Is the name of my new blog. My other blog. It is so named, you see, because I am transitioning to a raw way of eating, and I have decided to document my journey.

I started looking into a raw diet mainly because my energy has been crazily low lately, and I strongly suspect my thyroid as a culprit. It is difficult to get out of bed some days, not for lack of sleep (although that plays a factor as well), but just for lack of any energy. I don’t use caffeine or sugar or any other stimulants - so there isn’t a food thing interfering with my rest and energy levels. Well, there might be, but not in that form.

Ever since I read the Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars series, I’ve felt the pull toward going raw. Even before that and for a long time, I’ve been taking steps to move closer to living a natural life - a life that fits my intuition and the way I feel we were meant to live. Then I saw Woody Harrelson’s documentary (from 1999) called “Go Further”, in which he and his raw food chef, his yoga instructor, a lawyer and a friend embark upon an eco tour of colleges and other venues to speak about our planet and what we can do to help it. They drove a bus that was environmentally friendly - it had hemp curtains and fabric, cork flooring, and ran on biofuel. They all took turns alternately riding the bus and biking the 2500 miles up (down?) the West Coast. Woody spoke and they all taught people yoga and fed them raw foods along the way. I was particularly struck by how HEALTHY all of these raw food folks looked - they just glowed, not only with health (their skin was PERFECT! Their teeth, their hair, they all looked beautiful - radiant.), but with PEACE. I don’t know how much sense that makes to anyone else, but seriously, the way they engaged with other people was purely peaceful - never a harsh or malevolent word or action - they just radiated LOVE. And I thought, “I want THAT.”

For a long time with food that has been eating the Nourishing Traditions way - fermented foods, lots of good bone broths and soups, food made from scratch and from fresh, whole, organic ingredients. And it is a fantastic way to eat! I do not knock this way of eating - it is so healthy and wholesome. We cut dairy and wheat from our diets, as well. For awhile I was doing minimal grains, and I’ve always felt that it is best for me - low grains, because they make me feel sluggish and bloaty.

But in the back of my mind, I’ve always wondered, “Where does cooking come into a natural way of living?” I mean, yes, fire is an element of earth, but food grows in a pristine state - why would a food that grows in an edible and nourishing state need to be cooked for it to be nutritious? It just sort of never made sense to me, but of course it’s what people do - they cook. Fire was discovered millions of years ago, so we’ve adapted to cooked food, right?

And what about meat? Are we REALLY meant to eat all of the animals that we do? Granted, they are really tasty, some of them - but is it an acquired taste? Is it possible that meat isn’t meant to be cooked, either? That if we DO eat it, it’s meant to be eaten raw, fresh from the kill? Nourishing Traditions even asserts as much. So what are we doing to our meat when we cook it? And do we really even need it in this day and age when there is plenty of plant matter? Could it be possible that meat was only ever eaten in great times of scarcity, and otherwise Man always subsisted on plants?

Look in nature - humans are the ONLY species that cooks our food, or that even uses fire. Chimps, gorillas - our closest genetic neighbours - live on a plant-based diet. They are strong and healthy and disease-free - except in zoos and where man has become too much a part of their environment. Is it possible that perhaps Man is meant to subsist on a plant-based diet as well? Could we have gotten SO far off track from our original path of health and well-being? I don’t know, really. All I know is that my intuition is pulling me in this direction, and things seem to be falling into place for me to do this.

I have immersed myself in websites, in books and reading everything related to raw eating. I had no idea there were so many recipes out there for raw food! You can make raw lasagna, raw pizza, raw spaghetti! You can make chocolate blueberry cakes, and strawberry shortcakes, and pancakes! All 100% RAW! I had no idea - I thought it would be all green smoothies and salads if I tried to eat raw. And my need for variety said, “No way!” But the recipes - there are THOUSANDS of raw recipes out there, and when I read them - each one sounds yummier than the next. I am the kind of girl that with recipes, I can follow any way of eating. If I have recipes and I can PLAN everything, I am good to go. I can do it!

Then I read the stories. The personal stories of journeys from sick to healthy, from obese to thin, from no energy to exploding with energy - story after story of all of these amazing things that happened to people as a result of being raw. There are just stories upon stories upon stories of the amazing difference in the lives of these people. And not just in eating - in confidence, in lifestyle, in vitality and in JOY. People went from being depressed all the time to living a fully joyous life, every day! Those kinds of stories are what grab me - not just scientific research and data, but real life stories. Inspiring real life stories, and ones from people who were just like me - people I can relate to because they know what it’s like. It’s difficult to relate to someone who was always slender and healthy and just decided to be raw as a matter of course. But when someone says, “I was obese, I felt like crap, I was tired and had tried everything,” then I can hear them. Because that’s ME. And when I map myself against them I think, “I could do this, too.”

