Topic: Am I cooking this incorrectly?

[carpetfilter]

I've been attempting to cook curries for about 2 years. My friends think my curries are great, but I'm not really that happy with them. I've been working from recipes I found online as well as Camellia Panjabi's book, "50 great curries of India". What I've been doing is cooking mostly basic chicken curries and madras style curries (usually with coconut milk, but sometimes with yogurt).

I buy my spices whole when possible, then roast and grind them in a coffee grinder. I use ghee, brown my onions until dark, then add garlic and ginger puree (made from fresh garlic and ginger) along with fresh red chilies (I can't find green ones or dried red ones). After that, I add the ground spices, cook for about 1 min, then add tomato puree that I make with a hand blender at a ratio of about 3 small tomatoes to 1 large onion. Sometimes I simmer this for an hour, sometimes I serve it as soon as the chicken is cooked. The spices I use change on a seemingly weekly basis, but I always use tumeric, cumin, coriander, and home made garam masala. Just today I used some paprika, which gave a nice color to the dish, so I'll probably stick with that from now on. In the past I've experimented with fenugreek, fennel, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, green and black cardamom, clove, and more I have forgotten. Most of these I still put in the garam masala, but that gets used in fairly small amounts.

What I've been finding is that generally my curries lack the flavors I expect, and the tomato dominates. It tastes like a slightly spicy tomato sauce, and the spiciness comes from the chilies more than anything else.

So, I am beginning to wonder, maybe the problem is my expectations? My idea of what Indian food should taste like comes from restaurants, and I wonder if they are perhaps not doing things in the way that most Indian cooks would recommend, but rather catering to western expectations. Their curries tend to be sweeter and saltier. Probably lots of MSG-based chicken stock. But I was kind of hoping that the spices would do the work and taste as awesome as they smell... but so far, I've managed only mediocre results.

Thoughts?

[PaulP]

Hi Carpetfilter,

A lot of us on this forum started off using traditional Indian cookbooks many years ago and were surprised to find that the dishes produced tasted nothing like our British Indian restaurants and takeaways.

That's what this forum is all about. I've also got the 50 greatest curries cookbook and I've made a couple of dishes but they did not taste BIR at all. I don't think MSG plays much of a part in this type of food either.

Have a look around the forum. The curries here are based on the production of a base sauce. Using the base sauce the final curries can usually be produced in less than 10 minutes.

Cheers,

Paul

[colin grigson]

Good advice there Paul . I would recommend you start with CA's ( Cory Ander ) base and recipes initially since you'll get a great BIR curry without having to buy stacks of stuff and the recipes are pretty much foolproof too as long as you follow it precisely.... good luck whatever you do !!   

[carpetfilter]

Thanks for the advice!

I'm in Canada, so it took me a while to figure out what "BIR" was. I came here because I figured that any nation responsible for Red Dwarf, wherein the main character eats nothing but curries, ought to know what it's doing when it comes to making curries! I'm sure I will not be disappointed.

I'll try making the base sauce for sure. I haven't done this yet because I usually share a freezer with three room-mates, and I usually use up my portion very quickly. But this summer I've got two room mates that live off of takeout food, so the freezer is all mine. For now anyway.

Once I have the base sauce, I'm guessing I can still make good use of my traditional Indian cookbooks to get ideas about what to add to this sauce - additional spices, herbs, etc.

[Ian S.]

I came here because I figured that any nation responsible for Red Dwarf, wherein the main character eats nothing but curries, ought to know what it's doing when it comes to making curries!

Looking forward to your recipe for Shami Kebab Diablo! Peterson was in sick bay for a week ... ;D

Once I have the base sauce, I'm guessing I can still make good use of my traditional Indian cookbooks to get ideas about what to add to this sauce - additional spices, herbs, etc.

Yes, I've done something similar. I would recommend picking a base sauce and a finished dish by the same author on here to start with, though, just to see the process through and get a grip on how it all comes together.

Do post your results and photos of your dishes, if you can. 

I don't post much on here, but I couldn't let the Red Dwarf reference go.  ;D

Have fun, and welcome to CR0.

Ian
--

[ifindforu]

I've been attempting to cook curries for about 2 years. My friends think my curries are great, but I'm not really that happy with them. I've been working from recipes I found online as well as Camellia Panjabi's book, "50 great curries of India". What I've been doing is cooking mostly basic chicken curries and madras style curries (usually with coconut milk, but sometimes with yogurt).

I buy my spices whole when possible, then roast and grind them in a coffee grinder. I use ghee, brown my onions until dark, then add garlic and ginger puree (made from fresh garlic and ginger) along with fresh red chilies (I can't find green ones or dried red ones). After that, I add the ground spices, cook for about 1 min, then add tomato puree that I make with a hand blender at a ratio of about 3 small tomatoes to 1 large onion. Sometimes I simmer this for an hour, sometimes I serve it as soon as the chicken is cooked. The spices I use change on a seemingly weekly basis, but I always use tumeric, cumin, coriander, and home made garam masala. Just today I used some paprika, which gave a nice color to the dish, so I'll probably stick with that from now on. In the past I've experimented with fenugreek, fennel, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, green and black cardamom, clove, and more I have forgotten. Most of these I still put in the garam masala, but that gets used in fairly small amounts.

What I've been finding is that generally my curries lack the flavors I expect, and the tomato dominates. It tastes like a slightly spicy tomato sauce, and the spiciness comes from the chilies more than anything else.

So, I am beginning to wonder, maybe the problem is my expectations? My idea of what Indian food should taste like comes from restaurants, and I wonder if they are perhaps not doing things in the way that most Indian cooks would recommend, but rather catering to western expectations. Their curries tend to be sweeter and saltier. Probably lots of MSG-based chicken stock. But I was kind of hoping that the spices would do the work and taste as awesome as they smell... but so far, I've managed only mediocre results.

Thoughts?

Iwork in a take away and definitly no MSG

[JerryM]

Carpetfilter,

it really depends on what type of curry is being aimed at. i know nothing of traditional and how i cook (aimed at BIR) is totally different to what's described.

there are several existing posts which would help. just ask us all specific questions and take it a step at a time.

on msg for me it's a no. i must admit i find it very suprising that's it's a no as i often get real thirst after a curry but this does depend on the place. some i don't and i find these produce the best curry. there is a lot of salt in each potion (at least 0.75tsp) and this helps muddy the water on the thirst observation. i've only tried adding msg at dish frying. adding to base is another option but i've never felt it worth a try.