It's Hot! (Patak's Original Madras Curry Paste)

Member Name: delawney

Product:	Patak's Original Madras Curry Paste
Date:	30/11/02 (11473 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty, Has a purple lid (purple is my fave colour), Hot

Disadvantages: Takes a bit of effort, Hot

I'm writing this whilst I wait for my dinner to finish cooking. Tonight, Matthew, I'm having a vegetable curry knocked up with the rather delicious Patak's Madras curry paste.

Being vegan, "ready meals" are not really in my vocabulary. Sure, there's one or two available, but the rare ones that exist taste like cardboard. And we don't have a microwave. I can't imagine what we'd use it for. But there are times when you just want to throw something together, and a good old-fashioned veggie curry is a firm favourite in the delawney household. It's not exactly effort-free, but we have made it so often it has secured its place as a "no-brainer".

Mr delawney and I are huge curry fans. It has easily achieved "favourite meal" status in our household. (delawney put in a bid for pasta, but mr delawney voted twice for curry, so there you go). I had tried various curry powder mixes, including my own blends, but nothing quite lives up to the cracking taste of Patak's Madras.


*** BRIEF HISTORY ***

Patak's is a family owned Indian food company based in Lancashire, England. It was established by L.G. Pathak who arrived in the UK in the 1950s and saw a market for authentic Indian food. So whilst it may be a UK company, the products they produce are the genuine article.

The pastes were created by Meena, the wife of Kirit Pathak (son of LG) in the mid 1970s. The range has been extended to include pickles, chutneys and assorted other Indian food goodies, to popular acclaim from critics.



*** USING PATAK'S MADRAS CURRY PASTE ***

The first thing to note is that this is a curry paste NOT a curry sauce. There is some effort required, it is not just a case of cooking up your veggies (or meat if you really insist) and pouring on a sauce. Some cooking skill is required to enhance the final result. For a better idea of what's in
volved, here is our recipe for a vegetable madras made using this marvellous ingredient:

* DELAWNEY & PATAK'S VEGETABLE MADRAS *

Serves 4

1 medium onion finely chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 or 5 medium potatoes, cubed and peeled if desired
3 or 4 medium carrots, peeled and cubed
Generous handful of cauliflower florets
Generous handful of brocolli florets
1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
Small handful frozen peas
1 tin of tomatoes
3 generous tablespoons of Patak's Madras Curry Paste (It is quite hot so be warned!)
Dollop of tomato puree
Dollop of vegetable or olive oil.

To speed up the cooking process, I boil the potatoes and the carrots separately, and then use the cooking water in the curry to retain some of the goodness. So first job is to put your spuds and carrots on to boil.

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the curry paste, and stir constantly for 30 seconds to a minute. Chuck in the tomatoes, stir well and then simmer the mixture gently until the carrots and the potatoes begin to go soft (but not too soft - they will cook further in the curry.

Add the pototoes and the carrots to the pan along with some of the cooking water. Don't put too much water in - you're aiming to just cover your ingredients, not drown them, so you get a nice thick sauce.

Add the chick peas, cauliflower and brocolli. Stir well. Add the tomato puree - put in enough to help thicken the sauce. Check in your frozen peas, and stir well once more. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes to 45 minutes - as long as it takes to cook your rice, really!

Serve with Basmati rice for best results!

Variations:
Of course, you can use any veggies you fancy - a great way to get rid of those leftovers in the fridge! You can also try it with the Patak's Korma paste, and instead of the tomatoes and tomato puree, use creame
d coconut. Heavenly, and not so hot, so good for people (unlike me) who haven't got asbestos mouths! Beware, though, that coconut is extremely high in saturated fat, so you shouldn't eat this too often.

If you must, you can of course use meat (ugh) - Patak's kindly put a recipe for you strange people on the jar.


*** HOW DOES IT TASTE? ***

For those of you not familiar with Indian cookery, a Madras is HOT so don't say I didn't warn you. If you are not so keen on hot food, try Patak's Korma instead with the variation outlined above.

This product will give you a Madras full of the traditional flavours. It tastes as good as any "real" Madras I've had in an Indian restaurant, and believe me I've had quite a few!

As is the case with the hotter varieties of curry, some of the milder flavours are lost. To appreciate the more subtle flavours, once more I recommend the Korma variety instead.


*** A NOTE FOR VEGANS ***

Despite the inclusion of lactic acid, often produced from milk, this product is listed in the Vegan Shopper - presumably they use the synthetically produced lactic acid. I'm not sure how that works. Probably bast not to ask.


*** BUYING PATAK'S MADRAS CURRY PASTE ***

We get it in Tescos for £1.41 a jar. Each jar is 283g, and we get about 2 and a half "goes" out of a jar. We make enough for four, and eat it over two days. It really is a cheat meal on day two!

You'll find Patak's products stocked by most supermarkets in the specialist food sections.


*** ANY BAD POINTS? ***

I can't think of any. Unless you don't like curry. Or cooking. See, I fibbed, I thought of two ;)


*** AND FINALLY ***

As long as you don't mind putting a bit of effort into your cooking this is a truely marvellous product. If you just like to shove somethin

g in the microwave, it's not for you. I would be lost without it!

So, I'm off now to eat my delicious vegetable madras made with the help of Patak's Madras curry paste. Yum!



For more information and recipes visit www.pataks.co.uk

Summary: