Curries

[nursebetty]

anyone here have any Curry recipes?
I love Indian cooking and also Chinese food
Came across the curry site yesterday and noticed a good many use a base curry
Now I have never heard of this before and have never cooked my Chicken Tikka masala in this way, don't ask for recipe as I do a lot of my cooking just by taste.
I do a lot of Italian cooking and again can't pass recipes as I don't have any they are mind stored

[Flaneur]

Hi NB. Strayed into this part of the forum, and saw no-one answered.

Curries are, IMHO, easy. I generally start with a base of onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. Most of the onion is chopped, the rest blended with the other bits to make a paste. As I have matured, I find I can't really do chilli, so I normally add them whole during the cooking to get some flavour without the heat. And to think I used to eat phall and vindaloo with gay abandon

I always use ghee. I also grind my own spices. Cumin and coriander in a heavy-based pan, dry heat for a few minutes then grind up in a pestle and mortar. This goes in after the paste and meat. Add some turmeric and any other ground spice to taste.

I also use coconut milk, add and simmer until cooked. Throw in anything else you fancy, mushrooms, veg etc. I really like cauliflower and potato in my curries, but any thing is good.

Garam masala: make your own. I grind black pepper, cloves and cardamom together and sprinkle in towards the end.

You can add fenugreek, mustard seeds etc to this, again each to their own. I also like to chop up some lime pickle and add towards the end. It gives a nice tang. Fresh coriander is also nice.

All curries are best left for a day or two before eating after some beer. I have tried making naan breads but the average home oven doesn't get hot enough to work properly, so I buy them in. Roti are easy to make, though.

The best bit about the smelly bit (chopping the garlic, chilli etc) is you can do all of it in advance and bag it and deep freeze it. Spices, when ground, will last a week or two so they can also be done in advance.

Once you've made a few, you will never look at a jar of sauce again. Although I always have a few jars in the cupboard, for when I am being idle

[AnthonyUK]

Curries that use a base sauce are generally classed as British Indian Restaurant (BIR) curries. The base sauce idea allows the restaurant to make a wide range of curries quickly and easily so if you like Indian takeaway style curries this is the way to go.
I make up batches of a few litres and freeze them in meal sized bags.

I started getting into this method a few years back through a forum called cr0 but this disappeared/was replaced by http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/.
Well worth a look for ideas and recipes which often come from chefs who work in these restaurants.

[Cully]

I have made the same curry virtually every Saturday night for years. Its a basic chicken one, but if you are feeling adventurous its pretty generic so we sometimes use beef, would like to try lamb but SWMBO don't like it.

1 chicken breast per person, cubed. (Or other meat)
Oil enough to fry your onion
1/2 to 1 onion seed
6 cardamom
2 cloves
Scotch Bonnet to taste heat wise ( I use this as its the only chilli that I have found that imparts flavour as well as heat.)
2 bayleaf
a generous crack of ground black pepper in the oil

1 medium onion per person, (I used to chop it fine for years but recently found that if you cut it normally it breaks down in to a paste anyway.)
Garlic cloves to taste ( We put 8 to 10 in)
Thumb sized lump of ginger, Peeled
heaped tablespoon of tomato purée ( if you want a redder curry use more)

1tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tin coconut milk
1 chicken stock cube
4 tsp dried Fenugreek

METHOD:
Oil, onion seed, cardamoms, chilli and bay leaf in to pan. Heat the oil till a bit of onion dropped in begins to sizzle and add the rest of the onion, Brown the onion. How much colour you want on this is personal preference - I tend to cook it till it goes dark green/brown.

While the onion cooks, whiz the garlic and ginger in a hand blender with a slop of water in it.

When the onions are the colour you want and the cardamoms have rehydrated enough to be about double the dry size, add the garlic/ginger purée, turn up the heat a little and fry for 3-4 minutes - be careful not to burn the garlic.

Mix the cumin, coriander and turmeric in a bowl.

Add your tomato purée and cook again for about 2 minutes and stir it all in.

Add the mixed spices, stir and fry for 5 minutes until its fragrant.

Throe in your chicken and coat in the mixture - let it fry like that for a couple of minutes Crumble in the stock cube.

Mix 200 ml of coconut milk with 100 ml of water and add to the pan. if it seems too thick loosen with hot water but be careful not to put too much liquid in at this stage. Bring to the boil, turn right down and cook it for 45 minutes so that the gravy reduces.

