Like my tabloid press style "Head Line!"?

Ok for those who don't know this was the mission brief:
"Create 3 or 4 curries for my parents and wife at the weekend."
Now, I did some research online and found this place. A few of you lovely folks here gave me some invaluable advice, I bought some extra spices and set to work!

So what happened? Here's a step by step.

Base Sauce:
Ok for this I basically used a hybrid sauce, basically a variation between KD1 and Dipuraja1's base sauce.

Ingredients:
2 onions
1 green pepper
1 tbsp GG paste
1 bunch of coriander stalks
1 carrot
1 tbsp mix powder (Dipuraja1)
1 tsp salt

Fry the onions, pepper and GG paste in some oil, add the carrot and coriander stalks, 2 pints of water, bring to the boil and add the mix powder and simmer. Cool and blend.

Ok well this was quite simple and to be fair pretty much worked flawlessly. In future I think I'd make it a little thinner, simply adding more water, I didn't notice this at the time but did when I came to create the curries, but it was nothing a glass of warm water didnt solve.

Precooked Lamb:
I think here I chose the wrong cut of meat. I was always under the impression that neck and shoulder fillet have a much nicer taste due to the higher fat content, than leaner cuts like leg steaks etc. However, during the precooking stage the fat didn't melt away as it does when the neck or shoulder is roasted for a long time. Here's what I did;

Ingredients:
500g neck fillet lamb
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp mix powder
1/2 onion
1 tbsp GG paste
1 cinamon stick
2 bay leaves

Again this wasn't a rigid recipe, I took some methods and recipes then picked and plucked what I thought I'd like. I fried the onion and GG paste in some oil (Groundnut) then added the lamb and sealed all round, I kept this searing in the pan for about 20 minutes, browning off nicely, then added the tomato paste, spice mix, bay leaves and cinammon stick and topped up with water. This then simmered for about 2 hours, I had to top it up once or twice but other than that it was fine. It tasted lovely but there were still traces of fat on the meat, not a huge amount, but my mum is fussy so knew she wouldn't like it.

Precook Chicken:
This is basically followed a recipe, this one https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3916.0. It worked nicely but had a very distinctive "Tikka-ish" taste. Very nice, but as I'll explain later, it was still quite a strong flavour in the korma. I think next time I may try Dipuraja1's method of boiling the chicken instead of baking it.

Precook Vegetables:
Again this was 'inspired' by recipes and methods on here, but sort of made up slightly.

Ingredients:
1 Onion
1 Tbsp GG paste
1 Tbsp mix powder
Cauliflower florets
Green beans
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Chilli Powder
Salt
Water

I gently fried the onion and GG paste in a large sautee pan, added the mix powder and extra turmeric and chilli powder then added the veg. Fried gently for a couple of minutes coluring everything. Added the salt and topped up with water. Simmered for about 10-15 minutes until just cooked then removed and drained the veg. Perfect really.

Ok now on to the curries. I had the base sauce and precooked ingredients ready to go. The require rubies were, a Lamb Madras, a Chicken Korma and a Vegetable Dansak.

Lamb Madras:

Ingredients:
Lamb
1 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 tbsp GG paste
1 tbsp Chilli Powder
1 tbsp Methi leaves
1 Lemon
1 tbsp Mix Powder
1 pinch of salt
3 ladels of Base Sauce

Ok I just happened to have an Ikea pan exactly the right size for a slightly larger than normal portion, which was nice! So I got it on the wok burner and cranked it up. Added 2 tbsp of Groundnut oil, the GG paste, methi leaves, the tomato paste, chilli powder, mix powder and juice of the lemon*** That was the mistake, I didn't pay attention to Dipuraja1's video and didnt hear "Just 1 teaspoon of lemon juice". I added "most" of the juice from one lemon, so to counter this I added 2 tsps of sugar. It didn't taste too bad, infact it was my Dad's favourite, but it did taste quite lemony. So in future, different cut of lamb and only a squirt of lemon.

Chicken Korma:

Ingredients:
Chicken
2 tbsp dessicate coconut
2 tbsp ground almonds
3 ladels base sauce
1 tbsp sugar
Oil
Single cream (elmlea)

Add the oil and get it hot, then lob in the coconut, almond powder, sugar and chicken. Swirl around and mix nicely then add 3 ladels of the base sauce, again mix it up and simmer, then add the cream off the heat, mix it up and serve.
Basically bar the taste of the "tikka esque" precooked chicken, this was lovely. The wifes favourite.


Vegetable Dansak:

Ok no one really knew what a dansak was so this was mostly guess work.

Ingredients:
Precooked veg
1 tbsp mix powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp GG paste
1 tbsp Tomato paste
2 tbsp green lentils (couldn't find yellow)
1 small can of pineapple chunks minus a few I nicked while cooking.
1 tbsp methi leaves
3 ladels of base sauce
Some water to thin it out a little

Ok pretty straight forward, oil in the pan, get it hot and add the leaves, pastes and powders and mix it all up. Add the veg, lentils and pineapple chunks, followed by the base sauce and a little water just to thin it out a bit. Get it hot and serve. Simples. This was my mums favourite!

So all in all, I was actually very surprised with how well it all turned out. Oh and for those curious, the rice came from ASDA, the popadoms were out of a packet and so were the Naan. I know, im a dirty heaten who should be burnt at the stake, twice! But it made my life easier, and as such, I reckon it made the curries better. I learned a fair few things that I'll have to keep in mind for next time and I may vary the recipes a little but other than that, it was a resounding sucess! Awesomes!  ;D

I'll add some pics later when i get the chance.

I take my hat off to you Dave, for a first attempt you've done yourself proud. Don't worry about the errors, it's all part of the learning curve, some important lessons are to be had by making mistakes.

Don't worry about the rice and popadoms etc., we've all done it.

I look forward to your pics.

Cheers
Malc.

All in All a good job well done Dave,
As long as you have learned along the way, thats a bonus,
As Axe said we all make a few mistakes,
And buying pop's and naan, or microwave rice is not wrong, just forward planning ;D

HS

Hi

Great first effort to say the least! - can't wait to see the pictures of your efforts. Well done

Cheers

Unfortunately the actual curry shots didn't work 

However I did manage to get three shots of the prep work just before I started knocking them up.


The cheapo Ikea pan, pot of base sauce, and my chopping board with onion and coriander.


Evidence! A packet of Papadoms and a bag of Asda pilau rice. Hey ho. Also a bowl of Dipuraja1's recipe onion chutney. Very nice indeed, the mint sauce made all the difference! Oh and the obligatory can of lager!


Precooked vegetables, lamb and chicken. Also my newly acquired box of Methi leaves. I was amazed at the fragrance they produce when they're in the pan, totally different to the musty, almost tea like odour of them fresh out of the box.

Sorry I couldn't get the shots of the actual curries to work, but as I'm sure you've guessed, I'll be doing this again, very soon!

Wow sounds like a proper curry feast glad you and your family enjoyed it.

I would only make 2 observations if I may  - try coconut milk powder instead of desiccated (or a mix of both) in the korma. It is a more subtle, less intrusive flavour/texture. Secondly I find Dhansak really benefits from a sweet/sour mix so maybe try some lemon juice & sugar it works beautifully with smokey lentils.

Keep on currying!

Thanks very much for the advice! I think you're right, one thing I noticed about the dessicated coconut, is that it gave the curry a slightly "gritty" texture. Didn't bother anyone, but I noticed it.
With regards to the dansak, any ideas on quanities of lemon juice and sugar? or is it add to taste?

Missed this the first time round - nice pictures ootini.

Nice crafty can of Stella Artois 4 in there too