Minimum viable coconut curry
Katerina Pavlakis 
Improvising in somebody else's kitchen
I just spent almost 2 weeks at my parents' house in Athens.
So I didn't do much cooking, except one meal I insisted I cook something 'different' for my folks.
I was intending an 'Asian' style coconut curry (aiming for something like this) not quite realising the challenge...
While in the UK 'exotic' ingredients from cuisines around the world are commonly available, in Greece the situation is a bit different. The abundance of local veg and fruit at the farmers market is one thing, finding Thai curry flavours quite another.
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So I had to improvise.
The trick is to deduce the 'essence' of a dish: to work out what is the standout quality or flavour of a meal, that hold the character of the dish - for you.
For a coconut curry one needs coconut milk, obviously. The choice of spices/flavourings then defines the character of the dish.
Adding curry spices would make it more South Asian/Indian in style, while adding the brighter, contrasting flavours of lemongrass and soy sauce more East Asian, and so on.
I did manage to find coconut milk, soy sauce, and fresh ginger - the rest I had to make up with what I had:
- Substituted lemongrass with the zest of a lemon plucked from the lemon tree on the balcony.
- Added a splash of honey balsamic for that 'sweet and sour' edge I love in Southeast-Asian cooking.
- Used whatever herbs were available (always plentiful in Greece!), regardless of whether they were 'Asian' or not (parsley, dill and coriander, in this case).
- For the protein I used eggs (but I could have used chicken or fish or chickpeas too, if I had any)
Turns out the resulting 'minimum viable' version of this coconut curry was just as tasty, and still recognisably 'Asian' in style. A winner!
I was going to make a list of the flavour layers for you, but I now have something better:
I started doing these flavour charts for the members of the No Recipe Club and they were an instant hit.
So here is a quick example for you too, my dear blog readers: use the grid to help you come up with your own flavour combinations!
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