Local Seasonal much?

You know what is a sneaky staple in my house? Avocado. I go through at least two a week. Sometimes, it is as many as five.

Ostensibly, this post is not about that Southern import. It is about a savory galette that I made sometime ago with the vestiges of winter squash that I unearthed at the farmers' market. But, it is also about that luscious green fruit.

Since this blog is about being honest and real, I am going to admit it. No, I do not always eat what is "in season" or "local", as you can clearly see. Sometimes, I want to eat food that is nostalgic, like winter squash and okra. Food that is good for me and/or I like, even though it is not from the region, like avocados or quinoa. Food that makes no sense for the season, like a hearty 6 hour stew in Summer or a crisp bright salad in Winter.

And, guess what, I am ok with it. I am ok with my food cravings that need imports from distant countries expending several gallons of fossil fuel. I am ok because I am human, I love food and I respect the fact that there was a lot of energy that went to bringing it to my plate.

Food is an emotional thing, people! It may seem schizophrenic given my last post, but, the reality is this. I am a migrant to this city. Most people in NYC are immigrants of some sort. Which means we may have grown up (I certainly did) on a different diet and different variety of produce than is available even in NYC. So, we all learn to adapt to what we have here. But, once in a while, when we find something that was shackled only in memory and restricted to those few and far between times when you visit homeland, it is an guttural desire to have it. Thinking has no say. It is an emotional call.

Then there are other reasons. Health. A lot of us have abused our bodies for work or pleasure or mere indifference or even despair. But, we are becoming conscious now. Sometimes, what it takes to get back to normalcy cannot necessarily be captured by the buzz words. Recently, a blogger friend had a nasty accident that resulted in a broken femur. Recovery meant enabling the bone to heal through food that are good for that, at the cost of every jargon you have heard associated with food - seasonal, local, fair trade, organic, etc. No. The focus is on getting better and using available resources to do that.

Now, the avocado. It is not indigenous to the USA, even though it may be industrially grown in California now. Avocado trees were first planted in Florida in 1833 and then in California in 1856. It has been touted as the perfectly balanced fruit, rich in all the good stuff on USDA guidelines. So, its consumption has been on the uptrend especially after the restrictions for importing it were lifted in 1999. Yet, despite domestic production, the US is a net importer of the fruit from Central and South America due to increasing demand. So, bottom-line, if you eat avocados, you have no right to cry locavore! Even if you are from California, you have little idea where the fruit sold in your supermarket comes from.

Amidst the various cries and activism to way we consume food, is a lack of pragmatism that the world has changed, become globalized, has diverse immigrant influences, has strong lobbying forces, is industrialized and all of this will only continue to grow. Not all of it is bad. Taking away choices and painting doomsday stories is not going to make people feel close to the issues.

I feel that all this food vigilance is polarizing people and alienating them. It is restrictive and claustrophobic. It also pushes away many, as it all seems so cult-like. It is unrealistic to expect people to eat just what the land around them can grow, which, in some places can be precious little. Besides, if you like a certain food and you are asked to give it up voluntarily, I doubt that is going to be easy unless there is a personal medical or fanatical push for it.

It is true that eating in season and local is good value. I also believe that it is important to bend and indulge a little bit. Humans are not meant to be continuously bound by rules as history and the present day evidences.

We have choices and they only grow every day. I believe in being aware of and making conscious choice while respecting the food wherever it comes from and those grow it for us.

With that I leave you with a recipe for a Kale and Roasted Squash Galette best had with a side of fresh avocado seasoned with sea salt and lots of lemon juice.

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Kale and Roasted Kuri Squash Galette

1 recipe tart crust dough 

3 eggs

1 cup, blanched kale, chopped (or other greens like mustard greens)

1/4 cup sour cream or creme fraiche

1 cup flesh of roasted Kuri squash (you can sub with any other squash or leftover sweet potato mash)

1/2 tsp ground cayenne

1 tsp ground turmeric

melted butter for brushing

salt and pepper as needed

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Whisk together the eggs, sour cream, spices and seasoning.