And it FITS. It fits with the eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle I want to live. It fits with growing my own food and keeping bees for raw honey and living in an ecovillage. It fits with the me I am working to become - the me I am inside. When I put it all together in my mind, it FITS.

As I am still nursing, my intent is to incorporate raw foods slowly at first - I mean, we already eat raw foods now in the form of fruits, veggies and big salads (my favourite lunch), but I’m saying that while I will incorporate more greens and other raw foods into my life, and phase out foods that aren’t raw, I’m going to work it in gradually so I don’t detox too much at once, as it will do into my milk. If I do it slowly, and I detox slowly, Kiernen will also be able to process the toxic stuff out of his body easily - whereas too fast would put too big a load on him and make him sick and/or toxic.

I’ve already noticed my desire for cooked foods going down since I’ve started just READING about raw foods and their benefits to people. The unfortunate thing about that is it is my job to cook dinner, and my husband has been coming home and asking me what’s for dinner, and I just shrug because I don’t know what it is that I want. “How about a salad?” I’ll say. He’ll say he’d prefer something else. Something more filling. The funny thing is, he has agreed to try this raw way of eating with me - he’s just not ready yet. “We have to eat all the food we have first,” he says. Um, except I am the Queen of buying in bulk. I told him that instead, I’m considering having a “grocery sale” in our cohousing community and selling off our groceries. They’d still be cheaper than buying them at the store because I DO buy in bulk, and we go over the border to Trader Joe’s once a month and stock up - there are no TJ’s in Canada. I just need to make a list of everything that’s in our freezer and pantry so I can price it and sell it.

I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on about raw foods - I’ve literally checked out and read every single book that our library has on raw eating. I’ve also been perusing all of those websites you see in my sidebar on my raw blog, as well. I am amazed at the difference eating raw food has made for so many people. There must be something to it, right? I can say that I am VERY excited about this journey, because it just feels right in my heart - this feels like the right thing for me. And what have I got to lose finding out?

Oh, and the other blog isn’t password protected AND can be read from an rss feed reader. Woot!

Yes!!! Just yesterday while telling someone about Amy Steinberg, I discovered that she is going to be at the Life is Good Unschooling Conference in May!!! Why is this good news, you ask? Well, because not only have I been wanting to see Amy live for a long time now, but we are going to the conference! Yes! Thank you, Universe!

Note: It is rare that I mention politics on my blog anymore - mostly because it is not something I like to focus on (though I DO pay attention to it), but this article - this article brought tears to my eyes. I HAD to share it, because YES.

Article can be found here - and the rest of Mark Morford’s columns, as well.

The very best thing about Barack Obama
No, not that. Or that or that or that. It’s that other thing, deeper, crazier, intuitive

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, April 4, 2008

Nope, it’s not what you might think. The best thing about Barack Obama has almost nothing to do with him as a person or as a leader or even as Oh My God The First Black President Who Could Really Change Everything I Mean Wow. It’s not even the wondrous oratory power or the charisma or the sweet sense of deeper change overlaid with all kinds of sparkly utopian futuriffic goodness.

There is, I think, something more. Something richer. And it’s rather startling.

See, I’ve read the profiles and the liberal fawnings and the intelligent analysis, the attempted takedowns and the right-wing smears, all the valiant attempts to dig up something dirty or problematic or frightening about Obama and his family, his past, his middle name, his beliefs and his pastor and his favorite flavor of ice cream — attempts that, rather amusingly, have all failed.

I’ve read, too, the glut of wonderment, how Obama is this generation’s JFK, how he makes Hillary Clinton’s brand of retro cronyist politics feel like the equivalent of rubbing salt on a paper cut. He is, they say, that once-in-a-lifetime candidate, a fantastically rare mix of intelligence, consistency, inspiration, hope, charisma, humanity, articulation, and an almost shocking lack of manipulation and sheen (well, relatively speaking), all packaged in a strikingly handsome unit in whose closet apparently live almost no skeletons at all.

