Your home-made Curry Recipes
Discussion
I got into making curries at home when I moved to a country that doesn't have good curry houses... I've gone from cookbooks to just throwing specific ingredients into the pot in a deliberate order. It seems curry making is really popular and there are lots of great curries being replicate and invented.
I lurk on the curry-recipes.co.uk forum but would love to see what curries PHers tend to make.
Post your recipe below ...I'll go first:
I lurk on the curry-recipes.co.uk forum but would love to see what curries PHers tend to make.
Post your recipe below ...I'll go first:
Edited by Potatoes on Monday 25th April 10:08
I've been making a version of this for a few months:
PARSI METHI MURGH
1Kg of chicken/lamb/beef/paneer (this recipe is chicken)
Ingredients
Marinade:
2 tbs of garlic & ginger paste (I find this much easier to cook with than fresh)
2-3 tbs of greek (strained) natural yoghurt
2-3 ts of Kashmiri chilli powder (or even mix of red chilli powder (spice) and mild paprika(colour))
½ ts of turmeric
½ ts of ground cumin
½ ts of ground coriander seeds
3-4 tbs of vegetable oil
Curry:
3-4 tbs of veg oil/ghee (ideally ghee although it’s not very good for you!)
Stick cinnamon
2-3 black cardamoms
2-3 curry leaves (optional – gives it a smokey, earthy “curry” flavour)
5-7 cloves
- - -
2 tbs of garlic & ginger paste
3 small onions (finely chopped/grated)
- - -
2ts ground coriander seeds
1ts cumin seeds
.5ts of black mustard seeds
.5ts of sesame seeds
.25ts of poppy seeds
(all of the above should be dry fried and then ground)
½ ts turmeric
3ts Kashmiri chilli powder (or even mix of red chilli powder and mild paprika)
½ ts dhasnak masala (also known as parsi garam masala)
- - -
500-600ml water in chicken (or relevant) stock)
4-5 skinned and chopped tomatoes
1 tbs tomato puree
- - -
3-4 ground cashew nuts
2 tbs dried methi (fenugreek) leaves)
More salt than is good for you
Instructions:
Marinate the chicken in the morning and leave it in the fridge
- Grab a beer-
Put oil and ghee into pan, heat medium
When hot, throw in full spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, leaves) and stir fry
Reduce heat and add the garlic/ginger paste (this may spit a little) and stir fry
When the smell of raw garlic has gone and is replaced by a sweet smell of cooked ginger add the onions
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-45 minutes
- Grab a beer –
When the onions no longer look, smell or taste of onions and have absolutely no crunch, turn heat to medium-low
Throw in the ground spices (coriander, cumin, sesame, mustard and poppy seeds) and the turmeric, chili & dhansak masala, stir fry until the mixture makes you cough
Add water/stock, throw in chopped tomatoes, cover and boil for about at least an hour (the longer, the better)
Fry the marinate chicken at high heat for 2-3 minutes to seal (and slightly burn) the chicken. Take out and let cool to room temperature (you’re not cooking it through at this point, we’ll poach it later)
(If you were cooking with lamb, you’d throw it in at this stage and slow cook it)
- Grab a beer –
By this stage, you’ll probably be feeling a little tipsy and very hungry – we’re nearly there
Grind some cashew nuts and throw into the mix with the dried methi and (a lot of) salt.
Remove lid and start to boil of water – I often add a bit (TBH, I add a lot) more oil/ghee at this stage
Throw chicken in and stick rice on (basmati in water with cloves, green cardamoms
Grab a beer and eat the s
t out of it!
PARSI METHI MURGH
1Kg of chicken/lamb/beef/paneer (this recipe is chicken)
Ingredients
Marinade:
2 tbs of garlic & ginger paste (I find this much easier to cook with than fresh)
2-3 tbs of greek (strained) natural yoghurt
2-3 ts of Kashmiri chilli powder (or even mix of red chilli powder (spice) and mild paprika(colour))
½ ts of turmeric
½ ts of ground cumin
½ ts of ground coriander seeds
3-4 tbs of vegetable oil
Curry:
3-4 tbs of veg oil/ghee (ideally ghee although it’s not very good for you!)
