Words for this week

This week my reading has provided me with the following interesting sounding words.

Hummock

a knoll or hillock.

Interestingly this was used to describe a character's stomach.  I liked the sound of it.

Sepoy

(formerly, in India) a native soldier, usually an infantryman, in the service of Europeans, esp. of the British.

Nautch

(in India) an exhibition of dancing by professional dancing girls.

Can you tell I am reading about British India?  The Siege of Krishnapur is certainly expanding my vocabulary amongst other things.

Phaser on limp, Captain

So sorry.  I've just discovered Eddie Izzard on YouTube.  This could turn into a video a day posting schedule.

Today's edition is Star Trek.  If you aren't a fan, step away from the screen, otherwise bear with him until he gets to the Phaser settings near the end. (For those who can't wait - it's about 6:30 in.)

Just for a laugh

This came to me on the email today and gave me a good chuckle.
Please skip if you're not a Star Wars or Lego geek.  :)

The Month of August in Books

This month I managed five books.  Here they are:

Fiction:

Carry On, Jeeves


This was my antidote to slowly grinding my way through The Poisonwood Bible.  It is your typical Wodehouse.  Bertie getting into scrapes and Jeeves attempting to redeem the situation.  The outcome is not always what Bertie would like, but sometimes the best answer isn't what we like.
This is a series of short stories, some set in New York as well as England.  It was a nice, light work to offset the darker novel that I read concurrently.

The Careful Use of Compliments


This is the fourth book in the Isabel Dalhousie or Sunday Philosophy Club series. It once again follows the stories of Isabel, Jamie and Cat.
We see the domesticity that follows the arrival of Charlie, Isabel and Jamie's son.  We see the conflict this provokes with Isabel's neice, Cat.  And thrown into the bargain is the world of Scottish art and artists.  The mystery of a dead artist is the background for this story, as well as changes at the Review of Applied Ethics.

The Poisonwood Bible


This book has been given a full post here.  Briefly, it is the first book from my Booklitzer 200 Challenge, in which I am going to attempt (slowly, it seems) to make my way through all of the Booker Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners (fiction only) and the BBC Big Read Top 200.
This is book #125 of the BBC Top 200.
Hmm. Scary that it got there.  Mind you, considering Gormenghast made the list I shouldn't really be disrespectful of this work.  Hard going though it was.

The Tainted Relic


This is the first collaboration book that I have come across.  Perhaps I lead a sheltered life.  In this volume (there are three of them according to Amazon), six authors of medieval fiction collaborate with their own settings and characters to create a short story series with a central theme - The Tainted Relic. Starting with Simon Beaufort and the character Sir Geoffrey Mappestone, set in 1100 AD during the First Crusade and finishing with Philip Gooden's character, Nick Revill, set in the 1600s with Will Shakespeare as a minor character, we follow the course of the tainted relic through many hands and settings.  We witness the mayhem and deaths of those who come into it's sphere of influence.
I liked the idea of different authors allowing their creations this type of collaboration, but strangely found that there was very little distinctive voice to be heard between each story.  Erroneously I thought that the different authors' work would have rung out with a unique and personal style of prose.  I am quite surprised that this was largely a uniform sounding work.  Of course two of the six authors are one person - Simon Beaufort and Susanna Gregory - but what of the others?  If anyone else has read this, please let me know if you also found it to be this way.

Non-Fiction:

Carolyn 101


I picked this up out of curiosity.  I have never watched more than a few minutes of any of The Apprentice series.  While Mr Trump is obviously very successful, I struggle with the whole concept and execution of "reality TV".  It's not so real, and it's not my idea of entertainment.
Still, I wondered what the suited woman (the hardback has a photograph of Carolyn in a sharp looking red business suit) might have to say about working for such a flamboyant employer as Donald Trump.  Turns out that it is a book full of short, anecdotal stories from her rise into corporate Trump-land.  I was surprised that she chose to name individuals, especially those that she held up to be bad examples.  However, in saying that, a lot of the ideas and suggestions held a lot of common sense.  They also held a lot of "no bull" attitude too.
If you are looking for a pithy book that is readable (I finished it in about four sittings of an hour or so each), gives you a little bit of insight into the Trump organization and dishes out some fairly straightforward views on how to run a business and the people in it, then you may find this worth reading.  Get it from the library though, as I doubt you will feel the need to keep a copy.

***

I know I have posted a whole four days early, but the books I am now reading are not going to get past the finish line before Sunday.  I am once again on the Booklitzer 200 trail with The Siege of Krishnapur - this is the 1973 Booker winner - and I am about to start on a couple of business books. Wish me luck and see you here at the end of next month.