I also nodded in agreement when snark-master Jon Stewart appeared slightly stunned and taken aback and very nearly jokeless as he pointed out, following Obama’s remarkable speech on race in America, that at long last, here was a top-tier politician who dared to speak to us like we were adults. It wasn’t just refreshing; after seven-plus years of humiliating, monosyllabic dumb-guy Bushisms, it was downright jarring.

And I even enjoyed the overall assessment that the fact that Obama is untested and inexperienced in the higher and more dire realms of government is actually a good thing, just the kind of wild card we crave and need, given how he shows absolutely zero signs that he’d screw it up, not to mention how the last thing anyone really wants is more of the same old-school, inbred crap we’ve had for decades.

Still, this wasn’t what riveted me the most about Obama, still not what’s most fascinating about this moment in political history. It was still something more.

Initially I thought the most impressive aspect of Obama’s run was, well, how the guy made it this far at all. That someone of his caliber and obvious intelligence could survive what has become a truly caustic, brutal political system and still emerge into the international spotlight as, well, not deeply f—ed-up and insane, not possessing that creepy demonic gleam shared by so many politicos (hi, Sen. McCain!) that suggests they’ve had souls eaten whole by the same scabrous trolls of greed and war and corruption that birthed two Bushes and gave Bill Clinton that nearly intolerable aura of ego and slickness.

See, I’ve long believed that, if nearly eight years of the World’s Worst President has taught us anything, it’s that the American political system has moved well beyond merely deeply flawed and broken and sad, and is now wholly rotted, ruined from the inside out, a true moral wasteland barely suitable even for cockroaches and leeches and Rick Santorum. I thought George W. Bush had actually managed to do the impossible: make an already defective system truly unbearable, turning something already gray and murky to turgid and pathetic, toxic to all decent human life.

And I’m happy to report that the fact that Obama exists at this stage of the game is proving me very wrong indeed.

But I’ll even take it a step further. Because the greatest thing about Obama isn’t really about Obama at all, per se. It’s actually about, well, us.

This is the great revelation: We still got it. The collective unconscious, the deep sense of inner wisdom, that intuitive knowing that borders on a kind of mystical proficiency, where millions of people can actually look beyond rhetoric and media spin and merely feel the presence of something great in the room? Yep, still there. Who knew?

See, this is what I hear most from relatives and readers and friends and newborn activists who were never activists before: Obama speaks to the intuition. It’s about the sixth sense. It’s not just what he says or how he behaves in the debates or the policy wonking or the “Change” banners or any of the typical, tangible factors — although those have proven to be remarkably positive, too.

It’s this: People feel it. They hear an Obama speech or read the articles or talk to like-minded folk, and they squint their eyes and weigh everything and then dismiss all that surface crap and get that look on their face that says, you know what? This guy gets it. He feels right. It’s not a trick of light. It’s not complete bulls—. It’s not the usual spin and manipulation and fakery. There is actual meat on this bone. What a thing.

Of course, I’ve plenty of readers who are die-hard cynics and jaded anarchists who say: What the f— is wrong with you? Can’t you see it’s just another vicious ploy? All candidates at this level are essentially the same, interchangeable, all abhorrent simply by default because when you reach that stage of the game there is simply no way to avoid deep corruption and rampant lies. They tell me that even just to write a column like this is akin to merely washing the windows in your little pod in “The Matrix.” Sure, the world may seem shinier, but you’re still just buying into the same old revolting corporate/military machine.

After all, once the vipers of big money and big oil and military spending and corporate cronyism get their fangs sunk in, it’s pretty much “game over” for any candidate’s remaining integrity. Has Mr. Perfect Obama spoken out against the insidious Patriot Act or taken on the absurd farm subsidies or talked up issues of global warming? No he has not. As nice and smart as he may be, strip away all the fawning and the oratory tricks and give him a year in office and boom, just another corrupted, compromised former visionary. Right?

Whatever. I’m not buying it. At least, not yet. For the moment, I trust the collective intuition. I trust the shockingly widespread sense, not merely of hope and change, but of collective wisdom swimming though the air like an electrical surge between every smart, creative person on the planet right now, a bolt of energy that says: Hey, we’re still together. We still got it. Smart, intuitive people are still a force. There is life in the revolution yet.

And Obama? He gets it, too. Hell, he may have kindled it anew, all by himself. Either way, it’s back. And it’s powerful. And that, to me, is the most hopeful thing of all.

It is snowing, in BC, in March. W.T.F.

(For those of you in the U.S. under the misconception that all of Canada lives under a perpetual blanket of snow, this is NOT normal. BC is on the west coast - we basically have the same climate as Seattle: rain 9 months of the year, sun for the other three. Snow is a VERY rare occurrence. Yet this will be the 5th time it has snowed this…er, winter? But it is Spring!)