Stick cinnamon
2-3 black cardamoms
2-3 curry leaves (optional – gives it a smokey, earthy “curry” flavour)
5-7 cloves
- - -
2 tbs of garlic & ginger paste
3 small onions (finely chopped/grated)
- - -
2ts ground coriander seeds
1ts cumin seeds
.5ts of black mustard seeds
.5ts of sesame seeds
.25ts of poppy seeds
(all of the above should be dry fried and then ground)
½ ts turmeric
3ts Kashmiri chilli powder (or even mix of red chilli powder and mild paprika)
½ ts dhasnak masala (also known as parsi garam masala)
- - -
500-600ml water in chicken (or relevant) stock)
4-5 skinned and chopped tomatoes
1 tbs tomato puree
- - -
3-4 ground cashew nuts
2 tbs dried methi (fenugreek) leaves)
More salt than is good for you
Instructions:
Marinate the chicken in the morning and leave it in the fridge
- Grab a beer-
Put oil and ghee into pan, heat medium
When hot, throw in full spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, leaves) and stir fry
Reduce heat and add the garlic/ginger paste (this may spit a little) and stir fry
When the smell of raw garlic has gone and is replaced by a sweet smell of cooked ginger add the onions
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-45 minutes
- Grab a beer –
When the onions no longer look, smell or taste of onions and have absolutely no crunch, turn heat to medium-low
Throw in the ground spices (coriander, cumin, sesame, mustard and poppy seeds) and the turmeric, chili & dhansak masala, stir fry until the mixture makes you cough
Add water/stock, throw in chopped tomatoes, cover and boil for about at least an hour (the longer, the better)
Fry the marinate chicken at high heat for 2-3 minutes to seal (and slightly burn) the chicken. Take out and let cool to room temperature (you’re not cooking it through at this point, we’ll poach it later)
(If you were cooking with lamb, you’d throw it in at this stage and slow cook it)
- Grab a beer –
By this stage, you’ll probably be feeling a little tipsy and very hungry – we’re nearly there
Grind some cashew nuts and throw into the mix with the dried methi and (a lot of) salt.
Remove lid and start to boil of water – I often add a bit (TBH, I add a lot) more oil/ghee at this stage
Throw chicken in and stick rice on (basmati in water with cloves, green cardamoms
Grab a beer and eat the s
t out of it!Edited by Potatoes on Wednesday 20th April 21:46
Edited by Potatoes on Wednesday 20th April 22:09
DoubleSix said:
I'm off to an indian spice wholesaler today...
Can anyone give some pointers as to essentials I should pick up that won't easily be found in the local supermarket?
Thanks!
If you can find any of these then stock up:Can anyone give some pointers as to essentials I should pick up that won't easily be found in the local supermarket?
Thanks!
Kashmiri Chili Powder
Black Cardamom Pods
Dhansak/Parsi Masala (I always have to make my own as I can't find it anywhere)
Black Mustard Seeds
Methi/Fenugreek Seeds
Sesame Seeds
Nigella Seeds
Methi/Fenugreek Leaves
Curry Leaves
Ghee
Garlic & Ginger Paste
Gram Flower
Not a comprehensive list but these are some of the things I struggle to find in my local supermarket.
That looks like a nice curry Euan!
Here's my effort from tonight. It's basically a butter chicken but I'm going through an infatuation with Parsi curry at the moment so I swapped a few "English take-away" Butter Chicken ingredients for some Parsi ones and this was the result. Great for folks who like curry, but don't like it too spicy. Inspired by 6th Gear's recipe I included some pics of the process, hope you enjoy:
PARSI BUTTER CHICKEN
Ingredients
Marinade (picture 1 & 2):
½ cup of Greek or strained yoghurt
1tbs garlic paste
1tbs dried methi leaves
2ts Kashmiri chilli powder
.5ts pepper
.5ts salt
.5ts dhansak masala
Sauce (picture 3 & 4):
1 stick of cinnamon
6 green cardamom pods
6 cloves
3tbs garlic & ginger paste
1 small onion
1kg of tomatoes (10 tomatoes of the variety in the picture below)
500ml water and chicken stock
2 small chilli (add more to taste)
- - -
1-3 ts Kashmiri chilli powder
1ts of dhansak masala (or .5ts of garam masala & .5ts of .5ts of tandoori masala)
2 black cardamoms
7-8 cashew nuts
1tbs dried methi leaves
2ts salt
1tbs honey
75gs-100gs of clarified butter/ghee
¼ cup of double cream
Instructions:
Marinate the chicken in the morning and leave in the fridge
- Grab a beer –
Fry whole spices (cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves)in 2tbs of ghee for 2-3 minutes at a high heat (picture 5)
Reduce heat and add garlic & ginger paste, cook for 3-5 minutes or until the smell of raw garlic disappears
Add finely chopped onion and cook for 30 minutes until the onions are completely soft and browned
(picture 6)
Throw tomatoes in whole and fry, continually stirring for 3-4 minutes
Add water and stock, put the lid on and boil for around an hour or until the tomatoes go completely soft-stir occasionally to disturb and loosen the tomato skin. (picture 7)
- Grab a beer –
With 10 minutes to go throw in the copped chillies
While you wait, stick the chashew nuts in some water and let them soak
When the tomatoes have broken down, take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool completely (picture 8)
During this time, grill the marinated chicken for 5 minutes to seal only as we’ll cook it thoroughly in the sauce later (you can of course BBQ or shallow fry as an alternative). Allow the chicken to cool to room temperature.
