Cooking with Jonny69: CURRY!!!

Jonny69 · 02-11-2007, 13:38

Something for the weekend sir? Why yes Jonny. How about a curry recipe? Of course sir, I'll take you through how to cook this beautiful tiger prawn curry:

I have made this over and over and over again to perfect the recipe trying to mirror curries you get in Indian restaurants. The secret is to make a paste which acts as the base of the curry and then you add various ingredients to it for taste. This is by far the most adventurous of my cooking escapades so far but it's a lot simpler than you'd first think and the results are a satisfying rich curry sauce ready for meat, seafood, fish or vegetables and spices to taste. I'll go through what else to add further down.

Ingredients, makes 4 portions:

8-10 cloves of garlic
2 onions
chunk of ginger about the size of your thumb
1 red chilli
Bunch of fresh coriander
Tin of tomatoes
Vegetable oil
Salt

First we make the paste. Into the blender goes all the garlic cloves, half an onion, a piece of peeled ginger about the size of your thumb and a whole red chilli:

This sounds like a lot of garlic. It is! But the base of the curry is pretty much garlic and onion, very strong flavours to stand up to the heat of the chilli and other hefty spices you may add. You also only want to put in the one chilli at this point as you can bump the heat up later with chilli powder or more fresh chilli. Add to that a handful of washed fresh coriander, a good pinch of salt and about 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil:

Again that sounds like a lot of oil but without it the paste doesn't cook well. Blitz that up until it's quite smooth:

Get a wok quite hot and dump it all in and get it frying down until it starts to darken in colour slightly and the oil will just start to come out the paste:

Add in a whole chopped onion and cook that in until it softens:

Once the onion is soft add about half to 2/3 of a tin of tomatoes and continue to fry down until the colour of the tomatoes has darkened down with the paste:

Jonny69 · 02-11-2007, 13:38

See how the colour has changed, it now looks like curry and tastes like curry. It's too rough and thick to use as it is so add a small cup of boiling water and allow to simmer down for about 20 minutes. It'll reduce down a little from this:

To this:

And basically now it's ready to go. Check the taste at this point. It'll taste like curry, but you'll know how much more seasoning and chilli you need to add. This is your curry base. It's to this that you add meat, seafood, veg or fish and other spices. It's the other ingredients that you add that determine what curry it is you have just cooked.

So to make my prawn curry I have added the following to my pestle and mortar, 1/2tsp coriander seed, 1/2tsp cumin seeds, 1/2tsp turmeric, 1/2tsp garam masala. I ground that up and it goes straight in to the base. I also added 1/2tsp of chilli powder to bring the heat up a bit and about 5 whole cardamom pods.

I also added a sliced yellow pepper and the rest of the second onion, again that goes straight in as it is and cooks for about 10 minutes:

At which point the saucxe should have taken a more rich colour, smooth texture and the vegetables you just put in are still slightly crunchy:

I got these raw peeled frozen tiger prawns from China town, undeforsted they are going in as they are and the ice on the outside will help add to the taste:

Let that simmer down for about 10 minutes until the prawns are cooked through:

And now it's ready to serve on a bed of pilau rice with a hunk of nann bread in a large eating bowl:

Have a go at that, it tastes fantastic!

Some further ingedients to add to the base, depending on the curry: Coconut milk, yoghurt, tomatoes, spinach, almond, tamarind. No end, you just experimant and add it to your taste

Tak · 02-11-2007, 13:46

nom nom nom

Looks and sounds very yummy

Don't trust my cooking abilities enough to try it though

Belmit · 02-11-2007, 13:57

Uncooked prawns are so much tastier than pre-cooked. Meatier.

Jonny69 · 02-11-2007, 14:04

Yup, these ones are huge delicious things and cheaper than the supermarkets do them. Probably peeled by kids in Vietnam with their feet bound up but I'll try not to think about that...

Dymetrie · 02-11-2007, 16:48

Definitely reckon I'll give this one a go

Not with prawns though, they're yucky

lostkat · 02-11-2007, 18:32

Ooooh, looks delicious!! I never know where to start with a curry base, so I'm definitely going to give this one a go and experiment.

Oh and for the record, prawns ROCK. Especially cooked shell on from raw. YUM!

Will · 02-11-2007, 19:32

Looks good Jon! I'll have to show that to my little curry monster and see what she says!

