Dearest Rachel –
The house still smells a bit too much like curry for an early morning, but I suppose that’s on me. It’s a pervasive scent, whenever it’s used in cooking; some people find it objectionable, while to others, it’s a way of life. I don’t fall into either of those categories, but if I lean toward the former at the moment, it’s only because I don’t generally indulge in hearty, savory breakfasts (although that’s mostly because a “full” breakfast leaves me too full, and I already started the day over the two-fifteen line, although I’m back down to it even before taking off for the gym). Long story short, my only objection at the moment is that it’s making me hungry, and I don’t really need to be more so than I already am, thanks.
What with the Easter weekend being upon us, I’m going to be pretty busy for the next few days and nights. That being said, this is that time of the month when the certificates I get from the local superstore for using their credit card expire, so I need to get out there and use them up. And while for once, I have some idea of what I could use them on – I’ve been assigned to put together a vegetable casserole for Easter dinner, and I managed to dig up several possible recipes, any of which need ingredients I didn’t have on hand – they wouldn’t be enough to use up everything that was expiring. However…
Ever since having that taco dinner at the folks a couple weeks ago, I’d been thinking about doing something similar at home. However, instead of using taco seasoning, I figured I could mix curry cubes (like we get from the local Japanese supermarket) into the beef, along with some diced potatoes, and create something akin to the roti roll that I’d had in Kuala Lumpur for the boys to try. A quantity of ground beef would probably represent the largest single item in the shopping cart anyway, and would easily put the entire purchase over the total needed. As for the roti itself, well… to be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference between it and a tortilla, and the latter are easy to find (indeed, we already had some at home), so that wasn’t really worth seeking out for authenticity’s sake; I’d already have sufficient trouble getting the filling to match what I’d had, to be honest.
So that’s what Daniel (who’d come along for the ride, and to offer additional suggestions if he could come up with any) and I did; assembled ingredients for Sunday (which I’l have to put together a day or two before, given my schedule) and yesterday, which I didn’t even bother to put away when we got home. I just pulled out a pan, threw the beef in there, and started browning it.
All in all, it was a pretty simple meal; meat and potatoes sauteed in curry until the pan was basically dry, and then ladled onto tortillas and eaten like a burrito (with an ‘optional’ inclusion of shredded cheddar, but you can guess why I included quote marks around the word ‘optional’). And in the end, it wasn’t a perfect replica of the one I was served at Rollti – for one, both of us agreed that we should have used medium-strength curry rather than mild, but that’s what we had sitting around in the pantry – but for the minimal work we did determining what we needed and putting it together, it was more than satisfying, both in terms of attacking our hunger and in the accomplishment of putting something together that would never have occurred to either of us to do so had I not been where I’d been and done what I’d done. We each had three helpings of the stuff – and while Logan wasn’t nearly as impressed, stopping with a single one, we were pleased enough with the results. Odds are, we’ll try this again sometime, with only a few modifications.
With all that having been said, I guess that my next couple of meals are spoken for (and most of the rest ought to be eschewed, given that I’ll be in the booth and won’t really have the time to eat – and shouldn’t anyway, since I also won’t have the time to exercise). For now, just keep an eye on the both of us, honey, and wish us luck; we’re going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 