Rat Curry...

There is a rat living in the refrigerator. The fridge in question is the one situated in the doctors’ hostel where I live. The rat in question is a medium sized pale brown fellow.

A couple of days ago I had stored half an avocado in the aforementioned fridge to eat later and when I went across to retrieve it the rat was just sitting in the little shelf in the fridge door. Needless to say I was a little taken aback and I emitted a noise so shrill that (when they realised what had happened) the people in the next room asked if it was me or the rat which had squeaked. I was ashamed to report that it was in fact me.

At first we thought that perhaps the rat was just visiting the fridge but evidence actually points towards it inhabiting it in a more long term fashion, it obviously likes the air conditioned lifestyle. With this knowledge last night I was making a cup of tea. The milk was in the fridge and I knew at some point I would have to open the door however I could hear the little tyke in there rummaging around eating his dinner (previously our dinner). Strange as it now sounds my method of dealing with this seemed very natural at the time. I knocked on the door of the fridge to allow the fridge dweller time to scurry into his hole. We assume he lives in the lining of the fridge while not at dinner. It was only in retrospect that it seemed a little odd to be knocking before opening the door to my own fridge, but there you have it.

Anyway the housekeeper/ cook who runs our hostel like a very tight ship indeed has now been informed and seeing as the first line of management (i.e. a full clean out of the fridge with more rat tight vessels) has failed it would appear our old fridge’s days are somewhat numbered!

On the topic of food and our lovely cook it happens to be her day off today so without further ado I am off into town to buy some ingredients to cook dinner. I have some vague plan to attempt Thai Green curry and I will let you know how I get on, I may even supply pictures!

Hope you like this short rat based report. Lots of love to everyone at home and I look forward to seeing you when I visit England in the summer, less than 6 weeks now!
A x

p.s.

I feel that this note deserves a post script to tell you all how events panned out.

When I suggested to my friend, the other junior doctor here, that I cook for a change his eyes lit up and he enquired whether the recipe was going to involve some meat. Both he and the other doctor currently staying in quarters are omnivorus and like a bit of "non-veg" when they get the chance. Here in our fully vegetarian doctors mess that chance is not frequent.

At first I was a little bit nervous about this, I am not a big meat eater at the best of times and I have seen the chicken stalls in town and to be frank they don’t look too sanitary. But my friend knew a place where he said the chicken was good and we agreed on a chicken Thai green curry. I said that if he could it would be better to get chicken breast and preferably boneless. Just enough for three people was the plan. What he brought back from the chicken stall was almost one entire chicken which had been plucked, skinned and then attacked with a very large knife. Ribcage, heart, lungs, neck all were present and anatomically intact enough to be recognised.  When I recovered from my shock I was in some ways quite impressed at the way that nothing from the chicken is wasted in India, unlike in the UK where sterile looking battery farm chicken breasts reach the general public in little Styrofoam dishes covered in Clingfilm. However this didn’t solve my problem that we had way too much chicken.  

Luckily my side of the shopping had also gone a little differently to my original plan. Buying small quantities in India is difficult bordering on impossible and I had way too much of all the other ingredients too. So I just cooked what we had and the final product was enough Thai green curry to feed a small army. Doing our best to remove the bones we ate our fill and there was still plenty left. So we sent one large tiffin box full down to the nurses in the hospital (Tribal people being generally non-vegetarians it went down quite well) and saved enough for our housekeeper and her assistant to eat it the next day. Interestingly despite the fact they run a completely vegetarian kitchen they both cook and eat meat at home. The feedback I received was constructive and not entirely critical, all I needed it seems was to add more salt, more pepper, and more chillis!

On the fridge invader front our little friend has been evicted along with his old pad and a brand new shiny refrigerator is now standing pride of place in the kitchen. Generally speaking a good result, although perhaps not for the rat and certainly not for the chicken.

 I forgot to photograph the curry so instead here is a photo of a very handsome rooster from one on the villages. I felt it was a fitting accompaniment!