April days may mean spring showers. Or foggy, rainy spring days may mean great weather for creating a Venison Curry.
It’s hard to say what the weather will be like in April in this mountain town. It could be seventy degrees out and I could bike ten miles back to Holcomb Valley with my adventure dog. Or we could get a foot of snow. April is a fun time of year in the mountain communities because it’s such a mixed bag of outdoor fun.
Will I spend the morning snowshoeing to the top of Bear Mountain Ski Resort? Or will I spend my morning on my Cannondale mountain bike with the pup searching desperately for ponds for my Catahuola to swim in? One thing is for sure and that is we will be indulging in some Venison Curry by the evening hours.
Recently, I made the connection that my dog is afraid of ducks. What kind of bird dog is this, Louisiana Hunting Dog/Catahoula? Until yesterday, as I took her for a swim back at the sluice ponds of Holcomb Valley, I thought she just had no interest in the ducks. Until the female duck chased her and Luna, this scaredy-cat came to hide behind me. Now, keep in mind, these aren’t Canadian Geese who can be unruly; these are just regular-sized mallard ducks! What kind of dog has anaglyphophobia? (Yes, that would be the fear of a duck watching you, a humorous Malay created by comic strip icon Gary Larson in the 90s)
Can you create this delicious curry with duck? Why sure, you can, but I prefer it with Venison.
Poor Man’s Venison
In the south Indian region of Tamil Nadu, India, this simple curry is known as “Poor Man’s Beef.” It’s called that no not because we all just survived Joe Biden almost crashing the economy for four long years but because you can use the cheapest steak possible in this dish. Honestly, the rest of the ingredients, mainly onions and spices, are also very cheap.
Now, venison is not extremely popular in India as hunting deer, such as the Chital, Indian Spotted Deer, is banned throughout the country due to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Saying that, farmed venison is available in certain areas from ranches in India. Venison would never be considered a staple in Indian cooking, although you can find it at certain meat markets in regions with deer farms nearby. Most of our Indian relatives near Bangalore have probably never tried venison in a curry, and man, they do not know what they are missing! Venison is such a low-fat meat that it just sucks up all those cumin and coriander gravy flavors you find in a authentic south Indian curry.
Why venison? It’s the meat that says, “I’m Fancy… But Also Could Survive a Zombie Apocalypse,” plus it’s high in protein! As soon as you throw those venison steaks from Grocery Outlet in your shopping cart, you are feeling like Bear Grylls or possibly you have developed a British accent and are considering hosting a cooking show.
“Jicama Singh is King”
(The rise of a crunchy veggie in the Indian street food scene)
And then there is jicama. Jicama is not grown in most regions of India. You can, however, find it in some veggie stands near Bangalore. It is known to be used regionally in chaats and Indian Pickles. Indians know jicama as Shankh Aloo (Shell potato). Let’s face it, who does not love a good potato, but those spuds are chock full of carbs, starch and just nothing healthy.
Jicama may be a root vegetable like a potato or a turnip but it is a low-carb root vegetable and perfect for your Indian keto needs. Jicama is an easy low-carb substitute in any of your curries. Buy jicama fresh and the skin easily peels off. From there, you can substitute it in
to any recipe in which you use potatoes.
Who Moved My Aloo? — A Jicama Saga
Jicama pairs perfectly with venison, you know, the filet mignon of the forest. So put on your best flannel shirt, whip out those Indian spices and get currying! Did you know that venison is low in cholesterol? Venison may actually be leaner than that friend of yours who does keto! I know, I know who buys venison, I mean besides your libertarian uncle who lives in Idaho. Forget your “grass-fed artisan beef” from that $22-a-pound hipster butcher. Venison has been out here eating berries, twigs, and living its best woodland life. It’s practically a salad in steak form. Why would you ever, ever go back to corn-fed beef?
Here in Big Bear Lake, we just celebrated the Kentucky Derby on Saturday and what better way to celebrate gambling all our money on the ponies than with Poor Man’s Venison! Poor Man’s Venison; It’s what’s for dinner after the first Saturday in May spent gambling away your paycheck on the ponies!
Don’t be fooled by the boujie venison steaks; This is a poor man’s dish. Most people living under the poverty line may not have an air fryer but in this day and age, even your hobo brother living in his Chevy Caprice down by the river probably owns an air fryer.
This dish was imagined by poor Anglo Indian teenagers camping in the jungles near Ooty, trying not to step in elephant dung, or not have their skull crushed by a migrating tusker in the middle of the night. Onions, potatoes, cheap meat and some cumin, there you have it, folks! In a nutshell, that is Poor Man’s Venison!
This dish is really more British than Indian. It’s definitely a curry stew you could label Anglo-Indian. These venison steaks are the kind you could roast over a campfire for sure.
Poor Man’s Venison Curry with Jicama “Spuds”
2 white onions, sliced thinly in rounds
1 serrano chili, chopped thin
1 teaspoon cumin
4 teaspoons of ghee
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon grated fresh garlic
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons ground pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 pounds venison steaks, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup of homemade stock
7 large curry leaves, torn in half
2 whole tomatoes, sliced into very thin, bite-sized slivers
3 large jicamas, peeled, sliced into pieces
In the ghee, roast the serranos and the onion rounds until well-cooked. Remove the onions and the serrano peppers from the oil. In the 4 teaspoons of ghee, fry up those jicama rounds until just browned. Set them aside and you can finish them later in the air fryer.
Return the onions and tomato pieces to the wok along with whatever ghee is left. Stir in the garlic and ginger along with the cumin powder, garam masala and the parika. Add in the stock just a little at a time as your spices roast. Eventually, add in all of the stock and let your veggies roast in the gravy as the flavors come together. Mix in the curry leaves, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper to the gravy. This is a very pepper-heavy dish!
Marinate your venison steaks in 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt. Using your barbecue, fry up the steaks and set aside just until you are ready to finish your dish.
At the very end, put your jicama slices in the air fryer at 400°F for ten minutes, just until they are golden brown and well-cooked. Add them back into the wok with the onions and tomatoes. I prefer to just layer the seared venison pieces on top of the veggies when you are ready to serve.