RMWeb Curry Club.

[C126]

I hesitate to suggest this, as I am unable to visit RMWeb daily myself and things seem a little unstable at the moment, so I might not be able to contribute as often as I would like, but would anyone else like a 'space' to enthuse about Indian food?  Whether it is to seek help with menus, recommend recipes, share your phantasy 14-course curry banquet, or just ask a question, perhaps we could help each other.  If I may give a couple of examples:

 

(1) Is it worth seeking out a restaurant with a charcoal-fired Tandoor?  Does one notice the difference in taste?

(2) Have you made at home a decent version of Bhel Puri?  What was your recipe?

 

I confess to being one who could eat curry happily three times a day for the rest of my life, and ate it daily for dinner in my 'batchelor days'.  I am no expert cook, sometimes using jars of pastes from well-known manufacturers, but I do like playing around with recipes and eating curry.  I know little about the subject, but use mainly north-Indian recipes I am told, currently trying marinating paneer, then grilled with tomatoes and chunks of red pepper.  I believe south Indian recipes use fish and cocoa-nut more, of which I am less fond.

 

Alternatively, if this is a silly idea when we have enough to read already that is distracting us, treat my suggestion with the contempt it deserves and ignore this.  Thanks for giving it your consideration.

[APOLLO]

I like an Indian Rogan Josh / Biryani now and again but could never handle a Madras or Vindaloo.

 

My wife is Thai so we have lots of Thai curries, mostly Chicken or Pork Green or Red curry always with boiled Thai Jasmine rice. She uses coconut milk in most curries. Massaman curry with nuts, potatoes, carrots and star anise is a favourite.  I also like Malaysian Penang style curry and the rather weak but very tasty Japanese curry with apple on fried breaded roast pork.

 

Wonder what's for tea tonight ??

 

Brit15

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by APOLLO
typo

[MinZaPint]

My idea of a good curry is one with a bit of warmth (Madras strength) with loads of flavour, so hot you cant taste the flavours is a no no!. Until recently I used to spend 5 weeks every winter in Goa (good place if you like a drink, permit rooms are a bit characterless) My pal who used to winter out there would have sorted out all the best places, as used by the locals. One trip we went to Mysore and into this "Kwality Bar" (we had to teach them how to keep the beer and to keep enough in for us!) my pals wife suggested we try this dish with a name like a Welsh railway station! well we all took a mouthful and looked at each other as it was so bland and then looks of delight appeared as a wonderful array of flavours came bursting through! I shall follow this thread with interest as although we don't cook many curries at home, (we like different ones), We do have a very good cook book that we use when entertaining, so that we can put several dishes on the table. I look forward to seeing what the curry addicts have to say. At one time I couldn't live without 3 curries a week. Oh and for eat ins my first go to is a Dhansak! To finish you wouldn't believe the wonderful food that comes out of this kitchen, Health & Safety would have a nightmare but when you watch them cooking over what looks like a Concorde afterburner the bugs ain't going to survive!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Beef Rendang. (My Pa's family were over 200 years in Indonesia, so in common with many Dutch families it's the exquisite cuisine of that archipelago that is our favourite.)

[SHMD]

Mmmm 14 courses!

 

Reminds me of the Instrument I was installing in southern India 5 years ago. Most days I went to this restaurant - I seem to remember this costing ~£1.22!

That's not 14 courses I hear you cry, it is when you've shifted the bread and they come round with two buckets of rice and shovel what you want into the centre!

 

This was the young engineer they attached to me to learn as much as possible. I good guy and very helpful.

 

 

Tomorrow I'll be making a Jalfrezi for the family's evening meal (tea) using chicken thighs, a jar of Jalfrazi source (that I use as a starting base) and add lots of onion, peppers, chillies, tomatos and quite a few herbs too. Served with boiled rice cooked with a pinch of turmeric to turn it yellow.

(Takes about 3 to 4 hours of preparation and cooking but doesn't last much after that!)

 

 

Kev.

 

[APOLLO]

In my yooth  every Friday night was lads night out around town. After a gallon or so of Walkers best headache mixture it was off to Sweaty Bettys in Darlington street, by the gas works, a Wigan institution back then. The Koh-i-noor" if I remember correctly. Superb curries there. Betty was fearsome (even when we were sozzled) but looked after everybody. No lip or she threw you out - she was the manager, waitress and bouncer combined. her husband Ron was Indian and a superb but overworked cook - she gave him some language at times !!! Two of my mates had a curry duel - who could eat a full plate of the hottest Vindaloo which Betty had on the Menu - a twice hot Vindaloo (with warnings  !! ) - I just laughed & ate a nice Biriani. Neither finished the meal and were in a bit of a state afterwards.