Dry fry the methi leaves for 3 minutes and dry and the chashew nuts, grind both into a powder/paste and set aside for a little later
By this stage the sauce mixture should be cool.
Pull as much skin off the tomatoes as possible and remove as many of the whole spices from the pot.
Blend the remaining ingredients in the mix until they turn to liquid (picture 9)
Sieve the mixture to remove the remainder of the seeds/skin/whole spices and bring the tomato sauce back to the boil… we’re getting there! (picture 10 & 11)
- Grab a beer –
Bring the liquid mixture back to the boil, add the black cardamoms and the Kashmiri chili powder and masala powders.
Throw in the methi, salt, cashew nuts, honey and butter (add more salt and butter if you wish
…I do!) (picture 12)
Boil away some of the water for about 30-45 minutes (until you get to a creamy texture).
Put chicken in and boil rice (picture 13)
As you serve, drizzle some double cream onto the curry
Grab a beer and eat the st out of it!!
The Marinade (I ran out of yoghurt so the marinade you make will look a lot better than this!):
Picture 1:
Picture 2:
The Sauce:
Picture 3:
Picture 4:
The Process:
Picture 5; frying the whole spices:
Picture 6; frying the onion:
Picture 7; boiling the sauce mix:
Picture 8; the sauce mix cooling:
Picture 9; blend the sauce mix:
Picture 10 & 11; sieve the sauce mix and remove the remaining solids:
Picture 12: sauce mix complete!:
Picture 13: rice on, chicken in sauce; the home stretch:
Here's my effort from tonight. It's basically a butter chicken but I'm going through an infatuation with Parsi curry at the moment so I swapped a few "English take-away" Butter Chicken ingredients for some Parsi ones and this was the result. Great for folks who like curry, but don't like it too spicy. Inspired by 6th Gear's recipe I included some pics of the process, hope you enjoy:
PARSI BUTTER CHICKEN
Ingredients
Marinade (picture 1 & 2):
½ cup of Greek or strained yoghurt
1tbs garlic paste
1tbs dried methi leaves
2ts Kashmiri chilli powder
.5ts pepper
.5ts salt
.5ts dhansak masala
Sauce (picture 3 & 4):
1 stick of cinnamon
6 green cardamom pods
6 cloves
3tbs garlic & ginger paste
1 small onion
1kg of tomatoes (10 tomatoes of the variety in the picture below)
500ml water and chicken stock
2 small chilli (add more to taste)
- - -
1-3 ts Kashmiri chilli powder
1ts of dhansak masala (or .5ts of garam masala & .5ts of .5ts of tandoori masala)
2 black cardamoms
7-8 cashew nuts
1tbs dried methi leaves
2ts salt
1tbs honey
75gs-100gs of clarified butter/ghee
¼ cup of double cream
Instructions:
Marinate the chicken in the morning and leave in the fridge
- Grab a beer –
Fry whole spices (cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves)in 2tbs of ghee for 2-3 minutes at a high heat (picture 5)
Reduce heat and add garlic & ginger paste, cook for 3-5 minutes or until the smell of raw garlic disappears
Add finely chopped onion and cook for 30 minutes until the onions are completely soft and browned
(picture 6)
Throw tomatoes in whole and fry, continually stirring for 3-4 minutes
Add water and stock, put the lid on and boil for around an hour or until the tomatoes go completely soft-stir occasionally to disturb and loosen the tomato skin. (picture 7)
- Grab a beer –
With 10 minutes to go throw in the copped chillies
While you wait, stick the chashew nuts in some water and let them soak
When the tomatoes have broken down, take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool completely (picture 8)
During this time, grill the marinated chicken for 5 minutes to seal only as we’ll cook it thoroughly in the sauce later (you can of course BBQ or shallow fry as an alternative). Allow the chicken to cool to room temperature.
Dry fry the methi leaves for 3 minutes and dry and the chashew nuts, grind both into a powder/paste and set aside for a little later
By this stage the sauce mixture should be cool.
Pull as much skin off the tomatoes as possible and remove as many of the whole spices from the pot.
Blend the remaining ingredients in the mix until they turn to liquid (picture 9)
Sieve the mixture to remove the remainder of the seeds/skin/whole spices and bring the tomato sauce back to the boil… we’re getting there! (picture 10 & 11)
- Grab a beer –
Bring the liquid mixture back to the boil, add the black cardamoms and the Kashmiri chili powder and masala powders.
