Part of the fun of serving an Indian curry is having all the fun little condiments that go with it. Will it be a 3 or 5 (or more?) boy curry? Rumored to have been called a “boy” in reference to the servinf staff, each “boy” represents a condiment providing an additional note of flavor. And in this area things are pretty free form: it’s all about you and your tastes. You can add a little more fire with things like hot lime pickle, or cool the heat off with a bit of raita or plain cucumber. Add some sweet like with golden raisins or bananas, or a bit of salt with the addition of lightly salted nuts. Chez Spice Mogul, one of us tends to like the salty, savory accompaniments that add a bit more heat, while the other prefers the sweeter, fruit based additions. No arguments though: The great thing is everyone can tweak their dish their own way, without hassling the cook! Here are a few of the very simple condiments to a add to a traditional curry meal:

• Diced cucumber
• Banana slices
• Shredded coconut flakes (unsweetened)
• Golden raisins
• Raita (or plain yoghurt)
• Chopped hard boiled egg
• Chutney, such as Major Gray, mint or mango
• Indian pickles such as a lime pickle or radish pickle
• Cashew nuts
• Roasted chopped peanuts
• Diced tomatoes

The best way to envision your curry is like a canvas on which you get to paint a vivid picture of flavor, so do as we do chez Spice Mogul: experiment, have fun and report back. Serve them with all the “boys”, or serve only a few, but they are guaranteed to make a good meal into a really great one.

Ok, so after a couple more rounds of tinkering we did come up with a winner formula in the Thai curry blend finals. We decided which “child” we liked the best, and would take to market. It was tough, but frankly worth yet another round of tests. The final whole spice blend is just a little deeper in color, a little more nuanced in flavor and a lot more jazzy on the palate. We think you and yours will enjoy it tremendously, so watch for it in our first round of releases.

But what to call our new whole spice blend? “Thai Curry” sounds so pedestrian and doesn’t do it justice, so stay tuned as we roll out a more playful name. By any chance if you have a suggestion, email us at info@spicemogul.com by October 31, 2009. If we choose your name, we’ll give you a $100.00 store credit.

After playing around with the aforementioned chicken recipe from our friend Joel, we came up with this version. We’ve called it “Orient Express Chicken” as a nod to its exotic ingredients from Europe and the Levant. Try it, play with it, and report back – there’s lots of room for additional interpretation.

• 1 whole chicken, quartered
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ¼ cup smoked Spanish paprika
• ¼ cup ground Aleppo peppers
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black Malabar peppercorns
• 1 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
• 1 cup black nicoise / kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
• ¼ white wine
• ¼ chicken stock
• Chopped Italian parsley

Rub chicken with half of the olive oil, season with ground pepper and coat with a mixture of the paprika and ground Aleppo peppers. Melt the butter and add the remaining olive oil, then sauté the chicken skin side down for 10 minutes. Turn and sauté another 5 minutes.

Toss in olives and the roasted red peppers and any remaining paprika/pepper mix. Deglaze the pan with the wine, then  add the chicken stock. Finish cooking the chicken in a 375° oven for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is done. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve with saffron rice on the side to mop up any extra sauce.

Yields 4 servings

It’s hard to do new variation on chicken, but at a dinner the other night my good friend Joel served a roast chicken coated in smoked Spanish paprika and ground Aleppo peppers from Turkey, surrounded by roasted red peppers and kalamata olives.  The flavor was incredible – and the deep red color was quite the show stopped for a self-proclaimed casual dinner.  I immediately started thinking of how to adapt into a more formalized recipe, since he is one of those cooks that swears he never follows a recipe.  Some of us need more formalized guidance.  I’ll experiment and  “play with it” (as Chef Adrien at Project Open Hand always says) then serve to the Spicey Spouse and post the results.

“Chapter one, page one” began Mame Dennis, as she started dictating her autobiography, which she saw being “boxed, like Proust”. While we have no visions of literary greatness, like Proust we do hope to use food in general, and spices in particular as a starting place from which to write about exciting discoveries in the vast world of spices, herbs and seasoning, while dispensing occasional tips, advice and easy recipes for the busy home cook. Flavors from India, Thailand, Africa, Europe and the Americas will all feature prominently in our premium whole spice offerings. This is intended as a mutual journey of discovery as we kick home cooking onto a high flavor plain.