 

Around 1975 or so Bettys closed, word had it she or Ron had sadly passed away, so from then it was the more civil "Santi Bag" or "Azmir Manzill" restaurants in town which were actually Bangaladeshi. Not to matter the food in both was always good. We always bought the bouncer a pint so a taxi was waiting for us at the door when we had finished.

 

We tried Chinese curries a couple of times - OK but nowt like an "Indian".

 

Happy days & memories.

 

Brit15

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

39 minutes ago, SHMD said:

Mmmm 14 courses!

 

Reminds me of the Instrument I was installing in southern India 5 years ago. Most days I went to this restaurant - I seem to remember this costing ~£1.22!

That's not 14 courses I hear you cry, it is when you've shifted the bread and they come round with two buckets of rice and shovel what you want into the centre!

 

This was the young engineer they attached to me to learn as much as possible. I good guy and very helpful.

 

 

Tomorrow I'll be making a Jalfrezi for the family's evening meal (tea) using chicken thighs, a jar of Jalfrazi source (that I use as a starting base) and add lots of onion, peppers, chillies, tomatos and quite a few herbs too. Served with boiled rice cooked with a pinch of turmeric to turn it yellow.

(Takes about 3 to 4 hours of preparation and cooking but doesn't last much after that!)

 

 

Kev.

 

 

Three to four hours is nothing for a good curry. I used to share a flat with a guy for whom making curries was a hobby. Steve would typically take all day over it - having already marinaded the meat beforehand.

I think that the main reason I find a lot of restaurant curries disappointing is that they are cooked quickly to order.

I like Thai more than "Indian" although I think South Indian might suit me.

Nepalese is also very good with some quite different curries to "Indian". Their dahl is usually much richer too.

And no rice for me. Much prefer my curries with naan.

In answer to the OPs question, yes, some dishes really do benefit from a proper tandoor oven. Something that they have in common with pizzas.

[TheQ]

I must admit my home made curries,  are very poor.  The best curries I eat these days are when SWMBOs brother and wife visit ( or we visit them)  .. His wife used to own a restaurant..... In Thailand.

 

When I worked in Saudi,  our catering crew were from Kerala (south west India) we had a monthly curry night.  Half a dozen different curries put out with all the extras,  help yourself to any or all.. Fabulous it was.. 

[adb968008]

My reciepe is:

 

2 white onions diced

10 mushrooms diced

2 tomatoes dices (you could add tinned chopped if you wish, I prefer fresh beef tomatoes).

1 Bell pepper (red, yellow or green doesn’t matter).

1 whole Polish (or Spanish) garlic (crushed)* 
1.5-1.8kg of chicken

 

3-4 Tbl spoons curry powder

2-3 tbl spoons tumeric

1-2 t spoons chilli powder (substitute with chopped chilli if you wish).

1 tbl spoon paprika

coriander / ginger to taste.

500ml of Greek yoghurt

 

cooking oil.

 

add all the spices to the oil, blend

then add to the yoghurt, blend... this is your curry sauce

 

chop the chicken, add to a cooking pot

add the mushroom, onion, garlic, tomatoes on top.

 

add the curry sauce you made.

cover to the top of the chicken with water.
 

cover the pot.

At least 3 hours at 160 in the oven (Longer at lower is better than shorter hotter)

Check & Stir at 2 hours, may need to add extra water to cover the top again.
 

if you can, Leave to cool overnight 2nd time you warm it, tastes much better than the first.

 

will serve 6-9 meals, nothing ever gets wasted, usually serves 2/3 days.

 

Optional, Adding butter can refine the taste some what.

I don’t generally add salt to chicken, but I don’t see why not If you wished.

 

 

now for an extra:

 

get some butter (I prefer Anchor), leave out at room temperature, until it goes soft.

get another polish garlic*

 

crush the garlic, mix into the butter, stir it in well.

put to the fridge to cool.

 

slice up a baguette, toast under the grill.

Butter them with the garlic butter as you would toast.

 

Toast will never be the same again...

and it tastes great along side the curry.

(if your feeling Mediterranean instead of a curry), do the same plus chop some onion/tomato/olive with sherry vinegar mix in a bowl and add as a topping on top).

 

*Definitely not a chinese garlic ! you won’t find this garlic in a major supermarket, try your local Polish, Turkish, ME Deli.. it’s worth it. cost about the same. The giveaway (as side of the obvious aroma) is the bulb should be pinkish, not plain white.  When you peel it, it’s like peeling petals (soft/damp).

if you can’t get a Polish/Spanish garlic, some garden centres sell a smoked garlic, these are expensive, but just as good. They are brownish in colour.