Throw in the methi, salt, cashew nuts, honey and butter (add more salt and butter if you wish
…I do!) (picture 12)Boil away some of the water for about 30-45 minutes (until you get to a creamy texture).
Put chicken in and boil rice (picture 13)
As you serve, drizzle some double cream onto the curry
Grab a beer and eat the s
t out of it!!The Marinade (I ran out of yoghurt so the marinade you make will look a lot better than this!):
Picture 1:
Picture 2:
The Sauce:
Picture 3:
Picture 4:
The Process:
Picture 5; frying the whole spices:
Picture 6; frying the onion:
Picture 7; boiling the sauce mix:
Picture 8; the sauce mix cooling:
Picture 9; blend the sauce mix:
Picture 10 & 11; sieve the sauce mix and remove the remaining solids:
Picture 12: sauce mix complete!:
Picture 13: rice on, chicken in sauce; the home stretch:
Cheers dude!
I have managed to commandeer a large drawer from the kitchen specifically for spices and have individual pots that I pour the spices from the bag they were bought in. The bags live at the back of the drawer, ziplocked and are only opened when the corresponding pot is running low. (I'm sure I could have explained that better... tend to have a few beers when I make a curry)
Only been cooking curries regularly for a year so have a lot to learn
I have managed to commandeer a large drawer from the kitchen specifically for spices and have individual pots that I pour the spices from the bag they were bought in. The bags live at the back of the drawer, ziplocked and are only opened when the corresponding pot is running low. (I'm sure I could have explained that better... tend to have a few beers when I make a curry)
Only been cooking curries regularly for a year so have a lot to learn
Edited by Potatoes on Monday 25th April 21:39
I couldn't think of a good name for this one, I originally made it for vegetarian friends using paneer that I'd marinated in the tikka sauce you'll find in my first recipe on this thread, the one below uses seasoned chicken.
This is great for folks who don't like it too spicy...
NUT CHICKEN
Serves 6
1kg chicken
Marinade
3 tbs garlic and ginger paste
Sauce
100g onion (1 small onion)
50g veg oil/ghee
100g greek yoghurt
2 bay leaves
8 green cardamom pods
1 black cardamom pod
8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbs garlic and ginger paste
100g tomato puree
1-3tbs kashmiri chilli powder
1tbs ground cumin
1tbs ground coriander
100ml of water in stock
4 medium tomatoes (blended)
50g cashew nut (blended into a paste with a splash of water)
250ml single cream
Pinch of safron, soaking in milk for a few hours
Garnish
mix the following into a small bowl with a spoon (I tend to pile this onto my curry, yesterday the below provided 2 servings!!)
15 cashew nuts, crushed into a rough powder
15 almonds crushed into a rough powder
20 pistachio nut finely chopped and sauted in ghee
Fry onion in oil until golden brown (around 30 minutes)
Strain fried onions, leaving oil in pan to be used later and put onions to 1 side to cool
Marinate chicken in paste and place into fridge
Add cooled onion and greek yoghurt to blender and blend into paste, cover place in fridge
- Get on with your day -
- Grab a beer -
I usually prepare the garnish at this stage to get it out of the way
Then, re-heat oil in pan to a medium-low heat
Throw in whole spices (bay leaves, cardamom, cloves & cinnamon sticks)
After 1-2 minutes add the garlic and ginger paste and fry until the smell of raw garlic dissapears
Add the tomato puree, stir furiously for 2 minutes to mix well
Throw in the chilli, cumin and coriander powder and a few tablespoons of water, continue to stir for 4-5 minutes
Add the water and stock, stir then add the tomatoes.
Place lid on pan and bring to a slow boil and leave for up to an hour
- Grab a beer -
Place marinated chicken in grill and seal, remove and put to 1 ide
Add the onion/yoghurt paste to the mix followed by the cashew nut paste and the cream
Mix and taste and add some salt if necessary (don’t go crazy as the garnish is naturally salty)
Stick the rice on if you’re having it (this is very nice simply with naan bread)
Throw in the safron and milk
Add the chicken for the last 2-3 minutes to poach
- Grab a beer, serve with the garnish and eat the hell out of it -
This is great for folks who don't like it too spicy...
NUT CHICKEN
Serves 6
1kg chicken
Marinade
3 tbs garlic and ginger paste
Sauce
100g onion (1 small onion)
50g veg oil/ghee
100g greek yoghurt
2 bay leaves
8 green cardamom pods
1 black cardamom pod
8 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbs garlic and ginger paste
100g tomato puree
1-3tbs kashmiri chilli powder
1tbs ground cumin
1tbs ground coriander
100ml of water in stock
4 medium tomatoes (blended)
50g cashew nut (blended into a paste with a splash of water)
250ml single cream
Pinch of safron, soaking in milk for a few hours
Garnish
mix the following into a small bowl with a spoon (I tend to pile this onto my curry, yesterday the below provided 2 servings!!)
