“The Big 8 - The only curry recipes you’ll ever need!” - Part 2/8
I can remember my first “proper” curry - a chicken madras in Khan’s Balti House in Donnybrook about 15 years ago. Strange I know, but I tend to remember things like that. I’ve been smitten with Indian food ever since, but some time ago I realised that restaurant style food is difficult to achieve at home. You need a lot of time and vast amounts of ghee, a type of clarified butter. You should also let your food rest overnight before serving; this allows the flavours to mature and the spices to mellow and mingle.
Happily, some restaurant dishes produce better results at home than others. This korma is the perfect example - it’s reminiscent of the restaurant version but includes fresh green chillis, dried fruits and toasted nuts. It tastes spectacular and it’s very quick and easy to cook. Serve with pilau rice and naan bread.
Ingredients
- 4 free-range skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
- 2 medium onions, chopped (about 200g)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- thumb-size piece of ginger, minced
- 2 tsp curry powder (good quality)
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 150ml single cream
- 65g creamed coconut
- 4 tbsp ground almonds
- 5 tbsp sultanas
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1-2 fresh green chilli peppers, sliced
- 2 tsp garam masala (to taste)
- fresh coriander
- 5 tbsp flaked almonds, toasted
- 2 tbsp flaked coconut, toasted (optional)
Method
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a heavy saucepan and add a knob of butter. Fry the onion gently for about 10 minutes until it’s well caramelised. At this point, add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Add the dried spices and stir-fry for another minute.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and add 2 cups of cold water. Whizz the mixture with a stick blender until it’s completely smooth.
- Add the chicken pieces and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
- Add the cream, ground almonds, sultanas and dissolve the creamed coconut then simmer gently for another 5 minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and add a little extra sugar if you think it needs it. Stir through the garam masala and fresh coriander. Garnish with flaked almonds and toasted coconut, if using. Serve.
Serves 4.
Salsa verde makes a great accompaniment to fish or chicken. Absolutely addictive. Just blitz the following ingredients (apart from the grain mustard) in a food processor and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Ingredients
- ½ clove garlic
- 1 tbsp capers
- 2 handfuls flat-leaf parsley
- 1 handful fresh mint
- 1 handful fresh basil
- juice of ½ lemon
- extra-virgin olive oil (enough to give a sauce consistency)
- 2 tsp grain mustard
There’s a particular type of foodie out there who has a bizarre fascination with replicating brand name products at home. I can kind of understand this fascination - I was overjoyed when I chucked some dried oregano into garlic butter and stumbled on what I consider to be a dead ringer for “Pizza Hut” garlic bread.
If you’re sad like me and interested in researching this topic further, check out Top Secret Recipes. It’s a database of recipes for (mostly American) brand name foods. If you’re really insane, you might be interested in following this guy’s mind-bogglingly detailed instructions for reproducing a Big Mac!
I’m currently going through a phase of trying to eliminate as many processed foods from my diet as possible, plus we all know that homemade tastes better anyway. Here then, is my take on Old El Paso’s Fajita Spice mix. I’m not ashamed to say that this product and I go back a long way. Unlike some of the fajita spice preparations available, this one has a deep smoky flavour which I really like. The smokiness in this recipe is provided by the chipotle chili powder. Use Mexican oregano if you have it, but the regular one will do fine.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp oregano (preferably the Mexican variety)
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried onion powder
- 1 tsp dried garlic powder
- 1 tsp chipotle chilli powder
Mix together the ingredients and store in an airtight jar. This recipe makes about 5 tablespoons of spice mix. I like to use 2 tablespoons when I’m frying chicken and vegetables for 2 people as I like it quite spicy, but you can use more or less. Just hard fry some boneless chicken fillet until it just starts to blacken in patches, then add your vegetables: onions, peppers etc. Now add 2 tablespoons of spice mix and stir-fry for a few minutes until the vegetables and chicken are cooked through. Add a splash of water if you think the spices are starting to burn. I like to serve this in the (cough!) traditional manner with flour tortillas, lettuce, fresh tomato salsa and sour cream.
And you know the best thing? There’s not an ounce of maltodextrin, hydrolyzed soy protein, silicon dioxide, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, sulfiting agents or ethoxyquin in sight. Ay caramba!
I like to cook without resorting to looking up recipes. As such, I tend to adapt all of my soup recipes to use similar amounts. Nearly all of my soup recipes use one litre of stock as standard and most start off by frying onions, celery and garlic. I’ve given my own Tom Kha Gai soup a bit of a Malaysian makeover using some inspiration from Gordon Ramsay’s Malaysian Curry recipe (from his “Sunday Lunch” book. There’s also a good laksa recipe in Nigel Slater’s “Appetite“). I’ve used a red curry paste here and upped the spicing. Try it, it’s really good.
Ingredients
- 2 free-range chicken breast fillets
- 750ml chicken stock (cube is fine)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 small courgette, chopped
- 2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- piece of cinnamon stick, 3 or 4 cm
- 2 star anise
- 400ml can coconut milk
- 3 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1-2 limes, juiced
- 1 cup frozen peas
- noodles, enough for 2 people
- 1 red chilli pepper, thinly sliced
- fresh coriander
- fresh basil
Method
- Cook your noodles according to the instructions on the packet and refresh in cold water, then set aside.
- Bring the chicken stock to the boil, then add the whole chicken breasts. Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat and leave to simmer very gently for about 10 minutes while you get on with making the rest of the soup. I find cooking the chicken fillets whole like this gives the meat a softer and more satisfying texture.
- Heat some oil in a heavy saucepan and stir-fry the onion and courgette for about 3 minutes, until they’re just starting to colour.
- Add the red curry paste, star anise, cinnamon stick and stir-fry for a minute or two to coat the vegetables in the paste.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the hot stock and add the stock to the spicy vegetables. Slice the chicken breasts thinly and add to the soup. Add the coconut milk, lime leaves, sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce and the juice of 1 lime. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, adding the frozen peas for the last two minutes.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. (At the very least, you’ll need the juice from another ½ lime, but adjust according to your own taste.)
- Divide the cooked noodles between two deep bowls and ladle the soup over. Garnish the bowls with the sliced chilli and a handful of chopped fresh coriander and basil. You could also garnish this with some chopped roasted peanuts.
Serves 2.
