Tailor made curries made easy (Curry)

Member Name: yackers1

Product:	Curry
Date:	08/01/09 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Adjust to own particular tastes, cheaper and healthier than jars, really easy and fun

Disadvantages: Involves a bit more work than using a ready made sauce

My other half and I are definite curry lovers and up until very recently made them at home using a variety of ready made sauces.

The sauces are not only expensive but they are also not that good for you and are often high in sugar and calories. Vindaloo sauces, our personal favourite, contain really high levels of fat, which is not good as fatty foods tend not to agree with me although I love it.

In a bid to save money, and have more healthy curries the decision was made to make our own, which is easier said than done. Cooking a curry from scratch involves a whole range of ingredients including garam massala, paprika and cumin amongst many others.

A half way house is to buy a curry powder, made up of all the different types of spices in tried and tested ratios and use this as a starting point. Since we like a hotter curry the powder of choice was the Natco hot madras powder and my turkey curry recipe is as follows;

****Ingredients****

---Curry---

The following will serve a large portion for two or a small portion for three:

2 large potatoes
1 medium sized onion
2 large cloves of garlic
400g of diced turkey (or 2 turkey breasts)
1 Tin of chopped tomatoes
4 heaped teaspoons of Natco hot madras powder
2 level tablespoons of plain flour
1 pint of hot water

---Chapatti---

Plain flour
Water

****Method****

Par boil the potatoes, drain and then leave to one side for later.

Chop the garlic cloves and the onion. I generally finely chop the garlic (in my opinion there is nothing worse than biting in to a big piece of garlic) and leave the onion coarse since I like larger pieces of onion to bulk the dish up, although how coarse or fine the onion and garlic is chopped is down to personal preference.

Put a very small amount of vegetable oil in a non-stick wok and gently heat on the hob. Add the garlic and onions and gently cook until soft. It is important not to burn the onion or garlic. If you do I would recommend that you start again as you will be able to taste the burnt onion in the finished dish, even with the other powerful ingredients.

Add the turkey and madras powder and cook for around 5 minutes stirring frequently. The turkey is merely soaking up the aromatic curry powder at this stage. It is not being cooked.

Add the plain flour, tin tomatoes and potatoes. Hot water should be added to cover all the ingredients. Cook on a high heat until the contents of the wok starts to bubble, reduce the heat right down (I turn it down to number 2), put a lid on and then simmer for an hour.

The chapatti is made mixing the flour and water to make dough. I have never bothered to measure out the ingredients and intend to grab a handful of flour and use that as a starting point. Once the dough is made roll out in to a flat shape that is approx half a centimetre thick.

The chapattis can be cooked under the grill or in the oven. I tend to lay the chapatti on a non-stick tray and cook at 200 degrees C until brown.

****To serve****

Serve the curry on a bed of rice with a home made chapatti.

****Notes****

I find that turkey really picks up the curry flavour, although any meat can be used. A vegetarian alternative is to use mushrooms, cauliflower and additional potatoes.

Since the tomatoes are only used to provide a base and bulk up the dish I use Tesco value chopped tomatoes. With all the other powerful ingredients you are not going to taste the tomatoes and I can't see the point in spending lots of money on premium brands.

If you want a 'hotter' curry then I find that adding a chilli pepper is better than adding more curry powder. The curry powder contains a lot of different ingredients and increasing these provides an over powering taste rather than just increasing the 'heat', therefore adding a chilli is best.

****Conclusion****

The above recipe will give a tasty, very healthy (compared to jar sauces) and cheap curry.

Curry making is all about personal preferences, therefore each individual should adjust the ingredients used and the quantities for their own tastes. Producing the 'best' curry will take experimentation and time, but it is well worth it in the end.

Summary: A healthy curry with loads of possibilities