I'm going out for a curry

[jonesthecurl]

OK folks, I've been abit busy, but sometime in the next day or two I'll post some major information.

[jonesthecurl]

Well, it took longer than I thought to get round to this, end of term is a busy time.

Anyhoo, there's a fairly open secret about Indian restaurants.
It's not true of them all, especially the most expensive, innovative, or authentic.
But in about 95% of UK Indians, and every one I've been in so far in the US it is.
The bigger the menu the more you can be sure that this is true:

Out there in the kitchen is a big vat of bubbling goo. It smells good, it's made fresh every day (it's the first thing the staff do when they arrive) and it's the basis of most of the dishes that the restaurant serves. A large batch of lamb and chicken is cooked up, and depending on what you order, extra spices or other ingredients wil be added to the base along with the protein. If fish is involved, it may not be pre-cooked, if prawn/shrimp is involved, it may even be bought pre-cooked.

Those who are not used to spicy food will find the base interesting enough in itslef. I'll tell you about the way to turn it into different standard dishes later.

Meanwhile I suggest you make a big batch, and then freeze it in portions of about 3 cups size which will provide the sauce for a dish for 4.

Here's the way I make my bubbly goo- each restaurant has their own version, some very different from this.
INcidentally the restaurant will probably call this a "Masala gravy". It won't matter too much if you can't get all the spices or if you substitute here and there.


"Goo for curries" recipe.

First, grind (or buy ready ground)
1 ounce each of coriander seed, and cumin seed,and fenugreek seed.
and mix them with an ounce each of paprika, turmeric and garlic powder,
a teaspoon each of chili powder, ground cinnamon and powdered ginger, a tablespoon of dried mint, two finely-chopped bay leaves and a generous helping of fresh-ground black pepper.

Add a littel peanut, sunflower, or canola/rape oil to make a paste, and fry for about a minute.

Now make or buy 4 ounces of ghee and heat it high, though you shouldn't burn it.
(If you have a wok, that's the ideal vessel for cooking this up)
Finely chop two whole bulbs of garlic (removing the "paper" and stalk first) and add it to the hot ghee.
Gently stir it for around a minute, until the garlic glistens. Then turn the heat right down.
Add about 2 ounces of ginger, very finely chopped, and about 2 pounds of big yellow onions, peeled and very finely chopped.
Stir this lot from time to time for about ten minutes, the whole lot should caramelise and be faintly brown.
Add the paste you just fried and about 20 fluid ounces of water. Stir well.
The goo should have the consisitency of a very thick soup, like say lentil soup, or say like a thin porridge.
If it is lumpy, blend it in a blender of with a hand-held.

You're done! Pot it, freeze it, store it.

[PLAYER57832]

Sounds wonderful! Cannot wait to give it a try!

[jonesthecurl]

I can't find my notes right now on how to turn the Masala Gravy into the right sauce for various dishes.

The basic principle is add chilies and other spices until it's hot enough.

The only recipe I could find was for Phall, which I cannot recommend, it includes mainly 6 red and 6 green chilies, including seeds.

[PLAYER57832]

I can't find my notes right now on how to turn the Masala Gravy into the right sauce for various dishes.

The basic principle is add chilies and other spices until it's hot enough.

The only recipe I could find was for Phall, which I cannot recommend, it includes mainly 6 red and 6 green chilies, including seeds.

I can tolerate a fair amount of spice, but the rest of my family is very light-weight, so "as is" is probably spicey enough for us... lol (though I may make a separate version for me)

[jonesthecurl]

When I have a dinner party featuring curry, I often put out two chutneys, one to cool down (basically a raita, with yoghurt) and one to warm up (lots of chili. coriander leaves (cilantro), vinegar.

[PLAYER57832]

When I have a dinner party featuring curry, I often put out two chutneys, one to cool down (basically a raita, with yoghurt) and one to warm up (lots of chili. coriander leaves (cilantro), vinegar.

good idea, I will try that!