This was sent to me by MBD - he thought I would find it amusing. I did!

via Public Citizen:

March 21, 2008

Federal Court Rejects Wal-Mart’s Trademark Claim Against Web Critic

Public Citizen Argued First Amendment Protects Parody of Company’s Logos

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal judge today upheld a Georgia man’s First Amendment right to criticize Wal-Mart’s business practices by using satire to compare its destructive effects on communities to both the Holocaust and al-Qaeda terrorists.

In rejecting the company’s claim of trademark infringement, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta found that Charles Smith’s parody Web sites (www.walocaust.com and www.walqaeda.com) and related novelty merchandise were protected speech and that a reasonable person would not confuse their use with Wal-Mart’s legitimate trademarks. The court also rejected Wal-Mart’s claim that it has trademark rights in the “smiley-face” that Smith used in one of his parodies.

Public Citizen and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia Foundation defended Smith after Wal-Mart sued the Conyers, Ga. man in 2006, claiming he infringed on its trademark by creating parody logos and Web sites built around the “Walocaust” and “Wal-Qaeda” concepts, including the image of an eagle clutching a yellow smiley face, similar to the one Wal-Mart uses in advertising. Smith also put the design on T-shirts, bumper stickers and other items that he sold on CafePress.com.

Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr.’s decision reaffirms an important point of trademark law – that even though a parody is placed on a T-shirt and sold, it nevertheless represents non-commercial speech that is fully protected by the First Amendment and, thus, is not a proper basis for a trademark action, said Paul Alan Levy, a Public Citizen attorney, who represented Smith along with Gerald Weber of Atlanta.

“This ruling shows that even the biggest company in America is subject to parody, and that trademark rights must yield to the right of free speech,” Levy said. “This is a resounding victory for First Amendment rights and sends a clear message to big corporations that would try to use their deep pockets to intimidate and silence their critics.”

Although Wal-Mart spent more than $200,000 on an “expert” witness to prove that consumers seeing these parody T-shirts were likely to be confused, the judge properly recognized that the expert’s testimony was junk science and flew in the face of common sense.

But really - what’s magical is my back is feeling SO much better! I’ve been out of bed for two whole days now and I’m feeling almost back to normal. Sitting upright is just around the corner! (I can stand and I can lean (while sitting) now.)

The sun is here! The sun is magical! We (and many other families here) have been cleaning out our cars, going for bike rides, going out to the trampoline, and messing about in our garden plots in preparation for planting. Being outside is magical! Especially when you live in the rainy Pacific northwest! Or here in Canada, southwest!

Trader Joes’s is magical - you have no idea how magical until you move into a country that doesn’t have it! But! Then one opens up across the border, only an hour away - so you go once a month and LOAD up.

Stopping for treats from Starbucks along the way is magical - and letting Kiernen choose his own treat - a chocolate brownie! DH had a caramel macchiato (sp?) and I got a chai latte. Magical.

What’s magical is once again, the Canadian dollar is higher than the US dollar! So on aforementioned trips to the US to TJs you save even MORE money!

What’s magical is that even though we bought alcohol (hard cider and stout - which we then learned you are not allowed to do on day trips unless you want to pay twice what it’s worth in duties), the border guard let us off with a warning this time and lets us go through! And the funniest part about that is we almost never ever even buy alcohol, we just did it on a whim this time (which is why we didn’t know the rule in the first place).

What’s magical is the way my sweet son is learning by leaps and bounds - today with only my once explanation and demonstration he figured out drinking through a straw (we never use straws except on the rare occasion that we eat out, so he hasn’t had much exposure). He is using all of these full sentences I’ve never heard him use before - “Comee Mama,” (Come here , Mama - taking my hand) “I so you. Comee,” (I show you. Come here.) More and more he is communicating his needs and desires and is just blowing me away with the speed at which he takes in information and processes it. He keeps growing physically, too! FAST!

What’s magical is the joy on Kiernen’s face when we got home from that trip and he then saw his favourite 10-year-old AND got to go jump on the trampoline with him. And then got to come home and play with his trains after that! The love that I am capable of because of him is what is magical - my heart explodes with love every time I look into his sweet face.

