Curries again

[pancreas]

I tend to steer towards the south of India. Managed to find some kokum berries (they have 3-4 other names). Then made this sort of thing:

https://greatcurryrecipes.net/2019/03/20/keralan-fish-curry/

I would never use fenugreek, however, because it is aids.

[Twit 2]

What's your opinion on Kashmiri chilli powder? Stein puts it in every recipe in his India book. When I asked the spice man on Norwich market for some he went into a florid rant about how it's a bullshit spice he refuses to stock on principle. I assume mild chilli power + smoked paprika would give a similar effect?

[Pingers]

A tip for people wanting to find actual south Asian recipes on the internet, rather than Jamie Oliver et al's "curries" - put 'desi khana' in your search term.

[pancreas]

What's your opinion on Kashmiri chilli powder? Stein puts it in every recipe in his India book. When I asked the spice man on Norwich market for some he went into a florid rant about how it's a bullshit spice he refuses to stock on principle. I assume mild chilli power + smoked paprika would give a similar effect?

Not an expert, but from experience you can use *a lot* of it—one or two tablespoons—turning the curry a deep red and giving it a depth you don't get from smaller amounts of hotter stuff.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Best lube ghee lube.

If anyone struggles to find ghee, it's dead easy to do make in a microwave, you just need a good glass bowl/casserole dish and something to filter it with.

[Sebastian Cobb]

What's your opinion on Kashmiri chilli powder? Stein puts it in every recipe in his India book. When I asked the spice man on Norwich market for some he went into a florid rant about how it's a bullshit spice he refuses to stock on principle. I assume mild chilli power + smoked paprika would give a similar effect?

I use it in my madras' and a couple of other things, when I run out I use paprika and cayenne.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I would never use fenugreek, however, because it is aids.

I haven't yet seen the point of it. It does feature in the BIR base sauce recipe, so I thought I'd pick up some. A bit like the Spinach blocks, it didn't add much other than making the curry look like it had made its way to the bowl via some sewage. Ready to forgive and try again, though.

[Sebastian Cobb]

We talking fenugreek seeds or leaves? The leaves (kasoori methi) impart quite a flavour.

[Twit 2]

Astonished by this lack of respect for fenugreek.

[Pingers]

The dried leaves have quite a potent flavour at first and don't go with everything, but the flavour degrades quite quickly. I wouldn't want it in everything but it goes well in onion and tomato-heavy dishes, and I like it in quite a bitter curry with mustard seeds and turmeric. If you pre-soak the seeds in hot water and then add them to a fry they add a good flavour and a nice texture when you bite into them.

[Emma Raducanu]

I like peshwari naan

[Cold Meat Platter]

Astonished by this lack of respect for fenugreek.

Agreed. Breathtaking.
Powdered fenugreek seed goes a long way to achieving that British Indian Restaurant smell/taste imo. Just don't overdo it as it can make the dish bitter.
It is one of the whole seeds used in Bengali panch poran mix and is in most pickles as well.

[Dex Sawash]

Interestingly (or not), I found out that Asafoetida in German is called teufelsdreck which translates as devil's dung.

What's your hing?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

We talking fenugreek seeds or leaves? The leaves (kasoori methi) impart quite a flavour.

Leaves, though I've been using the high density fenugreek cuboids Shana do.

[Clownbaby]

Any love for a cheeky handful of sultanas?

[pancreas]

Any love for a cheeky handful of sultanas?

GET OUT

[touchingcloth]

What's your hing?

Acknowledged.

[Hand Solo]

Any love for a cheeky handful of sultanas?

Yuck. I hate sweet curries. I tried making a Biryani once and it was minging and I ended up having to pick them out along with the almonds.

[Clownbaby]

Yuck. I hate sweet curries. I tried making a Biryani once and it was minging and I ended up having to pick them out along with the almonds.

I don't put them in all the time. Sometimes about the sweet savoury, sometimes not

[bgmnts]

Any love for a cheeky handful of sultanas?

