After writing my post about cookbooks, I started thinking about what draws me to the recipes of certain chefs. Obviously, one of the most important things is they are making things I want to eat. Equally important are the recipes are such that I can make them myself. Nigella Lawson’s recipes fit the bill

I am not a domestic goddess

In her shows, Nigella seems to effortlessly pull together glittering, intimate dinner parties. And while I realize, most of that is staged, when it comes to the recipes she prepares, they are relatively easy, usually not requiring special equipment or ingredients. 

Why I like this recipe

What first drew me to this recipe were the vibrant colors – the bright orange of the curry topped with the fresh green of the cilantro. In her television show, Nigella served the curry with a black Venus rice – I’m not quite sure what that is but I could find black forbidden rice pretty easily in my local grocery store. And while the orange and black give off Halloween vibes, this curry does equally well with white rice, be it basmati, short grain, or sticky rice, or no rice at all.

Dramatic presentation is not enough for me to like a recipe, it has to taste good. And this curry is delicious.

Modifications

Nigella’s original recipe called for butternut squash, not kabocha. When I lived in New England, butternut squash was easy to find in the fall. In Hawaii I see it occasionally in the grocery store or farmer’s market, but not as abundantly so. Kabocha pumpkin, on the other hand, is readily available. While the skin of the kabocha is edible, for this recipe, for aesthetics, I remove it.

In the UK, and Nigella’s recipe, they use red chillies. I’ve seen these used in cooking shows but I am unsure of the equivalent in the States so I substitute jalapeño peppers. We like heat so we use them with the seeds and ribs but these may be removed according to taste.

And finally, we are not a vegetarian household so when I make this curry, I often substitute chicken broth for the vegetable broth – we just have it on hand all the time. And sometimes I will mix in a bit of rotisserie chicken for some added protein (and to satisfy the meat-eaters in the family).

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