On a well floured surface roll out the tart dough into a rough circle of about 1/8 inch thickness. Fold into quarter and gently transfer to a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Spread the blanched greens on the base leaving about 1.5 inch border. Sprinkle the roasted squash on this layer.

Fold the edges of the tart over the filling to create a pan shape. Pour the liquid into this. Jiggle it a bit so it spreads evenly.

Brush the exposed crust edges with melted butter and bake for 25-30 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling has set.

Cool on rack for a few minutes and serve.

Stuffed Courgettes in Meat Sauce

The general assumption is that the Tropics, across the board, have more variety of vegetables than regions of four seasons. This I have found to be largely true and lamented several times since moving to the US. Coming from India and then Japan (where I found fruits and vegetables I had never seen before) I felt like I had suddenly landed in a desert of sorts. While, once upon a time, I could have greens for every meal for a week and not have to repeat any or eat salad, I found myself wanting for inspiration of using the same 4 varietals in different ways and thus succumbing to the easier choice of using meat!

There, I'll say it. Being a vegetarian requires far more creativity especially in the 'Western' world than cooking with meat. It is not often that a single vegetable plays star, even in Indian cuisine. It is more a set supporting characters that come together as greater than the sum of parts.

But, yet, there is one variety of vegetable that the West completely trumps the Tropics on. Squash - Summer and Winter varieties. Let's stack them up.

Growing up in India we had a fair few for sure - 2 varieties of pumpkins (yellow and white flesh) and about 4 to 5 varieties of gourds, which, are like summer squash. And, well, you get all of them sort of year around given the climate. However, the thing is, they are get cooked pretty much the same few ways - in a curry or stir fried with some coconut and chana dal. I am not considering fusion cuisines. Also, ovens are not very common in India, even today. I definitely grew up with only a stove on top of a counter, not a range but just the burners!

Here, however, they are a bounty. They are also a riot of colors! oh my! The hues! The textures! Stripes, solids, speckled! Zucchini, yellow squash, patty pan squash, courgettes, funky ballon shaped squash that I don't know the name of. This is just Summer. Then Fall comes along and we are over run by another vibrant color palette from pumpkins to kuru squash, butter nut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash to name only a few. I read there are at least 15 Fall/Winter varietals!!! Wow!

I love

Squash

! Seriously! You can do so much with it. Cook it in

curry

or stir fry of course. But also,

stuff it

,

pickle it

, eat it raw, roast it,

risotto it

,

soup it

,

pie it

and other things I haven't even explored yet! Really, you can make it the star of the plate.

These days, I buy my vegetables as they come into the season, conveniently from the Sunday market in front of my apartment. I find vegetables there that I have never seen in a store or super market. It brings such joy to me. I go bouncing around with a huge smile and usually the vendor/farmer has this amused look on his face when I come to the till, arms overloaded and a beatific look on my face. haha. Recently, I found gorgeous patty pan squash that I stuffed with its own flesh sautéed lightly with some fennel and peas, seasoned simply with salt and pepper and topped with melty cheese. It was divine! So much so, that I didn't take any photos. Simply devoured!

This Sunday, I picked up gorgeous courgettes. They are also called globe or round zucchini. Although, I have seen them around on the web, I had never ever before set y eyes on them in reality. So, you can well imagine how thrilled I was to see the lovely produce looking so well and in its prime.

The thing about these squash aside from their aesthetic beauty is their versatility and ability to take the stage with aplomb. They are so well proportioned for a meal and give in nicely to pretty much any stuffing you fancy. Yet, they will still be the lead actor on the plate. Such a delight to work with really!

I stuffed them with their flesh (always use their flesh to stuff back. It adds a lot of moisture into the dish), ground pastured beef with a little bacon, onion, garlic and a little pesto I had on hand. I cooked in leftover stuffing with some diced tomato for a heartier sauce. It was awesome! Clean flavors that enliven every ingredient.