P.S. August's reading has tipped my over my 2008 reading goal of 24 books.  Will miracles never cease!

Shibboleths and Termagants

As usual I can count on Alexander McCall Smith to expand my vocabulary. The first two are from his work and the third from The Tainted Relic, which is my current reading material.

Hopefully no one I know will fall into the possibility of being described as a termagant. However I am sure that I can slip shibboleth into conversation at some point. Or at very least it may now appear in the occasional blog entry. In fact, wouldn't the term blog be described as a shibboleth? ;)

Shibboleth

A word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another.
A word or phrase identified with a particular group or cause; a catchword.

Termagant

A violent, turbulent, or brawling woman.

Concupiscence

Lust

A Year in Review - Miss Oh Waily

Last weekend was Miss Oh Waily's first birthday, so I thought I would do a review of her first year with us.

The Little Miss joined us on 17 August 2007 at 7:35am after giving twenty-four hours of notice. She didn't make it easy and was in danger of getting familiar with the ventouse when she finally gave up the fight and arrived the old-fashioned way.
Shortly after arrival she flat-lined and had some assistance from our midwife and hospital staff in order to clear her airways and set her on her way.

For those who understand these things, here are her statistics:

APGAR at 1 minute: 4
APGAR at 5 minutes: 9
Birth weight: 3465 grams
Head circumference: 34cm
Length: 52cm

As for her parents, she left her mother requiring running repairs and both of us completely smitten.

At three months old she had grown by 5cm and had added 2 kg. She was talking away and making her grandparents fall in love with her while we lived with them during our renovations. At three and a half months old we were back home and the little Miss managed the first of many physical milestones - she rolled herself over.

By January, at five months old, she was happily sitting unaided and was able to stand with support. She had added another 1.5kg and 5.5cm to her little body.

By March, just before her 7th month birth day she had added another half a kilo and 3cm. She began crawling a few days before her birth day and by month end was crawling everywhere and anywhere she could. Also at this point she began to kneel more and more, as well as attempt to pull herself up to stand using the furniture. She managed to do so a few times. By the end of March her two bottom teeth arrived within three days of each other. Just like buses. ;)

By April and her 8th month she was successfully pulling herself up to standing and was "cruising" around the living room. By the end of the month she was very stable and fast at cruising, and had also developed the ability to clap her hands properly. Previously she would clap with one hand open and the other closed as a fist.

By her next Plunket visit in May the little one had added another half a kilogram and 2cm. On my birthday, about two week shy of her 9th month birth day she provided me with a wonderful present - she stood up independently and unaided. A few days after her birth day I have noted in her Well Child Book that she had taken a step or two unaided, and so began the walking and running dynamo that is our daughter. By month end she was walking across the room with a fair amount of stability, but wasn't able to turn around yet without falling on to her bottom.

By mid-June the little Miss was sleeping through the night in her own bedroom. Her top right lateral incisor had appeared, and her curiosity about all things was growing like Topsy. Peek-a-boo had been a regular favourite ever since she became able to pull blankets or clothes between her line of sight and her parents. Now we had Peek-a-boo from behind the sofa and under the curtains. Books had become even more interesting and our attention span had begun to lengthen enough to really enjoy looking at the pictures and listening more to the story.

By July another top tooth arrived, this time the right central incisor. We developed another game - Up and Down. This is a derivative of Peek-a-boo. In our open plan living area we have had to develop a home-made security system for corralling a mobile baby since commercial baby gates just wouldn't cut the mustard. This largely involves the use of plastic boxes full of stuff (Christmas decorations, craft supplies, etc) placed strategically between seats and windows and walls. This however, has provided another source of Peek-a-boo material - the hiding by squatting down behind things. What happens when a baby brings this out into the near-open? Well her Mum changes it from Peek-a-boo to "Down" "Up". Within a fraction of a second the little person gets the concept, and off she goes - squat down "Down", spring up to standing "Up". Like all babies, we don't just do this one time and move on. Oh, no. So we have the beginnings of learning opposites.

By August, just before her first birthday, she had her visit with the Karitane nurse. Another kilo added and another 6cm grown. I still struggle with the fact that she sprouted up at the rate of 2cm a month.

And then on her birthday she got to enjoy her first ever piece of chocolate cake. And yes, she did like it. We did not, however, allow her to eat the inhabitants of 100 Acre Wood - that was left to the adults.

