Curry anyone??? Green, red, yellow????

[BB]

All this talk of beans and food in general got me thinking of curry. I have only had curry perhaps three times in my life until a trip to Australia last year. Curries seem to be big over there and I must say, I had some of the best food ever from the marvelous cooks we encountered. Plus, a little hole in the wall ethnic resturaunt made the absolute best curry.........it's almost an addiction now!

So, one back in the states, I started on a curry kick. While I've made some pretty tasty dishes, I can't seem to find the right mix to satisfy's my taste buds. My wife has really taken a shine to curries too, but she can't handle the spice like I can, so I have to tame it down a bit for her sake.

My question is, does anyone have curry secrets they want to share? I'd love to make my own ( or find some good natural ones ) for health reasons and keep the preservatives out. Any suggestions, recipies, ideas, etc would be greatly appreciated.

[kludge]

My curry secret? Live in Minneapolis/St Paul. We have more southeast Asian folks per capita than any other city in the US, which means we have a gazillion wonderful Thai restaurants. The best curry in town, though, goes to "Singapore Chinese Cuisine" in Maplewood (a St Paul suburb), which is run by ethnic Chinese from Malaysia. Wonderful stuff! My runner-up curry is Harry Singh's, which is Caribbean.

I guess that's one important aspect... "curry" means a lot of different things, depending on where it's from. Thai, Indian, Malaysian, and Caribbean curries are all very different. And the GOOD stuff relies on ingredients not available in any ordinary grocery store, and techniques passed down via family and tradition rather than recipes.

[klasaine]

I had Thai yellow curry with roast duck last night. I love all the colors of curry. Don't know how to make it though.

[BB]

Originally Posted by kludge

I guess that's one important aspect... "curry" means a lot of different things, depending on where it's from. Thai, Indian, Malaysian, and Caribbean curries are all very different. And the GOOD stuff relies on ingredients not available in any ordinary grocery store, and techniques passed down via family and tradition rather than recipes.

Yes, that is very true! All sorts of various ethnicites when it comes to curry....and to be quite honest, I don't know which is which! I do know the best I had in Aussie land was from a small Thai resturaunt.

We are lucky to have several amazing Asian stores nearby, so I guess I best hit the aisles, ask some shoppers and experement to see what I can come up with.

I just love the burst of flavors from fresh, lovingly prepared ethnic food. I want to encorporate some new ways of cooking this year to take advantage of the flavors and help the old love handles go bye-bye!

[meyekel]

for a quick and easy curry recipe I buy the Thai Kitchen curry bottles at the supermarket. They have a red and a green ( I mainly use the green). on the back label they have a recipe that basically calls for 2 tablespoons paste, 1 can of coconut milk, fish sauce, veggies and a meat or tofu. it takes all of about 20 minutes to prep and cook (except if you use tofu, then the prep time goes up a little). Get yourself a microwave rice cooker and in half an hour you have enough food to feed about 6-8 people. I made it for a party we had and everybody commented on how good it tasted and how it was better than most restaurants.

Now my mom got some of the best ever curry powder when she went home to Malaysia and brought a ziploc bag back for me. I keep it triple ziploc'd to keep in that aroma it is that pungent. I only break out those goods for special dinners.

[Steveinthesticks]

Originally Posted by meyekel

for a quick and easy curry recipe I buy the Thai Kitchen curry bottles at the supermarket. They have a red and a green ( I mainly use the green). on the back label they have a recipe that basically calls for 2 tablespoons paste, 1 can of coconut milk, fish sauce, veggies and a meat or tofu. it takes all of about 20 minutes to prep and cook (except if you use tofu, then the prep time goes up a little)

Thai curry really is quick and easy, huge flavor bang for the buck!

I buy the Mae Ploy brand paste in plastic tubs at the Asian supermarket. I like the Panang Curry the best. My girlfiend preferred the red curry. Stir fry a mix of meat & veggies you like, then add the paste/coconut milk mix and simmer a few minutes till you get a sauce and serve. Add the paste slowly until you get a feel for the heat. You can use frozen stir fry veggie mix if you're really pressed for time.

I really like the little round green Thai eggplants in mine when I can find them. When I was a broke college student I made a lot of red curry with venison ground meat, was really popular on camping trips warmed you from the inside.

If you can find Kaffir lime leaves in the freezer at your local Asian market, just a few will add a nice flavor to the curry.

Indian style curry is doable and not difficult but you end up buying a lot of different spices just to get started.

Hope this gets you going the right direction

[Steveinthesticks]

I have got a few recipes here:

http://thaifood.tribe.net/

The Indian food tribe is also a great source for curry and spice food recipes

Steve

[goldtopper]

Originally Posted by kludge

My curry secret? Live in Minneapolis/St Paul. We have more southeast Asian folks per capita than any other city in the US, which means we have a gazillion wonderful Thai restaurants. The best curry in town, though, goes to "Singapore Chinese Cuisine" in Maplewood (a St Paul suburb), which is run by ethnic Chinese from Malaysia. Wonderful stuff! My runner-up curry is Harry Singh's, which is Caribbean.

I guess that's one important aspect... "curry" means a lot of different things, depending on where it's from. Thai, Indian, Malaysian, and Caribbean curries are all very different. And the GOOD stuff relies on ingredients not available in any ordinary grocery store, and techniques passed down via family and tradition rather than recipes.

Singapore is closed now- I live 3 miles from it

For vietnamese and thai curries, Ma Pla brand is good paste, Saute meat and veg's add paste, coconut milk, fish sauce and then fresh basil right at the end.
For Indian curries- I saute an equal amount of onions and meat in ghee (clarified butter). When 1/2 done, add a ton of a quality curry powder, saute 2 minutes; add a little water or chicken broth to thin it out, then as much red pepper as you can stand. I finish it with a little cocnut milk and a ton of chopped cilantro.