15 cashew nuts, crushed into a rough powder
15 almonds crushed into a rough powder
20 pistachio nut finely chopped and sauted in ghee
Fry onion in oil until golden brown (around 30 minutes)
Strain fried onions, leaving oil in pan to be used later and put onions to 1 side to cool
Marinate chicken in paste and place into fridge
Add cooled onion and greek yoghurt to blender and blend into paste, cover place in fridge
- Get on with your day -
- Grab a beer -
I usually prepare the garnish at this stage to get it out of the way
Then, re-heat oil in pan to a medium-low heat
Throw in whole spices (bay leaves, cardamom, cloves & cinnamon sticks)
After 1-2 minutes add the garlic and ginger paste and fry until the smell of raw garlic dissapears
Add the tomato puree, stir furiously for 2 minutes to mix well
Throw in the chilli, cumin and coriander powder and a few tablespoons of water, continue to stir for 4-5 minutes
Add the water and stock, stir then add the tomatoes.
Place lid on pan and bring to a slow boil and leave for up to an hour
- Grab a beer -
Place marinated chicken in grill and seal, remove and put to 1 ide
Add the onion/yoghurt paste to the mix followed by the cashew nut paste and the cream
Mix and taste and add some salt if necessary (don’t go crazy as the garnish is naturally salty)
Stick the rice on if you’re having it (this is very nice simply with naan bread)
Throw in the safron and milk
Add the chicken for the last 2-3 minutes to poach
- Grab a beer, serve with the garnish and eat the hell out of it -
So this thread is quickly turning into me just posting my recipes
Maybe I'll change the title to "Potatoes post recipies that contain loads of ingredients, none of which are actually potatoes"
Anyway, moving on from the self-deprecating hilarity and onto the recipes.
This one I've tried to make a load of times in my early curry making days when I didn't know how some ingredients react when under-/over-cooked. Nailed it last night so thought it worthy of posting so you can try it too... this is one of my favourite take-away curries so was always keen to re-create it. I've not strayed too far from the accepted, UK curry house ingredients but as this is a Punjab recipe I removed the generic “Indian” whole spices and replaced with the Parsi Punjab ingredients... I realise that this sentence makes me sound like a know-it-all curry ingredient snob, I'm not; I'm not very knowledgeable yet but I now know what I like and the Parsi spices genuinely taste better with this curry!!
METHI MURGH (Chicken & Fenugreek)
Serves 5-6 persons
Ingredients:
1 kg chicken, washed and cut into medium sized pieces
Marinade:
3tbs garlic & ginger paste
3tbs greek yoghurt
3ts kashmiri chilli powder (or 1.5ts of red chilli powder & 1.5ts of paprika)
0.5ts coriander seed powder
0.5ts cumin powder
0.25ts dhansak/parsi masala
2-3tbs oil
(I use my own recipe for the dhasnak/parsi masala and realised I haven’t shared it… will share in a further update as I need to make some more soon – you can get this in a good India food shop or google it)
Sauce:
1inch stick of cinnamon
1 black cardamom
4-5 cloves
4-5 black pepper corns
75g clarified butter
4tbs oil
4 tbs garlic & ginger paste
3 small onions
3-4ts kashmiri chilli powder (or 1.5ts of red chilli powder & 1.5ts of paprika)
1ts coriander seed powder
0.5ts cumin powder
0.5ts dhasnak/parsi masala
0.25ts turmeric
¼cup greek yogurt
50ml water
2-3 green chillis (I use red as I have an allergic reaction to green chillis)
2 tomatoes
1cup packed fresh methi leaves
1tbs dried methi leaves (optional)
7-8 cashewnuts, soak in warm water and make paste
1.5tbs (unhealthy amount of) salt
Instructions:
Marinate the chopped chicken in the garlic & ginger paste initially, put to the side and fill a bowl with the spice and plop the yoghurt on top. I use a whisk to mix the yoghurt and spices into a paste. Scrape that onto the marinate chicken and mix well. Finally put about 2-3 tablespoons on oil into the mix and mix again. Return to fridge. I usually to this in the morning
- Get on with your day -
- Grab a beer -
Put oil into pan and raise heat to medium, throw in the whole spices (cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and cardamom) and fry in oil, once it starts crackling, lower heat to low/medium and dump in the garlic & ginger paste:
When the smell of raw garlic disappears and is replaced with that lovely sweet smell throw in the finely chopped onions and cook for 30-45 minutes until they’ve completely softened and browned.
Throw in the spice mix (chilli powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric and masala) and mix thoroughly for 2-3 minutes… I wait until it makes me cough then move onto the next stage – don’t do it for too long as you don’t want to burn the spices.