It's hard to believe a year has gone by. It's also hard to believe the extent of the changes and growth in her during that time. It's one thing to 'know' intellectually about these things, but it's a different thing to watch it all happening. Some things just seem to slip past, even though you are seeing her every day. I mean to say - 2cm a month in height !! The only real inkling I get that this is occurring is the fact that she can reach to the back of our little side table now.

Nowhere is safe any more, I spotted her managing to reach things at the edge of the dining table this morning.
Good grief - what will the next year hold ?!

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

This is my first foray into my Booklitzer Challenge.
If this novel is anything to go by, it truly will be a challenge to start and finish each one in it's turn.

Set in the Belgian Congo, which later became Zaire, which later became the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The story follows the Price family from Georgia, USA into the Congo in 1959. They are missionaries. Ill-equipped, self-centred and self-absorbed. They are also odd, dysfunctional and frequently difficult to like. We follow their misadventures through the eyes of Orleanna, the mother and each of her four daughters; Rachel, the eldest and most self-absorbed, Leah and Adah, the twins - one whole, the other 'slanted', and Ruth May the baby.

We spend over half of the book watching them struggling with the reality of jungle and village life, as well as their own dysfunctional family life. Then the latter half of the book brings us in jumps through time into the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

The family's story is the focus of the first part of the novel, with the latter half dealing predominantly with issues of the Belgian Congo's transition to "independence", international interference with that process and ultimately what each of the Price family live with as a result of being a white person in Africa during a time of change.

Kingsolver has given each character a unique and interesting voice. Rachel is often the only source of light relief in the entire book. She allows a small smirk during what is mostly a dark story with such classic malapropisms as:

The way I see Africa, you don't have to like it but you sure have to admit it's out there. You have your way of thinking and it has its, and never the train ye shall meet!

All I need is to go back home with some dread disease. Sweet sixteen and never been kissed is bad enough, but to be Thyroid Mary on top of it? Oh brother.

"Mr Axelroot," I said, "I will commiserate your presence on this porch with me but only as a public service to keep the peace in this village."

And my all-time favourite, speaking about the village children who try to pull her white blonde hair :

But at least I don't have to be surrounded with little brats jumping up and pulling on my hair all the livelong day. Normally they clamber around me until I feel like Gulliver among the Lepidopterans.

I found the twins the most sympathetic, although it takes a while to warm up to them.

The novel is part history lesson, part psychology of the family. Both stories are dark and filled with actions to hide and run away from.

I struggled with reading this. It has taken over three weeks to make my way through 543 pages. Perhaps I am out of practice reading 'serious' literature. Maybe there has been far too much chick lit and murder mysteries on my bedside table.

I found the language of this novel difficult. Some passages were vague, flowery and completely fuzzy in meaning. I would come out the other end of the paragraph wondering what the heck it was all about. Then in contrast there would be wonderful turns of phrase and evocative images drawn in clever, concise word pictures.
I also felt that the book was too long. I think the first half could have been truncated without damaging the picture the author painted. It was only because I had committed to the Booklitzer Challenge that I struggled through to the point (somewhere around page 350) where I actually then wanted to read the remainder of the book. If I had picked this up off the library shelf, it would have gone back after about 50 or so pages.

Having just complained about it, I will give it a huge thumbs up for opening my eyes to the world of central Africa and more importantly the process that many of those nations have gone through to gain independence. Or rather, not quite gained independence. A country in name, but still a slave in economic terms.
Maybe a few more people in a few high places would do well to study the history of political change - and the aftermath of economic and ideological interference.

Suffice it to say, I am now much more interested in the history of this part of the world and will be making an effort to better understand how the current situations of many African countries came to be.

If you are feeling brave or are joining me in the Booklitzer Challenge, borrow this from your library. Otherwise I'd skip it.

***

BBC Top 200 #125

Photographic conundrum

I am working on taking as many *different* photographic views of the Little Miss as I can come up with. I want to celebrate who she is at the end of her first year with us, and through the beginning of her next one too. However, I am not fond of the staged studio portraiture that I have seen other families do. It's just not us, posed on white sheets, dressed in our finest and groomed to within an inch of our lives.

Perhaps I should show the reality - toys strewn across the entire living room floor that would put an army assault course to shame, scruffy tracksuit pants and fleecy top-wearing mother, and a frequently marmite-faced child.

In spite of the reality, I would like to do her justice (when she lets me take photographs of her without lunging at the camera - blurred hands and faces may be the norm, but it's not what I had in mind).
I know some of you are very handy with your cameras, can you now point me to some original portrait artists from who I can steal some ideas glean some inspiration?

