Tuna Curry in a Hurry

I've been looking at a few blogs and I saw one that was posting recipes (with photos of the results) every couple days. I like that idea, so here's a recipe that has always always always been a favorite of mine.

This came to me from my mother, who probably got it from a magazine somewhere 40 or 50 years ago. She was President of the Tucson Unitarian Church and a great cook and an inveterate recipe saver. I grew up eating tuna curry and it’s great stuff. You can get dinner on the table in less than half an hour from when you walk in the door, which is not too shabby.

Ingredients

Rice—plain white, jasmine, or Basmati
2 large onions, chopped
oil or butter
1/4 cup white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 bottle cheap American beer (Bud or Miller or something like that)
2 cans of tuna or 1 can of mackerel or 1 can of salmon
2 level tablespoons of curry powder
1 pint of plain, unflavored yoghurt

Optional Ingredients

raisins
shredded coconut
chopped hardboiled eggs
shelled peanuts
chutneys
peach or apricot jam
sweet marmalade
green bananas or plantains for frying

Rice

1. First, start a pot of white rice. Jasmine rice is best, basmati rice is also very nice, but any white rice will do fine.
2. Take a large pot. Pour a quantity of white rice in the pot that’s about 1-1/2 inches from the bottom of the pot. (I always measure using my finger: halfway up to the second knuckle from the bottom of the pot is 1-1/2 inches.)
   Note: Cooked rice is about twice the size of the dry rice you started with, so figure appropriately. Starting with 1-1/2 inches of dry rice in a two-quart saucepan will make enough rice to feed four.
   
3. Wash the rice a few times by putting a quart or so of cold water in the pot, swirling the rice around with your hand and then carefully draining the liquid, which will be moderately cloudy. Washing gets the talc coating off the rice and makes the rice cook better.
4. Put enough cold water in the pot to cover the rice another 1-1/2 inches—or halfway up to your second knuckle—from the surface of the rice to the surface of the water. (I know it sounds arcane, but if you put in any quantity of rice less than a few pounds in an appropriately-sized cooking pot and you then add that much water again above the surface of the rice, you’ll always come out just fine for the rice/water ratio.) Add a dash of salt and bring the pot of rice to a rolling boil.
5. As soon as the rice hits a rolling boil, turn off the heat, cover it tightly, and leave it to sit undisturbed. By the time the rest of the meal is done, the rice will be, too.

Curry

While you’re waiting for the rice to hit a rolling boil, start the rest of the meal.

1. In a large pot, brown two large chopped onions in a small amount of oil. Set aside.
2. In the same pot, brown 1/4 cup of white flour in oil or butter. (Don’t use margarine!) When the flour is lightly browned and forming small beads, slowly add 1/2 bottle of American beer, stirring all the while. Add additional water as necessary to form a smooth roux. Keep on low heat and don’t let it boil or it’ll scorch.
3. Add two cans of tuna with the juice. (You can substitute 1 large can of mackerel or 1 can of salmon if you prefer.) Add the browned onions, salt, and 2 level tablespoons of curry powder. Stir gently to mix the ingredients, but leave small chunks of fish visible in the mix. Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
   Note: The generic Spice Islands bottled curry powder is just fine for this, but you can branch out and try other curry powders from the spice store if you like.
4. Right before you’re ready to serve, turn the heat up on the curry. Add 1 pint of plain, unflavored yoghurt and stir in gently. Leave small streaks of yoghurt in the mix—this gives character and color to the curry so it's not just a pot of good-tasting glop. Keep on the heat, stirring gently, until the mix starts to boil. (Watch out for splashes of hot curry as it bubbles.) Cook for one minute, or until the yoghurt is heated all the way through. Remove from the heat.
5. Put a large bed of rice on each plate (or bowl). Spoon large quantities of curry over the rice. Garnish with raisins, shredded coconut, chopped hardboiled eggs, shelled peanuts, chutneys, and/or a bit of peach or apricot jam or sweet marmalade. Fried plantains or bananas are also a good side dish. Take plantains or green bananas (ripe bananas tend to fall apart and are too sweet), slice them lengthwise (like making a banana split) and fry them in a small quantity of butter until they are brown on both sides. The bananas will soften as they cook. Serve by putting them on the plate next to or under the bed of rice.
6. Dig in! I’ve made this meal in 22 minutes from start to finish on any number of occasions. You can, too!

Tuna Curry in a Hurry