Who will trade his korma for my kingdom?

[davidn]

Yes, I know, I'm sorry about the title. It was either going to be that or "Korma Quest", which didn't really make much sense when I thought about it. But the point of this post is to say that one of the most difficult things that I'm going to have to adjust to in America is the change in food.

The primary concern over the past few weeks has been korma. If you don't know what it is (which is quite likely given its apparent rarity here), it's an Indian mild curry sauce made with cream, almond and coconut, which sounds bizarre but is actually one of the best things ever when made right. I hadn't tried it until a couple of years ago, and suddenly realized that I had been missing out on it all my life. If you're ever in Cupar, get one from the Passage to India takeaway, and you'll see what I mean.

Trying to find a decent one over here has been difficult - the first time I visited an Indian restaurant in Berkeley I ordered a chicken korma, but what arrived at the table was much closer to bhuna - a spicier sauce with a lot more tomato in it. We did try another place later on, but the waiter sort of jabbed at the tikka masala on the menu in response, saying "Try that, it's nice, it's very, very nice" in a very sort of Bernard Black way.

The problem was eventually solved when we explored the supermarkets close to us here in Brookline - there's a Stop 'n' Shop (ref. raphx, gr33bo) down the road and a Shaw's/Star/something a bit further away. In the International section, they have the same Patak's curry sauces that I was used to in Britain - they're not Loyd Grossman, but they're more than adequate. Curiously, the one I was after was labelled "Mild almond and coconut sauce (Korma) rather than just "Korma" as in Britain, but I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about that.

Another major obstacle is cereal. My favourite breakfast cereal in the universe is Kellogg's Crunchy Nut, which just so happens to be the only Kelloggs cereal that I can't find anywhere over here. The cereal itself is something of a paradox for me, as I like neither honey nor peanuts, which are the two primary ingredients. I've tried various honey-nut cereals here, and while we're getting ever closer to the correct taste, we're not quite there yet. At the moment I have an unopened packet of Kellogg's "Toasted Honey Crunch" in the cupboard, which looks most promising.

But there are things that make up for the deficiencies. Watermelon, for example. In Britain, the watermelon is an awkward and slightly tasteless fruit that involves picking little black bits out of your teeth for hours after you eat it - but here it's seedless and easy (and really quite inexpensive if you're lucky), and the fact that it doesn't actually have anything in it means that it's a far better snack than going down to the KFB and loading up on fried socks.

Whitney also introduced me to East Asian food over the last couple of years, and I now know that I need to find somewhere that does decent chow fun - a bit like chow mein, but with thicker noodles. The supermarket also has trayfuls of sushi for about four dollars, and though Whitney says it's of dreadful quality, I can't tell, so it's fine.

Unfortunately, there is a Krispy Kreme doughnut kiosk inside our other local supermarket, so I predict that I'll be roughly five feet wide by the end of the year.

Comments

[zephyr-pie.livejournal.com]

Beware of the Dunkin' Donuts. I swear, there are more of them than gas stations in Boston.

[davidn]

This is true - I've seen at least one on every street corner.

[kibet.livejournal.com]

Not sure how you are for cooking but the first two are just non-Uk style whereas the third seems the more traditional one. I just googled Chicken Korma. Have you worked out the cucumbers yet? that confused me when I was over until my dad explained.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/quickchickenkorma_70529.shtml

http://chicken.allrecipes.com/az/68473.asp

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Indian-Food-Chicken-Korma-Recipe.html

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

At least you can get Patak's at your supermarket -- nowhere I've lived since I came back to the US has got it. I finally cracked when I was in Maine last month and bought six jars of Patak's for a ridiculous price at 'Ye Olde British Shoppe' in Freeport (Interestingly, they also sold the St Andrews University undergrad scarf, but I needed one of those less).

I've bought a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook at a rummage sale so hopefully I won't have to resort to overpriced imports soon.

[bonappetite.livejournal.com]

Stop 'n' Plop. That's the local lingo.

Because you're in Boston where there is a significantly smaller proportion of Indian subcontinent immigrants than you're used to in Britain, there's going to be a much smaller Indian influence in Boston cuisine.

But! You're in luck, because Boston is superb in Italian and Irish foods-- epecially seafood. Whereas I couldn't get a decent cannoli for five years in St Andrews, there's an Italian bakery on every street corner in Boston.
Live a little!

[stubbleupdate.livejournal.com]

My korma was eaten by the dogma.