Chicken Curry Tweetcipe

I’ve always admired people who can intuitively cook, never needing to look at a recipe. When I cook for a client I always bring the printed recipes because I’m likely to forget an ingredient or two until it’s too late. I rely on my lists and backup systems! However, I was cooking for a client a couple of weeks ago and had forgotten my printed recipe for Chicken Curry with Cashews. So this time I was on my own, no safety net, and I’m happy to report that my client loved it! I like to serve this over brown basmati rice. Here’s the recipe I made up on the spot:

½ t cumin seeds
¼ cup butter
1 chopped onion
¼ lb fresh green beans, cut in half
3 minced garlic cloves
1 T fresh ginger, processed on a zester
3 T curry powder
½ t sriracha sauce (or a dash of cayenne)
salt to taste
1 – 14 oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
¾ cup plain yogurt
4 chicken boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
1 cup toasted cashews, chopped coarsely

Heat a soup pot over low heat and toast cumin seeds. Stir often and be careful not to burn them. When the seeds start to brown and become fragrant, turn the heat to medium and add the butter, onions, garlic, ginger and green beans. Stir occasionally until onions are softened. Add salt, curry, sriracha sauce, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken and stir. Add tomatoes plus juice, and cilantro. Turn the heat down, stir, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in yogurt and serve. I like to ladle the curry over basmati rice or quinoa, and generously sprinkle cashews on top.

People’s Diets Before & After the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution, which historians say first started in the U.K. around 1760, was less a revolution and more of a gradual but profound metamorphosis of Europe and, close on its heels, North America. And by gradual, I mean about 150 years of invention, improvement and industrial application. Authors like Thomas Hobbs described 17^th Century farmers’ lives as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."

Then the Industrial Revolution brought mechanization and technological advancements. Farming on a small scale was all about maintaining the delicate health of the soil through fallowing, cover crops and crop rotation. With the Industrial Revolution, it became a large-scale process where nature could be managed and exploited, though not always controlled. Control came later, after the harsh lessons of the Dust Bowl years were indelibly printed on farmers who took advantage of new automation machines, farmed ever more acreage but did not heed the appropriate steps to renew and protect the soil as their forefathers had.

Meat and dairy were expensive and rare commodities in pre-industrial Europe. Most livestock was slaughtered in the autumn since grazing areas were scarce in the harsh winters, lending to huge autumn feasts, followed by a bland, meager, almost vegetarian diet through the winter. Then science taught ranchers the finer points of effective husbandry, and grains became more readily available to get livestock through the cold months. Within a century, meat was available to the masses year round, and dairy was more easily produced with the larger stocks of breeding animals each spring. Peasants began to eat like aristocrats.

Exploration and early forms of genetic modification (in the form of selective breeding) brought new peppers, corn, and chocolate from the Americas to Europe, inspiring cooks with bold, new flavors. The chocolate was dark, mostly served as a beverage, and far less sweet than most of today’s impulse buys, but thank goodness for those brave sailors who brought it back and those chefs that made it a part of our Valentine’s Day traditions!

Scientific discoveries and studies enabled farmers to breed and cultivate plants for consistency, quantity, and flavor. Small family farms were replaced with vast fields of genetically similar crops that were easy to grow, but homogeneous and more prone to large outbreaks of disease and pest infestation (meaning stronger systemic fertilizers and pesticides had to be formulated and applied.).

While birth rates were flat during the Industrial Revolution, improved medical care, diet, and sanitation sharply reduced death rates. A growing population needed to be fed, and since most of that population now lived an urban lifestyle, food had to be brought into the cities. Trains sped things up, the invention of canned goods, fillers and additives made the food go further and last longer on the shelf.

Today we can enjoy asparagus in December and mangoes in the Midwestern United States. However, in an effort to feed our exponentially growing population the abundance of fruits and vegetables we now expect year round, we may have taken the industrialization of our food supply too far, stripping our dinner of genetic diversity, flavor and adequate nutrition. Perhaps the pendulum will now swing successfully back to center with a balance of small, local, organic farms and the large homogeneous farms to make the best of all that our ancestors and our great scientific minds have to offer.