I know there are more than a few curry enthusiasts on here. I seldom eat out in Indian restaurants knowing that a properly cooked homemade curry is more rewarding.

My mum doesn’t cook curry nearly as often as she did, but it’s always a red letter day when she gets out her Madhur Jaffrey and Charmaine Solomon recipes.

C’mon, show us yours.

Looking good.

I need to change my recipe as the ginger is giving me nightmares.

Fig 1. Ginger Nightmare.

Fig. 1

Proper home made beef rendang is a joy to behold. I feel a batch coming on.

I’ve got a couple of madhur jaffrey books I’ve inherited but never made anything from. What should I start with? Bonus points for veggie stuff as my wife is of one of those types.

I’ve got a couple of madhur jaffrey books I’ve inherited but never made anything from. What should I start with? Bonus points for veggie stuff as my wife is of one of those types.

Anything with aubergines in it. I’ll ask the boss and see if I can find a recipe link. Top Pratha tip is to add a cup of dessicated coconut into the mix, it adds a delicious crunch to them.

No pic is to share, but having a bit of a Thai green curry phase right now. Chicken or Prawns, brill either way.

What should I start with?

A mate does her Madras. It’s bloody lovely. Really lovely, with lingering heat, but from lots of black pepper rather than chilli – so it’s quite a different sensation. You can just make the sauce and choose your veg. Spuds and Aubergines with some peas and green beans would be my choice for veggie stuff to go in. Give it a try.

Anyone got a good Dahl and or potato side dish recipes

CHICKEN TIKKA
Sliced chicken breast (about 400g)

Marinade 1:
2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp ginger paste, 1 tbsp garlic paste and 1 pinch salt.
Leave on for 20 mins

Marinade 2:
1 tsp red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp red chilli paste, 100g natural yoghurt, 1/2tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp garam masala, some veg oil
Leave overnight

MASALA GRAVY
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2-inch thumb ginger, chopped
2 birdseye chillis chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons paprika
8 tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 to 2 cups water

Cook up the gravy, grill the marinaded chicken, chuck the chicken in the gravy and simmer for 30 mins

How about some suggestions that I could do with venison? Got a freezer full of the bloody stuff?
I am a balti type fan, not the nasty creamy stuff.
Actually going further any suggestions for creating an Indian themed BBQ to use it for? Open fire to cook on, non of this poncy charcoal.

Is this allowed?

God that looks good. Never really cooked curry from scratch. Is it possible to cook a good curry with out the mountain of salt most curry houses put in their dishes?

Child friendly curry.

Mix 2tablespoons each of flour and mild curry powder.
Toss diced chicken in to coat
Fry off then reserve chicken
Fry onions until soft then add remains of flour and cook flour while stirring into the onions.
Add stock, put chicken back in pan, tomato puree and loads of chunky veg (I like cauliflower and peppers).
Leave to cook for a bit then put in a big dollop of fruity chutney and give it a few more minutes.

Serve to greedy children with rice.
Stir in some naga or similar chilli sauce to add a bit of warmth and chilli flavour for the grown ups.

Save excess sauce in freezer to be served on chips after a night ride.

I am fully aware that the recipe is about as authentic as I am Eskimo but the kids love it and if it encourages them to eat diverse foods that’s good enough for me.

We have done some more advanced / genuine stuff but we rarely eat without the minions and they are still too young for most of the more adventurous stuff.

I just go here for ideas
Food! Glorious food!

God that looks good. Never really cooked curry from scratch. Is it possible to cook a good curry with out the mountain of salt most curry houses put in their dishes?

Yes. Curry house curries are very rarely even average against the food you can create at home.

Buy Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible and enjoy!

Any point using a slow cooker?

Slow cooker awesome for curries especially for lamb or chicken thighs. Chicken breast will self destruct in there.

I was always a bit wary until I tried Indian Food Made Easy by Anjum Anand. Since then I’ve disovered a great whole spice mix in my local Indian grocers called Panch Poran

Plent of cardamons, cinamon sticks, cloves and peppercorns and whatever other whole spices are needed plus loads of garlic and ginger.
The kids love a chicken curry but I’ll eat anything.

Paratha from the freezer of my corner shop are awesome and the kids love it too.

Oh and Lamb Koftas are worth the effort.

