I can now sleep...with this curry

[IntelligentImpulse]

Thank you for the recipe, I gave it a shot yesterday.

However, just a brief analysis of its contents..

Lots of onions - about 20-25 medium-large.
Handful of chopped green and red peper.
2/3 tin of tomatoes.
4 spoons fresh garlic and ginger puree (ground up 2/3 ginger and 1/3 garlic cloves in oil).
1/2 small cabbage.
1 carrot
Handful fresh coriander
3 spoons ground tumeric (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...ngredientid=662&activeingredientname=turmeric)
3-4 spoons ground coriander (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...gredientid=117&activeingredientname=coriander)
3-4 spoons ground cumin (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...veingredientid=635&activeingredientname=cumin)
3-4 spoons asafoetida ("hing") (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...redientid=248&activeingredientname=asafoetida)
3-4 spoons ground fenugreek seed (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...gredientid=733&activeingredientname=fenugreek)
3-4 spoons curry powder
3 spoons salt
1/2 litre of vegatable oil
small cup of water


I can't seem to find anything directly beneficial to sleep.. besides, perhaps satisfaction from an awesome tasting recipe.

 

[Little Bluestem]

Did you find it beneficial to your sleep after you ate it?

 

[Richard7]

well I have tried it now, or a version of it, I burned the bottom of the pan and had to change pans and therefore may have lost some of the spices.

I have POTS and usually just cook things that don't require me to stay in the kitchen. Usually in a pressure cooker.

Anyway 7 hrs sleep.

A little disturbance due to low potassium, and really needed to replenish it 1st thing, but really really good.

I will report back in a week if it keeps working - or not.

 

[Little Bluestem]

Could this stuff be put in a pressure cooker?

 

[Richard7]

I am not sure.

I have cooked curries in the pressure cooker before but they have had more liquid and fewer ingredients.

Its strange, I don't think I have burned spices on the bottom of the pot for a long time.

The mixture tended to seperate with a thick layer at the base of the pan and a thin layer above it. And I feel that all my knowledge of cooking should kick in now and tell me what I did wrong, but those sections of my brain seem to be offline. Shame.

But I know that pressure cookers are very popular in India so I expect that it is posible.

I will have to look into it.

 

[natasa778]

I should point out that I always include lots of potatoes in these curries, not sure if that is essential or not, though I get the feeling it is because once I only used courgettes (no potato) and didn't sleep well.

Hi @cigana I just posted this on another thread, asking if you used cornstarch in the curry recipe

I have just been reading some posts on cornstarch before bedtime being very beneficial for some people with sleep disorders, even in extreme cases (resolving them 100%). This presumably is to do with cornstarch helping nighttime dips in blood sugar... When I heard someone mentioned that cornstarch is used in curries I remembered your post and this discussion

Now I see you don't use cornstarch or any similar starches, but wondering if the long and slow cooking process would 'liberate' some potato starch to have a metabolic action similar to cornstarch.


PS I should add that cornstarch taken before bedtime to help sleep is said to be effective only if uncooked and mixed in cold liquid, water or yogurt etc. The amounts people take vary from 2 teaspoons to 3 or more heaped tablespoons.

 

[helen1]

Be aware that if you're very sensitive to free glutamates, cornstarch is suspected of containing free glutamates. This will make it counterproductive to sleep in sensitive people.