What I had for dinner:

Tomato and Almond Curry

21 Jun 1994 21:45:18 -0400

This was a hard one. I just did not have a clue. I wandered from store to store, in the process gathering most of tomorrow's dinner, but today's stayed elusive. Finally a large tomato stand started me thinking. Hazelnuts came to mind along the way, but too late; I had already left the only store that had them, so I settled for almonds.

I cooked 1/4 chopped onion until very dark in corn oil, then added the rest of the onion and 1 cm of ginger, sliced very thin. This was followed by a half dozen mushroom caps, cut if large. When the mushroom had finished giving off liquid, I added 1 tbsp of fenugreek, 1 tsp of cumin, a little mace and cloves, 1/2 tsp of cardamom, and 1 tbsp of turmeric. The spices were fried briefly, then 1 large clove of garlic (sliced) and 1 tsp of sambal oelek were stirred in. Water was added to cover, and the mixture was left to cook for a while.

Meanwhile, I boiled some plain white rice in plenty of water.

A handful of blanched almonds was fried in 1 tsp of butter until golden on all sides, and added to the sauce. Finally 4 quartered and seeded plum tomatoes were added and cooked 3 minutes.

Serve with cucumber slices and hot bread.

(Makes 2 servings)