And, if you're feeling so inclined, perhaps tell me which of my Flickr images of the Little Miss hit the spot for you and why. [BTW, the only image I have altered in any way other than cropping is Corners. You wouldn't believe the original that produces this. Honestly. It's a lesson in not writing badly taken images off.]

Memories and the Speed of Time

I am currently reading The Careful Use of Complimentsby Alexander McCall Smith. It is my antidote to reading The Poisonwood Bible, having already devoured Carry On, Jeeves by Wodehouse.

Reading about two thirds of the way through I was taken aback by an exchange over the relative speed of time between the characters Isabel and Jamie.
I have always wondered why life felt like it moved faster after leaving school. One day I was a student, the next day was ten years later. What on earth was this strange phenomenon all about. I had noticed it, but had never sought an answer.
So when I reached chapter thirteen McCall Smith offered an answer to my question.

Here are the passages concerned:

'It's different. When you're doing something you really enjoy, it does pass more quickly. And it's the same if people are rushing around you. Everything seems quicker.'

'Subjective time,' said Isabel. 'When you're ten, a week is an awfully long time. Now...'

'Yes, it's very odd,' said Jamie. 'I had plenty of time when I was at music college in Glasgow, and it passed very slowly. Now a week goes by in minutes.'

'There's a reason for that,' said Isabel. 'It's to do with memories and how many you make. When you're doing things for the first time, you lay down lots of memories. Later on, things become a bit routine...'

'And you don't have anything to remember?' Jamie asked incredulously.

'Well, you do, but because your life is a bit more routine, and there are few things which strike you as unusual, you don't feel that you have to remember quite as much. And so it seems that time has passed more quickly.'

Oddly, I found this concept rather profound. Perhaps it is me feeling my age.

E-Publishing by O'Reilly

For those who have an interest in the web related (generally) books from O'Reilly Media, they're moving a number of items - 30 to quote the title - to ebooks.

Personally the title of one caught my eye - Mind Performance Hacks.
I guess one can *hack* anything if one tries hard enough. Being old-fashioned, and not Web 2.0 compliant, I had always thought of these tricks and games as everyday *thinking* and using your brain. Then again I am of a generation that was taught long division; I don't need or rely on a calculator/electronic till to tally up my purchases or my change and I love nothing more than to extend my ability to do crosswords (cryptic and normal). I have even given Sudoku a run too.

I also have to admit that Mr O considers me to be the Trivial Pursuit Queen.
(I take that to mean that I have more useless pieces of knowledge floating around in my brain than is strictly necessary.)

Gastronomy: Aubergine pancakes with red pepper purée

Here is another recipe from Rose Elliot's "Vegetarian Supercook".

We tried it out tonight and it's a keeper. It would make a great canapé idea for your next barbecue or dinner party (if you are such an entertainer). They may translate into larger pancakes, but I think they are best served as a starter or finger food. The sauce is ridiculously quick if you are prepared to use bottled roasted red peppers.

Mr O is not a fan of aubergine usually, but much to my surprise he enjoyed this. I'm not sure it wasn't the excess garlic that I tend to throw at my food that masked any possible aubergine tastes, of course. ;)

Puffy Aubergine Pancakes with Red Pepper Purée.

Vegetarian. Preparation time: 40 minutes. Cooking time: 1 hour. Serves 6.

Ingredients:

1 large aubergine
1 large red pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 egg
2 tablespoons fine wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons chopped oregano
olive oil for shallow frying
salt and pepper
oregano leaves or small sprigs and coarsely ground black pepper, to garnish

Method:

1. Remove the stem from the aubergine. Put the aubergine and pepper on a baking sheet and roast in a preheated oven, 200C (400F), Gas Mark 6, for about 30 minutes, or until both are very tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Allow to cool. This can be done in advance when the oven is on for something else if convenient. You won't need the oven any more unless you want to make the pancakes straight away and keep them warm for a short time before serving.


2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion, cover and cook gently for 10 minutes, or until the onion is tender. Add the garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes longer, then remove from the heat.


3. Make the red pepper purée. Pull the papery outer skin from the cooled pepper, scoop out the seeds and core from the inside and discard the stem if still attached. Put the pepper into a food processor or blender with half the onion and garlic mixture and whiz to a thick purée. Season with salt and pepper and put to one side.