Edited August 29, 2020 by adb968008

[APOLLO]

Nepalese curry mentioned. I can thoroughly recommend the Gurkha restaurant in Ross On Wye - Yaks and Yetis. His wife takes the orders never writes anything down, all done by memory. Food and setting is superb. Don't even think of doing a runner though !!!!

 

Brit15

[melmerby]

I never use curry powder. I don't even have any.

It's always made with individual spices. I grind cumin & coriander from whole spices.

I've a complete double kitchen cupboard full of ingredients, I've got about a dozen different types of lentils and several different types of chick peas (I'm vegetarian, as are most Indians!)

 

Just had a lentil curry with spiced Basmati rice (2 type of cardamon plus cloves, cumin seeds, bay leaves, garlic and onion.)

 

 

 

 

[Pete the Elaner]

I prefer a good Thai curry to Indian.

That may be an unfair comparison because I'm comparing Thai curry from Bangkok to Indian from the UK. I guess an Indian curry in India is better?

[sb67]

Loving this thread already 

 

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

My reciepe is:

 

 

 

adb968008 - do  you fry off any of the ingredients first or just put them all in the pot?

[adb968008]

8 minutes ago, sb67 said:

Loving this thread already 

 

 

 

adb968008 - do  you fry off any of the ingredients first or just put them all in the pot?

no mine all goes in the pot.

when it comes out, the chicken literally falls apart on your fork.

 

[SHMD]

I fry the chicken in oil and then add the chopped onions to fry/sweat them before adding everything and letting it simmer.

I'd be interested in how adb968008 does it as his recipe does look good.

 

 

Kev.

[adb968008]

18 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I never use curry powder. I don't even have any.

It's always made with individual spices. I grind cumin & coriander from whole spices.

I've a complete double kitchen cupboard full of ingredients, I've got about a dozen different types of lentils and several different types of chick peas (I'm vegetarian, as are most Indians!)

 

Just had a lentil curry with spiced Basmati rice (2 type of cardamon plus cloves, cumin seeds, bay leaves, garlic and onion.)

 

 

 

 

Good call.

 

i forgot the bayleafs, were lucky to have a bay tree in our garden.

I take leaf, break it  in half and place it on top.

[adb968008]

1 minute ago, SHMD said:

I fry the chicken in oil and then add the chopped onions to fry/sweat them before adding everything and letting it simmer.

I'd be interested in how adb968008 does it as his recipe does look good.

 

 

Kev.

Later this week I could do a pot, so i’ll take some pictures.

 

Its all baked, rather than fried.

 

Although its not authentic for Indian, we have served it with spagheti or fusili pasta too.

 

[Tony Davis]

4 hours ago, APOLLO said:

My wife is Thai so we have lots of Thai curries,

 

A Thai "Cafe" has opened up near us, and I went in with a card that explains, in Thai, that I am Vegan and can they cook something without blah blah. "Annie" looked at it and said "Yes, no problem" and after a little while I was presented with what she called "Yellow Curry". It was delicious, but I wondered if it was a real Thai dish and, if so, is it makeable at home?

[47475]

Great thread. I live in Abu Dhabi and with a large Indian, Pakistani and Nepali population here, I am spoiled as there are tons of great and affordable restaurants serving proper authentic food.

 

I've also just started cooking curries in the past month and am really getting into it. Here are a few of my efforts so far.

 

Aloo Keema

 

Chicken Lahori Karahi

 

Hyderabadi Masala Chicken

 

Chicken Hariyali Curry

 

I'm really getting into and very much look forward to following this thread.

Edited August 29, 2020 by 47475
Tidying up photo links

[Hilux5972]

14 course banquet? Jeepers let’s see. 
 

Chicken Tikka for starters

Butter Chicken and Naan Bread

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that should do me fine! 

[PatB]

I started cooking curries because, when I moved to Perth in 1996, Indian restaurants and takeaways were relatively rare here, although there are more now. Whilst I've taken recipes from a variety of sources, and developed a few of my own, I've got one particular book which has been my go-to for well over 20 years (now thoroughly stained and falling to bits), which contains recipes tailored to the European palate, which suit MrsB and I quite well.

 

One issue we have with red meat curries is that sheep meat is stupidly expensive here, especially considering how universal sheep are, and how frequently we're told that prices at the farm gate are at record lows. A few years ago it was possible to obtain mutton at sensible prices but it seems to have disappeared now. Everything's lamb and needs a second mortgage to pay for it. Kangaroo works pretty well though, at least in some recipes. Otherwise it's beef/steak all the way.