To make this vegetarian, go for a bean or grain stuffing or one with sweet potatoes. Unlike the patty pan squash, courgette are bigger and have higher water content. You will typically need something else other than its own cooked flesh to fill the cavity. You don't need to cook them in a gravy but doing so, makes a whole one pot meal! So, I would choose that.

Besides, this dish cooks in under 40 minutes! So, that is a easy and healthy weekday dinner any day! Woot!

Stuffed Courgettes in Meat Sauce

4 courgettes or globe zucchini

1/2 lb ground beef

1 onion, diced fine

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1/3 cup chopped cilantro or parsley

1 tsp sriracha

3/4 cup stock or water

salt and pepper and oil as needed

Heat a heavy bottomed pan, large enough to hold all the courgettes with oil and sauté onions and garlic until soft on low.

As the onions cook, cut the head off each courgette (at about 1/8 from the stalk), to create a cap. Reserve the cap. Cut as little as needed to scoop out the innards but not too much to waste the flesh on the cap side. You don't eat the cap in this recipe.

Scoop out the insides to form squash cups and reserve. Chop the insides finely.

When the onion and garlic is cooked, add the meat and brown all over. Add the insides of the squash and the sriracha sauce and cook for about 10 minutes, till the meat is cooked through.

Leave the pan on the stove and using a spoon, fill each prepared courgettes with the meat sauce up to the lip.

Add the tomatoes to the remaining sauce and place stuffed courgettes into the pan in one layer. Cover each courgette with its cap. Add the stock or water.

Close the pan with a lid and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat. Open the lid and if the sauce is too thin, cooked on high without lid to reduce liquid.

Serve immediately as is or over cooked grain or pasta (optional).

Here is to another week!

Last week was an interesting one! Between

cooking with Chef Elizabeth Falkner

and attending my first ever weekend

hackathon

focused on using technology to solve the issues in food servicing, I thought I had enough adrenalin pushing things on the menu. So, when Sunday evening rolled in, I was hardly expecting any more excitement. Yet, at about 6pm you would have seen me smiling like a mad scientist and running about with camera to capture what I was sure to be illusionary.

Well, it all started rather peacefully. Wait, let me backtrack. I have a history of being a black thumb. I have a strong propensity to kill plants. Over the last few years, I have sporadically attempted to grow herbs and other small plants in my kitchen sill. Every single one of them promptly left for a better place. I never knew why. Originally, it was not watering and then it was too much of water. Anyway, this Summer when I decided I would try again, it was only with cautious hope but abundant optimism that a new surrounding would make a difference. So, very very slowly I started populating the fire escape landing outside the window. This is urban gardening! Any 'outdoor' space is game for it.

I bought seedlings of basil, thyme and parsley and replanted them into a long pot; rosemary into another. Seeds of squash and pea in another long pot, left patiently to germinate. I did make a mistake here, which, I will tell you about shortly. Everyday in the morning, I would pull back the curtain and peek nervously to make sure, they look alive and with look longingly at the pot with the seeds to tell me they were ok. Then the basil started growing and I learned to trim and keep it growing and not let it prematurely flower. Then one day, tiny little seedling started emerging in the squash and pea pots. I was super excited. All was going well in the world!

Then came the torrential rains here. As the winds and rains lashed against my window in the night, I barely slept in trepidation of the carnage I expected to find in the balcony the next morning. As soon as dawn broke, I peeked out. Imagine my surprise, when I found that my plants were still rooted, bravely defying the forces and courageously instilling faith in me. I was absolutely gratified. That emotion is hard to describe really. After years of not being successful in the green stuff, I had not expected this much success. I am getting used to nipping to the balcony, plucking some fresh leaves and deeply inhaling their aroma before perfuming my food with their divine flavor. They even seem to taste better than the store ones.

I did have a tiny issue. The seedlings and herbs were planted in the wrong pot. In my inexperience, I choose a long container that is typically used for overhang for window sills and for pot to sit within. So, it not have drainage. My pots with plants were water logged and bloated. So, I went in with a screw driver and punched some holes. It was a shoddy job that somewhat helped I think. The soil had been loosened by the water and it was easier to stick my hand through it. Yet, I wasn't able to do much with the herb pot because the soil had been bound more with the roots of the plant. I did what I could and let it be.

