If you're interested, here's the recipe with the adjustments I made. (Not that my alterations necessarily matter, but I'm including them anyway...)
Mango Chicken Curry Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 3 Tbsp (or more) of vegetable oil (I recently started learning about the benefits of organic coconut oil, so I used that instead.)
- 1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2 to 2 cups) (I only used a cup of onion, because I didn't feel like chopping up a second one. :P)
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (I just used the whole thing)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh minced ginger
- 2 Tbsp yellow curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 mangos, peeled and diced
- 2 Tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/4 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces (Or 3 President's Choice World's Best Meatless Chicken Breasts. :)
- 1/3 cup golden raisins (I'm not 'about' raisins, so whenever they're called for in a recipe, I always substitute them with dried cranberries.)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream (can substitute all or partially with coconut milk) (I used 1/2 cup of light coconut milk to reduce the fat content a lil'.)
- Salt and pepper
- Cilantro for garnish
METHOD
1 Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and another tablespoon of oil, cook for a couple more minutes. Add the curry powder and cumin, cook for a few more minutes. The spices will absorb some of the oil, so if anything begins to stick too much to the bottom of the pan, add a little more oil to the pan. Add the ginger and garlic, cook for one minute more.
2 Add the vinegar, water, and a 1/2 of the chopped mango to the pan. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain a low simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat. Scoop the sauce into a blender. Purée the sauce, pulsing until smooth. Return the sauce to the pan.
3 Add chicken pieces and raisins to the pan. Return to a low simmer. Cover the pan and let cook for 8-10 minutes. Chicken should be just cooked through. Use a knife to cut open the largest piece to check.
4 Add remaining mango pieces to the pan. Stir in the cream. Let cook at a very low temperature for another minute or two, uncovered. Do not let boil! Or the cream may curdle. Adjust seasonings. If a little too sweet, add a little more vinegar. If not sweet enough, you can add a dash of sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve over rice. Garnish with cilantro. Serves 4.
So there you go!
As for last night's screening, it went very well. The first act has really been tightened up, hopefully making this next set of revisions quite minor. Interestingly enough, despite the increased strength of the film, personally, I felt like I enjoyed it slightly less. Mainly because I found myself jarred by some of the editing choices done in this last round, which made certain moments feel disconnected. Of course, it was another craaaazy-tight turnaround for our editor, and I think some of those disconnected moments can be easily remedied by adding another beat or two back in between scenes (and also by me getting rid of any expectations I had based on earlier cuts).
I should elaborate that the reason screenings are done is to allow the team an opportunity to try new stylistic approaches to see what resonates and what doesn't. Sometimes moments are removed and then put back in. Other times we discover that we don't need 'em at all. Also, when you cut all your footage in half, (our first assembly was 2 hours n' 20 minutes - and our latest cut is only an hour n' a half), you need to make sure that the audience can still follow the intricacies of the story, and that they aren't missing anything important that hampers their understanding. It's like I've said before - filmmakers make three movies: the one they write, the one they shoot, and the one they cut.
Overall, audience feedback was excellent. In the surveys, everyone remarked that they really liked the movie, and said that they would either probably or definitely recommend it - which is obviously very important, since that'll impact our distribution. Actually, out of all 4 or 5 screenings we've done so far, there has only been one person who said that they probably wouldn't recommend it - everyone else said they would. I think those are some pretty awesome odds, especially since film is so subjective. All throughout the writing process, I've said to Jim (and in this blog) that I think a lot of people won't like our film, including friends n' family, because it's not popcorn fluff, which is always more of a crowd pleaser. So the fact that the majority say they'd recommend it is a wonderful surprise.
Jim n' I also found it interesting that in past screenings, we were getting a lot of comparisons to films like The 6th Sense and Memento. Now we're getting compared to more abstract movies like The Butterfly Effect and Primer, which is probably due to the new style of editing done in this latest round, with many more jump cuts and flashbacks. (Again, which is why I think I found this edit a bit jarring in places - I wasn't expecting some of those new cuts. Of course to the audience who doesn't know what to expect, it obviously works just fine.)
Even though many scenes have been tightened n' changed, I think my two favourite moments are still the nightmare and the end. The nightmare because there's some very cool n' creepy imagery there, and the temp music really sets the mood. Our composer is gonna have his work cut out for him when it comes time to write the music for that scene. Meanwhile, the very last scene is just so beautiful and heart-string pulling. And even though I said it before, I just love the way that sun comes out at the perfect moment... which I know no one would notice except those of us who were there that dreary grey day. Screening after screening, that last scene still continues to bring tears to most people's eyes, which is just friggin' awesome! Nothing makes us happier than to see all those weepy peepers as the lights flicker on. :D I just hope nothing gets changed in the next two weeks that screws with the emotional core, because that seems to be the real strength of our movie.
Anyway, everything seems to be chugging along very well, even though we're all still anxious about the big screening next weekend. Fingers crossed we continue to get the same kind of great feedback!
And now, on a much less positive note, pre-screening as Jim n' I waited for the elevator in the parkade across the street, we had a little up close n' personal taste of the harsh realities of the downtown east side. It left us feeling uncomfortable, icky n' sad. The story itself will only take two seconds to share, but I have a few comments I want to add, which I know will take me more than a few seconds to tap out. So I'll be back later this weekend to share our little story with you and my pile of thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment