Campfire Curry - Picture Heavy

[British Red]

Recent discussions have involved chats about Ghee, curry and various other things. In this I discussed a curry method called "The curry secret" (great book) that lets me knock up a curry in next to no time based on mass producing some stock ingredients. The joy is the smae "base" can be used for lots of dishes and you can knock up your favourite in less time than going to your takeaway.

It needs to build up - so here is part 1

Indian Cooking is fantastic "one pot" type cooking - plus a lot of the extras lend themselves to Dutch Ovens, skillets etc. Chutneys can be made in advance and taken in small jars for a real feast when out and about.

First up Ghee (or clarified butter). Ghee is a staple part of Indian cooking. It also keeps well unrefrigerated so is very useful for our purposes.

Take a pound of (unsalted) butter and place in a saucepan

Gently melt the butter

Once the butter has melted, simmer gently for 20 minutes

At the end of 20 minutes a great deal of water will have been driven off and the solids will separate

Take the butter off the heat and leave it to cool. Whilst its cooling put some jars (a couple of 8oz jars per pound) to warm in the oven

Now we need to strain out the solids from the ghee. I do it with some muslin wrapped over a tea strainer.

Pour the cooling ghee through the strainer into the warm jars

Seal tightly and leave to cool

There we are - the first of our components

Red

 

[British Red]

Now I really like Naan Bread. First off we need to reactivate some yeast - just like brewing

Take 5 fl oz of milk (room temp in a warm room) and add 2 tbs of sugar and 1 tbsp of baking yeast

Stir well and set aside for 15 minutes until it goes "bubbly"

Assemble your ingredients. You will need

1lb of plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs of oil
1 cup of yoghurt (we make our own but plain shop bought fines)
1 large egg
Some ghee for glazing

Sift together the salt, flour and baking powder

Crack the egg into a bowl and mix with the oil. Then add and mix the yoghurt

After 15 minutes bubbles should be appearing in your milk

Make a well in the flour and pour in the egg mix and yeasty milk

Bring the ingredients together with a fork

Using a sieve, sprinkle flour on a board

With clean hands, knead your dough on the board for 10 minutes

Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with oiled cling film

Put the dough somewhere warm for an hour to rise. Put your oven and grill on to heat to their highest temperature.

After an hour it will have doubled in size

Knead it again gently and divide into 6 pieces. Roll each piece out into a classic "tear drop" shape.

Put the dough on pre-heated baking sheets and slam in a hot oven for three minutes

After three minutes take out, brush with melted ghee and put under the grill for 30 seconds

Stack em up on a platter and enjoy with your curry of choice

Red

 

[British Red]

Masala means " A spice mixture" and Garam means hot.

It is a spice mixture. It isn't hot (in a temperature or chilli & ginger sense) more "aromatic and warm tastes"

Its important to note that is ALL garam masala means - it is not a standardised blend.

The vital part for me is to buy spices whole and to grind only as you need them in small amounts. Whole spices preserve flavour far better than ground - as in coffee.

This is a blend from "The Curry Secret"

From your whole spice jars take

1Tbs coriander seed
1tbs cumin seed
1 tsp green cardamom
1tdp whole cloves
1tsp black pepper corns
4" stock of cinnamon
1/2 a nutmeg
4 black cardamom pods

from the garden get two fresh bay leaves

Put in your spice or coffee grinder and whiz till smooth - do it in batches if you need to

Keep in a glass airtight jar

Variations add ginger, omit black cardamom, add shajeera (black cumin) etc. But they are all a fairly similar base.

Garam masala is used in a large number of Indian dishes - and fresh will vastly improve the flavour

Red

 

[British Red]

In this section we will examine how to prepare a "base" than can be used to create lots of finished curry sauces.

First peel 2lb of onions

Chop the onions into small pieces (no need to go too fine at this stage). Put them into a heavy saucepan. You are going to need a big one with a decent lid

Next take 2oz of fresh root ginger. You wan't it fresh, soft and juicy - not dry and woody.

Slice the ginger very finely across the pith - paper thin - then chop into strips

Weight out 2oz of garlic (2 big or 3 small bulbs). Peel all the individual cloves

In a jug measure out 2 3/4 pints of water. Put half a pint in a blender and add the garlic and ginger.

Blitz the life out of the garlic and ginger - at least two minutes. This is a smooth sauce so belnd everything really well.

When blended add to the onion with the rest of the water and a teaspoon of salt.

Bring the pan to the boil, then simmer gently for three quarters of an hour. Then leave until totally cold.

Once the pan has cooled, blend the contents a little at a time until silky smooth

When its all blended, keep some back in a jar (maybe half a pint) and wash up your pan and blender.

Next peel and de-seed some tomatoes. You do this by cutting an "X" in the top of each tomato and plunging it in boiling water. Remove form the hot water and plunge into cold water. The skin comes right off. Then cut into quarters and de-seed with a teaspoon. Put 8 Oz of them in a blender and blend till smooth. If you wish you can do this with tinned tomatoes.

Next in your clean pan put 8 tbsp of olive oil, 1tsp of turmeric, 2 tsp of paprika and 1 tsp of tomato puree.

