Devil May Care Curry

for Lucy

This curry only looks devilish but actually tastes pretty sweet. It's easy to make and very healthy. Eat it true Indian style - with buttered naan with your hands! The bright-red sauce lends itself to much finger licking and sopping up with naan.

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Ingredients
3 Bell peppers (preferably one green and two yellow)
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder and paprika
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
2 Tbsp chopped, fresh coriander

Steps
1. Rinse peppers, cut in long slices and remove seeds
2. Put oil in pan, turn heat to medium-high
3. Fry peppers with lid on for ~15 min (until brownish and blistery)
4. Turn heat to simmer, add all spices and fry for 2 min
5. Add tomato sauce and simmer for 10 min
6. Once in serving pan, garnish with chopped coriander

Serves 4

Cheryl's Famous Chicken Curry

This recipe made my mom famous in our neighborhood. Tot famu. She was the white woman who made the best Indian chicken curry. My sister and I loved it so much that we made a song and serenaded her:
"Hurry hurry chicken curry
Run to the dinner table"

Chicken curry also caused me to shock my Sunday School teacher in the way only a half-Indian, half-American kid could. When I was 5 and in Sunday School around Thanksgiving, our teacher asked us to write a letter to God telling him what we were thankful for. Most kids wrote boring stuff like "Thank you God for my parents" or "Thank you God for my new puppy and sunshine". I wrote in huge letters "THANK YOU GOD FOR CHICKEN CURRY." My teacher didn't even know what chicken curry was but she was pretty sure God was looking for a better answer.

So there you have it. My mother's recipe is an easier adaptation of my Aunt Indu's traditional Indian recipe - my mother's recipe has less ingredients, less chopping but just as much flavor. Enjoy!

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Ingredients
6-8 skinned chicken thighs/legs
2 Tbsp oil
2 medium onions
1 can (14.5-16 oz) diced tomatoes
1 tsp each turmeric, curry powder, American chili powder, garam masala
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, powdered ginger, ground allspice
salt, red pepper and black pepper as desired

Steps
1. Skin chicken
2. Put oil in pot and heat to a medium temperature
3. Fry onions till brown, about 8-10 mins
4. Add turmeric and curry powder then fry for 1 minute
5. Add tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes
6. Add chicken and cook for 30 minutes
7. Now add cinnamon, ginger, chili powder, salt, allspice, red pepper, black pepper and garam masala
8. Turn down heat to a low simmer, cook for another 30 minutes

Serves 4