Curry: Brain Food?

A friend in choir picked up on the speculation, which has been around for a while, that regular consumption of curry, the Indian spice, may stave off Alzheimer’s, or even correct it to some degree. Research has focused on one of the spice mix’s common ingredients, turmeric, which contains a supposedly brain-healthy compound called curcumin.

Personally, I’m skeptical — this rings of woo-woo. IMHO, a balanced diet and regular exercise stave off whatever ails you, not this herb or that vegetable. But what the heck? Curry is delicious and a great way to get veggies, fruits, fish, and meat down.

So, I offer recipes from the edge of the Persian Gulf, where we American colonists hired Pakistani and Goanese cooks and houseboys. These were the specialties of a man named Pedro, who cooked for a couple who were friends of my parents.

Pedro’s Curry

1 to 1½ pounds beef stew meat
½ package string beans
½ package canned peas
1 onion, chopped
1 large can tomatoes
3 or more teaspoons curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1½ cups water or beef broth or chicken broth

Note that this original recipe, true to its 1950s origins, contains mostly canned ingredients. In those days, people ate more canned products because refrigerators were small and freezers were tiny, frost-choked compartments inside the small refrigerators. Also, in Arabia we didn’t get much fresh produce; what we could buy had to be soaked in dilute Clorox water before it could be consumed, a tedious process, indeed. Today I would substitute fresh or frozen beans, peas, and whatever else came to hand. Adding a little fresh spinach or chard at the last minute, so it cooks just long enough to blanch and wilt, would be nice.

Lamb or pork could be used in place of or in combination with the beef. We did not have access to lamb in Arabia, and it’s highly doubtful that our Moslem workers would have prepared anything with pork in it, even if they had no intention of eating it themselves.

Brown meat and chopped onions in a small amount of oil in a Dutch oven. Add salt, pepper, and curry after the meat and onions are brown. Stir well. Turn off the heat and let this stand for a while — anywhere from one to three hours.

Add water or broth. Bring the combination to a low boil, then turn the heat to “low” and allow to simmer about 1½ hours or until the meat is tender. Add the rest of the ingredients.  Let mixture stand for about another hour to assimilate the curry. Then heat to boiling point and serve over rice.

Curry dinners are traditionally served over rice and accompanied by many condiment-like side dishes, such as

Rice with raisins and almonds
Shredded coconut, browned gently under the broiler
Chutney
Papadoums, or, if you can’t find them in the grocer’s, Wheat Thins
Naan, or  you could substitute warmed pita bread
Waldorf salad, or sliced apples
Sliced cucumbers marinated with vinaigrette and sour cream or yoghurt

Rice with Raisins and Almonds

1 cup Uncle Ben’s converted rice
2½ cups water
About ¼ cup raisins (may be soaked in sherry for upwards of an hour)
About ¼ cup almonds

Spread the almonds on a cookie sheet and run under the broiler just long enough to brown.  Watch carefully—they scorch easily.

Place the water in medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil over “high” heat.  Turn heat to “medium” or “medium-low” and pour in 1 cup rice. Add the raisins and browned almonds.  Cover tightly and allow to simmer for about 20–25 minutes, until the water is fully absorbed.

Total cooking time for curry and rice: about three to five hours

Curry Puffs

Frozen puff pastry or phyllo dough
Ground meat (lean ground sirloin, or if you have it, ground lamb or pork)
Onions, finely chopped
Garlic, minced
A little vegetable oil (I happen to like olive oil, but anything will do)
A lot of curry powder
A dash of salt & pepper

These savory treats are incredibly delicious. When I was a little girl, the instant I got wind of a rumor that Pedro was going to cook curry puffs, I would show up at the neighbors’ back door, invade his kitchen, and hang around underfoot until he would give me snacks. Pedro used to make puff pastry from scratch, a two-day process. Fortunately, you and I can find it in the freezer compartment of a well-stocked grocery store.

Sauté the onions in oil until translucent.  Pour the cooked onions onto a plate.  Brown the meat in the remaining oil. If a lot of water cooks out of the meat and still resides in the frying pan when the meat looks cooked, drain the meat in a colander or sieve.  Place the meat and onion back in the pan; stir in the garlic. Sauté a couple of minutes to start the garlic cooking.  Then add a bunch of curry powder. Like, a LOT of curry powder.  We are talking THE JOY OF CURRY POWDER here.  Get enthusiastic.  Toss in as much curry powder as you can stomach.  In other words, “Add curry to taste.”  Season some more with a bit of salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to about 400 degrees.

If you’re using puff pastry:

Defrost the pastry overnight in the refrigerator or (carefully!) in the microwave. Flour a board and roll the pastry out fairly thin. Each “puff” is about 2 inches x 3 inches or thereabouts and is formed like a turnover. In cutting out pieces of pastry to form the puff, keep the math in mind. Thus for a 2 x 3 puff you should cut a piece 3 inches wide by 4 inches long, so that when you fold the 4-inch length over the filling, you end up with a rectangular turnover about 2 inches wide.

Place a spoonful of curried meat in the center of a piece of puff pastry and turn the top over it.  Press the edges together with a fork. Place puffs on a cookie sheet, far enough apart so that they won’t bash each other when they puff up in cooking.

If you’re using phyllo dough:

Defrost the dough in the refrigerator. Dampen and wring out a couple of clean tea towels.  Open the package and unfold the phyllo dough. Place a tea towel over the unfolded package of phyllo layers.

Work quickly.

Pick up a couple of leaves of phyllo and place it on your lightly floured pastry board.  Cut phyllo into pieces, as above. Lay the other damp tea towel over the pieces that you’re not working with. Form curry puffs with phyllo dough as described for puff pastry and place on cookie sheet. You may also want to cover the completed, unbaked puffs with a damp towel, especially if it looks like it will take you a while to finish forming enough to fill an entire cookie sheet.

In either event…

Bake about 15 or 20 minutes in a fast oven, until cheerfully browned and tasty-looking.  Keep an eye on the things as they’re cooking.