You can’t beat a good spicy curry, can you? All those Indian spices and aromas taking you to some esoteric place just outside of Delhi, conjuring up mysticism, crowded marketplaces, and olde world charm. Or they just bring you smackdown to earth to the local Raj Indian takeaway on High Street where you pay in pounds or dollars, not rupees.
“Where’s the curry menu?”, you excitedly ask, while going through the kitchen draws, taste buds drooling to the array of curry dishes to choose from. You know that once you get your hands on that greasy-stained menu, the fun begins.
Found it!
You go straight to the rogan josh section, but no sooner than doing so, you’re jumping across the page to the tikka masalas: “tandoori oven-baked chicken” sounds delicious, but still your eyes dance all over and land on the kormas. Yes, this is the one. A creamy chicken korma that will…Nope, you’re off again. A kid in a candy store. This time it’s the appetizers. Now it’s getting serious if appetizers are involved. No more bullshit. You’re starting to build an intense Indian takeaway experience that’s just a quick ten-minute drive away. No time to lose.
What is curry anyway?
Hello Wikipedia: “Curry is a variety of dishes originating in the Indian subcontinent that use a complex combination of spices or herbs, usually including turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, and fresh or dried chilies”.
Add these aromatic gems with tomatoes, garlic, basmati rice, and chicken, beef, or pork, and you’ll be talking about a splendid curry for days, if not weeks. No more boring conversations with friends about how work is going, or what’s going on for the weekend. Mention you had an Indian curry for dinner last night and you’ll be the center of attention as a barrage of questions demand to be answered:
“What did you order”?
“Where did you order from”?
“Did you have nan bread with that”?
“I could do with an onion bajji right now”.
“You can’t beat a good chicken tikka masala”.
“How is their vindaloo? Is it hot? As in screaming hot”?
“Do they give you a lot of rice”?
“How much was it”?
“I can’t do spicy”.
“That’s why I’m smelling garlic this morning”.
“How many onion bajji’s do you get”?
“Your ass is going to be on fire later today when you take a dump”.
As said, the utmost respect.
The next best thing to having an authentic Indian takeaway is making your own curry at home, especially when it turns out so perfectly spiced and delicious that the family believes you could bravely shout “Bollocks!” to Gordon Ramsey and get away with it. So after much trial and error, below is what I consider to be my masterpiece of the perfect chicken curry. It’s hot. On scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 7 for spiciness. Every homemade curry will be different, so add/take away as you please based on what you believe will enhance your curry experience.
First things first: It has to be a weekend when making curry. Coming home from a long busy day at the office on a Tuesday evening and spontaneously deciding to make a curry right there and then is just asking for trouble. It’ll be rushed and won’t have time to ‘sit’. There may be an authentic ingredient you don’t have in your pantry. Saturdays or Sundays are the curry holidays (at a push, Friday evenings too). They’re lazy days for chores and errands, and perfect for taking your time making a good curry considering it may take a few hours starting the preparations to actually eating it, so take that Saturday late morning and get working on your amazing homemade masterpiece. If you’re missing a spice, you can always send one of the kids to the store to pick it up as you continue with the preparations.
Ingredients: 3-4 chicken breasts cut into strips
1 large onion
6 cloves of garlic
3-inch stick of fresh ginger root (peeled)
3-4 red chilies
6-8 fresh skinless/blanched tomatoes
2 (heaped) tablespoons of curry powder
1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper (reduce to 1 teaspoon if you
want it milder, but no wimping out on me!)
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of coriander
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
Squeeze of half a lemon
Coarse sea salt & ground pepper
Basmati rice
First, slice the onion in half and put one half to the side. The remaining half you’ll put into a blender along with the peeled ginger root, 6 cloves of garlic, the red chilies, and a splash of water. Blend to a paste, but not where it’s completely liquefied.
Next, take a large frying pan with a little oil (olive, vegetable, corn – your preference), and heat to medium. Slice and dice the remaining half onion and add to frying pan.
Next, add the cut-up chicken (or beef or pork) and fry with the onions until browned.
Next, add the blended mixture and stir it into the frying pan.
Reduce the heat to low for about 5 minutes allowing the meat to absorb all the deliciousness that’s going on in the frying pan.
Next, put the skinless/blanched tomatoes into the blender and blend until chunky (not liquefied – you want many solid chunks of tomatoes in the curry sauce). You could also use tinned stewed tomatoes if no fresh tomatoes are on hand.
Add the tomatoes to the frying pan and stir.
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Have a taste test.
Now the fun starts by adding the spices! Add all of them: The curry powder, cumin, garam masala, etc. Put them all in the frying pan and stir, stir, stir.
Wonderful and amazing smells will begin to materialize before your very nose. At this stage, go ahead and add a few cups of water if the mixture seems too thick/heavy, and continue to stir.
Have a taste test.
Add the squeezed lemon juice.
Have a taste test.
Now let that cook at a nice low heat for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, go ahead and have a taste test.
How is it? Needs a little more salt? Needs a little more water. Maybe another tablespoon of curry powder?
Once you’re happy with how it tastes, turn off the heat and let it sit (covered) on top of the stove for a good hour. Let the chicken absorb all those wonderful spices and tomato juices.
As the end of the hour approaches, start the basmati rice according to the package instructions.
Just as the rice is almost done, put the curry back on to medium-low heat until you see it slowly bubbling again. Stir a few times, then switch off.
Go on, have a quick taste test while you’re at it.
You have now become the curry king/queen of your household. Your amazing curry dish will be talked about for weeks to come. It may even be passed down from generation to generation.