Another Curry Production

Serve this during any season of the year and you'll keep 'em coming back for more! I personally made it for my family eons ago while living in Atlanta during their visit. It was a side that was served along garlic fried chicken and steamed broccoli. I believe we had fruit pizza for dessert. Like I said, it was over a hundred years ago so I can't seem to surprisingly remember. But I do remember how fab this was and different compared to our typical go to side dishes. Here's the recipe courtesy of Ina Garten by way of author Felicia Sullivan:

First off, start boiling the water for your pasta. You’ll come back to this when the water comes to a boil.

On to the dressing. Your main ingredients for the dressing: 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil (the good stuff, not just cooking oil), 1/4 cup plain yogurt (i use lowfat), 1 tea of curry powder, 1/4 tea of cumin (the recipe calls for tumeric, but who has that? forget it, man. and cumin gives this dish, i find, a smokier flavor), 1 1/2 tea of salt (i use coarse or kosher salt, and trust me there is a difference between this and table salt), 1 tea of ground fresh pepper, 1 tea of white wine vinegar (you could use champagne vinegar if you want to get all fancy about it). Now that you’ve got all your wet ingredients well-combined (there is no magic to how they all should be added, i just lump them all in a large mixing bowl, because ultimately, this is where the pasta will go. I always find bringing the pasta into the dressing in this fashion makes it, for some reason, infinitely more flavorful), set the mix aside.

You might notice the water is boiling. Add the pasta, salt the water (this is the ONLY time you get to season the pasta, so do it now. It makes a HUGE difference.) and stir the pasta so it doesn’t cling. Some chefs advise putting olive oil in the pot. Ina got this tip from Martha Stewart and while I think they both speak the gospel, I think this is crap and you’ll waste good olive oil. Just stir the pasta every once in a while and you’re fine.

While the pasta is cooking (al dente, or “to the tooth”) and the dressing is set to the side, get rocking on your veggies. On my bamboo cutting board, I cut up 1/2 cup of fresh flat leafed parsley (none of this curly business), 1/4 cup of red onion (yellow onions are way too acrid for the salad and will ruin the dressing), 2 scallions diced thin, and although the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of shredded carrots, it’s rare that I have shredded carrots on hand, so I either opt out or drop in another veggie (zucchini has worked).

But honestly, if I worried about exact measurements, I’d have a nervous breakdown. While precise measurements are crucial in baking (as there is chemistry involved), it’s not required here. I love parsley, use a lot more of it and I keep it lean on the onion side. I also have 1/2 cup of dried cranberries (I use them more than currants, which are more expensive) and 1/4 cup of sliced, blanched almonds. I think the almonds are crucial for crunch – a nice texture variation to the softer pasta and greens.

Ah, the pasta is done! Drain the pasta, but don’t overdrain as I always love mixing in some of the pasta water. stir the pasta into the dressing so it’s coated and then I toss in the veggies, cranberries and almonds. I keep mixing until all the ingredients are well incorporated and then I set to cool (although this is so damn good I’ve eaten it warm). And the coolest thing? This keeps for a week and I’ve added tofu and chicken to spice it for brown-bagged lunches.