An Early Birthday Meal for J

When I asked J about the items that she usually eats at Samy’s Curry at Dempsey, I meant to replicate them. I wanted to do an early birthday gift for her in the form of a homecooked meal. J enjoys fishhead curry, but I can’t replicate that. I don’t exactly fancy fishhead curry Singapore or Malaysian style, so I wouldn’t be able to produce a decent version. I would probably do a fish curry Kerala style with barramundi fillets for her another day. I already have kudampulli (or kokam, Malabar tamarind; which can’t be substituted with our local assam), and a treasured Kerala fish curry recipe from S’s mom whose version I love best. J said that she usually takes the aloo gobi Manchurian too. Okay, I can't do that because I dunno how to cook it! It would have to be aloo gobi. Luckily the supermarket sold cauliflower by the quarter. A quarter and one potato sufficed for two.

I never knew J loved butter chicken (murgh makhani) this much till today. Hahahaha. The man did a kickass butter chicken for dinner a few weeks back. I didn’t think I would fare worse, except that I prefer it spicier. Since I might be better with a knife, I made tandoori chicken from the usual raw fillets. Hehehe. Cooked up a small pot for J, fully intending to freeze a portion for her lunch next week. I used a ton of tomatoes, yoghurt and uhhh butter. But I skipped the ghee and coconut milk. #ImpieCooks2018

Prawn biryani was cooked to fulfil the quota for carbs. To be honest, I didn’t really know how it would turn out- I’ve never cooked prawn biryani before this. HAHAHAHAHA. I only know the theory and I've seen how restaurant and home cooks do it. However, with the cast iron pots, it's so easy to do biryani now. It isn’t very different from cooking a vegetarian biryani or a version with goat meat. I think this prawn biryani turned out pretty decent. Except I forgot about boiling eggs to go with it. Teeeeheehehhe. I think J was very pleased with her dinner. Oof.

📷: J