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.

---

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

---

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!

Blogged with Flock

Egg Fried Rice

I first read this method of cooking egg fried rice in Yan Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook in the early 1980s. I've been using it ever since and it's a success every time. It's also a good way of using up any boiled rice from a previous meal in a very easy, tasty way.

---

Ingredients

• 400g (14oz) boiled rice left for 3-4 hours to dry out. Spreading it out flat after cooking will improve this process.
• 2 tbsp peanut (groundnut) oil
• 1 large egg beaten with 1/4 tsp of salt
• 2 spring onions cut into small rounds with the white and green separated
• 2 tsp Thick Soy Sauce

---

Preparation

• Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan.

• Add the white part of the spring onion and stir a couple of times.

• Add the beaten egg and fry for 10 seconds.

• Add the rice and stir so that the egg adheres to it.

• Heat until the rice is warmed through and piping hot.

• Add the green part of the spring onion.

• Add the Soy Sauce and mix into the rice.
  

For variation try using duck eggs instead of hen. Duck eggs are much richer tasting and this intense flavor suits fried rice well. Another thing you can do is to fry some chopped bacon or pancetta and add it to the oil first. Fry until crisp and then add the white of the spring onion and continue the recipe from there. Adding bacon flavors the oil and ultimately the rice. Bacon and egg are a classic combo, so I'd recommend cooking it this way.

Blogged with Flock

Trinidadian Beef Curry

Living in Nottingham in the 80's I had the advantage of a perpetually open West Indian take away on my doorstep. Dishes such as Goat Curry when you got the munchies at two in the morning were much appreciated. The following curry recipe is for beef not goat but is still no less righteous. You can also use chicken, lamb or even goat instead of beef if you like. If using chicken or lamb then use water or chicken stock instead of beef. The beef stock would be a bit too intense for it. Thanks to Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible for bringing back memories of early morning Caribbean feasting

---

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1 kg of beef (strewing / braising steak) cut into 1 inch pieces
  
• One medium sized onion finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic peeled & chopped
• The white part of 4 Spring Onions sliced into rings
• 4 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 5 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1/2 a very hot chili (Appropriately for a dish cooked in Scotland I used a Scotch Bonnet.) Handle with care and wash your hands several times afterwards.
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper

For the cooking

5 tbsp oil such as peanut
5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
2 pints of beef stock
1 tsp of ground roasted cumin seeds
2 tsp amchar masala

---

Preparation

• Blend the marinade ingredients, with the exception of the beef to make a smooth paste.

• Marinade the beef in this paste covered in the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour and for a maximum of 3 hours.

• Heat the oil in a wok or large lidded non-stick pan over a medium high heat.

• Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds until it sizzles.

• Add the curry powder and stir for 10 seconds.

• Reduce the heat to medium and add the meat and its marinade stir frying for a minute.

• Cover, reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Add the stock, cumin and amchar masala.

• Stir and bring to a simmer.

• Reduce the heat to low and braise for around an hour and a half until the meat is tender.

• Increase the heat to medium high and reduce, stirring constantly, to a thick sauce.

• Stick some Peter Tosh on the ghetto blaster and eat with some boiled rice (the curry that is, not the ghetto blaster).
  

Blogged with Flock

Amchar Masala

This mix is from Trinidad and uses many of the spices that are used for pickling in India. First they are lightly roasted releasing a heavenly aroma and giving them an intense flavor, then they are ground ready for the jar. Like Garam Masala in Indian food, Amchar Masala is often added to a dish at the end of cooking. So put some Bob Marley on the CD player and grind it like a Lion in Zion.

---

Ingredients for around 8 tbsp

• 4 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds

---

Preparation

• Put the spaces in a heavy dry saucepan.
• Stir over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes to lightly roast. The spices will darken slightly.
• Leave to cool.
• Grind in a mortar & pestle or clean coffee grinder.
• Store in an airtight container and keep in a dark place.

Blogged with Flock