Last night, I made the most perfect massaman curry! I've found this great Chinese grocery store in Düsseldorf called Ho's, and they have the dangerously hot kind of chilis, sweet potatoes, those little round green eggplants, FRESH TOFU (holy crap, I was tempted) and sweet Thai basil. Of course, they have much more than that, but those are just samplings of the supplies necessary for Asian cooking they provide. Anyway, yesterday I decided that I was in the mood for curry--I'd bought massaman curry paste a few months ago, and hadn't even opened it yet. So I headed out to Ho's and picked up some supplies I was lacking: tofu (packaged, but still locally made), sweet basil, Thai jasmine rice, ginger, a purple-skinned sweet potato,  package of about 30 chilies, tiny onions (this is a little embarrassing, but I thought they were shallots because I grabbed them really quickly without looking as I was getting into the insanely long line behind three guys buying 50 Euros worth of bok choy). All of it only cost me around 8 Euros--a total steal!

Got home, cooked, and loved it. This is really the first time I've eaten home-made Thai curry since I left the U.S., and it was sooo unbelievably comforting. Here's a recipe (sort of), if anyone cares:

1 nice knob of fresh ginger, peeled

8 or 9 tiny red onions (or use three shallots, like I wanted to do)

3 Tablespoons curry paste (doesn't have to be massaman, as this isn't really authentic massaman curry, anyway)

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 cup coconut milk (or more--personal preference thing)

A little water (you might need it to thin the curry out at some point)

Salt (if you add water, you will probably need to add a bit of salt)

Any/all veggies that you want (I used a couple small carrots, a small-ish sweet potato, broccoli, corn, red bell pepper)

Your choice of protein (I chose tofu)

2 really fucking spicy tiny green Thai chilies, seeds removed (unless you are one of those people who wants to sweat and tear up while they're eating, in which case I recommend leaving the seeds in and possibly adding a third or fourth pepper). I like spicy, but my tongue isn't that numbed yet. And seriously, I had never cooked with these before, so I touched the very tip of my tongue to the pith, and it actually went numb. And then burned.

With a little oil, sautee the onions, chilies and ginger with one tablespoon curry paste and a little salt. After the onions are suitably cooked down, add two more tablespoons paste, breaking it up and stirring around. Immediately add coconut milk, and some water if you want. Simmer. Add ingredients like carrots and sweet potato that take a long time to cook through. Let simmer. Slowly add all of the other veggies, in the order of how long it takes them to cook. Basically, everything just needs to cook all the way through in the simmering curry sauce. When everything is the softness you prefer, the curry is done. I'm not the most organized cooker--I just kind of taste and add a little salt here, a dash more coconut milk there, a splash of water to even things out. So this recipe is more of an illustration of what I did yesterday evening than anything someone could use. But curry is so subjective anyway--everyone likes to make it a different way, with different add-ins and portions of the basics.

I'll definitely be making this again soon. It's not very much work, it tastes great, and it can be stretched to feed many people, or one person many nights in a row. It's also relatively cheap (especially if using Tofu rather than meat). And can I just rave for a couple seconds about this tofu I bought? Though I was tempted by the fresh tofu in plastic bags, it seemed a little more sensible to take a package on the train. But this tofu is so much more fresh and flavorful than what I'm used to buying in the U.S. Its taste is creamy (almost buttery) and subtle but somehow light at the same time. My God, it is good, especially in this curry.

Ok, another boring food post is almost over. Tomorrow is Heilige Abend, the day here in Germany when most people do the presents thing. This is weird to me, as Christmas Eve in America was always the day to sit inside and wrap all of the presents that I had waited until the last minute to buy. Where's the extra day of procrastination here?! I wrapped my last gift today, and I just felt so...early.

Two Pies

I baked an apple pie this week.

David called and asked if I'd come over and help him bake a pie--he had some apples lying around that he couldn't let go to waste. Of course, I told him I would help him out, for who am I to resist the challenge of baking one of the potentially most delicious desserts there is? Apple pie is so simple, yet so delicious and comforting. I've been meaning to bake one for a while, and I was even thinking about baking yesterday (before I remembered that I had other errands to attend to).

Anyway, by the time I got to David's, I'd talked my way into commandeering the pie-baking process. I'd had this recipe for crust sitting around on my desk for a few months. I was curious to try it, as attempted pie-crusts in the past have ranged from pretty damn good to mediocre/not very good (thankfully, I've managed to sidestep inedible). Somehow, I convinced David to let me use the recipe, plus another from Cook's Illustrated for the filling. He's actually one of the nicest, least-argumentative people I know, so that might have something to do with it.

Long story short, after dough preparation, an unplanned trip to the store for better apples and a lemon, more dough preparation, making filling, and finally pie assembly, glorious smells were coming from the oven and life was good. Baked the pie per the directions in the Cook's recipe, and the crust was golden-brown and perfect about five minutes early. Luckily, it was extremely cold outside, so about twenty five minutes on the back stoop resulted in a perfectly cooled pie, ready for consumption. The verdict: 

Best. Crust. Ever. Flaky, delicious buttery flavor, tender...everything the recipe said it would be. And it held up well, not getting soggy or mushy. The filling was loaded with great flavor, although I thought it would have been a bit better with less lemon and allspice, and perhaps a little less nutmeg, as well. I'm a light-spice kind of girl.

The second pie I baked last night was a pizza. Actually, it wasn't really pie-like at all, as it was baked on a cookie sheet. David invented the topping combination, and I must say that the end product was quite delicious. Here's the recipe:

1 bag pizza dough

cornmeal for dusting cookie sheet

1 can Roma tomatoes (I like Muir Glen Organic)

1 bunch basil

2 cloves garlic

pinch of oregano

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

pitted nicoise olives

red onion

ricotta cheese

mozzarella cheese

1. Pour tomatoes into sieve set over a bowl and strain, stirring to get rid of excess juices.

2. Turn tomatoes onto cutting board and chop.

3. Strain again--tomatoes should be chunky, but also kind of smashed by now.

4. Peel and chop up two medium-sized (or large--hell, you can add as much as you want) cloves of garlic into pieces roughly the length of the head of a match--maybe a bit bigger.

5. Into a small cast-iron/nonstick skillet, pour enough olive oil to cover the bottom in a very thin coating.

6. Heat oil, then toss in garlic and fry until just golden.

7. Toss garlic and oil from skillet in a bowl with the tomatoes. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of oregano, and taste. If the mixture needs salt, you can add some, but canned tomatoes are generally salted and the sauce probably won't need it.

8. Sprinkle a cookie sheet with cornmeal. Stretch out the pizza dough and place on the cookie sheet. Spread dough with tomato sauce.

9. Grate as much mozzarella as desired, and sprinkle it over the pizza. Add desired amount of ricotta, placing lumps (for lack of a better term) of it around pizza. Add olives (whole or chopped--doesn't matter) and onions (sliced thinly). This pizza would also be excellent with some mild or spicy Italian sausage, salami--really any type of spiced Italian meat.

11. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbling. Can't remember how long it took, but I think we baked it at 425.

12. When you take it out of the oven, chop up some basil and sprinkle liberally over the top. The more, the better.

I meant to post this long ago, but I got lazy.