Curry pastes or blend your own?

Darkginger

I would also disagree that the base method is only used by low to mid end restaurants. It is used by the vast majority of Indian restaurants in the UK (and probably Ireland) - but I'd stress that these do not in any way claim to serve authentic Indian food - they serve what's known as 'BIR' food - British Indian Restaurant food. The base gravy method attempts to reproduce this at home. It's a bit like trying to make KFC at home - you could argue that there are much better ways to cook chicken, and even southern fried chicken, but if someone wants to be able to cook something that tastes like KFC, they'll try to do it the way KFC do.

Of course there are restaurants out there using other methods - I've been to several which serve dishes other than the standard madras, vindaloo, pathia, dhansak, jalfrezi (my version of jalfrezi doesn't use the base gravy either) etc. There are countless cook books of varying quality stuffed with 'Indian' recipes. Even the word 'Indian' is a bit of a misnomer, since food styles vary so much throughout the country, or indeed countries, if you consider that many 'Indian' cooks are Pakistani or Bangladeshi.

However, when people talk about cooking a 'curry' - they're usually after the taste they get from their local Indian, and most recipes - online and in books - fail to deliver this, although they might well show you how to make wonderful tasting food!

Pre-cooking the meat does two things - in a restaurant situation, it cuts down cooking (and therefore waiting) time considerably, and it allows any excess liquid in the meat to be removed prior to adding it to the curry sauce, meaning that your curry has a more concentrated flavour. Because the pre-cooking is usually done in a spicy sauce (often the base gravy itself), and at a fairly low temperature, the meat is both tender and tasty. If you were to cook the meat from scratch at the high temperatures required to get the restaurant taste, it would toughen up, and be less palatable.

As I said earlier in this thread, it all depends what you're trying to achieve - authentic Indian food as eaten daily by people in India, Indian feast food, BIR food, Anglo-Indian food from the days of the Raj, Irish stew with a bit of a kick to it, Thai food, curry sauce from the chippy, or even Chinese curry!

If it's BIR food you're after, the pre-cooking and base gravy method is the way to go!

GeorgeCostanza

Darkginger wrote: »

I would also disagree that the base method is only used by low to mid end restaurants. It is used by the vast majority of Indian restaurants in the UK (and probably Ireland) - but I'd stress that these do not in any way claim to serve authentic Indian food - they serve what's known as 'BIR' food - British Indian Restaurant food. The base gravy method attempts to reproduce this at home. It's a bit like trying to make KFC at home - you could argue that there are much better ways to cook chicken, and even southern fried chicken, but if someone wants to be able to cook something that tastes like KFC, they'll try to do it the way KFC do.

Of course there are restaurants out there using other methods - I've been to several which serve dishes other than the standard madras, vindaloo, pathia, dhansak, jalfrezi (my version of jalfrezi doesn't use the base gravy either) etc. There are countless cook books of varying quality stuffed with 'Indian' recipes. Even the word 'Indian' is a bit of a misnomer, since food styles vary so much throughout the country, or indeed countries, if you consider that many 'Indian' cooks are Pakistani or Bangladeshi.

However, when people talk about cooking a 'curry' - they're usually after the taste they get from their local Indian, and most recipes - online and in books - fail to deliver this, although they might well show you how to make wonderful tasting food!

Pre-cooking the meat does two things - in a restaurant situation, it cuts down cooking (and therefore waiting) time considerably, and it allows any excess liquid in the meat to be removed prior to adding it to the curry sauce, meaning that your curry has a more concentrated flavour. Because the pre-cooking is usually done in a spicy sauce (often the base gravy itself), and at a fairly low temperature, the meat is both tender and tasty. If you were to cook the meat from scratch at the high temperatures required to get the restaurant taste, it would toughen up, and be less palatable.

As I said earlier in this thread, it all depends what you're trying to achieve - authentic Indian food as eaten daily by people in India, Indian feast food, BIR food, Anglo-Indian food from the days of the Raj, Irish stew with a bit of a kick to it, Thai food, curry sauce from the chippy, or even Chinese curry!

If it's BIR food you're after, the pre-cooking and base gravy method is the way to go!

Agreed, if you're trying to recreate the taste of your local Indian restaurant, then the base sauce is the only way to go. My point is, I don't think there's any benefit for the home cook to mimic how these restaurants produce their dishes, when the "scratch-made" sauces are nicer. That's just my opinion.

At home, I'd rather produce an authentic curry as you'd get in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, not a British/Irish restaurant dish. I've done the base sauce thing and I don't think the resulting sauce is as good.

huskerdu

GeorgeCostanza wrote: »

Agreed, if you're trying to recreate the taste of your local Indian restaurant, then the base sauce is the only way to go. My point is, I don't think there's any benefit for the home cook to mimic how these restaurants produce their dishes, when the "scratch-made" sauces are nicer. That's just my opinion.

At home, I'd rather produce an authentic curry as you'd get in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, not a British/Irish restaurant dish. I've done the base sauce thing and I don't think the resulting sauce is as good.

I agree.
The method used in restuarants in very successful when you are preparing meals with chicken, pork and lamb and offering a choice of 5 or 10 sauces.

That does not mean that it is the best method when I want to cook an Indian meal at home for my family.

Most curries I cook taste better after the meat has been stewing in the sauce for hours or left to go cold for hours and reheated.

