McCurry restaurant owner A.M.S.P. Suppiah and his wife. Photo: Mark Baker/AP

In a fast-food version of David versus Goliath, the owner of a small curry restaurant in Malaysia has won the final bout in an eight-year trademark battle against the world's largest fast-food giant, McDonald's.

The restaurant facing the suit operates under the name McCurry, short for "Malaysian Chicken Curry," and was the first Indian fast food restaurant to open in 1999 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- serving dishes such as chicken curry, fish head curry, naan and biryani.

McDonald's wanted sole rights to the use of the prefix "Mc" to protect its brand image but the Federal Court ruled Tuesday that the fast-food chain had no such exclusive rights.

Curry and naan. Photo: jumbledpile, Flickr

This is a case of the ultimate guilty conscience -- or stomach.

Flash back to 1996, as a customer walks out of the Seaview Palace Tandoori in Swansea, a coastal city in Wales, without paying for his £10 late-night curry meal -- about a $17 bill, for those stateside.

Now, nearly 13 years later, the Daily Telegraph reports the customer is finally footing the unpaid tab plus some.

The police received an anonymous apology in March from the dine-and-dash customer, along with £60 (approximately $100) cash to be passed on to the Seaview Palace Tandoori restaurant owner.

It seems the customer finally wanted to settle his debt, with extra money added to take inflation into account.

Little did the customer know, the restaurant had since been torn down. The police spent the last five months tracking down former Seaview Palace Tandoori owner, 48-year-old Samsul Bari.

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

Nadja.robot's lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) bentos are ready to rumble. Our luchadores El Crumpeto, the banana-faced crumpet, Los Mellizos (the twins), two angry-faced Morning Star Farms veggie patties, Arroz, the Rice Man with a fearsome nori scowl, and El Curry, the Masked Pepper. Let the best man win!

Anime, Japanese-style animation, has become increasingly popular over the years. I remember watching bootleg copies of Dragon Ball Z movies with my friends in high school. A couple years later I was delighted to see whole (albeit small) sections of anime at video stores like Suncoast. I was pleasantly surprised, and very amused, to find this list of the top eight foods in anime from Cosplay Classes.

1 Number one is ramen. I guess it's iconic to show characters slurping up the noodles.
2. Sushi, the quintessntial Japanese food.
3. Dessert is probably more prevalent in shows geared toward women.
4. Curry sure has made it's mark.
5. I had no idea pasta was so popular.
6. Apparently hamburgers are getting a lot of screen time.
7. The Japanese hot pot is a derivation of a Chinese dish.
8. Onigiri are simple to make and all kinds of anime characters put it in their bento boxes.

I've been in an Indian state of mind all day, having picked up some tasty-looking tandoori naan at the store today, and trying to figure out what I want to make with it. Unfortunately, I haven't made too many Indian dishes from scratch, save butter chicken long ago and some recent tasty pakora. Luckily, there's a cooking show that details all sorts of Indian dishes -- Show Me the Curry.

In this episode, Anuja and Hetal make Aloo Matar, a simple dish of spices, potatoes, and peas. This is a recipe that they consider to be one of the easiest Indian dishes to make -- and it's definitely a great way to get into the wonders of ingredients like turmeric and chaat masala.

Also be sure to check out their guides for stocking your pantry, as well as their tasty-looking raita recipes.

You need 1 tsp. of Chinese Five Spice powder in a recipe, do you really want to buy an entire container? Luckily, you don't have to.

I haven't been posting many recipes lately, mostly because I've been in something of dry spell when it comes to cooking. However, I haven't been staying totally out of the kitchen. Last weekend I made a pot of butternut and carrot soup that ended up being really tasty and the perfect thing to eat for lunch all week long (one of the wonderful things about this new job of mine is that it's only a block and a half from my apartment, so I can run home for lunch).

I admit that when it comes to this soup, I "cheat" a little bit. What I mean by that is that I use a pack of pre-peeled and chopped butternut squash from Trader Joe's (I've also seen it at Whole Foods). Then all I have to do is roughly chop an onion, saute it quickly in a little olive oil, toss in three or four chunks carrots, pile in the prepared squash and cover it with water or stock (I typically use one box of stock and then make up the difference with water). Then it just gently simmers until the veggies are tender. I recently acquired a far more powerful immersion blender, and it has made my blended soup far smoother than they used to be.

You might be wondering about seasoning with this soup. I actually change it up each time I make it. Sometimes I'll grate a little ginger in, or go with a spoonful of curry. This last time I used a bit of fresh thyme and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It might sound a little untraditional, but it was delicious. I also happened to have about a quarter cup of cream in my fridge and I added that in as well for a little extra smoothness. But you should feel free to make this soup your own.

Awhile back I acquired a cookbook from my mom. It's one leftover from her hippie days and was appropriately titled, "Country Commune Cooking." It was written by a woman named Lucy Horton, who spent five months in 1971 hitchhiking around the country, visiting communes and collecting recipes. It's interesting as much for the stories she tells about the places she visited and the people she met as it is for the recipes she prints.

One of the things I find interesting about this book is it's emphasis on organic foods. I tend to think of the organic movement as something fairly recent, but according to Lucy, there were quite a few people back in the early seventies who were committed to eating whole, organic foods.

