Search And Destroy: Curry

onions
ghee
garlic
ginger
hottest chillis you can stand
cumin
coriander
tumeric
tomatos
pepper
salt
yoghurt
lime juice
fresh coriander

OK in that case you need Goan curries; it's where vindaloo was invented BUT most of the others have FIYAH.

is right, Viva goa up here in crypal does *really* good pork curries, with plenty hot sauce

I have a deathly hangover today and can't concentrate on even the most basic cooking destructions, so I'm doing an improv curry that is half remembered from previous dhansak and bhuna recipes. Just made a marinade of ground cinnamon, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and ginger w/ greek yoghurt for the chicken. Just shamble along and see how this shit turns out.

R U still alive??

Have been making curries for a few years now but still haven't the courage to veer too far off piste, even though most every curry I make uses the same spices in varying amounts.

As long as you know roughly how much chilli you like, and don't go overboard on the cumin there's a limit to how badly you can go wrong even if you do end up basically improvising. Fresh coriander + fresh lime juice is a winning combination though.

It turned out pretty tasty tbh, and I have some left which I will be re-heating with some Bombay Potatoes and Pilau Rice for tea. I am just a happy amateur in the kitchen really, with enthusiasm much outweighing talent. My off piste template for curries tends be meat/chicken in marinade overnight, added to cooked onions/tomatoes w/spices and usually I add chick-peas or some nice borlotti beans.

Even if the results wouldn't always please the purists, I always enjoy the process, like grinding up those seeds in the pestle and taking in the amazing aromas etc

I bought this Kamla Dhaya vegetarian curry cookbook from the Asian supermarket a few years back. The instructions were a little too vague and assuming of competence/knowhow for me at the time. Need to go back too it, cos apparently she is a curry grand master.

Shamefaced to admit that I just can't really F with chilli at all - the powder, at least. Have a lovely Keralan recipe from Maunikha Gowardhan's website (http://maunikagowardhan.co.uk/cook-in-a-curry/, all her recipes are ace) that in theory should be mild, and which my partner loves, but which I can only really consume after I've stirred lots and lots of yoghurt into the mix.

Calzino, your posts have me checking to see if it's lunch yet and sadly, no it is not.

I have developed hard calluses on my left finger and thumb (from much chopping and mincing), and when they crack sometimes, chopping chillies is burning murder. I once thought of getting some disposable latex gloves for this purpose, but dismissed the idea as extravagant first world ponciness! But otherwise I couldn't contemplate life without chillies.

Noooooo. My aunts would never chop scotch bonnets, etc without gloves.

what type of gloves does she use?

Disposable latex iirc. It's not worth the risk of absent-mindedly rubbing your eye after chopping them without.

Lol! I've done that a few times, probably should start using gloves.

I've just found a 100 pack for less than £6, so that will do nicely.

What do people think of buying sprigs of coriander banded together vs buying a growing coriander. I'm starting to think the former is the better option these days.

needs and availability tend to dictate this, I have no preference otherwise. if you buy the sprigs you don't have to throw away a plant pot

unless you are shopping at ocado (who box them up for protection) they tend to get crushed, which cancels out the benefits of freshness they are supposed to have. Also daily trips to the local shop for it are depriving the man!

never seen much benefit in potted herbs tbh, would rather just buy fresh bunches as necessary

Have never succeeded in making a potted herb survive. But I struggle with bunches of coriander at the turkish shops round my way because, though I can easily discern their flavours I have literally no ability to tell the difference between parsley and coriander by smell.

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