4. Rinse out the food processor and put in the roasted aubergine, the remaining onion and garlic mixture, the egg, flour, oregano and some salt and pepper to taste. Whiz to a thick batter.


5. Just before you want to serve the pancakes, heat 2.5mm depth of olive oil in a frying pan. When it's hot enough for a tiny speck of the batter to sizzle as soon as it hits the oil, put in heaped teaspoons of the batter mixture. Fry on one side for about 2 minutes, then flip them over and fry the other side. Take them out and put on to a plate lined with kitchen paper. Repeat until you have 18 little pancakes and all the mixture has been used up.


6. Just before serving, gently reheat the red pepper purée. Put three pancakes on each serving plate and top each pancake with a spoonful of the red pepper purée. Garnish with oregano leaves or a sprig and some coarsely ground black pepper. Serve at once.

Notes:

This was a very tasty recipe. The times listed for preparation and cooking seem quite a bit excessive to me. I would suggest that it takes half that time in total, at most. Mind you, I only needed to bake the aubergine as I used the cheat of bottled red peppers. We didn't wait for the aubergine to be totally cool either.
These would make a good alternative to blinis or regular pancake based finger food. They would probably take a range of toppings and sauces as well.

Bon apetit.

Home Alone

Mr O is off to Singapore.
He will be somewhere above the Tasman Sea as I write this, enjoying the ambiance of Singapore Airlines' Raffles Class. Lucky so and so.

I have requested a full report on the new seating arrangements - looking at the aircraft configuration he is getting to sit in one seat where in cattle class there would be three. Oh, I am green with envy.

I'd like to think I cared about the planet and my carbon footprint, but just wave the possibility of air travel under my nose and the only thing green about me is my envy when I don't get to tag along.

Anyway, that leaves the little Miss and I on our own for the week. On the plus side, I get full rights to the remote control. On the down side, I get to do all of the through the night work as well. Still, it is only for a week.

The Oh Waily's will be heading off on holiday soon enough, as it is. A week in Fiji at the beginning of September. Keep your fingers crossed that we get good weather.
Yes, I know we are boring. But it is only a three hour flight, and after you've been a couple of times there is no nagging push to "go out and explore", which means that the only thing left to do is lie on a lounger and read a book.
What more could you want in life? Really?

Noah's Ark - July 2008 Progress

Here is the latest incarnation of the work in progress. It is slowly taking shape.
The cats are done and the boxed edging has crawled further across the fabric.


I still haven't made up my mind what is going to fill the remaining portion. I guess that will come to a head once I have completed everything else.

I think I need a short break from this, so Fantasy Triptych may make a brief reappearance for a month. Watch this space.

Prize Winning Novel Locations

Where do you set your next novel?
Where do you place your master work?

If you want to win a Booker Prize, then here are the settings in order of most likely to win for you:

1. England - 9 winners


2. Africa - 7 winners


3. India - 7 winners


4. Australia or en route - 3 winners


5. Britain (general) - 3 winners


6. America or en route - 2 winners


7. Ireland - 2 winners


8. Canada, Germany, Europe, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, Switzerland and Wales - 1 each

Suffice to say you're on to a fair chance if you stick to Old Blighty, the Raj or The Dark Continent.

What does this say about the Booker Prize, I wonder? Or the judges? Or the offerings from afar?

Just a thought.

Teeth and Sleep

The Little Miss has been keeping me busy over the last week or so. She has been cranky, clingy and is sleeping slightly less than usual. The sleep alteration has included the addition of through-the-night wakings once again.

All of this to push through three new teeth.
Only one has managed to fully emerge so far, but the second should not be too far behind. The third is there, but not making a dash for the open air yet.

***

This photograph was taken in one of her new favourite places, between the sofa and the windows. It is now a narrow "hidey-hole" space that only she can really move in. Did I mention that she likes squeezy spots? I feel a spelunker in the making. This is definitely not an inherited trait from me - I'm not so great in very tightly confined spaces, I have far too much imagination.
The Little Miss on the other hand has a wild side that likes squish, speed, falling and general rough-and-tumble.

The Month of July in Books

Here were the five works for July.

Fiction:

Murder in the Dark

This is the most recent episode in the Phryne Fisher mystery series. Set at the "Last Best party of 1928", it is a tale of kidnap and impending murder. Phryne is on form here, with a diverse range of characters - the Golden Twins and their acolytes; polo players from city and country; manor house staff; and her own usual retinue.
A good read. Interesting twists and turns to the plot. Keeps you guessing.