[DAZMCFC]

Traditionally, British "Indian" restaurants (actually very often Bangla-Deshi) had a standard menu in which the spice heat would be arbitrarily measured by a regional nomenclature only vaguely related to reality - so that "Vindaloo" would be really hot, "Madras" would be pretty hot etc. Many macho lager-drinkers would actually challenge each other to eat hotter and hotter curries, leading to the invention of the ludicrously-named "Tindaloo". Eating curry became sometimes a macho competition rather than a pleasant experience.

actually Curl there is a curry that is rated hotter than a Tindaloo. it's called a Thal/Phal/Fal (depending on the curry house). far too hot for my liking, but a lad in work can polish it off.

here is your curry, phall, very spicey indeed.

[AAFitz]

bastard...almost made me have to go out for curry......

the mrs saw your post and you sparked the idea

[jonesthecurl]

Traditionally, British "Indian" restaurants (actually very often Bangla-Deshi) had a standard menu in which the spice heat would be arbitrarily measured by a regional nomenclature only vaguely related to reality - so that "Vindaloo" would be really hot, "Madras" would be pretty hot etc. Many macho lager-drinkers would actually challenge each other to eat hotter and hotter curries, leading to the invention of the ludicrously-named "Tindaloo". Eating curry became sometimes a macho competition rather than a pleasant experience.

actually Curl there is a curry that is rated hotter than a Tindaloo. it's called a Thal/Phal/Fal (depending on the curry house). far too hot for my liking, but a lad in work can polish it off.

here is your curry, phall, very spicey indeed.

Actually, I do have the method for turning the masala gravy into a phal sauce, I wn't have time to post it for a coupla weeks.
Personally I'll never eat a phall - the point, for me , at which food is too spicy, is when I can only taste the spice, and have no idea what the food is underneath. Phall is way past that.

[sam_levi_11]

Traditionally, British "Indian" restaurants (actually very often Bangla-Deshi) had a standard menu in which the spice heat would be arbitrarily measured by a regional nomenclature only vaguely related to reality - so that "Vindaloo" would be really hot, "Madras" would be pretty hot etc. Many macho lager-drinkers would actually challenge each other to eat hotter and hotter curries, leading to the invention of the ludicrously-named "Tindaloo". Eating curry became sometimes a macho competition rather than a pleasant experience.

actually Curl there is a curry that is rated hotter than a Tindaloo. it's called a Thal/Phal/Fal (depending on the curry house). far too hot for my liking, but a lad in work can polish it off.

here is your curry, phall, very spicey indeed.

Actually, I do have the method for turning the masala gravy into a phal sauce, I wn't have time to post it for a coupla weeks.
Personally I'll never eat a phall - the point, for me , at which food is too spicy, is when I can only taste the spice, and have no idea what the food is underneath. Phall is way past that.

Same, anything over vindaloo, or some vindaloo's depending on how it is done, is just my point at which is just say "You have won.. If you can call having your tongue die winning"

[2dimes]

So, do people want more recipes?

Sure, shouldn't this thread be stickied?

[notyou2]

mmmm curry

[BigBallinStalin]

If you want a food history thread, that's ok - but it is a separate question.
The cuisine (and more) of the whole world has been altered by the "discovery" of the Americas.
No Americas, no turkey, no cocaine, no tomato, no chili, no chocolate, no marijuana, no tobacco, no corn, no potato, (feel free to join in, folks)...about half of the world's basic foodstuffs came from the "New World".

HASHISH IN ISLAM 9TH TO 18TH CENTURY
rbedrosian.com/Downloads/Hashish_Islam_9-18th.pdf

Cannabis has been used in India and Iran since 1000 BC.

It's not even explicitly forbidden by the Koran.

[notyou2]

Those sneaky assassins (hashashins).

[xeno]

He's so spicy! He lit me up yesterday in 2k while I was using my hornets.

[Haggis_McMutton]

This thread persuaded me to get a curry.

It was pretty good.