Medium Curry Gravy

Pat Chapman's currys work like lego, where you build and store complex building blocks that you can quickly combine to make a tasty curry on the fly. Not a technique for someone who does the occasional Tikka Masala, once in a blue moon, but more of a way of life. Restaurants use similar principles, but on a much larger scale.

So putting a few bricks together brings us to this recipe for Medium Curry Gravy. A veritable Princes Leia in your Lego Star Wars set. "Help me Obi-Wan Pat Chapman, you're my only hope".

Ingredients (makes enough for a meal for about 4 people)

• 2 tbsp Curry Powder (use either Pat's Curry Masala or the ground spice version, curry powder, the last time I made this, I used the former).
• 2 tbsp Ghee
• 50g (2 oz) Garlic Cloves chopped
• 250 g Spannish Onions, chopped
• 4 Canned Plum Tomatoes, drained
• 200 ml (7 floz) Water
• 2 tbsp Green Pepper, finely chopped
• Aromatic Salt to taste (you could just use normal salt instead, but as the aromatic version is so easy to make, you'd be barking mad to do so)
  

Preparation

• Add some water to the curry powder to make a paste.
• Heat the ghee in a wok or large frying pan till hot.
• Add the paste and fry for a minute or two.
• Add the garlic and stir fry for a minute or until golden brown.
• Add the Onions, mix in and fry until caramelised.
• Add the tomatoes and Water.
• Take off the heat and puree to a consistency in a blender.
• Return to the pan.
• Add the green pepper.
• Cook on a low heat for another 10 minutes. The gravy should turn to the dark side, and thicken.
• Add the aromatic salt to taste.

Now you've put those pieces together, it's on to building that Death Star. Stay tuned. You can't stop the signal.

This gravy can be frozen, in a conventional freezer should Carbonite not be available. I'd recommend making enough for 2 or 3 meals at once (apply a suitable multiplier to the ingredients) and always keeping some available on standby for future Bantha Fodder, or when you're eating solo.

Curry Masala

A mix of pre-ground spices courtesy of Pat Chapman's The New Curry Bible: The Ultimate Modern Curry House Recipe Book (Curry Club)

Masala means, mix of spices, so curry Masala is a mix of spices used to make a curry.

An alternative blend to the home roast spice method I got from another bible, Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible, this one is a useful one if you are in a hurry or don't want the grind of the other.

Ingredients

• 60g Ground Coriander
• 30g Cumin
• 20g Fenugreek
• 25g Gram Flour (besan)
• 25g Garlic Powder
• 20g Paprika
• 20g Tumeric
• 20g Garam Masala
• 5g Bay Leaf
• 5g Asofetida
• 5g Ginger
• 5g Chilli Powder
• 5g English Mustard Powder
• 5g Black Pepper
• 5g Cinnamon

Preparation

• Mix well and store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.

Wow, that's some array of spices, but a tasty one.

Aromatic Salt

Years ago, I used to make a Chinese Spiced salt mix, that made for some tasty dishes. This is an Indian equivalent that enhances any curry, when used instead of ordinary salt. What's more, it's easy to make.

Ingredients

• 100g (3 1/2 oz) Maldon Sea Salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation (easy peasy, lemon squeezy)

• Grind in small batches with a mortar and pestle.
• Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
  

Garam Masala

The spice blend Garam Masala means 'warm spice' and is used in both Indian and Pakistani cooking. Other variants can be found in countries such as Trinidad and Guyana, where local spices have been added to the blend. As the name implies only spices that heat the body, black cardamon, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin and green cardamon should be used to make it. As these are expensive, however, this can be cut with cheaper spices, such as coriander.

Shop bought Garam Masala doesn't keep as well as home made and is less potent. In view of this additional potency you should therefore use less of the home ground variety than it's mass produced weaker cousin.

Garam Masala is often added to a dish at the end of the cooking process, when the full aroma isn't lost and it can add a wonderful fragrance to your dish.

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Cardamom Seeds
• 1 tsp Black Peppercorns
• 1 tsp Whole Cloves
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1/3 a nutmeg
• 2-3 inch (5 - 7 1/2 cm) piece of Cinnamon Stick

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Preparation

• Grind the spices in batches as finely as possible. The Cinnamon stick is a beast to grind so I'd recommend using a heavy cleaver to chop it finely before you attempt to grind it. This is especially true if you are using a mortar and pestle. For the other spices you can also use the cleaver to take out some of the grunt work. First crush them under the flat of the blade, then rock the blade back and forth over the spices to roughly chop them.
  

• Store in an airtight jar, in a cool dark place. A badger sett would be ideal, but watch out for the badger!

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