Why did I open this thread now……gone and got the munchies,
Thanks guys. 🙂

Here are a couple of good recipes

For lovers of Aubergines – Baigan Achari.
http://www.nibblous.com/recipe/183

Bhendi Kari – Okra Curry
https://cooked.com.au/Charmaine-Solomon/Hardie-Grant-Books/The-Complete-Asian-Cookbook/India-and-Pakistan/Bhendi-kari-recipe

Rogan Josh
https://cooked.com.au/Charmaine-Solomon/Hardie-Grant-Books/The-Complete-Asian-Cookbook/India-and-Pakistan/Roghan-josh-recipe

Taazi khumben alu mattar Kari – curried mushrooms potatoes and peas.
https://cooked.com.au/Charmaine-Solomon/Hardie-Grant-Books/The-Complete-Asian-Cookbook/India-and-Pakistan/Taazi-khumben-alu-mattar-kari-recipe

Phool gobi ki bhaji – cauliflower with onion and tomato.
http://www.indiadivine.org/content/topic/2114746-cauliflower-onion-and-tomato-phool-gobi-ki-bhaji/

Kela pachchadi – bananas in spiced yoghurt
https://cooked.com.au/Charmaine-Solomon/Hardie-Grant-Books/The-Complete-Asian-Cookbook/India-and-Pakistan/Kela-pachchadi-recipe

Rotis – flat bread
https://cooked.com.au/Charmaine-Solomon/Hardie-Grant-Books/The-Complete-Asian-Cookbook/Sri-Lanka/Rotis-recipe

There’s a bloke wot I know from Bury, now living in Poland, who has an excellent blog for his recipes. They are nearly all under a quid a portion, so cheap, and the recipes are very clear.
Lots of curries:

5-Zloty Chef

Thanks for the madhur suggestions folks. Will try this weekend. Some other great looking stuff in this thread.

Child friendly curry.

Pfft – my 13 year old daughter eats madras and vindaloo and has done for some years…. 😛

If you can get Kashmiri chillies I’ve found they add a great flavour without being too hot.

Also if you make a paste really fry it off to get the flavour then add meat etc.

Have also found that curry leaves and chillies freeze well so you can use fresh and also frozen chillies chop easily.

I love this lamb dhansak recipe from BBC Food: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lamb_dhansak_79850

This chicken pathia isn’t half bad: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2480640/chicken-pathia

I like the recipes in “An Indian Housewife’s Recipe Book“, the vindaloo is excellent for example.

Hairy Bikers Great Curries has some superb recipes……

Being 1/2 Indian and having lived there for several years (two of which on pilgrimage as a servant/cook to an old Sadhu) I learned lots about cooking and I can say the best Indian Cook book is ‘the art of vegetarian Indian cooking’ by Jamuna Devi, it really is the Taj Mahal of Cook books, encyclopaedic in size and detail. It’s out of print but does come up on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0752900803?pc_redir=1400666306&robot_redir=1

Beef and coconut curry, Keralan style.
(Quantities are approx)
I like to use a wok or wok pan.

Coconut oil in pan (plenty) nice and hot.
Black mustard seed (1 tbsp?) into oil for 5-10 seconds so they pop.
Turn down heat and throw in a handful of curry leaf.
Add a couple of diced onions and fry them for a bit.
Add a shit load of garlic and ginger.
Add some strips of beef.
Fry the beef for a bit then add:
Four diced tomatoes
Half a fresh coconut chopped fairly fine.
1 heaped tsp turmeric
4 heaped tsp garam masala
1 whole dried chili
Salt/pepper as you see fit
1 tsp chili powder (it works without this for those inclined)
Enough water to give it the consistency you want, or about half a can of coconut milk works really well.
Fresh coriander to garnish.
If you do all your prep first it shouldn’t take more than 30-40mins actual cooking time, depending on how fat you cut your beef.

It’s all ground spice so takes little effort, although chopping up coconuts is a PITA.
Coconut oil is very expensive in the supermarkets (£6.50 for 250ml in Sainsbury’s) though my local Indian mini mart does it for less than £2. You cannot substitute this.
I was getting fresh curry leaf in from India but now I use the freeze dried stuff from said mini mart with little detriment.

Over in the thread predating this “long overdue” one, two weeks ago, I was asked to post my home made curry powder recipe and promptly forgot all about it. So here it is; serves two hungry people.

Curry powder (use generous / rounded teaspoons):
1 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp garlic granules
1/2 tsp onion granules
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp (unsmoked) paprika
1 tsp turmeric

This makes for a fairly mild base. I like to hoist it up with garlic (fresh / purée), chillis and cayenne pepper to madrasify it, but I’m going for “edible by normal people” lowest common denominator here.

Rest of the sauce:
25g of butter
1/4tsp salt
1tsp sugar
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Good squirt of tomato purée
200ml or so of stock
20g creamed coconut

Fry off a roughly chopped onion in the butter with the salt and sugar till it starts to go soft and translucent, chuck in whatever veg you’re having (I usually use a bell pepper and garlic) and do whatever you need to do with meat (I wouldn’t know cos I use Quorn). Fry for a few minutes to soften.