Over the next few days, the excess water dried out but so was my parsley plant. It had been abundant and thriving before the storm. It was turning yellow very fast now though. Google gardeners said that was possibly water logging. I accepted my mistake and took responsibility for my idiotic choice of planter. I left it to fate to see if it could be salvaged at all or it would simply die away. I had made peace. Except, over the last two days, I saw fresh green leaves peeking through. My heart skipped and I let it be.

Yesterday, I was spending some quiet time with myself in the garden, repotting this, fixing some anchors for the peas to creep on, water the pots after yet another parching day. Whatever they say about gardening is true. It is very, very, very relaxing. Somehow, the mind shuts off. It takes you to a different zone. I didn't think it would do this and I wrote off people who said that. Last evening was the first I let myself realize how much space the activity creates within me.

So, there I was looking at the fruits of the labor, quietly contemplating about nothing, and, in general, just being, when it struck me that I should trim the dead leaves off the parsley. In I went with my mini-shears, snipping away the brown stems when I stopped suddenly as I spied some creepy crawly things clinging to the plant, three of them with bands of yellow, green and black. I was really annoyed and ran back to my desk to find out what to do with the pesky pests. What a surprise, when I found that they were actually butterfly caterpillars of the Black Swallowtail family. Ok, it is still theoretically a pest. It is going to eat my parsley. But, the way I see it. It is another harmless and gorgeous life form I am sustaining in my tiny garden. It is validation for me. That's all. Where I thought the experiment would bear me nothing, I have two different life forms thriving!!!

I am so so so so delighted! Thats all! I just wanted to share that energy and happiness with you as we start the week!

Do you have a garden story? Do share! I am all about hearing learning more and also let me know if you have suggestions for what else I can grow in small spaces.

Before I go, I have a recipe here too. One for a simple and hearty meal that is very versatile. At the very basics, it is a grain, sausage, herb and fruit dish. The types of these four ingredients can vary with the season from light and refreshing like now to hearty and meaty in the colder months. Also, a lot of the flavor comes from the pesto used in the dish. It doesn't have to be the traditional basil one. Use whatever you have made. I had on hand one I had made using avocado, radish leaves and a little basil. It just needs to have some green/herb component, fat (oil) and a little nuts. It is quick enough for a weeknight dinner (under 40 minutes!) and undeniably satisfying.

Before you go,

Check out my recap on a recent cooking class with a recipe for BAKED CHICKEN ROULADE WITH FENNEL, PARSLEY AND CHEDDAR.

---

Pesto Rice with Braised Sausage and Blueberries

{This recipe serves 2. Simply scale for more people}

1 cup brown or wild rice or barley

2-1/2 cups broth

1/2 cup white wine

3 T fresh pesto

2-3 sausages, meat, chicken or seafood

handful of blueberries (or sliced peaches, ripe cherries)

2 sprigs of thyme

basil to garnish

Drizzle a little oil in a pan and place the sausages in one layer. Pour the wine over and bake for 30 minutes at 400F until cooked through.

Meanwhile, cook the rice in the broth. Leave it on the slightly wetter side, risotto consistency. Trace the pesto through the rice.

Then, divide the rice into bowls. Top with sliced sausage and garnish with blueberries (or other fruit) and touch of fresh basil or parsley or purslane.

Serve immediately.

Millet and Collard Green Enchiladas

I have self-diagnosed myself to be mildly gluten intolerant. Or, yeast intolerant.

I don't know which. Whenever I eat yeasted bread I suffer through a few days of feeling 'fat', read bloated. Sourdough seems to be fine. But, even then, if I go mad on eating sourdough, my system gets cross. Yet, I am able to handle cakes, biscuits and other stuff. Obviously, I rarely overload on those. So, perhaps, it has to do with the quantity of gluten consumption compounded by the presence of yeast. Incidentally, beer, other than stout, does not sit well with me either. But, I abjectly did not want to think about it because I LOVE bread!

