Chicken Curry

Name Changed

I was wondering how to cook a good proper chicken curry. I'd like one which does not taste too much like tomatoes, and one that has a colour that looks like a curry (or what I would think a curry looks like), ie orange/brown.

Anyway, I have done a lot of research (sad, I know) and have come up with the following:

First, dice some chicken breast and let it marinade for a while in cayenne pepper, thyme, garlic, pepper and a little bit of paprika. Leave it for as long as possible.

Then, the hard bit:

• Heat about 4 tablespoons of oil in a pan
• When it's heated, put in a cinnamon stick and a couple of cardamon pods for 30 seconds, then take them out. The oil should have a great aroma from that.
• Put in some onion that has been chopped very finely. Cook it for about 2 minutes, medium heat.
• Chop up 3 cloves of garlic and put them in with the onions.
• Throw in a bit of ginger.
• And a little fenugreek and cardamon.
• Let it cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes.
• Blend a can of tinned tomatoes with a little ginger paste/garlic paste. Put it in the pan with the rest
• Cook on a really low heat for ten minutes.
• Then add some curry powder (I just bought Sharwood's because they Schwarz one I used the other day didn't really work as I'd hoped. 3 tablespoons.
• Then add your spices: 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin powder, 2 tsp coriander powder, 2 tsp garam masala powder, ½ turmeric powder.
• Let it mix for 5 minutes.
• Add your chicken and let it simmer.
• Add some cononut milk after a few minutes
• Let it simmer away.

Name Changed

Anyway, I was just looking for ideas. As I said, I tried it the other day but it was basically just a bolognese because it tasted so much like tomatoes.

Has anyone got any other ideas?

Would this create a curry which isn't as tomatoey based?

Celticfire

Name Changed wrote: »

I was wondering how to cook a good proper chicken curry. I'd like one which does not taste too much like tomatoes, and one that has a colour that looks like a curry (or what I would think a curry looks like), ie orange/brown.

Anyway, I have done a lot of research (sad, I know) and have come up with the following:

First, dice some chicken breast and let it marinade for a while in cayenne pepper, thyme, garlic, pepper and a little bit of paprika. Leave it for as long as possible.

Then, the hard bit:

• Heat about 4 tablespoons of oil in a pan
• When it's heated, put in a cinnamon stick and a couple of cardamon pods for 30 seconds, then take them out. The oil should have a great aroma from that.
• Put in some onion that has been chopped very finely. Cook it for about 2 minutes, medium heat.
• Chop up 3 cloves of garlic and put them in with the onions.
• Throw in a bit of ginger.
• And a little fenugreek and cardamon.
• Let it cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes.
• Blend a can of tinned tomatoes with a little ginger paste/garlic paste. Put it in the pan with the rest
• Cook on a really low heat for ten minutes.
• Then add some curry powder (I just bought Sharwood's because they Schwarz one I used the other day didn't really work as I'd hoped. 3 tablespoons.
• Then add your spices: 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin powder, 2 tsp coriander powder, 2 tsp garam masala powder, ½ turmeric powder.
• Let it mix for 5 minutes.
• Add your chicken and let it simmer.
• Add some cononut milk after a few minutes
• Let it simmer away.

Name Changed wrote: »

Anyway, I was just looking for ideas. As I said, I tried it the other day but it was basically just a bolognese because it tasted so much like tomatoes.

Has anyone got any other ideas?

Would this create a curry which isn't as tomatoey based?

At the risk of stating the obvious.... reduce the amount of tomatoes....
Try a teaspoon of puree instead and add more if desired.

Name Changed

Celticfire wrote: »

At the risk of stating the obvious.... reduce the amount of tomatoes....
Try a teaspoon of puree instead and add more if desired.

Would I run the risk of that leaving a lack of sauce though?

Celticfire

How much sauce do you need? How many serving do you expect to get from that amount?

If I was making a Thai curry for two I would get enough sauce for two from one can of coconut milk and some curry paste.

I make my curries from paste so have no experience of using all those loose spices .

Name Changed

Celticfire wrote: »

How much sauce do you need? How many serving do you expect to get from that amount?

Just say three people, possibly four?

Celticfire

I find that the curry pastes in the Asian shops quite handy. You can make as much sauce as you need and then tweak the sauce to your taste. chutney, tomato puree, chili's or whatever else you want to get the taste you're looking for.

Dolbert

If you're making an Indian curry, use natural yoghurt instead of coconut milk, or cream. I prefer yoghurt though.

