Jan 06, 2011
This is an excellent recipe. I wanted more of a curry and rice intead of soup, so I tweaked this in ways that don't really matter, so I won't bother to list them here. The recipe on its own is a great one. My observations: 1) it NEEDS salt, about 2 teaspoons; 2) if you don't want a spicy soup, be sure to clean all of the ribs and seeds out of your chilies before mincing them; 3) if you don't cook the spices in the beginning of the recipe as directed, the flavor will be good, but will be different than if you'd cooked them; 4) The flavor of cardamom pods differs from that of ground cardamom, and the pods are easier to find than the curry leaves, so do hunt them down if you can - I bought a jar of cardamom pods at Cost Plus World Market for $3. FYI, Indian grocery store items are a GREAT deal, as their items tend to be very inexpensive, which helps when you're taking on a recipe full of strange ingredients you don't normally have on hand. I went to an Indian grocery store in our area and asked about fresh curry leaves. The store didn't sell them, but the proprietor gave me a handful for free (they have a small homemade frozen food section and had the leaves on hand). So if you can't find the leaves, it's worth it to ask around, even at Indian/Asian restaurants. If you ask where they get the curry leaves, they might slip you some just to be nice (and garner your future business). :)
—campagnes
