What essentials should I have in my cupboard, to start cooking currys from scratch?!
What essentials should I have in my cupboard, to start cooking currys from scratch?
I cook about 3 currys a week and have gone from using jar sauces to pastes, I now want to work from scratch what spices should I have in my cupboard?
Answers: buy yourself a small coffee grinder and buy whole spices, they last a lot longer than commercially ground
Coriander seeds Cumin seeds are the basis of practically all curry powders.
Buy small amounts of ready ground Garam Masala, which means 'warm mixture' a blend of spices stirred into curries at the end of cooking
Turmeric
cardamom pods, both small green and the larger black
black onion seeds, mustard seeds, urid dal, fenugreek, although these aren't essential at first
'toast' the seeds in a dry fryingpan, keep them moving and do't let them burn. Onion and mustard seeds will 'pop'. They are 'done' when they release their aroma. Tip into coffee grinder (kept only for grinding spices!!) and whizz to a powder
Apart from those, fresh ingredients needed are
Fresh ginger, garlic, onions, chili's (various ones from the Xtra hot Scotch Bonnet and birdseye chilis, to the big mild ones) and some fresh coriander leaves. Wash, chop roughly and put in the freezer when needed rub the bag vigourously and it'll 'chop' itself.
Make a 'paste' by grating fresh peeled ginger, garlic and a large onion, add a sliced onion too, the grated stuff will help to make the sauce thick - add salt, fry in a tasteless oil, add spices and fry gently, add your meat or veg, cook to cover with the paste, add stock or water, tomatoes etc cover and cook. Just before serving stir in a tablespoonful of garam masala and some chopped fresh coriander Delish! My grandad is half Indian and taught me to cook Buy a really good cook book on eastern or indian cooking this is where you will get the basic ingredients to make a curry I just buy curry powder, I prefer Madras, it has the right combination of spice already. Oh, tough one.
Curry is actually just a blend of spices.
I would guess Cumin, coriander, ginger, pepper (red and black)
Turmeric( for colour as much as anything)
Cinamon (if you can get it fresh good, dry in a pinch)
Garlic, Onions.
That should give you a good start.
The chilis (red pepper) can be fresh or dried. The ginger gives different tastes if it is dry instead of fresh(not bad, just a bit different)
Some curries have Cinnamon or other spices depending on where they are from or which food they are for.
When you start going from scratch you are opening up a whole new playing field.
The main idea is to get a blend that enhances flavour instead of killing it.
If all you can taste is the Curry then it is too strong.
If you find it is bitter at all then you are either over spicing or burned the spices.
Most curry dishes that I am familiar with are true slow cooker meals. Beans or lentils. Tough cuts of beef, or tough old stewing chickens (hens).
For sourness you could use Lemon grass. lemon or even a bit of vinegar
Buy small packages of spice at first until you know which ones you use and how much you use.
South Asia dishes often use coconut milk or peanut butter to smooth them out. Coconut milk only comes in cans where I live and is expensive (not an attractive feature, high cost I can live without it. I am not a fan of peanut butter, but in some dishes it is very good and it is cheap)
I am sorry that I can not help you more. In my opinion you can make a decent 'supermarket standard' curry with just three spices:
Ginger
Garam Masala
Cardamom (cracked open, shells discarded and the contents ground)
These three bare essentials, together with salt, pepper, onions, tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, chilli and a meat/veg of your choice produce a delicious tomato-based curry. However to get a more interesting curry you may wish to experiment with the following:
Cumin (included in the garam masala but you can never have too much)
Coriander
Fenugreek
Cinnamon
Cloves
Turmeric
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika
Cloves
Other ingredients may include:
Lemon Juice
Yoghurt/Cream (for a more masala-based dish)
Coconut Milk
Peppers
Spinach
Mustard
Chicken Stock
I've hit a blank but I'm sure you get the idea. It's always a good idea to make curries from scratch because the supermarket sauces often have an unhealthy amount of salt. It's also fun and tastes better! Happy cooking! I agree with Phishpish....
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Instead of using coconut milk, I always use Milk in carton boxes.
You know, fresh milk in tetrapacks...like shown in this link....
http://www.dairyfresh.ca/
Any brand will do nicely, even fresh milk in bottles delivered to your door daily!!!
Using this is much healthier than coconut milk which might be too rich for those with high blood pressure, high cholesterol level and diabetes.
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