Add the spice mix and fry for a minute, then add the tomatoes and coconut. The coconut is solid, just break it up into smallish lumps and lob it in, it’ll melt down. I’m not a huge fan of coconut generally, but if you’ll pardon the expression it “really makes the curry come alive”; it thickens the sauce and gives it a subtle base flavour, discovering this trick was a revelation.

Simmer the lot for about 15-20 minutes, adding the stock if it gets too thick.

Comes out like this (or at least, it did about half an hour ago):

After deciding I was happy with the spice mix, I substituted “half a teaspoon” for “jar”, got a job lot of Tesco own brand spice jars from (apart from the garlic granules which I got from ASDA, the Tesco equivalent is “garlic powder” and is oddly disturbing) and filled a Tupperware box with it. Now when I make curry I just fish out about 35g or, conveniently for measuring purposes, the amount you’d get in a recently emptied Tesco jar.

Okra, aubergines and potatoes, coconut parathas in progress. Salivating whilst typing.

/chucks shepherd’s pie in dog bowl.

Gonzy wins.

Mind you I like my slow cooked beef curry.

Recipe is basically to get some raggedy stewing steak, salt it, whack it with a rolling pin and marinade in natural yoghurt overnight. Make up a dry spice mix involving cumin, ginger, coriander and garam masala. Fry up some onions and fresh chillies until soft. Dry fry the spices for a couple of minutes in with the onion and chilli, chuck the yoghurt and beef mix in, cover with a heavy lid and Cook on a very low light for a couple of hours. I can’t remember the exact dry spice mix, but if you major on cumin and garam masala you can’t go far wrong. Sometimes it is great if you realise you haven’t got one of the spices ‘in’ and you just make it up as you go along.

Rice + naan + cold lager + aforementioned curry = nirvana.

Oh. And Madhur Jaffrey rules. Totally owns it.

I feel very hungry ready this…just as I’m about to go to bed too!

Spice mix:(mix powder)
8 teaspoons of turmeric powder
6 teaspoons of curry powder
5 teaspoons of coriander powder
4 teaspoons of cumin powder
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of garam masala
1 teaspoon of ginger powder
Makes a batch keep in an airtight container use 2 tbsp about per person
Goes well with a melting base recipe to make a gravy like they have in the restaurant to produce quick food

Melting base:

600g of Spanish/Dutch Onions when peeled80g of carrots1/4 of a green bell pepper1/4 of a red bell pepper1 tablespoon of blended garlic2 teaspoons of blended ginger300ml of Canola Oil1 1/2 Level teaspoons of Table Salt1.5 litres Of Hot Water100g of tinned plum tomatoes4 green cardamoms1 1/2 tablespoons of Mix Powder1 1/2 teaspoons of garam masala1 1/2 teaspoons of onion powder1 1/2 tablespoons of Tomato Paste50g of block coconut creamMethod1. Peel the onions and chop relatively fine, approx 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces2. Chop the 1/4 green and red pepper into 1/2 inch pieces.3. Slice the carrots thinly4. Add the oil to a pan on a low to medium heat, and allow the oil to start to warm up. 5. Add half of the chopped onions. Sprinkle half of the salt over the top of these. 6. Add the remaining onions, sprinkling the remaining salt over the top again. It is during this stage that the salt will begin to react with the onions. 7. Allow the oil to slowly gain temperature. 8. At the point when the oil is just starting to gently fry the onions, give the onions a stir. 9. Add the garlic, followed by the ginger, and stir in. At this point, approximately 4 minutes should have elapsed since adding the oil to the pan. 10. Add the chopped red and green pepper, green cardamoms and carrot. Stir in and allow to cook. 11. After 20 minutes from adding the oil to the pan, add the water. 12. Place the lid on the pan and turn up the heat to boil the contents. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and add the plum tomato. 13. Stir in and replace the lid. Cook for 30 minutes. 14. Add the mix powder, onion powder and garam masala. Do not stir in.15. Cook for 10 minutes.16. Add the tomato paste and block coconut. Stir in and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.17. Turn off the heat and blend the gravy

freeze in 400ml portions defrost then you tube a curry putting melting base in the title and you have speedy curry!

I’m a big fan of Anjum Anand particularly the fish dishes, but have recently bought Meera Sodha’s book “Made in India” which I’d heard about on Women’s Hour. The everyday dal is good.

I love a fish curry, have been using packs of fish pie mix from supermarket in a thai green of late.

My ex makes an amazing lentil & chicken curry that I sadly can’t remember the recipe for 🙁

The best cookery website I know has lotsa curries in it, with very simple to follow instructions:

http://5zlotychef.blogspot.co.uk/

Written by a bloke from Bury living in Poland.