Topic: New Member & Cooking Novice!

[TwoBadMice]

Hi

Quick and brief intro - I'm 28 Male from Cumbria

I'm new to cooking in a big way!

Ive never cooked a curry before so go easy

I'm Planning on making the other half a simple but nice and tasty curry tonight - She doesn't unlike me like them Hot so I'm thinking a Tikka Massala?

I'm going shopping for Ingredients this afternoon and i want to suprise her with some newly acquired cooking skills!

Ive had a quick look through the forums but many of the dish's seem a little complex for me - Could somebody give me any pointers/basic recipes for making a CTM??

Many thanks

Darren

[Chilli Prawn]

Hi TBM and welcome to this madhouse.  I se you are from one of my favourite parts of the country!  Anyway, and the risk of being shouted at for promoting non-Bir curries, here goes.

I jar of Tikka Paste, Ferns is the best and Pataks is the last I would use, so it depends where you live/shop.
Two or three whole boned chicken breasts (or bone a fresh chicken yourself)
! tin of Heinz tomato soup
A jar of Scwartz or Barts Methi (fenugreek leaves)
1 medium Onion, 1 inch fresh ginger (optional), 1 dry whole chilli, 2 cloves Fresh garlic. (or you can use a jar of Garlic & Ginger paste).  Plain yoghurt, Tomato paste, Lemon Juice.  Salt, Black pepper, sugar.

Cut the chicken in to 2 inch cubes and add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice and two teaspoons of salt.  Rub it all in and leave to marinate in the fridge for about thrirty minutes.

Now add a teaspoon of driend methi leaves and two teaspoons of Tikka paste, rub well in and return to the fridge to marinate fior as long as you can, but at least half an hour.

Chop/mince/grate the onion, ginger, garlic and a little salt and whole dry chilli.  Fry gently in vegetable oil (not Olive) until the onions go translucent and slightly golden.  You can add a green cardamom pod if you wish to give it an aroma.

Drain the onions but keep the oil.  Fry the chicken pieces in the very hot oil until they start to just catch (brown spots).  Add a teaspoon of tomato paste mixed with half its volume of water, and stir in.  Reduce the heat and return the onions etc., to the pan. When everthing is back at the same heat add one tablespoon of yoghurt and rapidly stir it in (to stop curdling).  When the oil rises add anothe tablespoon of youghurt and do the same.  Add tomatoe soup until you have the texture and consistency you want.

Add more salt (if needed), a little black pepper (optional) and sugar to get the sweetness you require.  Don't forget the soup contains a lot of sugar.  Cook fo a few minute longer until the Chicken is cooked.  Add as much cream as you wish.  And that is it.

Prep time about 20 mins (excluding marinating time)
Cooking time about 20 mins in all

Bon Appetite

CP

[Cory Ander]

Welcome Darren,  

This CTM is reasonably easy to make and has been received well:   http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=539.msg4917#msg4917

Suggestions:

If you don't wish to go to the hastle of making a curry base today, I suggest you simply add a finely chopped (medium) onion instead.  Fry it, until soft and golden, before adding the garlic and ginger purees.

Using a curry base would give better results though, but it takes some time to make....here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=2.0

For the purees, either puree your own fresh garlic (say 4 cloves) and ginger (say 1 inch cube), with a little vegetable oil, to make a fine puree.  Otherwise, simply use pre-bottled stuff.

You can pre-cook chicken tikkas, beforehand, as detailed here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=874.0

Otherwise simply add uncooked, cubed, skinless, boneless, chicken breasts, after you've added the spices and pastes, and fry them for a few minutes, until cooked (just ensure that, before you serve, the chicken breasts are cooked white right through).  

If you can't get "tandoori masala" (i.e. tandoori curry powder) you can use a couple of tablespoons of something like "Pataks" bottled tandoori or tikka paste (available in most supermarkets near you! ).

"spice mix" is as follows:

8 parts coriander powder
7 parts tumeric powder
5 parts cumin powder
4 parts curry powder
4 parts paprika (optional)

Otherwise, simply use any decent mild/medium curry powder or paste instead.

Take it very easy on the chilli powder, or omit it altogether.  CTMs shouldn't really have any chilli in them.

You can use coconut powder (say 2-4 tbsp), or tinned creamed coconut (say 2-4 tbsp) instead of the creamed coconut block, if you prefer.

Get the consistency of the sauce right by adding additional cream, coconut cream, milk and/or evaporated milk.

Personally, I would add more sugar.....so add to taste!

For rice, try here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1180.0

or here:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=498.0

Hope this helps!

Good luck!

[Cory Ander]

Blimey CP!    How's THAT for service!  2 for the price of 1!  ;D

[Chilli Prawn]

I was just thinking the same Cory.    I like yours though as it was a much more simple approach.  Thanks mate, it is hard being anal sometimes  ;D ;D ;D

CP

[Ashes]

Hi TwoBadMice, welcome to cr0!

Your basic CTM needs a deal of preparation, this will take time at the start as you will need to create a base sauce (for a proper restaurant curry). But after that, the process should go pretty quickly.

CTM is an easy curry to create but it will take time, if its done properly. I presume you will use Chicken for your "tikka masala" which you will need to marinade in the fridge for a while (24hrs is optimal) but 30 mins is absolute minimum i would suggest.

A quicker version if you dont want to go to the trouble of skewering the meat would be to fry the chicken directly in the frying pan. You could follow an authentic recipe for basic a chicken curry, onions, garlic and ginger and add the curry spice mix and CTM spices, some almonds and extra tomato-pasata , lick of cream and some fresh coriander.

An authentic curry would probably save you alot of time, remember you will probably want to make some rice (basmati) to go with it . You could always buy some nan or other breads from the supermarket if you havent the time to make your own.

If you are interested in making a restaurant curry then take some time out and make up a few liters of base sauce which you can freeze in individual cartons.. your basic curry shouldnt take longer than it takes to cook the rice then but the base sauce should take you over an hour to chop up the ingrediences, boil them and puree them.

A good starting base sauce is something like Kris Dhillions for the beginner, its very simple to make but it does stink the place out and it doesnt have the depth of flavour some of the other curry sauces have on this site.

I have heard some good things about Curry Kings CTM if you want a "proper" curry but there are plenty to choose from!!

Good Luck! Remember a long journey starts with the first onion! Old chinese saying (unquote) 

Ashes

Damn you guys are quick, 2 posts before i got this one off S;

[Cory Ander]

Crikey!    Not two, but THREE for the price of one!!!  ;D

Poor bugger's probably totally confused now! 

Just shout if you need some explaining Darren!  ;D

[Ashes]

You can make CTM so many different ways..  what the restaurant CTM?s actually have in common is the colour, the cream/yogurt, sweetness and sometimes nuttiness. It is way down my list of favourite curries but it probably is Britains favourite curry.

Enjoy!

Ashes

[Ashes]

LOL Cory  ;D

[Chilli Prawn]

 ;D ;D ;D