Search And Destroy: Curry

That mint chutney, why is it always orange or yellow?

Ronan, what exactly do you mean by shite food? Normally when I am drunk I eat either quiche or KFC. Does that count?

I contend that no vegetable curry deserving of the name has ever been composed entirely from root vegetables. I repeat that the term vegetable can refer to things other than merely root vegetables.

Shouldn't you be photocopying a novel or something?

Obviously if we saw animal vegetable and mineral as a continuum these sectarian disputes would be a thing of the past.

Oh now she tells us.

The rat in the dish is my favourite bit! Oh yes, Shampan's is still going strong Nath, albeit under new management, me and Neil have been there several times since. It takes more than a few rat droppings to upset our hardy constitutions - we even took Judy there, of course we only mentioned the scandal *after* she'd finished her meal. [wicked laughter]

I think you had something with coconut in it (Chicken Bhuna, perhaps?), hence me pulling a face every time you breathed in my general direction. ;-)

Tim makes a decent curry, as far as I recall, so speaks with some authority on this subject.

Oh, and Sarah: lentils don't have to be hippy food or indeed vegetarian. In Spain they have (green/brown) lentils stewed with big chunks of bacon and sausage and tomato, which I remember being very excellent from way back when I ate meat and my mother used to make it.

My big problem with curry houses at present is that I have a favourite curry house. It is so darned good, and my favourite by such a long way, that I can barely bring myself to eat curry elsewhere. It's most unfortunate.

i think this is all leading up to the ILE BRICK LANE CURRY NIGHT - when???

Although you know, if anyone wants to cook me a veggie curry, they're more than welcome.

ILE Brick Lane Curry Night - I have the number for Cafe Naz programmed into my mobile, so tip me the wink and I'll reserve nine millions places and warn them to stock plenty of Becks/Smirnoff Ice. Curry + Power Shandy. YES!

There's a hugely successful vegetarian Indian restaurant that I frequent nearby. 95% of the clientele is Indian, but apparently they're missing *the point* of their cuisine.

I don't usually eat breakfast, incidentally you durty vicar you.

Anyway there is nothing against veggie-ness. I've had some very nice tasting vegetarians HUR HUR HUR yawn kill me now...

OR TO KEEP MY VEGETARIAN COMPANIONS FROM FEELING LIKE THE FREAKS THAT THEY ARE.

Lets talk about power shandies on the alcopops thread. Off to drag it up RIGHT NOW.

Saag paneer is wonderful, so's muttar paneer if you get one from the more savoury end of the restaurant scale (like they do at Ravi Shankar in Drummond Street). I can make both of these, not to mention keema peas, most of the chicken curries and a great fish masala.

Best Brick Lane caffs are Sweet'n'Spicy or Shalamar Halal (S&S have the world's best samosas). For BYOB places, the Nazrul is very trad (busy wallpaper, fairy lights) but very cheap and nice. If it's full, you just go to the Aladin. Don't like the nasty Naz for some reason (more expensive). But it's fab to go to Southall (where I have been known to buy supplies).

It's baffling to me too...the Brits seem to know more about Indian food than me, and I grew up eating it almost everyday.

Damn straight -- go to it.

Now, to answer Kris and the other feller's question -- yes, Indian food in the UK is like Mexican food in southern California. It is inescapable, it is *everywhere*. Jane once told me that you could be in the most remote area of the Highlands and you'd probably find an Indian place, and given I know I saw at least the one and maybe more on the Isle of Skye, I think she's onto something. As to why? Surely to do with the British Empire and all. Tea came first, the rest came later -- though likely things were intensified as more and more folks from the subcontinent settled in the UK during and after the Raj, creating an obvious demand. I seem to recall some talk -- likely Momus, I wouldn't be surprised -- about how some of what are often seen as 'traditional' Indian dishes in the UK are actually creations for a different market/palate/etc., a bit like chop suey and fortune cookies here in the States with regard to Chinese food.

I admit I'm more for saag paneer, as Dan wisely noted, a Fine and Glorious thing, perfect for dipping yer naan into. Mango lassi is pure heaven and just what is needed to offset the fiery dishes. Yow. Those who are into the glory of Indian cuisines are recommended to check out Ethiopian food, which while not an exact comparison provides a similar range of spicy experiences, good base bread, vegeterian friendliness and good beer.