 

Another adjustment we've had to make is to accommodate MrsB's lack of heat tolerance. Since losing her thyroid to cancer 20 years ago, she has difficulty coping with any degree of chilli heat. Oddly, she's OK with black pepper heat, but isn't keen on the flavour. So what I tend to do is use mild but flavoursome fresh or minced chilli in the main dish, and sprinkle chopped hot chillis onto my own portion. Keeping the chilli levels low doesn't prevent us from having Madras/Vindaloo/etc as, although commonly used to denote heat, the names really indicate a particular mix of spices and flavours, most of which are available without adding excessive chilli.

 

I'll try most things, but I do apply a couple of general rules. First is fresh (or pickled) chilli rather than powder. It does make a difference to the flavour. Second is working from individual spices rather than  generic "curry powder" or "garam masala".

 

Something I've found about commercial curry houses is that the quality is often very dependent on the individual chef. I've known several places go from superb to awful due to a staff change.

[iL Dottore]

9 hours ago, melmerby said:

I never use curry powder. I don't even have any.

It's always made with individual spices. I grind cumin & coriander from whole spices.

I've a complete double kitchen cupboard full of ingredients, I've got about a dozen different types of lentils and several different types of chick peas....

Although I do tend to make my own spice mixtures for the dishes I make, “curry powder“ is actually a useful ingredient in certain - authentic - curries. Back when I would be travelling all over Asia for work, and sometimes adding a week or two of holiday to the trip, I would take various local cooking classes (usually offered at a hotel). All very good, all very (mostly?) authentic. But to my surprise, I found that in Malaysia there are couple of local recipes that use something called (and labelled)  “curry powder for meat”, a few bags of which found their way into my luggage..... Also, authentic “Singapore Noodle” uses a curry powder and Japanese curries use a curry paste. Needless to say, such things live in my cupboards.

I do have a fairly comprehensive and extensive larder of dry goods. I can count seven different types of rice, six different types of lentil but only one type of chickpeas. Unfortunately, my stocks of lentils are rarely drawn upon as Mrs iD rarely eats lentil (Bad childhood experiences, I’m afraid. Her mother was an appalling cook and what her mother did to lentils is too painful - and horrifying - to recount). Having said that, a dhal and roti for breakfast became a firm favourite of hers whenever we holidayed in Malaysia.
Although I am a serious “Gastronaut” and a fairly decent cook, I have yet to find the perfect Beef Rendang and Lamb Byriani recipes, two of my favourite Asian dishes.

Finally, if I may be a little contentious, I’d like to say that “chicken thighs are better than chicken breasts in most curries - discuss” 

iD

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Finally, if I may be a little contentious, I’d like to say that “chicken thighs are better than chicken breasts in most curries - discuss” 

 

 

I don't think that is contentious at all. The thigh meat has more flavour. People who only eat chicken breast are missing out.

 

Even more true of turkey.

[adb968008]

5 hours ago, PatB said:

Kangaroo works pretty well though, at least in some recipes.

Hidden in that was a gem !

 

Kangaroo curry...

 

ok anyone beat that ?

ive done turkey curry before, was fine.

got to admit I prefer chicken thighs on the BBQ to breasts.

Edited August 30, 2020 by adb968008

[APOLLO]

13 hours ago, Tony Davis said:

A Thai "Cafe" has opened up near us, and I went in with a card that explains, in Thai, that I am Vegan and can they cook something without blah blah. "Annie" looked at it and said "Yes, no problem" and after a little while I was presented with what she called "Yellow Curry". It was delicious, but I wondered if it was a real Thai dish and, if so, is it makeable at home?

 

Yes Yellow curry is a recognised Thai dish,

 

 

Thai curry is sold as a paste, never powder. We have two thai food shops here in Wigan which sell all sorts of goodies. If you have a more common Chinese food shop / supermarket near they usually stock Thai curry pastes, made in Thailand so the real McCoy.

 

This one is nice if you can find it.

 

 

And this brand is the Wife's favourite, Nittaya, in a large sachet bag

 

 

Try to avoid UK produced stuff in jars sold in supermarkets - usually OK (ish) but can't hold a candle to the genuine stuff.

 

Oh, if you like the Chinese Chippy type of curry (I do with chips occasionally) you can usually get this in tubs at Chinese supermarkets, mild and hot. We mix the two 50/50, add pork & onions etc.

 

 

Brit15