Haly · 02-11-2007, 19:33

Looks lovely

Although I think I'd try it with chicken.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dymetrie

Not with prawns though, they're yucky

What he said

lostkat · 04-11-2007, 15:31

Well, I went out and got fresh coriander and chilli so now I've got all the ingredients to cook this tonight

Using chicken though because I'd already got some out to defrost. Will let you know how it goes

02-11-2007, 13:38	#1
Jonny69 Noob Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Socialist Republik of Kent Posts: 5,032	Cooking with Jonny69: CURRY!!! Something for the weekend sir? Why yes Jonny. How about a curry recipe? Of course sir, I'll take you through how to cook this beautiful tiger prawn curry: I have made this over and over and over again to perfect the recipe trying to mirror curries you get in Indian restaurants. The secret is to make a paste which acts as the base of the curry and then you add various ingredients to it for taste. This is by far the most adventurous of my cooking escapades so far but it's a lot simpler than you'd first think and the results are a satisfying rich curry sauce ready for meat, seafood, fish or vegetables and spices to taste. I'll go through what else to add further down. Ingredients, makes 4 portions: 8-10 cloves of garlic 2 onions chunk of ginger about the size of your thumb 1 red chilli Bunch of fresh coriander Tin of tomatoes Vegetable oil Salt First we make the paste. Into the blender goes all the garlic cloves, half an onion, a piece of peeled ginger about the size of your thumb and a whole red chilli: This sounds like a lot of garlic. It is! But the base of the curry is pretty much garlic and onion, very strong flavours to stand up to the heat of the chilli and other hefty spices you may add. You also only want to put in the one chilli at this point as you can bump the heat up later with chilli powder or more fresh chilli. Add to that a handful of washed fresh coriander, a good pinch of salt and about 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil: Again that sounds like a lot of oil but without it the paste doesn't cook well. Blitz that up until it's quite smooth: Get a wok quite hot and dump it all in and get it frying down until it starts to darken in colour slightly and the oil will just start to come out the paste: Add in a whole chopped onion and cook that in until it softens: Once the onion is soft add about half to 2/3 of a tin of tomatoes and continue to fry down until the colour of the tomatoes has darkened down with the paste: __________________

02-11-2007, 13:38	#2
Jonny69 Noob Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Socialist Republik of Kent Posts: 5,032	See how the colour has changed, it now looks like curry and tastes like curry. It's too rough and thick to use as it is so add a small cup of boiling water and allow to simmer down for about 20 minutes. It'll reduce down a little from this: To this: And basically now it's ready to go. Check the taste at this point. It'll taste like curry, but you'll know how much more seasoning and chilli you need to add. This is your curry base. It's to this that you add meat, seafood, veg or fish and other spices. It's the other ingredients that you add that determine what curry it is you have just cooked. So to make my prawn curry I have added the following to my pestle and mortar, 1/2tsp coriander seed, 1/2tsp cumin seeds, 1/2tsp turmeric, 1/2tsp garam masala. I ground that up and it goes straight in to the base. I also added 1/2tsp of chilli powder to bring the heat up a bit and about 5 whole cardamom pods. I also added a sliced yellow pepper and the rest of the second onion, again that goes straight in as it is and cooks for about 10 minutes: At which point the saucxe should have taken a more rich colour, smooth texture and the vegetables you just put in are still slightly crunchy: I got these raw peeled frozen tiger prawns from China town, undeforsted they are going in as they are and the ice on the outside will help add to the taste: Let that simmer down for about 10 minutes until the prawns are cooked through: And now it's ready to serve on a bed of pilau rice with a hunk of nann bread in a large eating bowl: Have a go at that, it tastes fantastic! Some further ingedients to add to the base, depending on the curry: Coconut milk, yoghurt, tomatoes, spinach, almond, tamarind. No end, you just experimant and add it to your taste __________________

02-11-2007, 13:46	#3
Tak L'Oréal Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Portsmouth Posts: 9,977	nom nom nom Looks and sounds very yummy Don't trust my cooking abilities enough to try it though __________________ The look on your face when a toddler rips out your heart and shows it to you? Priceless.... For everything else, there's FWOOSH! Last edited by Tak; 02-11-2007 at 14:12.

02-11-2007, 13:57	#4
Belmit The Mouse King of Denmark Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Winchester Posts: 6,476	Uncooked prawns are so much tastier than pre-cooked. Meatier. __________________

02-11-2007, 14:04	#5
Jonny69 Noob Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Socialist Republik of Kent Posts: 5,032	Yup, these ones are huge delicious things and cheaper than the supermarkets do them. Probably peeled by kids in Vietnam with their feet bound up but I'll try not to think about that... __________________

02-11-2007, 16:48	#6
Dymetrie A large glass of Merlot Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Letchworth with a Lightsaber Posts: 5,819	Definitely reckon I'll give this one a go Not with prawns though, they're yucky __________________ Khef, Ka and Ka-Tet....

02-11-2007, 18:32	#7
lostkat Good Cat Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,550	Ooooh, looks delicious!! I never know where to start with a curry base, so I'm definitely going to give this one a go and experiment. Oh and for the record, prawns ROCK. Especially cooked shell on from raw. YUM! __________________ Oooooh Cecil, what have you done?

02-11-2007, 19:32	#8
Will BBx woz 'ere :P Join Date: Jan 1970 Posts: 2,147,487,208	Looks good Jon! I'll have to show that to my little curry monster and see what she says! __________________ *No No!*

04-11-2007, 15:31	#10
lostkat Good Cat Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,550	Well, I went out and got fresh coriander and chilli so now I've got all the ingredients to cook this tonight Using chicken though because I'd already got some out to defrost. Will let you know how it goes __________________ Oooooh Cecil, what have you done?