Has everyone in Boston been to Addis Red Sea on Tremont St? Fantastic Ethiopian restaurant.

the leaves are slightly different?

parsley is pointier but they do look very similar

I've taken to putting some of this in curries (and everything else) when I can't be bothered to chop fresh chilli and it's good:

https://www.chilliworld.com/mr-naga-hot-pepper-pickle

herbs are v frustrating to me. i love them and use them as much as possible but the packeted kind often go rotten v quickly. i feel like i waste more money on herbs than anything else.

I was thinking back to when I first started making curries a few years back, and was meticulously separating the coriander leaves from the stalks with some scissors, one by one. Maunika Gowardhan, would would have said: wtf are you actually doing? and then chopped up the job-lot up in 30 seconds with a knife!

i hate when recipes say "leaves only" - who really cares if there are a few stalks in there?

Fresh herbs keep really well in a ziploc bag ime

good tip, i'll give that a go.

put a paper towel in the bag with them

full knowledge bomb on this mother today! thnx.

#lifehacks

Coriander grows very slowly, smells like a stink bug, and you can only use a young plant's leaves. Hence, I buy sprigs. Most curry recipes call for huge quantities of cilantro anyway, so you don't have to keep it in the fridge for too long.

the leaves are slightly different?

I know I know but I just can't tell the difference!

Fold herbs into a slightly damp kitchen towel and keep in fridge

Maunika's recipes are brilliant

yeah, Maunika's recipes and videos are so ace. I did her Chicken Biryani recipe this week. I didn't have any mint but it still turned out very nice. I like how she encourages much garlic, none of this 1 or 2 cloves nonsense. And she got me putting saffron into warm milk, which is a new approach for me.

word to the wise: asafoetida

Meera Sodha’s Christmas recipe for vegan achari brussels sprout curry | The new vegan https://t.co/79N6NxtaaD via @guardianfood

— Guardian Feast (@GuardianFeast) December 21, 2019

I love the simplicity of this one, going to do it later because I'm flat out fucked with a cold and need an easy day.

This looks good. You could probably double the ginger and garlic to get extra cold help. I feel like the masala I made last week I used about 7 cloves of garlic and 2 inches of ginger.

I never use less than one bulb or half a big bulb of garlic in curries no matter what the recipe says. Had to cancel this for a boring sausage/butterbean casserole because they needed using today. Will bear that advice in mind tomorrow tho.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EMZx6YLXYAEAwKD?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

this worked out well despite lacking nigella seeds. i couldn't resist adding hot chilli powder and garam masala cos it needed a bit more heat imo.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jan/25/meera-sodha-masala-baked-beans-on-toast-recipe-vegan?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

another Meera Sodha recipe that looks awesome. Might induce a stroke in some ILXers by including a tin of baked beans!

her books are so great

i had to reconsider the difference bw u.s. and british baked beans but that looks inspired. calzino, what was that brussels dish in your previous post?

xpost

I really love the coriander/peanut chutney from that recipe, but my favorite Meera Sodha recipe so far is this one

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/21/chilli-tofu-recipe-vegan-meera-sodha

off topic as far as curry goes:

I want to explore a vegan diet, but it seems very daunting. I’m liking Meera Sodha’s articles

for the tofu chili recipe I used serrano chilis in place of jwala finger chilis, since I can't find jwalas where I live and serranos are similar on the Scoville heat scale.

I now know that rapeseed oil is canola oil.

a question: what is corn flour? where I live there is no such thing as corn flour, it’s either corn meal, which is very coarse, or corn starch, which is very fine. I used corn starch for coating the tofu in this recipe

Re: that Sodha recipe, can I assume a brown onion (in the UK) is a yellow onion (in the US)?

I've never heard of a brown onion in four decades...

I think she has to be referring to yellow onions

i think she means cornstarch for the tofu? Getting corn flour for that seems unnecessary. Google says it's basically the same thing. But if you really wanted it they sell Bob's Red Mill stuff all over the world (don't recall where you are) and they do corn flour.

Making crispy tofu is one of my least favorite activities. I've tried some of the hacks people post online but right now I am enjoying being able to buy aburage (twice deep dried tofu) in packages nearby.

yep uk cornflour = us cornstarch