[BritishBluesBoy]

The only thing missing from New York is really good Indian food like I miss so terribly from back home in the UK... There are plenty of Indian restaurants, just nowhere (that I have been able to find - and I've been looking!) as good as my favorites in London...

[Seanycaster]

I had South Indian Garlic Chilli Chicken Tikka tonight. Loooaaaads of garlic in it. Reckon I'll be left well alone at work tomorrow.

[studio1087]

I love red or yellow curry. I would eat this until it came out of my ears.

Simple Beef Curry !

Ingredients
Pound of beef, cubed
half of onion, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 cups of water
3 death defying hot chillis
3 tbs curry powder
1tbs of paprika powder
1 cup of coconut milk
salt & white pepper to taste

Directions
cook beef for 30 mins
saute onion with low heat until soft, caramelized and add garlic stir until fragant
add the rest of the ingredients, cook for another 30 mins
taste, if beef is tender, serve

[Nick JD]

It's easy to make your own curry (an English word! Not Indian!) but if you want a truly outstanding flavour - you need to use FRESH ingredients.

Go to your local Asian supermarket and get (as a whole seed/root/fresh):

Coriander Seeds
Cumin Seeds
Fenugreek Seeds
Turmeric
Cloves
Garlic
Curry Leaves
Fennel Seeds
Ginger
Chillies
Red Pepper
Black Pepper
Anise
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Dill Seed
Nutmeg
White Pepper

If you are thinking Indian, add onion, garlic, ghee (clarified butter), water and tomato paste to make the sauce. In a dry frying pan add a combination of spices from the list above. It's fun - just sniff and add. Toast them for a minute or two to release their flavours and then mash them up in a mortar and pestle or a blender. Add them to the sauce.

You'll have a great curry nine times out of ten. Some things like corriander seeds are mild so you can go hard, but we all know that chili burns twice if you go overboard.

Thai/Malay/Indo go for the same basic ingredients as Indian but with a "Sweet/Sour/Spicey/Salty" blend. Use tamarind, palm sugar, fish or oyster sauce and Chili - often with coconut cream. Steer clear of the dominant Indian spices like cumin for East Asian curries.

The fun part is mixing it all yourself without a recipe. After a year you'll have your own great recipes and absolutely no internal parasites!

[BB]

Thanks guys! Keep em coming. I've made most of the recepies listed so far and look forward to following NickDs info for making my own. I'll hit the Asian markets for the tube paste curry and give that a try. I've been using the Golden Curry brand, ( big ol solid block you cut off ) but again....want to get away from the preservatives. I found an all natural green curry in a jar. Pretty good, but a bit different flavor than I'm looking ( or tasting ) for. Coconut milk is great. I fried the curry last night with a bit of coconut cream to release the aromatics. I appreciate all the info from you curry experts! Thanks a bunch!

[Clive Hugh]

My family is from British India, I'm going to Rajasthan for 3 weeks next month so it will be interesting to compare curry (takari). Our standard that we use for just about everything, omitting the yoghurt and substituting coconut milk for prawn, crab or lobster curries is -
2lb chicken
one onion, in the blender
dollop of garlic
dollop ginger
1 tsp. tumeric
11/2 tsp garam masala
11/2 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 chilli powder (to your taste)
small tub natural yoghurt
2x400 gm cans tomato

chop up the chicken (we skin ours for low fat curry)
blend the garlic, ginger and onion,
fry em in olive oil (or what you like)
when the onion goes opaque add spices & salt and fry for about 5 mins
add yoghurt and reduce slightly, I reduce till I can draw the wooden spoon accross the bottom of the pan and see the metal before it covers up again
Add the blended tomato and bring up to simmer heat.
Then I get lazy, I put the chicken into a large glass/pyrex deep dish, pour the liquid over it, give it a stir, chuck it in the microwave on 50% for 40 minutes (this will vary with your microwave)
At the end of this I pour off enough of the liquid with the fat on top of it and put that into the freezer, when it has set I can scrape all the fat off and leave the sauce. We try to have as little fat in our diet as possible due to heart problems.
This is the basis as I said but you can add spices like cumin, coriander black mustard seeds too if you feel like it.
Clive

[casterway]

Look into Butter Chicken. It will change your life.

[BB]

Thanks Clive....can't wait to try that. Casterway, did a google of butter chicken. Thanks! I'll give that bad boy a shot too.

I've always been into herbs and spices for adding flavor without fat, ( sound like a lean cusine commercial! ) and I find it fascinating while many spices are the same from ethnicity to ethnicity, it's the different ones that set the tone for the different taste from country to country.

[PMC70]

If you can find it, There's a brand of pre made curry paste you can buy that's really good stuff. It's called Patak's. I use the Madras paste. Great flavour.

You just take about a tablespoon of the stuff, mix it with some water, and add it to whatever you're making.

Nick JD...I've got to try that sometime. Looks like fun, and while the pre made stuff is good, I'll bet there will be no going back once someone tries that recipe. Cool stuff!

[Paul in Colorado]

We have a world class Indian Restaurant called (what else?) The Taj Mahal here in Fort Collins. After it opened I gave up on making my own. We took Ed Gerhard there after a show and he made sure he went back the next day. He travels the world and said it was one of the best Indian Restaurants he'd ever eaten in.

Hmmm... I might have to check out the lunch buffet tomorrow...

[TeleConvert]

If you want to 'cheat' a little, there are some excellent curry pastes which can be very useful. Find an asian grocery. All you need is the paste, a can of coconut milk and whatever meat and/or veggies you want to use.

Red Curry is my favorite.

You can also find all kinds of excellent recipes at epicurious.com. :)