Yellow Zucchini-Okra Curry

I guess yellow curry is a bit more Thai than Indian. Anyone give me a heads up if you know the difference. Maybe one day sooner than later my travels will take me to India, where my bestest JoNaners is going to be just weeks from now. I'm sure she can report back to me on this, after she compares a bit. Jealousy sunk in when I realized the absolute freedom she would have. But, ater a bit of frenzied research, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't afford a trip just yet.

Until the day I get to travel to India, I can live vicariously through the stories of my friends and through the food. Which brings me to this curry. I don't normally make curry for first time dinner guests, because I don't want to scare them off with anything too exotic. (Yes, some of my experiments have looked like molten lava or tasted of only keffir lime). But in this case my dinner guest of choice has proclaimed a devoted love for curry. Now hopefully he's not too much of a critic. I can only compare mine to restaurant quality, not to the real thing, but I think it tasted pretty darn good!

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2'' piece of ginger, peeled and grated or crushed with a garlic press
• 3 tbs peanut oil
• 2 tbs yellow curry
• 1 tbs tumeric
• 1 tbs garam masala
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 medium sized zucchini, diced into 1/2'' cubes
• abotu 7 large okra, chopped into quarters
• 1 cup peas
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Alright I know this is a loooong list of ingredients, but it's not as hard as it sounds. Afterall, it's really just like stirfry, only you add a sauce and let it simmer for a while, right?

1. First heat the oil in a large pan. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and let brown a bit.
2. Add the onion and bell pepper and stir until soft.
3. Add the zucchini and okra and continue stirring about 5 minutes.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes and cocunut milk.
5. Add the peas last, because they don't need much time to heat.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Sometimes, If I'm allowing this to simmer long enough, the liquid evaporates, so I add a few table spoons of water occassionally to keep a saucy consistency. (Saucy, I will now be). This also gives the flavor time to condense. Serve with warm basmati rice.