Great dish; I've gotta make this one again...
However, it looks pretty horrible, and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, I didn't use any of the thick parts of the coconut milk, so it is far too thin. Secondly, the recipe calls for making a chili paste from dry red chilies, which is fine as far as taste goes, but the paste ends up being quite pale. Next time I'll use a different paste recipe with fresh red chilies, so it will have more of a red color.
One of Bravo TV's "Top Chef" more talenented contestants (Marcel -- the immature plonker with the Wolverine windtunnel hairdo) made a dish that used "Madras curry powder..." This is so sad -- I mean, it isn't just that this kid was supposed to be one of the more knowledgeable guys in the competition. What gets me is that the guest judge actually asked him what spices he had used, and then never batted a fucking eye, when he was told, "Oh (shrug) just some Madras curry powder."
It's as if he'd made pizza, and as if a judge were to ask how he made the sauce, he'd reply, "DiGiornio's!" -- and the judge just went, "ah!" and that was it.
The reason why I avoid using curry powder, isn't due to arrogance -- I mean, I wouldn't have it around, if I didn't use it. And it isn't just that I generally avoid cooking with the stuff -- I don't want to give anyone a recipe that contains an ingredient labeled just as "curry powder." That's the gist of it, you see? Curry Powder can mean _anything_! I mean, with Thai curry paste, you at least have a differentiation between the red and the green stuff.
I do use curry powder on occasion. It is pretty damn rare, though. I have two different ones (both are from Indian or South East Asian stores, were purchased in bags rather than fancy containers labeled "Madras" or any such things), and they are very distinctive: One is quite yellow in color, and generally sweet. The other is slightly red, and closer to chili powder.
I've made this a lot with a mixture of shrimp, bechamel sauce, celery, scallions etc, and that's a killer recipe. But some smoked salmon is even better, and quite intense. The spotty coloration on the lower one is due to a dry pan over slightly too high heat. I didn't have a proper crêpe pan, but a half decent non-stick pan works just fine. However, since then, I've become the fortunate owner of a magnificent piece of kit known as "M'sieur Crêpe, Electric Crepemaker." It's an odd contraption with an hilarious 1960-era user's manual with instructions on how to create Fiesta, Italian, Parisian, Polynesian, Scandinavian, Chinese, Greek and Creole Dinners, Mock Jelly Omelette and a lot of odd stuff. But it makes superb crêpes. I'll have to put up some pictures of it one day...
