How to Create a Quick Curry Recipe

Image by katsuma via Flickr

Cumin. It has to be my favourite spice. The taste and the aroma. Have you ever heated cumin seeds in a dry pan and let them roast? The scent is fantastic and transports me to far off lands with ancient tongues and otherworldly flavours. Oh the romance of it all.

The other scent that I love is frying onions. Sweet, white onions that fill the kitchen with a most familiar smell. So if I put the two together I start to get the subtle hint of that most famous cuisine; Indian. So I fry the onions in ghee, a clarified butter that heats at a high temperature yet will not burn. This adds a most delicious flavour to the onions. After they have softened and exposed their sweetness I then add the cumin. If you do roast then grind the whole seeds the effect is fantastic. Yet already ground seeds will work well.

So the cumin is being turned into the onions, releasing its earthy taste. I then add some coriander seed, a little turmeric for colour and digestion, some garam masala, salt,pepper, chopped garlic, grated fresh ginger and chillies. Now garam masala is a pre- mixed collection of spices that seems to be unique to the region it is used and the chef using it. It literally means “hot spice” ,hot as in temperature, and can include mace, cinnamon, bay, nutmeg, pepper and so on. You can try various types to find the one that suits you or you can develop your own unique recipe.

Now, you can use chili powder or you can use actual chillies. The seeds contain the heat so watch out. Oh and please wash your hands after chopping them, or use food preparation gloves. Do not rub your eyes immediately afterwards as I once did! The other spice that I always use is cinnamon. For some reason this really adds an earthy sweetness to the dish that reminds me again of far off lands, exotic markets, oh and Christmas as well!

It is now that I add the meat or vegetables that I will use as the basis for the meal. If meat, I’ll brown in the pan then add a little tomato purée, stir in, then add a little water to create a paste. You can if you wish add chopped tomatoes as well and stock. I make sure there is enough liquid to provide a sauce but not too much that it waters it all down. Allow to simmer and serve with rice, lentils, bread or anything else that you desire.

Now as far as quantities go, I never measure my spices. I kind of improvise with amounts and types of spice used. One day lots of chillies and tomatoes, the next day less chili and natural yoghurt stirred in towards the end. Coconut milk also works well.

Curry itself is just a generic term. It could relate to the Tamil word “kari” which means sauce. So you can see that this is a sauce recipe. Tonight I fancy a chicken “sauce”! To make it this way is authentic; because it is authentic to me. You put your whole self into the cooking and collect your spices from around your kitchen rather than using a generic curry powder. This colour of turmeric on my hands, the scent on my fingers of garlic and ginger, the aroma of heated cumin wafting through the house.

It’s almost a shame to eat it! Almost.