attempt, the taste still isn’t right.
8. Throw up hands in despair, garnish with some fresh curry leaves and serve.
9. Sigh repeatedly during meal.
10. Accept bf’s praise with silent scepticism (Bran: It really did taste like Mahbub’s minced mutton curry!).
11. Let it go. Life goes on even if my curry ain’t mean enough.

Jac: In retrospect I believe the problem with the curry was the ratio of the spices and the other ingredients. So next time I’ll promise to use a recipe and stick to it to a T and see what happens. In contrast Bran’s Indian style turmeric cabbage was as authentic as it gets (Bran: More Indian than Indian?:)

Bran: The existence of giant cloves and star anise pods was a minor quibble, I liked the curriness of the curry and was instrumental in the application of maybe a bit more curry powder than was necessary. In any case, I will remember to remind Jac to grind the spices first next time.

Indian Turmeric Cabbage (modeled after the kind seen in Mamak restaurants)

Ingredients:

Cabbage, because I like my cabbage, half a head

Turmeric, a teaspoon or more, depending on how yellow you like your cabbage

Mustard Seeds, a teaspoon

A bit of curry powder

Half of a large onion, chopped

Curry leaves, I love my curry leaves

Salt to taste, some versions are salty, some aren’t, it’s entirely up to you

1. Heat up some oil in a wok and dump Mustard seeds in – don’t fry them for too long, they burn easily

2. Put onions in and sweat them out

3. Add cabbage together with the turmeric and curry and mix vigorously

4. Turn the heat down and stir fry till the cabbage is nice and soft. Else, put a lid on it and come back later.

In case you were wondering, the first picture shows 2 cups filled with an unidentified liquid. The unidentified liquid is actually Mango Lassi out of an off the shelf (fridge to be more exact) bottle from the supermarket.

Conclusion:

Bran: It was a good attempt at currification – I eagerly anticipate v1.1 of Jac’s Minced Mutton Curry, as well as v1.1 of my Turmeric Cabbage, which I believe could still use a bit of tuning.