Dizzyblonde

Equal amounts of mango chutney, lemon juice and tomato puree give the sauce in curry a lovely flavour without making it tomatoey.
They also give it that orangey-brown colour. I use a chicken stock cube too, for added richness.

rocknchef

i would stick to the thai curry paste if you dont like the tomato base ones. Mae ploy are a real good brand.

The Sweeper

Name Changed

Based on the ingredients you went for, it looks like you're interested in an indian-style curry (or what is considered to be indian-style in the west). Chinese and Japanese style curries tend to be fruity and sweet without too much heat. Thai and indonesian curries are either coconut-rich, or spicy with fruit.

Indian curries have that thick sauce that grips the meat. There are a number of different styles within indian curry, including:

Balti - tomato, with fenugreek and strong coriander flavours
Jalfrezi - tomatoes and onions with fruit - bell peppers and mango and even pineapple
Madras - tomato and strong cumin
Korma - cream, coconut, cardamom
Dopiaza - onion with ginger and garlic
Rogan Josh - spices with onions, garlic, ginger and yoghurt

If I were you, I'd discard the generic curry powder totally, and start by buying a jar of curry paste for any of the above, adding meat / vegetables / appropriate diluting compound, and seeing if it meets your fancy. If it does, then you can look at ways to cook it from scratch.

CJhaughey

Dorling Kindersley have a book called Curry. It is very comprehensive and is divided into curry by region, North India, South India, SE Asia etc.
I like curry and I have found it to be a brilliant source of ideas and different tastes.
I highly recommend it.

The Sweeper

CJhaughey wrote: »

Dorling Kindersley have a book called Curry. It is very comprehensive and is divided into curry by region, North India, South India, SE Asia etc.
I like curry and I have found it to be a brilliant source of ideas and different tastes.
I highly recommend it.

+1 - that's a great book for cooking curries from scratch. The contributors include Vivek Singh from The Curry Club. The dishes are easy to prepare and uniformly good.

Thumpette

I started making curry recently and been trying to perfect it with every go- pretty good at the mo- but always room for improvement. Its not from a recipe however so im not much good with quantities!

I start off by toasting some spices, cumin seeds, the inside of 3 or 4 cardamon pods (just split open and empty out the contents) some coriander pods, feunegeek. I just toast them for a minute or so in a dry pan until they start to change colour a little and smell toasty. I then pur them into a pestle and mortar and give them a good grand down.

I then chop some chillis- I like it very hot so I basically put in as much as I can find of scotch bonnet, birdsye etc, chopped finely with seeds- obviously vary this to your own taste but I'd often add maybe 4 scotch bonnet and 3 or 4 birdseye. I add the chillis into the pestle and mortar and mash them up a bit further.

I then grate a thumb sixed piece of ginger and 4 or 5 gloves of garlic and throw them in for further mashing. I usually add a teaspoon or so of sea salt at this stage to flavour and to act as a bit of sandpaper to grind down the paste.

I then raid my spices for indian dry spices, chilli poweder, tumeic, ground cumin, ground coriander etc... and add a teaspoon or so each to the paste. Id then add a couple of teaspoons of tomato paste and a glug of olive oil and give it a mix. At this stage there is a nice flavoursome fresh paste.

I would then chop 1 large onion into thin slices and start to cook it off in a pan with the paste. When the onion is well withered I add diced chicken and get it all coated in the mixture and sealed.

I then add about a cup full of water- which starts making a nice gravy and when it is reduced a bit I throw in half a tin of tomatoes- I was adding no water and a whole tin but I found it a bit too tomatato-y!

If i can be bothered i would dice up some potato and par boil it and then coat and saute in some spices before adding to the curry near the end. I think potato is great in curry and really gives for a nice texture.

Finally- towards the end I get a large bunch or coriander and chop and add to the curry.

I usually serve with basmati rice with lime and coriander- yummy!:D

Sgt Hartman

What you could do is marinate some deboned chicken thigh pieces in a good curry paste, I find Patak's Tikka Masala paste or Patak's extra hot curry paste to be the best. Cook in the oven in a baking tray and once it's done fry some onions, ginger, garlic, chilli and a tablespoonful of paste in some butter in a non-stick pan. Once the veggies blend with the paste add the juice from the baking tray. Stir in some natural yogurt and 100ml water, mix and simmer. Add the thighs, cover and leave simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with some basmati rice and chopped coriander leaf.