The majority of the recipes in this book are a bit dated, but a few still jump out at me as worth trying. After the jump you'll find a recipe for Curried Squash and Chickpeas that seems, at least to me, to be the perfect dish for this time of year. I imagine that it would be particularly good over a scoop of warm brown rice.

Looking for something to make for dinner tonight? Why not try this one from my grandma Bunny's recipe box called Shrimp Curry Improv (I want to make it just for the name). It is a recipe that is definitely a product of it's time (I'm guessing sometime in the late sixties or early seventies) in that it uses a can of mushroom soup to constitute most of the base of the sauce. I don't know if she made this one up or if it comes from some other, more exalted source, but all that aside, I'm guessing it would be pretty tasty, served over rice and with a side of sauteed spinach or other wilted green.

Instead of limiting yourself to semisweet, dark and white chocolate chips the next time you set out to make a batch of cookies, consider getting some more unusually flavored chips. Vosges Chocolate has a line of three flavors of Exotic Chocolate Chips. Black Pearl Exotic Chocolate Chips are dark chocolate flavored with ginger, wasabi and black sesame seeds. Naga Exotic Chocolate Chips have a milk chocolate base that is spiked with sweet Indian curry powder and coconut flakes. Finally, the chocolatier also makes Red Fire Exotic Chocolate Chips, dark chocolate with Mexican ancho and chipotle chili peppers and Ceylon cinnamon. Each 4-oz. bag of chips sells for $8.50.

Vosges doesn't leave you on your own to come up with recipes that the chocolate chips can be included in, either. With each of the three types of chocolate chips, they list several recipes that will work perfectly with them. For example the Red Fire Martini and Love Goddess Cake work well with the Red Fire Chips and the Black Pearl Chips are the star in Full Moon Brownies.

For consumers who want to stick with local products, the produce section at the market will be stocked through the end of October. It only takes some imagination to know what to do with autumn's bounty, which includes things from apples to winter squash. The Tribune gives tips on how to store these fruits and vegetables, and offers a few recipes: Pumpkin Jam, Spiced Oragnic Carrot Soup, Vanilla-scented Kohlrabi with Creamed Greens, and Duck with Pear-Cardamom Puree and Caramel Almonds.

Fresh Picks offers home-delivery of fresh, locally grown, organic foods, something that larger online grocers only touch on. For a tradtional organic market, try Sunflower Market.

Other food features and recipes: Penne with Red Pepper and Fresh Herbs, Chanterelles, Stewed Fava Beans, and Vietnamese-style Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Lime-Pepper-Salt Dipping Sauce.

Why a restaurant would want to be associated with McDonald's in the first place is beyond me, but apparently the Kuala Lumpur-based restaurant formerly known as Restoran Penang Curry House, wants to call themselves McCurry.

Unfortunately, the McDonald's Corporation sued McCurry and won. A Malaysian court has ruled that McCurry will have to pay Ronald McDonald for damages. However, McCurry plans to appeal the court's ruling, arguing that "the prefix 'Mc'' was not exclusive to McDonald's and pointed to its use in surnames, including Scottish ones." Additionally, they insist that "its name is an abbreviation of local popular dish 'Malaysian Chicken Curry.'"

Hm. Don't they already know that McDonald's in India serves McCurry?! Besides, I would have gone with "In-n-Out Curry."

The drink of choice for curry fans is beer. The mild flavors complement the complex spices and the cold bubbles are refreshing and palate-cleansing, especially if you happen to be eating a spicy dish. Why aren't wines paired with curries, though? One reason is that there is no cultural tradition of wine-drinking in India. The popular line is that they are too heavy-tasting with curries, and either the wine or the dish itself ends up being too acidic to make a pleasurable combination.

The truth of the matter is that some wines don't go with curries and the reason turns out to be tannins. High tannin wines taste harsh and bitter with chilies and some spices, so selecting light, low-tannin wines will help you to make a better match with a curry. Suggestions include gewürztraminer, zinfandel, merlot and rosé, opting for fruitier flavors to counteract any potential bitterness. Choose a sparkling wine if you crave the palate-cleansing sensation of carbonation.

Oh, how I love curry.

And when there is any news of the health benefits of eating curry, I rejoice. Nick has posted before about curry's anti-Alzheimer's properties, and we've speculated about curry's benefits against cancer, but now, there is a small US study that has shown that curcumin, a compound found in the curry spice turmeric, and quercetin, an antioxidant found in onions may help prevent colon cancer in those at risk.

According to Dr Francis M. Giardiello, of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, "this is the first proof of principle that these substances have significant effects in patients with FAP [familial adenomatous polyposis]," which is an inherited disorder that leads to the development of colorectal polyps and, eventually, colon cancer.

Curry and onions? Bring me some chicken tikka masala and another order of onion bhaji!

Some of you may recall earlier posts about the possible health benefits of curry, specifically curcumin, a polyphenol found in turmeric. There have been studies suggesting that curcumin may help fight cancer and a host of other ailments. The New Scientist and the Daily Mail have recently reported on a new study linking the antioxidants in turmeric to healthy cognitive function in a group of over 1,000 elderly Asians. The study, from researchers at the National University of Singapore, found that curcumin may lower the build up of amyloid plaque and inflammation associated with Alzheimer's. Researchers call the evidence tentative in the study's abstract, saying that further investigation is required.