My friend recently convinced me to try an elimination diet. So, for the last nearly 3 weeks I have removed all bread, most gluten products (save the occasional croissant or brownie, ok 4 in all this time!) and lentils (which, also I consumed a fair bit). If you follow my

Instagram

feed, lately you would have seen more gluten free stuff on it and this is the reason.

I have to say, I feel like an idiot for not doing this sooner. Because, I feel great. Possibly a touch more tired from the reduced intake of carbs that are a major source of energy and I burn a lot of it naturally. But, as far as the gut is concerned, I have not had a single incident, while in the past I would spend at least a couple of nights not feeling the greatest. Since, I am learning to listen to my body and naturally understand what works, this is going to be a slow process. Besides, I eliminated several items at the same time viz. lentils and gluten. So, I still have to break down which one is culprit within those two grain categories.

At the same time, I added a few positive influences. While, I surprised myself in not actually craving bread (I love the damn thing! That is how I got into this mess, in the first place), there is a functional aspect of bread, that as a carrying medium. I found a recipe for a gluten free bread and played with it and I think I have

new favorite bread

+

tar tine

+ snack made entirely without yeast or flour. I also switched to eating a more vegetarian lifestyle with a fair dose of fish. One, it works because I want lighter meals with the warmer weather. But, more importantly, I think for the first time in 10 years, that is since I left India, I am eating in a way close to how I ate growing up.

I, as we all do, have a certain eating history. But, when we are exposed to newer foods and lose access to several old ones, things tend go for a tumble. Especially, when living in vastly different countries. I have tweaked, ignored, experimented with my system as I discovered newer and more exciting foods. Some of it was utter crap and some was good to taste but did not work so great for me. To wit, I did not grow up with a lot of meat or yeasted food. So, my system simply is not capable of being constantly overloaded with them. That's it. I have to respect that and work with it. I can cajole it with a few fun outings and it will happily oblige but if I run amok then, understandably, it takes offense.

Incidentally, I did eat a fair bit of lentils growing up. So, that should be fine. But, I have been making a classic error in working with dry lentils. I very often do not soak them for a few hours. I have recently realized that this is imperative for several reasons. Soaking removes the outer coating of the grain which carries a certain protein related to albumin that some people are allergic too. Equally important, if you have any form digestive system disorder, this step is mandatory to enable the release of enzymes that will enable the digestive process. Skipping this step basically short circuits the process and the poor gut is left without help to break them down which is not an easy task and in the process releases a lot of gas. If you have neither issue, then you can possibly get away without soaking lentils but is definitely recommended.

Today, I am sharing a simple vegetarian and gluten free recipe that is supremely tasty and incredibly satisfying. I added a feta for added filling and flavor but if you want to go vegan you can easily substitute with tofu.

Millet and Collard Green Enchiladas

{Serves 4}

8-10 young collard green stalks

3/4 cup millet

1 cup vegetable stock

1/3 cup of crumbled feta

For the sauce

1 red onion, diced fine

2 carrots, diced into half inch cubes

3 cloves of garlic

3 ripe tomatoes diced

1/2 cup stock

1 tsp smoked paprika

salt, pepper and oil as needed

Preheat oven to 350F.

The collard greens will be used as the enchilada shells. To prepare them, run a knife on either side of the center stem and remove it. Gently steam the leaves for about 5 minutes until they are soft and pliable. Set aside.

Using a powerful blender (I use Vitamix) process the millet into a coarse-fine grind. Close to a polenta or grits texture. In a small pot, bring the stock to boil. Add about a teaspoon of salt and some oil to the liquid. Whisk the stock and as you are whisking slowly stream in the ground millet. This will prevent lumps from forming. Once all the millet is added, cover and cook to a near porridge consistency. Remove from heat and set aside. Do not overcook as the millet will thicken as it cools. If that happens, put it back on the stove with a little more liquid and a touch of olive oil to loosen it.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat some oil and sauté onion, garlic and carrots until soft. Season with salt, pepper and the paprika. Add the tomatoes and stock and cook for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened a little. Spread a few of tablespoons of the sauce evenly at the base of a baking pan, large enough to hold all the enchiladas, to prevent enchiladas from sticking

To make the enchiladas, flatten each leaf of green overlap at the cut seam. Spread a little of the cooked millet on the leaves, then spread a couple of teaspoons of the sauce. Sprinkle some feta or tofu on top. Gently roll the leaves to encase the filling and place them in the prepared pan seam side down. Repeat with the other leaves. If you have any left over steamed leaves, simply chop them and add to the sauce.

