When I was a young man my mother taught me how to cook.
I think it was probably one of the very first bonding experiences that we ever actually had together.
She worked long hours and she also went to school.
My older sister would occasionally cook, but her food was terrible.
Once she moved on to college it was just me and my mom.
Of course, she was never home because she was always either working or at school so it was really just me most of the time.
As you might imagine, most of the meals we had were very quick and easy to make.
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I asked my mom if she would teach me how to cook. I told her if she taught me how to cook I could try to make a couple of meals each week and then she would have something hot to eat when she came home, and we could enjoy a real meal.
The problem was that I did not know how to make anything, so I needed to be taught how.
She asked me what I wanted to learn how to cook first, and I immediately replied "Chicken Curry."
Indian food has always been my favorite food and I absolutely loved my mom's Chicken Curry.
It took me a long time to figure out how to cook it, especially because she had her own specific way of doing things.
Essentially, she took the long way at every opportunity. Now that I think back on how she actually makes her Chicken Curry I can't help but wonder why she does it that way.
For example, she would buy chicken breast with the bone in them. Then, while they were raw she would remove the meat and cut it raw into squares.
Very time consuming.
I do like meat with the bone in it best, but if I'm going to cut meat off the bone I will usually bake it for at least a little while so that it firms up and becomes easier to cut before I add it to any broth, soup, or seasoned frying pan.
Nevertheless, being that we were trying to have a hot meal that a child was cooking it would have made a lot more sense for her to have taught me how to cook with a boneless chicken breast instead.
Well, I learned how to pull the meat off the bone and then cut it up into little squares and how to make Chicken Curry in such a way that it came pretty close to mimicking my mother's.
I made this dish a couple times a week before I moved on to other dishes.
My mom does not like spicy things. You might say Well why does she cook a Chicken Curry dish then? The answer to that is that she cooks it her own way which is to say mostly devoid of spices.
I like to eat raw peppers. I love things that are spicy.
As you might imagine, my chicken curry was usually a bit spicier than hers.
We made it work though. It was fun to have the experience bonding with her and learning how to cook, and it felt great to be able to cook a hot meal that she could come home to and enjoy.
That is my Chicken Curry tale.
