My Mother-in-law was here last week. And she makes some of the best South Indian food on the planet. I have had no other Indian cuisine that could even hold a candle to her cooking! Biriyani, chickpea curry, valleyapam… all simply incredible. But my favorite by far is her chicken curry.
Now, let me back up a little here… I have not always liked curry. As a matter of fact, my stance on hot foods up until my 20s was that those who “liked” them really just liked the bragging rights attained by being able to swallow such hotness and not cry like a little baby. Being a child of the South, I had always tended towards the bland, creamy textures of chicken pot pie, biscuits and gravy, and chicken and dumplin’s. Until the summer of 2004…
Yep. That was the summer of goat, samosas, and other entrees that I’m still not sure from where they derived. And the SPICES! My goodness… I thought my mouth would quite literally be seared from the heavy heat packed into each bite. And looking back, I’m so incredibly thankful to those sweet refugee mamas for sharing their cooking, and their LIVES with me. Because it got me ready for step two of the flavorful journey… CURRY.
Insert Prasad Abraham. Those of you that know him, know the kind of person he is. And I was SO EXCITED to get to know him and then, his FAMILY! Mr. and Mrs. Abraham now live in Houston, TX, but they are originally from Kerala, India. (Southern tip of India, on the west side). My first visit with them was September of ’05. And that was my first true exposure to… the curries. Now, let me give you a little insight into the world of curries. Those that enjoy them can be found eating them for lunch, dinner…. And BREAKFAST. Yes, that’s right. Curry for breakfast. And as much as those refugee families had stretched my ability to try just about anything deemed “edible,” I had only done so for one meal at a time. But three days of flames o’ fire in my mouth was a whole other story. There was curry, curry, and more curry! I do believe I ended up texting my mom from the “facilities” at one point, letting her know that my insides had already “thrown in the towel” and needed rescuing!
But then something happened…with each exposure, I began to find myself drawn in to a flavor, or even a combination of flavors. Upon coming home, there were nights where I’d actually CRAVE some of that flavorful goodness. And although there is no restaurant in Atlanta (or Houston, for that matter!) that has yet to come close to Mrs. Abraham’s curries, even their versions were becoming “good” to me! Now keep in mind, I was the BLAND GRAVY girl! This was unprecedented ground I was treading on, culinarily speaking (like that? “culinarily”?? I’m pretty sure it’s not even a word… at least Microsoft Word is telling me it isn’t…). And on our last trip to Houston this summer, as we were sitting at the breakfast table at the end of an INCREDIBLE week with the Abrahams… I was grieving that this was going to be the last of her mouth-watering curry.
Which brings me back to this last week. I was DETERMINED to learn how to make some of this deliciousness, most especially, the CHICKEN CURRY. And THAT is when I learned some valuable lessons, both about cooking and about life…
Curries take time. This is not one of Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals. I think the chopping of ingredients alone takes twice that! And, oh, the list of ingredients. Who would have thought (oh Southern American that I am) that cinnamon would be used in something other than dessert or breakfast?! And fresh ginger. AND coriander. But don’t forget the mustard seeds, garlic cloves, chili powder, onions (my least favorite… chopping always induces tears like I have just watched the movie, Simon Birch), fresh cilantro, coconut milk… and of course, the chicken. But, let’s not stop there. This is a PROCESS. You don’t just dump everything in the pot at once, set it on simmer, and check it in two hours. No. You start with sautéing the onions for several minutes. Then add ginger and garlic, sautéing for five minutes more… And somewhere along the way, you actually POP mustard seeds. Did you know that you could pop seeds other than corn? And a MUSTARD seed, at that! Those suckers are TINY! Anyway, you catch my drift. The delicacy and time required stretches over 2 to 2 ½ hours. But in the end, after painstakingly standing over your stove for an amount of time that seems almost ungodly, a smell hits your nose. And your mouth starts watering. And you grin, knowing that in a few short minutes more, you’ll be feasting on a sea of flavors, beautifully coming together in a way that brings you back to your kitchen to sign up for this two hour process again. And again. And again.
And THAT’S when it hit me. (Took a while, didn’t it?!) Take a big bite of corriander powder all by itself. Or garlic. YUMMO. ;) Not really. That would be absolutely disgusting. Or try impatiently dumping everything in at once and hoping for the best. Good luck with that! Your “curry” will be shootin’ towards the garbage disposal in no time. This process, these ingredients, only come together when you take the time, have the patience, and keep the end goal in mind. And THAT is kind of like how God uses us! So many times, we look at our individual life like it’s the only thing going on. We’re selfish, immature, and simple minded. We get so caught up in our own “flavor,” that we fail to see what God could be orchestrating in that big pot on the stove. I can hear myself saying “Seriously? You’re gonna throw me in with GINGER? You know we don’t get along. She comes on WAY too strong. Not too useful at all, if you ask me…” Or “Okay…this whole waiting thing is getting old. Either throw me in, or I’m out.” And this one’s painful to admit, but “C’mon, what’s the deal with your gentle hands with Onion? He’s abrasive anyway, just beat that flavor out of him and move on to something better….ME, for instance!”
Ouch. And those tears aren’t from the chili powder. God is using each of us, like spices, to be BLENDED TOGETHER to make something that is so indescribably better than if we stood out on our own. As He gently stirs, patiently walking through each step, He smiles, knowing what’s at the end of His labor. So, me, little ol’ mustard seed, needs to step back, be patient, and trust that the Chef who’s perfect in His preparation of this flavorful banquet will pull it all together on HIS timetable. And like Mrs. Abraham’s hands over her delicious pot of curry, God knows EXACTLY what He’s doing. And my delight should be that He’s reaching out and grabbing me to have a part in this masterpiece He’s been working on for a while now… and He knows JUST how to use me.
Check out “One Body, Many Parts” in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 But here’s a little “taste” to “whet your appetite” for more…
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’…But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
That's an awesome illustration of the body of Christ! Thank you so much for sharing!
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