In a bit of pilau rice, yeah!

Sweet curry is not too bad. Prefer creamy curry though; cocomut milk, spices, mushrooms, spinach. Boom.

[Clownbaby]

Sultanas in curry for me are like sometimes wanting peppers in things. If I bought/ordered a curry and wasn't expecting or fancying sultanas I'd not enjoy it, like unexpected peppers/sweetcorn in a meal. If the mood takes me when I'm making a curry, sultanas it is. Sometimes I put honey in a meat marinade for a stir fry and other times I really don't want that

[touchingcloth]

I love a sour curry. I'm not a fan of insanely hot tests of machismo, but I do like something which lets your tongue know it's there add can raise a mild sweat, so my favourite home curry has become a pork vindaloo. Spicy, garlicky add with a tang of vinegar, it's one of those dishes I could eat most nights of the week, and which I know will please if I serve it for guests.

I tried to perfect a Thai curry for ages before a Thai friend showed me their approach of using jarred paste - it's all the same ingredients I used to blend by hand anyway - before adding fish sauce, shrimp paste, and a fairly arbitrary collection of green stuff to make the colours pop, and coriander stalks fit flavour. The first really good green curry I ever had was painfully hot, so I'm always striving to reach a "fucking hell" level of heat which doesn't annihilate the taste buds. It's a tricky balance, and I'm always ending up disappointingly mild of hoop-meltingly spicy. 

[idunnosomename]

dry frying the spices before adding oil and browning any veg/meat is great

fenugreek is the most pungent thing ever i guarantee your hair will smell of it next day if you cook with it (CaB bald lol)

make rice yellow by using the HANDLE of a teaspoon to put tumeric in. at least for under 200g of rice. you really need fuck all.

smash up cardamon pods yes but also put the pods in

you can make pompadoms from raw in the microwave. just give them short blasts (like 20-30 sec) take them, out, bend them so the raw bits face up, put them back in for a bit longer, leave to cool for a minute or so. job done

[ImmaculateClump]

Sultanas

Sultanas can get the eff out of my life.
It's one of those stealth fruits that they think they can smuggle into cakes and shit without me noticing.
Having said that, I did bring home some iced fingers the other day and was surprisingly disappointed that they weren't involved.
My mam used to buy them all the time when I was little and I just got a craving for them and they weren't the same.

Still nice though, cut them in half and slathered a load of butter in there, just like momma used to make. Aaaaw yeah.
They were tiny though, everything is nowadays. More like iced thumbs.

[Sherringford Hovis]

It's tradition to eat curry with your bare hands. Try it.

It's tradition to wipe your arse with your bare hands. Try it.

[bgmnts]

Eating curry with hands is actually quite fun.

[Hand Solo]

It's tradition to wipe your arse with your bare hands. Try it.

Prefer using cutlery tbh.

[Sherringford Hovis]

Cu(n)tlery?

[Smeraldina Rima]

Last night I did indeed use more garlic and ginger and loadsa paprika to turn the gravy a reddish hue in the Southern Indian style.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I tried to perfect a Thai curry for ages before a Thai friend showed me their approach of using jarred paste - it's all the same ingredients I used to blend by hand anyway - before adding fish sauce, shrimp paste, and a fairly arbitrary collection of green stuff to make the colours pop, and coriander stalks fit flavour. The first really good green curry I ever had was painfully hot, so I'm always striving to reach a "fucking hell" level of heat which doesn't annihilate the taste buds. It's a tricky balance, and I'm always ending up disappointingly mild of hoop-meltingly spicy.

This stuff. I've had a tub of it in the fridge for over 2 years now and it's still good. Only need a big tablespoon of it with some coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves, brown sugar, meat and bell pepper and you've got restaurant quality Thai curry. Splash of Squid brand fish sauce too, although it stinks of something resembling stale cat urine on its own.