Now add the yoghurt, a tablespoon at a time and mix into the sauce:
Once mixed in add the water, and then throw in the finely chopped chilli
Finally, blitz the tomatoes in a blender and mix them into the sauce, pop the lid on and reduce heat to very low and let the mix simmer for between 30 minutes to… well, as many hours as you like, adding clarified butter as it cooks. (I often come back and roughly blend the mix during this phase as I prefer a the consistency in this curry)
- Grab a beer -
Now it’s time to seal the chicken and get the methi ready.
Soak the methi leaves in salted water for 15 minutes
With the chicken, I seal it in a pre-heated grill for about 3-4 minutes to singe the outside of the chicken so it seals all the juices in:
Then set the chicken aside and let cool:
Heat up a pan, sieve the water from the methi sauté the methi until, or just before it starts to crisp, set aside
Grind the cashews into a paste with a tablespoon of water and add to the methi, throw the salt into and (optional: ) add the tablespoon of dried methi to this mini-mix.
- Grab a beer -
Remove the lid from the sauce, turn the heat back to medium, add the remaining clarified butter and start to let the water boil off.
When it’s reduced to an almost thick gravy (10-20 minutes) but has some water remaining, put on the rice.
Follow-up by adding the mini-mix of methi, cashews and salt and, after 1-2 minutes, throw in the chicken to let that poach:
Serve with a large helping of yoghurt for those who don’t like spicy food and an even larger serving of beer for those that like beer (also nice with a strong red wine)
- Grab a beer and eat the st out of it -
Enjoy
Maybe I'll change the title to "Potatoes post recipies that contain loads of ingredients, none of which are actually potatoes"
Anyway, moving on from the self-deprecating hilarity and onto the recipes.
This one I've tried to make a load of times in my early curry making days when I didn't know how some ingredients react when under-/over-cooked. Nailed it last night so thought it worthy of posting so you can try it too... this is one of my favourite take-away curries so was always keen to re-create it. I've not strayed too far from the accepted, UK curry house ingredients but as this is a Punjab recipe I removed the generic “Indian” whole spices and replaced with the Parsi Punjab ingredients... I realise that this sentence makes me sound like a know-it-all curry ingredient snob, I'm not; I'm not very knowledgeable yet but I now know what I like and the Parsi spices genuinely taste better with this curry!!
METHI MURGH (Chicken & Fenugreek)
Serves 5-6 persons
Ingredients:
1 kg chicken, washed and cut into medium sized pieces
Marinade:
3tbs garlic & ginger paste
3tbs greek yoghurt
3ts kashmiri chilli powder (or 1.5ts of red chilli powder & 1.5ts of paprika)
0.5ts coriander seed powder
0.5ts cumin powder
0.25ts dhansak/parsi masala
2-3tbs oil
(I use my own recipe for the dhasnak/parsi masala and realised I haven’t shared it… will share in a further update as I need to make some more soon – you can get this in a good India food shop or google it)
Sauce:
1inch stick of cinnamon
1 black cardamom
4-5 cloves
4-5 black pepper corns
75g clarified butter
4tbs oil
4 tbs garlic & ginger paste
3 small onions
3-4ts kashmiri chilli powder (or 1.5ts of red chilli powder & 1.5ts of paprika)
1ts coriander seed powder
0.5ts cumin powder
0.5ts dhasnak/parsi masala
0.25ts turmeric
¼cup greek yogurt
50ml water
2-3 green chillis (I use red as I have an allergic reaction to green chillis)
2 tomatoes
1cup packed fresh methi leaves
1tbs dried methi leaves (optional)
7-8 cashewnuts, soak in warm water and make paste
1.5tbs (unhealthy amount of) salt
Instructions:
Marinate the chopped chicken in the garlic & ginger paste initially, put to the side and fill a bowl with the spice and plop the yoghurt on top. I use a whisk to mix the yoghurt and spices into a paste. Scrape that onto the marinate chicken and mix well. Finally put about 2-3 tablespoons on oil into the mix and mix again. Return to fridge. I usually to this in the morning
- Get on with your day -
- Grab a beer -
Put oil into pan and raise heat to medium, throw in the whole spices (cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and cardamom) and fry in oil, once it starts crackling, lower heat to low/medium and dump in the garlic & ginger paste:
When the smell of raw garlic disappears and is replaced with that lovely sweet smell throw in the finely chopped onions and cook for 30-45 minutes until they’ve completely softened and browned.
Throw in the spice mix (chilli powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric and masala) and mix thoroughly for 2-3 minutes… I wait until it makes me cough then move onto the next stage – don’t do it for too long as you don’t want to burn the spices.