Pour the remaining sauce over the stuffed greens and bake for 20-25 minutes. You can serve immediately or refrigerate for later. It will stay in the fridge for 4 days or freeze for a month.

This is a great dish for parties, or making in large quantities and freezing for later!

The Story of Our Meats in Life

In an unexpected continuation of my last post, this weekend was another learning experience for me. It was hilarious and I can just picture how ridiculous I must have looked then. But, it is a story that beckons to be told I think. These crabs deserve to be spoken for.

It began as a normal scene of me schlepping to China Town, getting lost and eventually finding my favorite sea food store there that I had last visited about four years ago. I can't really tell you why it is my favorite, the fact that they don't speak a word of English definitely is not it. But, despite the fact that I have no clue whether the fish there is farmed or wild caught or where they come from, I have always found very fresh fish (Read

tips to gauge freshness

from Simone) at very affordable prices. Sparkling fish eyes, glistening gills and live crabs, all in the confines of the city. The only thing I recommend is getting there early in Summer before the heat does what it usually does.

Anyway, I went there with the specific goal of getting live crabs, which, are in season now, to make my awesome Crab Curry, one of my signature heritage dishes. I got them. Six nice ones that looked docile enough when the fish guy packed it in a paper bag.

In the 40 minutes it took me to get back home, I don't know what else happened but the bag had gotten a touch soggy.

Hold a minute: Why did I get have live crabs? That is the crux of the story, isn't it?

Well, the fact is you NEVER buy dead shellfish. NEVER, especially not if they are on sale! The problem with shell fish, and possibly the reason I suspect some religions prohibit eating them, is that when they die, the body waste remains trapped within the shell casing. Looking from outside, you don't know how much the flesh has rotted within. So, you buy them live and kicking, so at least you know they have fair breath in them.

So, now that I am all set with what I wanted to cook, the first thing to do is to, ahem, 'truss' the crabs. That is to say, kill them. The fastest and, I hold, most humane, way of doing that is immersing in hot boiling water, any liquid actually (like crab boils). They die in seconds and the boiling liquid also helps in sterilizing.

Now, here the adventure begins.

As I was tipping the paper bag into the pot, the soggy bottom literally split on me, spilling the crabs on the kitchen floor by my foot. Ok, I am not proud of what happened next. But, it is important to get it out, I have told.

Well, I squealed. Like a little girl. None of that suaveness of a refined cook or just a mature woman. Nope. Just a 5 year old's ear piercing scream as I hopped about, running away from the damn creatures while trying to not step on them for fear of either crushing them or being snapped by their pincers.

A moment later, I was far away from them but there were crabs on the floor.  To the rescue came the man. Thank God! In momentary sanity, I grabbed a pair of tongs and promptly handed it over to him, with a beseeching look.

The crabs had by this time formed themselves into a wide triangle configuration. Seriously, it was amazing to watch. The corner point was clearly the leader. One of them even turned over and showed its belly. You would think that one would be easy to pick up? Oh no! If you made a move to that one, the leader came scrambling to attack. So, the thing, you had to fight that one.

What a valiant general she was (all my crabs were female as it turned out)! She stood on her hind 4 legs, with her pincers warningly raised in a hover, quick to snap at anything moving within reach, eyes popping out of the socket and very wary of the surrounding and the man with the tongs. Have you ever paid attention to a crab's eyes? I had the opportunity to observe them deeply for a full 5 minutes!

Five minutes. That is how long the fencing match of wits lasted between man and crab. One crab.