MrO

Babooshka wrote: »

Thanks...you know, the mad thing about curries is (maybe it's because they originate from so many different regions ) is every time I look up an online recipe, they always differ in at least one ingredient or method, but I guess that's the lovely thing about making them, every one is slightly different depending on what way you do it, or even if you vary the ingredients slightly. I definitely find fresher is better, especially garlic and ginger for their zing.

I could ask questions all day...but another one is....I have seen different things about this in recipes, some say "slightly bruise" the cardomom pods, and I guess that is so the aromas come out, some say "de-seed" them...some say put them in the roasting process and then take them out, and some just say put them in and leave them in. Any thoughts on that?

I usually just crush them slightly with the flat of a blade so they open a bit, then I take them out at the end if it's for other people. If it's just for me I leave em in :-)

Loire

Hi,

Does anyone have a recipie for an easy thai red curry paste? I am using a jar from Tesco at the moment, and although it's fine, I'd like to be able to make my own. Also, when made can it be stored in the fridge (in a jar) for long?

Tx,
Loire.

Curry Addict

Red curry paste

Ingredients
8 long red dried chillies, deseeded and chopped
1 tsp. ground coriander seed
½ tsp. ground cumin seed
1 tsp. ground white pepper
2 tbsp. chopped garlic
2 stalks of lemongrass, chopped
1 tbsp. coriander leaf, chopped
1 tsp. chopped kaffir lime skin or finely chopped lime leaves
3 cm. fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tsp. shrimp paste
1 tsp. salt

using a mortar and pestle, grind all the ingredients into a thick paste

Itsdacraic

Fajitas! wrote: »

I find the Green Saffron spice mixes great. When you're comfortable making them from the sachet, it's easy enough to find and mix your own.

Check'em out - http://www.greensaffron.com/

+ 1 billion

Loire

Curry Addict wrote: »

Red curry paste

Ingredients
8 long red dried chillies, deseeded and chopped
1 tsp. ground coriander seed
½ tsp. ground cumin seed
1 tsp. ground white pepper
2 tbsp. chopped garlic
2 stalks of lemongrass, chopped
1 tbsp. coriander leaf, chopped
1 tsp. chopped kaffir lime skin or finely chopped lime leaves
3 cm. fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tsp. shrimp paste
1 tsp. salt

using a mortar and pestle, grind all the ingredients into a thick paste

Thanks for that...a lot of ingredients and a fair bit of work for a midweek meal though! Would it keep long in the fridge?

Curry Addict

put it in an ice cube maker, put the ice cube maker in a bag and it will store in the freezer for months. each cube is roughly a tablespoon.

Loire

Curry Addict wrote: »

put it in an ice cube maker, put the ice cube maker in a bag and it will store in the freezer for months. each cube is roughly a tablespoon.

Perfect...now it's worth doing! Thanks

Loire.

RonMexico

Fajitas! wrote: »

I find the Green Saffron spice mixes great. When you're comfortable making them from the sachet, it's easy enough to find and mix your own.

Check'em out - http://www.greensaffron.com/

Itsdacraic wrote: »

+ 1 billion

+ 1 trillion

All the recipes are on the website too. Divine.

Curry Addict

whats so great about them? they are about 4 times the price of your average asian shop in dublin. am i missing something?

the beer revolu

Curry Addict wrote: »

whats so great about them? they are about 4 times the price of your average asian shop in dublin. am i missing something?

He would claim that the freshness of his spices sets him apart.

I have bought spices from him and they are very fragrant and fresh alright - but pricey!

RonMexico

The spice is excellent quality and the mixes are great when you know very little about blends etc. Also there isn't a great selection of Asian shops where I am.

EDIT: I don't buy online. I buy them at a market and they are 50c cheaper.

Curry Addict

they do look fresher than average in the pics. i would value spices that have some form of guaranteed freshness but not so sure you could call spices like this super fresh considering the distance they have traveled and the standards of transport, the heat and storage in the home country.
typically a gram of these spices costs a cent here in the asian shops so paying approx 4c a gram seems outrageous.
id be broke paying these prices but then again i havent tried them so

rich.d.berry

I know I'm a bit late to this thread, but I cannot see anyone advising to add the spices to the meat prior to cooking an Indian curry.

I have found that adding the spices to the meat, onions and garlic the day or morning before cooking enhances the flavour tremendously. Also, cooking the spices in oil helps to release their flavours.

I dice the meat, chop the onion and garlic and then mix together in a bowl or dish with a lid. I add the spices and shake it all about to coat all the pieces and keep it in the fridge. A word of warning though, the spices will permanently discolour plastic.

An hour prior to cooking I remove the bowl from the fridge and add about 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil and give it a stir. I leave the mixture out of the fridge to warm to near room temperature.

I use a thick bottomed pan and pot for braising the meat. I heat them dry (no oil) because the oil is already in the mix, on a medium high setting for about 10 minutes on gas and 15 minutes on convection until they're heated evenly throughout. I add the meat and onion mix sparingly to the pot and pan so that the meat doesn't boil. The contents should have enough space so that they're not touching their neighbours. I brown the meat for about 10 to 15 minutes turning occasionally.

I then turn down the heat under the pot and add the contents from the pan. I de-glaze the pan with a bit of boiling water (about half a cup) and add this "gravy" to the pot along with any liquids such as stock or tomatoes.

If I still have more meat to braise then I reheat the pan for 5 minutes and repeat the steps above.

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

rich.d.berry

I do follow the braising with a slow cook of 3 - 4 hours for lamb and beef unless I'm using very good, tender, cuts of meat. Chicken should not need the slow cook because it is usually tender enough.

I agree, the reheated curry the next day is always better than the fresh cooked one.