While this is under way put your 4 teaspoons of dried fenugreek in to a bowl with some water, stir till its all soaked and steep it.

At 35 minutes fish out the bay leaf and if you don't like them, the cardamoms. I don't mind them but SWMBO hates them

Get your Basmati going with 5 minutes to go.

When the fortyfive minutes are up, add the fenugreek withoout the water its sitting in and put 10 minutes on the timer.

5 minutes to go add the rest of the coconut milk and stir it in - it must never come to the boil.

serve with rice and en joy.

I have experimented with adding cassia bark, tamarind paste, asfoetida, mustard seed and curry leaves in the past but usually do the basic one above. You can also add a flat teaspoon of Garam masalla for the last ten minutes.

[nursebetty]

Thank you for the info
I can make Curries although never in my life made a base Curry, until last few months
Had a Curry book from yrs back which sat away in cupboard and never used it
Curries I tend to make by taste
So it is only Indian places in UK that make base curries, is this perhaps a more cheaper option of bulking up the sauces?
I would not think in India they make base curries, I will find out when I go over in next yr or so.

Anyone know of any nice Chinese recipes?

[Geezah]

Making a base sauce from onions, tomato and spices is just a bulk way of making a gravy, from which curries can be made in take away speed.
A traditional Indian dish does the same job, but the onions are made in to a paste as the curry cooks.
In the restaurants I have eaten in in India ( I go 2-3 times per year), they would use the same practice to have a base gravy from which your dish would be made from.
When I have eat at peoples homes in India the food is traditionaly prepared.

If you want some good Chinese recipes that match those of an English take away, then check out the youtube channels for Khoan Vong and his wife Qing Vong

Khoan also has an eBook out which is very good.

[Flaneur]

I have to say Cully's recipe sounds pretty good. He's right about getting the liquid content right, otherwise you end up with soup.
It's personal preference, as is everything to do with curry, but meat on the bone is best. It imparts a better flavour due to the fat involved. And it's cheaper, which is good.
Also, Geezah and others are right. What we often think of as curry is the adaptation for the UK. I have never been to India but friends from the sub-continent assure me that making lashings of sauce or gravy is a UK thing.

[nursebetty]

Making a base sauce from onions, tomato and spices is just a bulk way of making a gravy, from which curries can be made in take away speed.
A traditional Indian dish does the same job, but the onions are made in to a paste as the curry cooks.
In the restaurants I have eaten in in India ( I go 2-3 times per year), they would use the same practice to have a base gravy from which your dish would be made from.
When I have eat at peoples homes in India the food is traditionaly prepared.

If you want some good Chinese recipes that match those of an English take away, then check out the youtube channels for Khoan Vong and his wife Qing Vong

Khoan also has an eBook out which is very good.

Thank you for that info
Since we have never been to India before can you tell me the nice places to stay with a family?
Thinking of going as a family
There is volunteer places in India where you work with Children and Elephants
I love Elephants just mad about them

[Geezah]

I have only ever been in India to work, so I couldn't really recommend anywhere as a holiday, but everywhere I have been has been exciting and entertaining just taking in a new culture.
I would recommend that you visit during our winter months as the heat from spring to autumn is too much to bare. February / March is ideal.

If you go to Delhi then I do insist you go to the Royal Imperial Hotel as it is the finest hotel I have ever stayed in and the food was exquisite.
The Indian restaurant in the hotel, The Spice Route, is famed for being one of the top 10 best restaurants in the world, and I concur that the food was the best.

[nursebetty]

I have only ever been in India to work, so I couldn't really recommend anywhere as a holiday, but everywhere I have been has been exciting and entertaining just taking in a new culture.
I would recommend that you visit during our winter months as the heat from spring to autumn is too much to bare. February / March is ideal.

If you go to Delhi then I do insist you go to the Royal Imperial Hotel as it is the finest hotel I have ever stayed in and the food was exquisite.
The Indian restaurant in the hotel, The Spice Route, is famed for being one of the top 10 best restaurants in the world, and I concur that the food was the best.