Finally, we twigged that picking her up by one pincer than aiming for the square middle was more effective. Quickly grabbed she was dropped into the pot whence the water was still boiling. Even though the leader had fallen, the rest still put up a strong fight, including scurrying away out of reach beneath the pantry shelves. More support in the form of the swifter sweeper was needed to drag that one into submission. All in all it was a good 15 minute effort, helpfully enabled with me squealing behind the scenes and fetching the props when I managed to gather the wits about.

Phew!

Then came the next part of cleaning and cooking them into an awesome tangy sauce made with fresh tomatoes, fresh spice paste and freshly grated coconut.

A few hours of simmering and resting later, the feisty little buggers were consumed with full relish and with awareness of the effort that went into making of the dish. I still recall the fighting spirit of the pack leader vividly. There was a spirit. She was alive. And wanted to be. RESPECT!

So, my take away. It is larger than this single incident but really serves to bring a bigger perspective of eating animals into focus. To wit, no creature WANTS to die. The idea of happy animals is a myth and marketing gimmick.

Whether raised on land, pasture, feedlot, sea or a tank, every creature wants to survive, and, procreate if it can. Even animals that we usually don't consider as much as being fighters would really, really to go on living and not find its way into the belly of a bigger creature. That is the way of nature and the way we see fairly often in the wild.

So, the hype that a farm animal is any more happy to be slaughtered and hence tastes better is WRONG. I have seen goats sense their time and resist piteously being dragged to the altar. If you have seen a stubborn dog refusing to move, imagine 10 times more, accompanied with bleating pleas.

To argument to eat pasture-raised meat is not about happiness at the altar but prior to it. The argument is solely that the animal has been treated with respect and allowed to have a happy life of natural inclination. To focus on the reality of nature rather than arbitrary and romanticized notions of life.

I have a longer story on corn versus pasture in connection with my research of the beef industry. But, the above tenet applies to that larger discussion as well. The focus on how rather what is paramount.

With that I leave you with the recipe for that wonderful curry with attitude I made and I think it pays apt homage to the lives of the crabs we fought. To get the best flavor, it is important to make this dish out of the fresh ingredients. As often in nature and Indian cuisine, that works harmoniously because, crabs are in season at the same time the rest of the ingredients are!

---

Crab Curry with Attitude

6 Medium sized crabs cleaned

2 big red onions

1 tp ginger

2-3 cloves of garlic

3 ripe tomatoes pureed

2 T tomato paste

3 dry chillies

3 cloves, 1 piece cinnamon, 1 star anise crumbled, 3-4 whole peppercorns - whole spices

1/4 tp fennel seeds (optional but recommended if you have on hand)

1 lemon sized tamarind soaked in warm water or 2 tsp tamarind paste

3/4 cup grated fresh coconut (if using dry coconut, halve the amount as it has a stronger flavor)

1/4 cup coconut milk (optional, if you don't have it, add another 1/4 cup of grated coconut)

1-2 cups water

Oil and salt as required

1/2 tpTumeric powder, 2 tp chilli powder, 3 tp garam masala - Dry spice

Grind together the onion, ginger and garlic into a puree.

Heat two tablespoons of oil and roast the whole spices till they pop, then add the urad dal, fennel seeds and dry chillies. Take care to not over roast the fennel seeds as they tend to emit a bitter taste to the whole curry. Saute the onion paste along with ginger and garlic till the raw smell goes away. Then add the dry spice and salt to taste. Roast for a couple of minutes to cook the spices.

Add the fresh tomato puree and tomato paste and 1 cup water/stock and cook till the tomato is cooked. Stir in the coconut milk and grated coconut and another cup of water and let the gravy come to a light boil on medium heat. Set the heat to low and then add the juice of the tamarind and bring back to rolling boil on medium. Turn heat low to simmer and add the crabs. Cook on low to medium for another 20-25 minutes till the crabs are fully done.

Let the gravy sit for atleast 2 hours so the crab meat absorbs the flavor of the curry. It is best when eaten the next day! Serve with hot rice cooked a couple of cloves and piece of cardamom.