allison makes curry

inspired by cliff, and turned off by the idea of eating yet another uninspired stirfry, i decided to try my hand at making indian curry. cliff was gracious enough to give me a bag of curry powder, cardamom seeds, and a stick of cinnamon to get me started. i topped off my budding spice collection with a small bag of coriander, cumin seed, and bay leaves.

the recipe directs the cook to grind the roasted spices into a "powder" either with a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. I have neither of those items. instead, i wrapped my little jar of black pepper in a plastic bag and in vain ground the end of the jar into the spices, trying to make my spices as powder like as possible. in particular, it was tricky to smash the little balls of coriander into a finer form. after awhile, i gave up and was resigned to the idea of having to eat around the coriander, or highest of all hopes, that the spices might disintegrate during the cooking process.

an hour later, my curry was done and i was happily spooning it over white rice. it's not bad, though i think i need to get my hands on a spice grinder, put less peppers in it, and add potatoes and carrots. all in all, i am decently pleased with my first attempt at chicken curry.