Garlic, ginger, cayenne peppers; 

cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, turmeric, cumin powder, cayenne, garam masala; 

onions, tomatos, yogurt, slivered almonds….

Can you smell it? I can. I can almost mentally transfer myself to a bazaar somewhere. Heady aromas…noonday heat….the buzz and hubbub of people wandering about, some with a purpose, some without….

Growing up in the Midwest, I can’t remember ever eating a curry. We ate lots of good solid comfort food, especially in the fall and winter. There was mom’s spaghetti, chicken and ravioli, or meatloaf and mashed potatoes; Uncle Mick’s vegetable soup recipe; and just about anything with dad’s hash browns. In retrospect, it was all good, but not especially spicy.  

After moving overseas with the Army, my eating became more varied. I think I had my first Indian curry in London, on a trip in the mid eighties. After that, I’d have a curry dish when we were out to dinner at an Indian, or Vietnamese restaurant. We still didn’t have curries at home, mostly because Cathy got sick as a child when her grandmother made chicken and dumplings for the family one year, and for some odd reason, decided to spice it up with half a can of “curry powder”. Some recipes don’t work so well as “fusion food”, and the great curried chicken and dumplings experiment was one of those failures.

Cathy does like and use cumin though. As a matter of fact, her chili has a significant amount of cumin in it, and it’s damned good. Just about every time we have it, we decide it’s the best batch ever.

Which brings me to the present. A couple of weeks ago, I came across a recipe in the NY Times magazine for a chicken curry. I got hungry just reading the article. Toward the end of the article, the recipe originator, Meera Sodha, was quoted: “if you know how to season with black pepper or salt, you can certainly learn how to do it with cumin.”

And that’s how I came to make my first curry, with cumin acting as the common bridge. Chopping, cutting, blending, mixing…. The kitchen started smelling wonderful during the prep work, and became more intense while cooking, as each spice was added. At last, the chicken went into the pot, and simmered for about 20 minutes. The kitchen filled with aromas, and we were starving, Finally, it was dinner time and we both loved the dish, eating to the last bite.

 In the process, we added a new comfort food for this winter….and I think we are going to need a bigger jar of cumin.

* The recipe can be found in the cookbook: Made in India: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen, by Meera Sodha. I’m guessing you can also get it online if you look around a bit.  If you can’t find it anywhere, post to the blog and I will send it to you.