I would like to visit Elephants and the Orphanages of India and to see the holi Festival

[Jocky]

I have only ever been in India to work, so I couldn't really recommend anywhere as a holiday, but everywhere I have been has been exciting and entertaining just taking in a new culture.
I would recommend that you visit during our winter months as the heat from spring to autumn is too much to bare. February / March is ideal.

If you go to Delhi then I do insist you go to the Royal Imperial Hotel as it is the finest hotel I have ever stayed in and the food was exquisite.
The Indian restaurant in the hotel, The Spice Route, is famed for being one of the top 10 best restaurants in the world, and I concur that the food was the best.

I'm a regular in Delhi too, and it's a shame that I've not really found any 'Northern' Indian food back here in England. Places run by Nepalese seem to come the closest.

[Cynthos]

[quote="Flaneur"]Hi NB. Strayed into this part of the forum, and saw no-one answered.

Curries are, IMHO, easy. I generally start with a base of onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. Most of the onion is chopped, the rest blended with the other bits to make a paste. As I have matured, I find I can't really do chilli, so I normally add them whole during the cooking to get some flavour without the heat. And to think I used to eat phall and vindaloo with gay abandon

I always use ghee. I also grind my own spices. Cumin and coriander in a heavy-based pan, dry heat for a few minutes then grind up in a pestle and mortar. This goes in after the paste and meat. Add some turmeric and any other ground spice to taste.

I also use coconut milk, add and simmer until cooked. Throw in anything else you fancy, mushrooms, veg etc. I really like cauliflower and potato in my curries, but any thing is good.

Garam masala: make your own. I grind black pepper, cloves and cardamom together and sprinkle in towards the end.

You can add fenugreek, mustard seeds etc to this, again each to their own. I also like to chop up some lime pickle and add towards the end. It gives a nice tang. Fresh coriander is also nice.

All curries are best left for a day or two before eating after some beer. I have tried making naan breads but the average home oven doesn't get hot enough to work properly, so I buy them in. Roti are easy to make, though.

The best bit about the smelly bit (chopping the garlic, chilli etc) is you can do all of it in advance and bag it and deep freeze it. Spices, when ground, will last a week or two so they can also be done in advance.

Once you've made a few, you will never look at a jar of sauce again. Although I always have a few jars in the cupboard, for when I am being idle [/quote]

Thank you for the great recipe!

[McMullan]

Totally agree. Make a curry from scratch. Home made naan bread's a knockout too. I've had several curry recipe books over the years. All shite. Except this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hairy-Biker ... 0297867334

[Jocky]

Best rice to go with curry ever:

What you need:
Basmati Rice for 2 people
Chicken stock (to 1.5x the volume of the rice)
1 tablespoon groundnut or other neutral oil (e.g. sunflower, veg, I even used avocado oil the other day and it was delish)
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
Cinammon stick
Bay leaf
2 whole cardamom pods
Half a teaspoon of black peppercorns
Half a teaspoon of whole cumin
2 whole cloves

How to:
1. Wash the rice in a couple of changes of cold water and put aside to drain.
2. Really finely chop the shallot and garlic.
3. Put the cardamom pods on a chopping board, under the flat of a large kitchen knife and hit down on it once - this is just to break open the pods and seeds slightly. You don't want to completely destroy them!
4. Heat up the oil in a heavy bottomed pan with a tight fitting lid - this needs to be the smallest pan you can cook the rice in.
5. Throw all the spices in and fry for 15-30 seconds.
6. Add the onions and garlic and cook for a minute or two until translucent.
7. Add the rice too, turn it around well in the oil and spices until sizzling.
8. Add the stock, and get it bubbling before putting the lid on the pan. This needs to seal up tightly - personally I put foil over the pan, and then the lid down on that to help seal it up a bit.
9. Turn the heat down very low - I use gas and put it as low as I can - leave for 11 minutes.
10. Turn off the heat and leave it sealed up for another 10 minutes.
11. Open up the pan and pick off the spices - they will have floated up to the top - before fluffing up the rice gently with a fork.

Done!

Black cumin and black cardamom also make interesting additions to the spices, but are harder to find.

[Mr blue]

Totally agree. Make a curry from scratch. Home made naan bread's a knockout too. I've had several curry recipe books over the years. All shite. Except this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hairy-Biker ... 0297867334

+1 got this as well great book, I make the base sauce from this book with the addition of a green pepper and then blitz in a food processor it makes lovely curries