Now add the yoghurt, a tablespoon at a time and mix into the sauce:
Once mixed in add the water, and then throw in the finely chopped chilli
Finally, blitz the tomatoes in a blender and mix them into the sauce, pop the lid on and reduce heat to very low and let the mix simmer for between 30 minutes to… well, as many hours as you like, adding clarified butter as it cooks. (I often come back and roughly blend the mix during this phase as I prefer a the consistency in this curry)
- Grab a beer -
Now it’s time to seal the chicken and get the methi ready.
Soak the methi leaves in salted water for 15 minutes
With the chicken, I seal it in a pre-heated grill for about 3-4 minutes to singe the outside of the chicken so it seals all the juices in:
Then set the chicken aside and let cool:
Heat up a pan, sieve the water from the methi sauté the methi until, or just before it starts to crisp, set aside
Grind the cashews into a paste with a tablespoon of water and add to the methi, throw the salt into and (optional: ) add the tablespoon of dried methi to this mini-mix.
- Grab a beer -
Remove the lid from the sauce, turn the heat back to medium, add the remaining clarified butter and start to let the water boil off.
When it’s reduced to an almost thick gravy (10-20 minutes) but has some water remaining, put on the rice.
Follow-up by adding the mini-mix of methi, cashews and salt and, after 1-2 minutes, throw in the chicken to let that poach:
Serve with a large helping of yoghurt for those who don’t like spicy food and an even larger serving of beer for those that like beer (also nice with a strong red wine)
- Grab a beer and eat the s
t out of it -Enjoy
I’m back with another installment of me posting my curry recipe in case anyone wants to give it a go!
I’ve been making lots of various Gujarati curries after getting really into Parsee curries last year. My favourite take-away curry is a Chicken Dhansak which is a Parsee staple that made it over to UK take-aways. I’ve never mastered making it, that needed to change!
What followed over the last few months was > 5 failed attempts including one that just tasted of st, literally it tasted like actual st - I think I fked up when adding the tamarind pulp; 2 of the 5 were poured down the toilet immediately and replaced with a take-away!
I finally landed on a mix I was getting happy with and then started to refine the ingredients mix and cooking techniques to get to something I was happy with. This was end result:
CHICKEN DHANSAK
Serves 6-8 persons
Ingredients:
1.3 kg chicken, washed and cut into medium sized pieces
Sauce:
2inch stick of cinnamon/cassia bark
2 black cardamom
120ml groundnut oil & clarified butter mix
5 tbs garlic & ginger paste
2 large onions
2 sweet potatoes
6 green finger chillies
4 tomatoes
1/2ts turmeric
1-2ts Kashmiri chilli powder (or .5ts of red chilli powder & .5ts of paprika)
3ts coriander seed powder
1ts cumin powder
3ts dhasnak/parsee masala*
2ts dried methi leaves (kasuri methi)
2ts salt
2ts tamarind concentrate
1 cup chicken stock
2 sweet potatoes
350g toor dal
1ts honey
Before starting, rinse the toor dal thoroughly in a sieve, then drop them into a pot of water and bring them to the boil and then cook for 30 minutes or until soft. While that’s heating to the boil, finely chop the onions. Then, get your oil/ghee into the curry pot and heat it up, drop in the cassia bark and black cardamom pods and after around 3-5 minutes spoon in the garlic/ginger paste (keep the heat relatively low otherwise this can spit!). Let that sizzle until the smell of raw garlic disappears (around 5 minutes) and then drop in your chopped onions and cook on a low heat for 30-45 minutes, stirring regularly. Get the spice mix together, peel and slice the sweet potatoes and blitz the chillies and tomatoes in a blender during this time too so you’re fully prepped.
10 minutes before the toor dal is ready, drop in the chopped sweet potato and cook until both are soft. Once the onions have browned and gone completely soft, remove the cassia bark and 1 black cardamom pod, chuck in the spice mix, stir like crazy and once the mixture makes you cough (around 1-2 minutes) drop in the tamarind concentrate, the blitzed tomatoes and chillies, again stirring until the mix is warmed through. At this stage your toor dal and potatoes will be cooked through. Drop them into the curry pot, don’t worry if you get some water in there with them but try not to get more than ¼ cup at this stage, if either the toor dal or the potatoes need a little more softening up, leave the mix on the heat, when ready take it off the heat and let it cool for a few moment… then remove the final cardamom pod and blitz the hell out of your curry with a hand held blender?
Once you’ve got a smooth texture, drop a cup of chicken stock into the mix, do this in stages and check the texture to make sure you’re happy, 1 cup was perfect for me but you may want to add more or put less in. Let it cool totally while chopping up some chicken (or lamb/tofu/paneer), once it’s cool, get the chicken in, stir so the chicken is completely swamped and stick the pot into a fridge and let the chicken marinate through the day. For context, I started this curry at just gone 9am and it was in the fridge just after 10am… didn’t need to touch it again until 20mins before I served it that evening!
