I love green curry, so I am taking note to remind myself how much better it is when you don’t forget the lime at the end! I happened to have squash and sweet potato on hand, which made the dish look as wonderful as it tasted–but my favourite ingredient was [...]]]>

my second or third bowl

I love green curry, so I am taking note to remind myself how much better it is when you don’t forget the lime at the end! I happened to have squash and sweet potato on hand, which made the dish look as wonderful as it tasted–but my favourite ingredient was the dried shiitake (which I rehydrated and threw into the curry with its water).

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons green curry paste
• whatever vegetables you’d like: eggplant, carrot, sweet potato, etc.
• 1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
• 1 cup (250 ml) vegetable stock
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (about half a lime should do it)
• fresh cilantro for serving

Heat the oil. Add onion and curry paste and fry for a couple of minutes. Add your veggies and fry for a bit before pouring in the coconut milk + stock. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Mix in the sugar, lime zest & lime juice at the very end. eat with your favourite rice. yum.

The food was worth the two-hour trek (due to weekend subway rerouting, grr) to get there. We started with some yummy fried lentil patties [...]]]> I heard there was a ‘little sri lanka’ on staten island, so I booted over there and had lunch at SanRasa restaurant, not too far from the ferry terminal, on Bay street.

The food was worth the two-hour trek (due to weekend subway rerouting, grr) to get there. We started with some yummy fried lentil patties (masala wale) accompanied by a sweet sauce, followed by a lovely vegetable curry that surprised me with its coconut base. And last but not least was the kottu roti, my raison d’être: kottu roti is basically made by frying and cutting up sri lankan style roti with (hopefully) spicy spicy curry (leaving your stomach burning even hours later).

masala wale

vegetable na...nagarathna?? and kottu roti

SanRasa was much fancier than I expected–not that it was particularly upscale, but it had a nice ambiance and the food presentation was good. I was rather expecting a small takeout joint: I’m used to kottu roti looking like this, not like a pyramid laced with delicate scallion and carrot slivers. Plus, at $10 a dish, this place is considered cheap eats by New York standards (even though that’s twice the price of kottu at Jolee in Montreal, sigh).

Check out a video of street-style kottu roti here.

There is also a feature in the new york times about Staten Island restaurants, including a description of SanRasa and its $11 buffet lunch on Sundays. Worth checking out.

SanRasa
226 Bay Street
Staten Island, NY 10301
(718) 420-0027

inspired by the village voice, I decided to head all the way down to west 38th for this japanese curry shop.

not too bad and quite filling (I had a medium sized katsu curry for $7.50, but there are smaller and larger portions too): basically a pork cutlet laid on top of a [...]]]>

go! go! curry

inspired by the village voice, I decided to head all the way down to west 38th for this japanese curry shop.

not too bad and quite filling (I had a medium sized katsu curry for $7.50, but there are smaller and larger portions too): basically a pork cutlet laid on top of a generous serving of rice and covered in curry sauce (which, as the menu notes by every item, “* contains pork”).

the shop has a tv showing japanese food/game shows and pictures of baseballer Matsui all over the walls. but the best part was this poster I found in front of me, while I ate at the counter:

Biggest Curry in US as far as we know!
WORLD CHAMPION CURRY
Can you finish it?
HUGE!!
$25
WOW!!
Weighs 5.5lb.
Even that Hot Dog Eater would be overwhelmed!

(that ‘hot dog eater’ of course being the japanese dude that keeps winning the coney island hot dog-eating contest)

Go! Go! Curry
273 W 38th St, New York
www.gogocurryusa.com