What’s magical is having a great conversation with MBD - just about everything that is important to us. About building our future forever home, about learning to communicate the NVC (Nonviolent Communication) way, about US. Realizing that as much as we think we’re not on the same page, it is just our communication that gets in the way and really we are. That here we have a tool that will make all the difference in that should we choose to use it - NVC. Magical.

What’s magical is knowing that 2008 is the year that we all see our dreams manifest right before our eyes - THAT IS MAGICAL!

So tell me: What’s magical in your life this week?

I don’t talk about it often because I don’t like to give energy to it - I choose to focus my energy elsewhere as much as possible. I’m referring to my back - my back which has been in much pain for the past two weeks, enough to keep MBD home from work - er, working from home - so he can take care of both me and Kiernen. He has been an amazing trooper through it all, too - despite the stress of trying to juggle working from home whle simultaneously keeping Kiernen entertained, fetching me whatever I need, cooking meals, keeping the house clean.

I started to feel better this weekend - finally! I even felt better enough to carry Kiernen a couple of times and to go for a brief bike ride. And so today MBD returned to work with confidence that I was healing and feeling better. Especially since when I called him shortly after Kiernen and I got up, I reassured him that although it was feeling slightly worse than yesterday, I was doing allright. We hung up the phone and I reached into our bottom freezer to get some blueberries for our morning smoothie and SNAP - WHOOSH - pain so bad I literally could not straighten myself up.

I panicked. The phone was on the counter behind me and I was bent over the opposite counter. The front door was locked, which meant I couldn’t call anyone from the community to come over and help me - because it was too far for me to make it to open the door. I had to get the phone - which although it was really only feet away, seemed like 5 miles with the pain I was suddenly in. And Kiernen needed breakfast. Thank Goddess our kitchen is so small that I can literally support myself on one counter, push myself to the next and then get to that phone.

I called MBD and realized I couldn’t breathe, so the words sounded like, “Hurss - help - comehome - blueberries - pain - ,” then me sobbing. I finally managed to get it out that I had hurt myself and needed him to come home NOW, so he got his coworker to drive him home immediately. I also managed to get myself to the sofa and lie down. Kiernen was quite worried at this point because his Mama was not only lying on the sofa, she was sobbing - so he wanted to nurse. I nursed him and as we were lying there, I scrolled through my caller ID hoping that one of my neighbours had called recently because the phone list was ALL the way in the office. I’d realized that my back door was open, as I’d opened it to get some fresh air going through the house.

The Universe smiled on me and I found the very neighbour I was hoping for in my caller ID and SHE WAS HOME. She heard the panic in my voice right away and asked, “Are you hurt?” I said yes and told her what happened and she said she’d be right over. She came and made breakfast for Kiernen and for me and made sure I was okay, including doing some EFT tapping and talking a bit about other possible treatments I might try, and getting me every homeopathic remedy I had in the house at the time. Josh got home in record time somehow (he works an hour away but got home in about half hour), and swooped in and took care of Kiernen while my neighbour and I chatted a bit more about the pain and what it means and such.

As far as we can figure, it is a muscle spasm - my muscles are very tight and guarded around the hurt area. We even went so far as to get some over the counter muscle relaxants - making sure they were safe with nursing (as much as they can be, anyway). So currently I am laying on an ice pack while I wait for round 2 of these things to kick in. Mind you, they are not for the pain, but just to relax the muscle spasm so I can um - sleep maybe. I hurt. I hurt so badly that I cannot even get out of bed to go to the bathroom myself. I cannot bend over to take off my own pants or even flush the toilet myself, as it involves slight bending toward the toilet. I cannot lay any way except on my back with my knees bent up, and sometimes on one side or the other but getting there is excruciating. This is some serious pain - I cannot recall a time when my back has EVER hurt this badly before.

PLEASE send healing energy to my back. I am really afraid of how much this hurts and what it might mean. I am so terribly afraid, I cannot even begin to explain it. I want to be able to walk and run and play and ride a bike. I want to be able to pee by myself. I really LOVE having legs that work and a body that holds me upright and a body that WORKS. I want that to happen again - I am asking for that again. If you’re into Reiki, if you pray, if you do any sort of energy healing, if you even just think string healing thoughts for my WORKING, STRONG back. Positive thoughts, like, “Strong, healed back, walking, running, string back that supports and holds you up!” Anything. Please, please send STRONG HEALING thoughts for my back, please. And THANK YOU FOR MY HEALING!