Love over Scotland

This is the third book in the 44 Scotland Street series. It once again follows the stories of Pat, Domenica, Matthew, Angus, Lou and Bertie.
This is a great easy reading series with characters that draw you into their lives. My only issue with the whole thing is my continuing wish to slap Bertie's mother Irene. God forbid, there must be people out there like her, and their children must be cringing as they read Bertie's story.

The following two books are a rediscovery of an author. Quite some time ago I read the first in the Katie Chandler series "Enchanted, Inc." and I was interested to read more. Unfortunately at the time the library didn't have any of the other books. I forgot about her until the other day when completely by accident I happened upon book 2 and 3.

Once Upon Stilettos

The original entry in the series, Enchanted, Inc., is described by Armchair Interviews as:

..."chick lit" at its finest. Bridget Jones, move over. Shanna Swendson is offering up fantasy for the Buffy, Sabrina and Bewitched crowd.

And that pretty much sums it up for the entire series. Magic. Cute wizards. Gargoyles. Fairies. Times Square. All in one package.

Damsel Under Stress

Katie Chandler is a small-town girl and magical immune living it up in New York City. She works for MSI, a magical spell-making and selling company tucked away in a corner of Manhattan and spends a great deal of her time and this series helping to thwart the attempts at selling bad magic by a rogue wizard and ex-MSI employee. At the same time we get to follow her romantic aspirations for fellow MSI employee and uber-wizard, Owen Palmer.
Yes, this is definitely chick lit for Buffy fans.

Non-Fiction:

Reading Magic

Mem Fox is a children's author of some note. This is her guide to reading aloud with and for your children.
If you already know or instinctively would or do read aloud to your kids, then this simply tells you why it's such a great idea. Most of the ideas are supported anecdotally and I have to say that it didn't really tell me anything particularly new. Still, it was a small book and a quick read.
I can't say that I would recommend it particularly.

***

Next month may be a little sparser on the ground. I am attempting to take a few steps along my Booklitzer Book challenge by reading The Poisonwood Bible, Dune and Frankenstein. I will try to lighten this load with the works of P.G.Wodehouse, but even the great Jeeves and Wooster may not be able to pull me through this one.

See you next month.

Gastronomy: Creamy Cashew Korma

This is Ms O's creative cooking week.
Nope. Don't get your hopes up. What it actually means is - stop cooking the same old stuff and try something new, darn it all to heck.

Personally I like to borrow cookbooks from the library before committing my cash to them. It saves a lot of heartache when you find that you don't actually enjoy the same tastes as the author. So this week, on my library trip I picked up a couple of books by well known authors Rose Elliot and Nigella Lawson. First up will be recipes by Ms Elliot. This one comes from Vegetarian Supercook.

Creamy cashew korma

Vegan. Preparation time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 40 minutes. Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
50g (2oz) cashew nuts
400ml (14fl oz) coconut milk
400ml (14fl oz) water
small handful of curry leaves (optional)
175g (6oz) okra, topped and tailed
250g (8oz) cauliflower florets
250g (8oz) broccoli florets
salt and pepper
chopped coriander leaves, to garnish

Method:

1. Heat the rapeseed oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, cover and fry for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Stir in the garlic, turmeric, cumin and ground coriander, and cook for a minute or two longer.


2. Grind the cashew nuts to a powder in a coffee grinder, food processor or using the fine grater in a hand mill. Add them to the pan, along with the coconut milk.


3. For a really smooth sauce, you can now purée the whole lot in a food processor or blender (or use a stick blender in the saucepan) or, if you prefer some texture, leave it as it is.


4. Return the mixture to the pan, if you've puréed it, and add the water and curry leaves, if using. Leave to simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring from time to time, until thickened.


5. Just before the sauce is ready, put the okra, cauliflower and broccoli into a pan containing a depth of 5cm (2 inches) boiling water. Cover and cook for about 6 minutes, or until tender. Drain, and add the vegetables to the korma, stirring gently. Season with salt and pepper.


6. You can serve this at once, but if there's time, let it rest for a while - even overnight - for the flavours to intensify. Then gently reheat. Scatter with coriander before serving and serve with hot white basmati rice.

Notes:

This is a pretty simple and basic recipe. It isn't strongly flavoured at all. In fact, if you like curry, you will probably want to zap it up a lot.
However, it makes a good base with which to play around with the flavours. We used green beans instead of okra, and added sliced chicken breast after step 2 and allowed it to cook along with the sauce.
It's a definite keeper for our household, but it will be tweaked to suit our taste.

Bon apetit.