- Get on with your day -
When you’re about to cook up the curry in the evening , stop. Go to the fridge, remove a beer and continue back to the cooking area. Stick the curry on the heat and start to heat the chicken through (around 20 minutes), with 10 minutes left to go, put the rice on, naan in the oven and, finally, serve.
Enjoy
I’ve been making lots of various Gujarati curries after getting really into Parsee curries last year. My favourite take-away curry is a Chicken Dhansak which is a Parsee staple that made it over to UK take-aways. I’ve never mastered making it, that needed to change!
What followed over the last few months was > 5 failed attempts including one that just tasted of s
t, literally it tasted like actual st - I think I fked up when adding the tamarind pulp; 2 of the 5 were poured down the toilet immediately and replaced with a take-away!I finally landed on a mix I was getting happy with and then started to refine the ingredients mix and cooking techniques to get to something I was happy with. This was end result:
CHICKEN DHANSAK
Serves 6-8 persons
Ingredients:
1.3 kg chicken, washed and cut into medium sized pieces
Sauce:
2inch stick of cinnamon/cassia bark
2 black cardamom
120ml groundnut oil & clarified butter mix
5 tbs garlic & ginger paste
2 large onions
2 sweet potatoes
6 green finger chillies
4 tomatoes
1/2ts turmeric
1-2ts Kashmiri chilli powder (or .5ts of red chilli powder & .5ts of paprika)
3ts coriander seed powder
1ts cumin powder
3ts dhasnak/parsee masala*
2ts dried methi leaves (kasuri methi)
2ts salt
2ts tamarind concentrate
1 cup chicken stock
2 sweet potatoes
350g toor dal
1ts honey
- I use my own recipe for the dhasnak/parsi masala and realised I still haven’t shared it… I used this recipe as a base and just included a heap of black cardamom pods to the mix: http://www.cheekychilli.com/2012/12/03/parsi-sambh...
Before starting, rinse the toor dal thoroughly in a sieve, then drop them into a pot of water and bring them to the boil and then cook for 30 minutes or until soft. While that’s heating to the boil, finely chop the onions. Then, get your oil/ghee into the curry pot and heat it up, drop in the cassia bark and black cardamom pods and after around 3-5 minutes spoon in the garlic/ginger paste (keep the heat relatively low otherwise this can spit!). Let that sizzle until the smell of raw garlic disappears (around 5 minutes) and then drop in your chopped onions and cook on a low heat for 30-45 minutes, stirring regularly. Get the spice mix together, peel and slice the sweet potatoes and blitz the chillies and tomatoes in a blender during this time too so you’re fully prepped.
10 minutes before the toor dal is ready, drop in the chopped sweet potato and cook until both are soft. Once the onions have browned and gone completely soft, remove the cassia bark and 1 black cardamom pod, chuck in the spice mix, stir like crazy and once the mixture makes you cough (around 1-2 minutes) drop in the tamarind concentrate, the blitzed tomatoes and chillies, again stirring until the mix is warmed through. At this stage your toor dal and potatoes will be cooked through. Drop them into the curry pot, don’t worry if you get some water in there with them but try not to get more than ¼ cup at this stage, if either the toor dal or the potatoes need a little more softening up, leave the mix on the heat, when ready take it off the heat and let it cool for a few moment… then remove the final cardamom pod and blitz the hell out of your curry with a hand held blender?
Once you’ve got a smooth texture, drop a cup of chicken stock into the mix, do this in stages and check the texture to make sure you’re happy, 1 cup was perfect for me but you may want to add more or put less in. Let it cool totally while chopping up some chicken (or lamb/tofu/paneer), once it’s cool, get the chicken in, stir so the chicken is completely swamped and stick the pot into a fridge and let the chicken marinate through the day. For context, I started this curry at just gone 9am and it was in the fridge just after 10am… didn’t need to touch it again until 20mins before I served it that evening!
- Get on with your day -
When you’re about to cook up the curry in the evening , stop. Go to the fridge, remove a beer and continue back to the cooking area. Stick the curry on the heat and start to heat the chicken through (around 20 minutes), with 10 minutes left to go, put the rice on, naan in the oven and, finally, serve.
Enjoy
Edited by Potatoes on Saturday 4th March 19:07
DRFC1879 said:
I'm finishing the leftovers from Saturday as I type this. I forgot how good that curry was; even better for infusing the flavours over a couple of days in the fridge. ??
It's amazing what a few days in the fridge does to a curry! Your recipe looks awesome, I'll give that a go.I'm not far from you actually, I'm up in Stanley, Wakefield.
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