Crikey, that's going back a bit. 2008, that post! I can certainly look it up. I probably don't think it's complex any more though, my standards have shifted a bit since then. 2008-era me probably thought it was fancy if it called for making a spice mix by hand.
My current favourite curry recipes (which I don't make often, because Danielle doesn't really care for curry -- boo!) come from a set of recipes that The Egg took from a Curry Recipes Online forum a while back. They are designed to be British-Indian style (i.e. takeaway) rather than authentic Indian cuisine. They all revolve around making a base sauce (basically a madras) then permuting this sauce in various ways. Reduce the base sauce down a long way (further than the recipe calls for) and freeze it in little freezer tubs (about 300 ml each) -- it'll make enough for half a dozen curries or so.
Here's the base sauce:
Quote:
SnS’s Curry Base June 2008
For the base:-
Makes 2.65 Litres (reduce or extend final cooking time to achieve this)
700g cooking onions chopped into 8 pieces
4 large garlic cloves roughly chopped
15g of fresh ginger root roughly sliced
1 red (or green) pepper, cut into 16 pieces
120g salad potatoes cut in half and peeled
120g carrot sliced (2-3 carrots)
1 large tomato cut into four
20g coriander stems finely chopped
200ml vegetable oil
1500ml water
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp cumin powder
1.5 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp Kashmiri mirch (MDH) (or paprika as an alternative)
1 tsp Madras powder (Rajah)
0.5 tsp fenugreek powder
Chuck everything into a large pot. Boil for 45 minutes covered.
Add 1 x standard tin of chopped tomatoes (400g)
Add another 500 ml of water
Liquidise thoroughly (at least 5 minutes)
Simmer (rapid) for another 30 minutes uncovered.
Here's my favourite thing to make with it -- dhansak:
Quote:
Chicken Dhansak
Serves 2 - 4
Ingredients
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 to 3 Chicken breasts depending on preference, chopped to preferred size
1 medium onion
4 ladles of curry base (about 250ml)
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
juice of 1 large lemon
1 green chilli
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 heaped tablespoon mango chutney, chopped into smaller pieces
1 cup split red lentils, drained and washed
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 bunch fresh coriander
Method
1. 3/4 fill a medium size pot with water and bring to boil, add the lentils and crushed garlic. Boil lentils until soft, skim any scum from top of boiling water during cooking. When lentils are soft use a hand blender to blitz into preferred consistency. Strain the excess water away through a sieve and reserve the cooked lentils
2. While the lentils are cooking chop the onion finely. Squeeze the lemon juice into a small mixing bowl and add the curry powder and chilli powder and mix.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok or similar and fry the onion until golden brown ( was advised by the local BIR that the onions need to look like this for ultimate flavour ), not burnt though add the lemon, curry powder and chilli powder mixture to the wok and fry for about 30 seconds. Add chilli.
4. Add the chicken and fry until chicken is sealed on all edges. Add all the base sauce and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Add the strained lentils, the mango chutney and the pineapple juice, cook for a further 10 minutes making sure to never let the lentils stick to the base of the wok.Add most of the chopped coriander
6. 1 minute before serving stir in the garam masala. Serve with fresh coriander as garnish.
When cooking the onions add a pinch of methi. When you add the spices add a pinch of asafoetida and 3 curry leaves this will enhance the flavour?
I've attached the document The Egg sent me years back with a number of recipes in.
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