Add the blended tomatoes, bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes stirring constantly

Now add your blended onions and bring back to the boil

A froth will form - skim this off with a spoon

Simmer and stir occasionally for 25 minutes - you will get a nice smooth sauce

Divide into portions and can or freeze. This base can make a whole variety of curries very quickly - we'll cover that later. You'll have enough for at least 4 good sized meals here.

Red

 

[British Red]

This part can be done when you make your finished dish. However, if you work late or are preapring for large numbers, this part can be done in advance and chilled or frozen. Its another of those "do in large batches and freeze" steps if time is tight

First, breast two or three chickens (four large breasts or six small). Clearly more can be done and proportions increased.

Remove all skin and membranes

Cube the chicken into the size you prefer. If you are a vegetarian, you can substitute tofu or similar here

In a deep pan put 6 tbsp of oil, 1 tsp of turmeric and 4 tbsp of the blended onion, garlic and ginger from the base sauce

Mix this well on a medium heat and cook for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes the colour will darken. Add your chicken and stir to coat

Turn down the heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally

After cooking a lot of "juice" will be in the pan.

Strain off the juice and leave the chicken to cool

The chicken can now be portioned out, used in a finished curry, chilled or frozen

Red

 

[British Red]

Sixth part - making a Chcken Korma

(I know - a lot of you want a hotter curry - thats absolutlely no problem - the bases can make anything you want - I personally like all falvours - from mild and creamy to beads of sweat - but actually a Korma is lovely)

Well now, we are ready to cook curry


This entire recipe takes 15 minutes. Far less than it takes me to drive to the takeaway, place an order, have it cooked and get home! The trick of course is all the preparation done in earlier sections.

Okay - Start your stopwatch!

Put 4 tbsp of oil in a deep pan and warm over a medium heat. Add 3 cups of the curry sauce base and bring to the boil

Whilst this is heat take 2tbsp of raw cashew nuts and chop finely
(I use my spice blender for speed)

Take 1lb of prepared chicken and add to the pan with the cashew nuts and 1 tsp of salt

Stir and cook for 5 minutes

Add 1/2 tsp of your garam masala and 1 tsp of ground cumin seed. Cook for a further 5 minutes

Stir in 5 fl oz of single cream

Stir and heat for another 4 minutes

Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander, home made naan and basmati rice

It'll be on the table within 20 minutes of coming home from work. No packets, pre mixes, factory made sauces, MSG or takeaways.

A Lot cheaper too

Red

 

[British Red]

Well - that's the basics!

I keep meaning to do some more Dhaal, Baji, Chapati, pickles etc.

My recipe for Mango Chutney is on here somewhere though

Either way, I hope it de-mystifies the process a little bit. Its one of my favourite Sundays when I get to prep all my ingresients, roast my coffee beans etc.

Red

 

[SimonM]

Thanks Red, another great tutorial....but Ive just eaten and now you have made me hungry all over again!

 

[MartinK9]

Many thanks for posting these tutorials

 

[Mesquite]

Excellent tutorial Hugh and thanks for all the hard work that went into doing it and posting.... it'll give me something to do whilst I recover

 

[tommy the cat]

Great tutorial Red. My gf father does a mean curry from a recipe an Indian friend gave him.
Got to say this onion mix seems a lot simpler than his and his takes an absolute age!
One word of warning if anyone hasn't tried this type base mix (onion, ginger etc) my good friend who is a Sikh has set his wife up with a cooker in there shed!
Make of that what you will....
D

 

[johnnytheboy]

Great post BR, well done, visit to the indian supermarket coming up

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

Great Stuff Chef Red, I love curry and will give this ago :-D

 

[scottishwolf]

Fantastic post red, made myself a balti earlier tonight, still sweating lol. Think I overdid the chilli powder a wee bit lol.

 

[Hetzen]

Great tutorials. You don't happen to have a copy of "The Curry Secret" by any chance?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Curry-Secret-Indian-Restaurant-Cookery/dp/0716020548

Living in West London, we've got loads of good indian shops, and something I've recently been trying out is garlic and ginger puree, which comes in large jars. Having made your curry sauce before, and living with the smell for a few days, I've resorted to using the puree now, which gives very good results. Couple of big dolops and a finely chopped onion sweated off, works really well as your gravy base.

 

[British Red]

Sure do - check out the first line of the first post

It is a stunning little book and one I reccomend to anyone who fancies using this "stock" method. I still make curries in one go too, but increasingly there is logic in batch preparing the basic ingredients!

Red

 

[Weesi]

Mmmm you got me hungry again Red!...

 

[Toddy]

Excellent as ever BR Thank you for sharing

cheers,
Toddy

 

[British Red]

Glad it " hit the spot" with you all

I haven't the time for new tutorials any more sadly - unless someone wants a tutorial on how to sink their life savings restoring a Grade II cottage, barns and land.

Still my bank manager must like me - he seems write to me in a colour to match my nickname!

Red

 

[Hetzen]

Sure do - check out the first line of the first post

It is a stunning little book and one I reccomend to anyone who fancies using this "stock" method. I still make curries in one go too, but increasingly there is logic in batch preparing the basic ingredients!

Red

Ahh, I read the ghee post before this one and skipped the first part, lol.

Yeah it is a good book, I've had it for a few years now. But what you've done is added pictures, which really helps.