We have a favourite sushi restaurant, Miraku, that we go to about 1-2 times a month. Now if you know anything about BC you know that sushi restaurants are EVERYWHERE, and are relatively inexpensive as well, but we have tried a few around here and Miraku is definitely our restaurant. They knew us after the second time we dined there - and in a good way - they gave us free miso soup and would always bring it out before anything else because they knew that Kiernen would be occupied with the miso while we waited for the rest of the food. And they always added extra tofu because they knew that that was his favourite part. The food is FANTASTIC, the people there are wonderful and we love their little place. Because we order so often now, and so often go and pick it up, most of the employees (unless they are new) also know us by not only our phone order, but by name over the phone.

The one issue we have with ordering it to go is all of the styrofoam packaging. little plastic grass/extra chopsticks/napkins that they give us. None of these are necessary for us - we have plenty of chopsticks at home, cloth napkins, and styrofoam is not recyclable. So this time when we called in our order we made a request: can we bring our own glass containers to use instead of the styrofoam? And they said yes! So this time we had no little plastic grass (we also said no soy sauce, wasabi or any other extras, just the food), no chopsticks, no paper napkins, and nothing but the food. Why didn’t we think of this before?

I’m so glad we did, because now we can feel better about not creating extra waste with our takeout, and that is a wonderful feeling! I imagine that most places would do this if asked, and it certainly never hurts to try. Word to the eco-friendly!

Also? Go Obama!

This isn’t my recipe originally, but it has become our family recipe - these are such delicious garbanzos! I’ll post the amded recipe that we used at the meal, only in one family size.

Bill Perry’s Scrumptious Garbanzos

2 cans garbanzos, drained
1/2 - 1 head cauliflower
1.5 cups peas
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can coconut milk
1 lime
1 pinch asfoetida (also called hing - you can leave this out if you don’t have it)
1 big chunk of ginger, grated or diced into tiny pieces
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, diced
2 tsp cumin
s+p to taste
1 tsp curry
1/2 tsp turmeric
other random herbs you think will taste good

In a pressure cooker if you have one, Saute the onion and garlic and ginger. Add the spices and saute another minute. Add garbanzos, veggies and coconut milk. Pressure cook 20 min if you have one, if not simmer about 1/2 hour or so, you want the beans to be soft. Add the lime and more coconut milk or evaporated milk milk at the end and simmer about 5-10 more minutes.

We like this over rice or some grain, usually, but alone is excellent too.

This can of course be made with Chickpeas, chicken, tofu or whatever kind of protein suits you. You’ll make the Basic Curry Sauce first, as it can be made in advance.

Basic Curry Sauce (recipe is from here)
3 Tbs oil or ghee
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic
1.5″ piece ginger, finely sliced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander (ground)
1 Tbs tomato paste mixed w/ 4 Tbs water

Saute onion in oil - add garlic and ginger. Turn heat to warm and cook 15 minutes. Add spices and cook 5 more minutes. Do NOT burn spices. Remove from heat and cool a little. Put 4oz of cold water in blender, add contents of pan and blend until very smooth. Add tomato paste mixed with water and stir.
Put back in pan and cook 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can add a little water if it starts to catch on pan but the idea is to gently ‘fry’ the sauce which will darken to an orangey brown. The final texture ought to be like ketchup.

Chicken Korma (also from here, but with some adjustments)

* 2 chicken breasts, skinned and cut into approx. 1 inch pieces
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or ghee
* 1 inch piece cassia bark or cinnamon stick (we used cinnamon)
* 2 cardamon pods
* two thirds of a batch of Basic Curry Sauce
* quarter teaspoon hot chilli powder
* half teaspoon concentrated tomato purée
* salt to taste
* 4 tablespoons double cream (we used half and half)
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped creamed coconut

We also added diced potatoes, carrots and peas to this recipe, as well as half a can of coconut milk)

Method

1. Heat a little of the oil in a large heavy frying pan then fry the chicken pieces over moderate heat until they are sealed and have turned white. Remove them from the pan and set aside
2. Heat the rest of the oil in a heavy pan over a moderate heat then put in the cassia and cardamon and stir for a few minutes
3. Turn the heat to low then add the Basic Curry Sauce, chilli powder, tomato purée and salt. You can add a little more tomato purée if the colour isn’t rich enough but no more than another half teaspoon.
4. Add the chicken pieces and simmer on a low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add hot water if the sauce gets too dry.
5. Finally, add the cream and creamed coconut and heat through until the creamed coconut has melted. By the end of the cooking the sauce should be silky and not too thick.

Serve over rice and with Naan to soak up the sauce - YUMMAH!!!