Jerry, perhaps it might be better to consider more traditional dishes from scratch, rather than trying to create a healthy BIR curry. The wife came home last week with a Low Fat Fat Free recipe book . It had in it a recipe for Fragrant Chicken Curry. Of course this caught my eye so we tried it last night.

The recipe was described "In this dish, the mildly spiced sauce is thickened using lentils rather than the traditional onions fried in ghee".

I spotted an error in weights and measures of the recipe which made me nervous, but nonetheless we tried it and it was very easy to make. Simply added .5 cup of lentils to a pan with 2 tbls of mild curry powder, 1 tsp or corriander, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 2 cups veg stock. Simmered for 10 mins added 8 skinless chicken thighs and 8oz shredded spinach and simmered for 40 mins.

I was quite surprised with the dish, it wasn't bad at all. I will replace the veg stock with chicken stock next time round and may add some fenugreek. But overall, we had clean plates all round. Different, but quite nice and definitely out of the box. The best part was that the on its own a single portion was only 152 Kcals, I served it with coconut rice and giant crisps.

On the balance of spicing, could you make a larger quantity of masala and then just take from that overall like you would a spice mix?

Dry fried onions or roasted in the oven I have tried and without oil, they always taste boiled with charred edges. I think the key to fry onion without oil is to do it on a low heat. The problem is when the sugars start to caramelise the onions will stick to the pan.

The only bad things in a BIR is the oil/salt. I've found that using malvern salt greatly reduces the need for large quantities and has cut my salting down by a half to three-quarters. ;D Curries are healthy (bar the oil lol) it's the sides and nans that are the killers.

Have you tried the spray on oil, Jerry? Using it to fry onions as Axe says at a lower temp for longer doesn't have any negative effects on the overall flavour. Though to be honest the from scratch method is better for healthier curries without losing flavour IMO.

I usually aim for half a teaspoon (about 3 grams) of salt for a 2 person curry.

I think eating 1.5 grams of salt is ok for a meal containing probably about 800 calories.

Better than a tin of chicken soup with 2.2 grams of salt only giving you about 280 calories!

paul.

Everything in moderation and EXERCISE (you fat g*ts!  ) 

Hi Guys and Gals

Im fortunate that as Im currently living in Turkey Olive oil is rediculously cheap.

I make my IfindForu favourite base entirely with regular Olive oil ( NOT virgin olive oil as it tends to carry more flavours ) and this base recipe calls for a lot of oil.

In addition I start all my curries with the same Olive oil and plenty of it as its a healthy option.
I can honestly say I cant taste any real difference, as Ive tried the same base using sunflower oil and the same main dishes with sunflower oil too.

A very healthy alternative

Both my CTM and Vindaloo are miles better than most takeaways and mine involve Olive Oil and lots of it, well in the Base and the Vindaloo anyway

Try it, probably in UK I would suggest you buy the cheapest Olive oil from Tescos or Aldi as it will have the least flavour, but remember to read the label, NOT virgin 

appreciate the various thoughts on alternative strategies - the thing is that on the 1st go i felt there was mileage in a subject that i'd discounted. i still remain hopeful.

i cooked 4 off curries with the naff base using Dipuraja's method & spice mix and my ?1.5 splash guard. they are still work in progress but salt was 0.25 tsp and oil was 1 tbsp (olive).

the naff base was down to too much ginger and asian bay.

i'm aiming to have another go tonight.

i've tried Axe's idea of fried garlic in tom puree. so far not got it to work. i've used 10g fried garlic in 140g puree.

going to add more garlic today to see if i can get improvement. i see it as a real good way of adding back what's been taken out in the healthy curry.

Quote from: JerryM on May 13, 2010, 07:30 AM
i've tried Axe's idea of fried garlic in tom puree. so far not got it to work. i've used 10g fried garlic in 140g puree.

going to add more garlic today to see if i can get improvement. i see it as a real good way of adding back what's been taken out in the healthy curry.

JerryM , What would be the purpose of adding Galic to Tom / Puree when you can add as much Garlic as you like to the main Curry 

emin-j,

it's even worse - the time and fiddlyness of making is a real nightmare. i use the sliced fried garlic often and it works/transforms the dish into a real treat for me (my fav TA dish garlic chicken has it). i also think my fav sylheti must somehow have it too.

i was hoping that the taste u get in each individual slice would blend in across the curry.

still work in progress. it could be u just need to blend it and forget about the tom puree which is just probably just down cutting down on the effort of adding. u would also not want to use it in all dishes.

the thinking was just a slight hint might makeup in the HC what is lost through not hot frying.

Jerry, rather than frying sliced garlic and adding it, have you thought about roasting a whole bulb? If you roast it in the skin it helps to stop it scorching and the resultant almost pulp like garlic, just needs squeezing out. It has all the flavour with any bitterness you might get from over cooked garlic.