Recommendations for a good weeknight curry

Feisar · 01-03-2022 1:50pm #1

I had a McDonnell's curry power curry dinner last week. Got a bit of colour on some chicken and onion, fired it into a pot with some bell pepper and carrot and dumped a lock of curry sauce in with it and the whole lot was ready by the time the rice was cooked nearly.

So I'm looking for recommendations of a step up from McDonnell's (not half bad, tasted like childhood!) in the mild/medium area. We don't like Pataks curry pastes, seem to be very vinegarish after the tomatoes are added. My curry game is weak and it's something I'm going to address generally but at the moment I'm just looking for a weeknight curry powder, don't want to be loading up on ghee etc but I don't mind sourcing my own ingredients and making up a powder to have on hand.

Cheers!

Tree · 01-03-2022 1:58pm

I love a thai green/red/yellow/massaman/penang curry. Find a good paste and a good coconut milk and it's mostly in the bag.

Cock brand is the preferred curry paste here as it's good and vegan, but nowhere stocks it anymore :'''(

Dial Hard · 01-03-2022 2:17pm

This BBC curry is one of the first things I learned to cook from scratch back in the day and I still love it. It's RIDICULOUSLY easy to make, absolutely delicious and (Brucie Bonus), very low in fat. I genuinely can't recommend it enough - https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fragrant-chicken-curry-chick-peas

Very easily scaled up with more chicken and a second can of chickpeas.

I think I may need this for dinner now!

ETA: It keeps, reheats and freezes really well too, so ideal for batch cooking.

01-03-2022 2:33pm

Homemade paste is the best flavour wise imo (you can tailor it to your wants) but can be hard to get a good mix between too watery and too pasty, Thai Gold pastes (in Dunnes/SV/Lidl) are very good too - especially red and panang.

anewme · 01-03-2022 9:21pm

The green saffron packets are excellent. Probably a bit more weekend than mid week as a bit of prep involved. Their Bombay potato mix it a fab as a side and leftovers cold as a salad.

For a shortcut, their jars not bad either

brick tamland · 02-03-2022 10:15am

The pataks paste would be my pick for indian style curry. Id always jazz up with some Fresh corriander and a few other bits. Follow instruction on the jar. Will make a good weeknight curry

For a thai curry i think the brand is Moy Ploy, Ive gotten it in tesco before. Add coconut milk and whatever else (Corriander, Lime Juice ect). Its the best thai paste ive used. Can be got in any asian shop and a lot of normal supermarkets

Muahahaha · 02-03-2022 12:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058235322/recommendations-for-a-good-weeknight-curry

If you really want to up your curry game then would recommend checking out the Indian restaurant curries thread in the Cooking Club forum. Its a bit of work making the curry base (about a 3 hour cook and about 45 minutes of active time) but once you've done that you have enough curry base for about 18 curries. I freeze it in portions of two and from there any curry you get in a Indian restaurant/take away can be cooked in about 6-7 minutes and they are identical to a take away.

Also its flexible in that if one person prefers a jalfreezi and another prefers a Madras its easy to do, the only variation is the spices that go into each. Been making curries that way for about seven years now and would never go back to pastes or powders when making the real thing is so much better once you have the curry base made.

miamee · 02-03-2022 12:55pm

Nice one @Muahahaha I'm going to look through that thread myself now for inspiration!

Here it is for anyone else looking for it: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2056521427/2012-cooking-club-week-2b-indian-resturant-curries#latest

Thephantomsmask · 03-03-2022 8:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118718900#Comment_118718900

If anyone has an instant pot or pressure cooker, the base gravy can be scaled down and made in that in under 30 mins. Dan Toombs/The Curry Guy has a dedicated version of base gravy in his book for pressure cookers.

I use it to pre cook my lamb too rather than 1 hour + on the hob. It can be done in batches and frozen. I freeze the portions of base gravy in silicone ice cube trays that each make 6 125ml blocks of ice so two blocks equals 1 portion.

Feisar · 01-03-2022 9:11pm

Thanks for all the tips guys.

Ardgorm · 02-03-2022 11:41pm

Of you Google kevin dundon old style chicken curry sunday world. Its a really simple, quick, similar flavoring to o donnells recipie

Gloomtastic! · 03-03-2022 7:05am

Curry Addict’s Chicken Biryani in The Cooking Club used to be my go to curry. It takes a bit of time so you might want to make the stock one night and finish it the next but it is really good.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2056521427/2012-cooking-club-week-2b-indian-resturant-curries

Go to page 8 and it’s there

Dave_The_Sheep · 03-03-2022 11:40am

That Cooking Club thread is absolutely brilliant. Now to convince my partner to do a week or so of curries...

Recommendations for a good weeknight curry

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