Curry

[Roland Deschain]

OMFSM. How did I miss this thread? Curry is a gift from His Noodliness; it goes with so many different meals. I was talking to an Indian guy online (random chat site¹) and I happened to tell him that I love Indian food. He then started going through all these different types of curry, such as Bhuna, Dopiaza, etc., and asking if i'd tried them. I was just saying "Yes, i've had that one", and even supplied a few more. He then asked me if there was one i'd not tried. If there is, then this needs to be remedied immediately.


As for curried noodles, nothing that has curry in could possibly kill you. Singapore-style fried rice vermicilli noodles are lush. I've even had spaghetti with curry, and can thoroughly recommend that to you, DB. Maybe a scientific expedition could be sent to India to sample these dishes as they are traditionally cooked and then report back about it. I would be more than willing to give months of my time to do this. For a small grant, of course.


¹ No, not that type of site.

[Roy Hunter]

I am just back from Mother India in Glasgow. What a curry! It was amazing!

We had smoked aubergine and potato samosas, and vegetable pakora, for starters. The pakora was once-fried: usually pakora is pre-fried and then heated up by being fried again. Not so this stuff, it was fresh and fried once. I make my own, I know the difference.

The aubergine in the samosa was very lightly smoked, just enough to add a subtle overtone to the whole thing. They were served garnished with lemon wedges, spinach leaves and rhubarb, which sounds stupid but tasted and looked gorgeous.

I had Dheli-style lamb, which is very slow cooked lamb with roasted peppers, onions and tomatoes. Very rich, but with surprisingly subtle flavours in the meat, and the occasional taste bomb of garlic, chilli or tamarind.

Mrs. H. had chilli garlic chicken, which had a pleasant chilli kick to it that you don't often find in restaurant food: it's either bland and safe; or homicidally hot. This was just about perfect, with heat that did not overpower the other flavours.

The boy had chicken tikka chasni, barbequeued chicken with a sweet sauce. It was sweetened with coconut and limes as far as we can make out: they refused to elaborate on the recipe. The boy a bit of a wuss about curry, but he was happy with that.

We took our own wine, a Doctor L. Riesling from the Mosel Valley, which complemented the food perfectly. They charge less than £2 for corkage, and they take an interest in what wines people bring so that they can update their own wine list.

Mothe India rocks. Thank you for reading. That is all.

[Ham Nox]

Hmm. Perhaps I need to increase my horizons a bit more. I order the same thing--chicken tandori and buttered naan--every time I go to an Indian restaurant.

I'm hesitant to try curry. I don't have a very high tolerance for spicy...

[DavidH]

There are loads of tasty, non-spicy curries, Ham. I don't know if the Indian restaurants do the same types as ours, but if you can find lamb Pasanda give it a go. Sweet and smooth with coconut. Korma is also good.

[daftbeaker]

Hmm. Perhaps I need to increase my horizons a bit more. I order the same thing--chicken tandori and buttered naan--every time I go to an Indian restaurant.

I'm hesitant to try curry. I don't have a very high tolerance for spicy...

I promise not to cook you a curry

Last time I made a curry for my family, I deliberately toned it down and they still complained it was too hot

Other nice mild dishes are tikka massala and korma, both fairly mild but still plenty of flavour.

[Roy Hunter]

Ham, if you're not too good with chillies, get your curry with a side of natural yoghurt. Capsaicin, the stuff that makes chilles hot, is soluble in fat but not in water, so yoghurt will take away the sting where water or beer will not. If the restaurant will not give you a side order of yoghurt, you're probably in the wrong restaurant.

[DavidH]

What Roy said about yoghurt. Mrs H and I put a dollop on our plates.

And you could try Dopiaza, which is savoury with lots of onions, but not hot.

[Roland Deschain]

I love that cooling pot of sauce you get with a curry from a proper Curry House. You could also try a Bhuna. That's not hot either. There are a surprising number of very mild to weak (in the spiciness scale) curries. Your best bet is to ask the waiter what would suit your specific tastes, and he/she (or she/he) will be able to advise you on what to try to broaden your horizons.

DB, you should not wimp out and lessen the burn of your curries, just because your family are not too fond of them hot. This is in fact a challenge to increase it!

[bacon]

I just ate some curry. Are you proud of me, DB?

[DavidH]

I think you did OK! What type of curry was it?

[bacon]

Oh David, I'm sorry I missed your post. And I don't remember what type of curry I had, but I'm sure it was delish.

I did make a curry last night though, and it had bacon in it. Very yummy! Thought of DB the entire time I was cooking it!

[Cardinal Fang]

If you want to cook a seriously good curry, do it in a slow cooker. I put it in before I go to work and it's done when I come home. Cooking it long and slow means the spices mellow and mature.

Cook the meat or onions first or just bodge all the ingredients in together and let them get on with it?

My dad has a slow cooker, I may commandeer it over the summer

A lot of recipes reckon you should brown first, but I don't see the need. Bung everything in together and give it a stir! Let's face it if you're cooking it slow for 8 hours, the difference is minimal anyway! Plus if you chuck it all in together, you can do your prep the night before, cover the inner cook pot in clingfilm then in the morning just put it in the cooker and press go - then you don't have to get up earlier!!! I do recommend taking the time to make your own spice mix, but if you're going to use a paste, I recommend Patak's. If you want a treat, I can also recommend mail order spice mixes from Rafi's Spicebox in York (http://www.spicebox.co.uk/).

CF

[AUSloth]

I and my partner in all things are both curry fiends and there is no problem involving his noodlyness in curry dishes. As far as I know curry is not strictly Indian anyway, it's all through Asia, Japan, the Orient even the middle east (or the middle west as we like to call it from AUS) with your massamans etc and recipes regularly call for the higher forms of grain/legume presentation (ie made into noodles).

Slow cooking in an "all in one hit" is definitely a good method if you want to save labour but try cooking the day before (or the weekend) storing overnight then gently bringing up to temp and serve. It makes for a huge difference in flavour.

The other point about searing or browning things may not be so important for meats ( although there is a flavour difference) but its really important with the spices. We often make the paste's from scratch and preping the spices in small pan then grinding can leave me a drooling mess on the floor just from the aromas. picture Homer Simpson dreaming about donuts and you'll be close.

[Roy Hunter]

Glasgow wins title of Curry Capital of Britain.

Members of the public were asked to vote for their favourite Indian restaurant and of the 66 Glasgow restaurants to receive a nomination, Balbir's, KoolBa, Mister Singh's India and Mother India Café secured the most.

I've been to Balbir's (that's the one where you can talk to the waiter about what kind of food you like and they choose it for you, rather than having to use the menu); I used to live right next door to Mister Singh's India, so I've been there loads of times; I raved about Mother India earlier on in this thread; and for Mrs. H.'s birthday I think we're going to go to KoolBa. She doesn't know this yet, but I think we are.

[Arkaeon]

Great, now after reading this, I not only have to do a curry-like dish today, but I also have to watch a couple reruns of Red Dwarf!