I need your best curry recipes

[howdoyoudecide]

New year, new start! We have gotten into a food rut at the moment. We are bouncing between the same half dozen or so meals - cottage pie, mince beef pie, chilli and pasta and frozen stuff etc. I have attempted a curry once and it went very badly.

I need to add some more meals to our repertoire!

I need a good, easy, healthy curry recipe that is tasty and suitable for toddlers. I have a slow cooker if that is useful for this.

We both work full time so either needs to be something for the slow cooker or something fast or sometime I can batch cook. Doesn’t have to have meat. I am partial to paneer and currently buy the spice tailor curries.

Why can’t I master curry?!?

Tbsp oil, heat
Add half a tsp of mustard seeds. Let them crackle a bit
Add half a tsp of cumin seeds
2-3 kaffir lime leaves or one large bay leaf
Add a whole onion finely chopped
Some garlic (to taste)
Cook this right down, then add tomatoes (a whole container of passata is the best). Season it it (dried tumeric and dried coriander powder, some red chilli if DS tolerates it, garam masala is not good for toddlers as it has possible allergens) and cook it all down until the oil seperates a bit. You can now use this as a base sauce for pretty much any Indian curry.

Hairy bikers lamb, spinach and potato curry is lovely. You can put less paste and chilli in if cooking for a toddler too as it can be quite hot. I always put less in because I don't like it too spicy.

The hairy bikers jalfrezi is really nice and really easy

I just read your post properly. It does take a while to prep and cook though. I only do it at the weekend when I have time to shut myself in the kitchen.

Google Dan Toombs base curry sauce if you want a take-away Anglo-Indian taste.

I don't know how to do proper curry either but I use Spice Tailor sauce

m.thespicetailor.co.uk/Products/Sauces

You can get it in tesco and it does use some dried herbs so its not just out of a jar. It comes out quite nice.

Don’t use supermarket curry powder as they are naff.
Go to your local Indian shop and buy one. My favourite is bolst’s hot.
My favourite quick and easy curry is mince and peas using bolsts hot, a pack of mince, cup of frozen peas an onion and tomatoe purée.
Slice and dice onion and fry up with the curry powder then add the mince and purée cook on a low heat for an hour then chuck in the peas and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Thank you all! Will have a crack at the hairy biker recipes.

As you like paneer, then this is fantastic, I cook it loads, and would work with chicken too. Very easy to make. thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/fresh-indian-cheese-in-a-butter-tomato-sauce-paneer-makhani

I buy the schwarz korma powder, its lovely but at £1 a go I want to try to make my own spice mix, anyone have any ideas how to do that?!

Love Meera's recipes. They were a bit faffy but very good. And very adjustable.

Personally I love the Daily Dahl, sadly we don't have it daily. www.amazon.co.uk/Made-India-Britain-Recipes-Kitchen-ebook/dp/B01AU5V8SW/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Meera&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1515074207&sr=8-3

Another vote for the hairy bikers jalfrezi

A really quick one I do is a red Thai curry.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast
Oil for drying
Small onion
Small piece of fresh ginger (about 1cm long)
Red Thai curry pasta
Can of coconut milk
Green beans

Method:

Fry the onion and ginger until soft
Add the chicken and get until lightly brown.
Add 1-2 dessert spoonfuls of curry paste and stir well.
Pour in the coconut milk and green beans and summer until the beans are soft.
If necessary, use a small amount of cornflour to thicken.

It's really nice and quick!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2220652/cardamom-butter-chicken%3famp

This^^ one is my favourite and it’s fool proof. Not sure it’s terribly healthy, but not disastrous either.

This tastes lovely and is dead quick and easy:
www.ketoconnect.net/recipe/keto-butter-chicken/

This one is lovely, and vegan:
www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/l/lentil-cauliflowercoconutcurry.html

I make these in a big batch, they store well in the fridge.
If you've got a food processor they're very easy.
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/uncategorised-recipes/easy-homemade-curry-pastes/

I’m with PumpkinPie2016 on the Thai curry. I make it with chicken and any veg we have in (or frozen veg works well in it too!)

Pinterest is really good for slow cooker recipes. I make curry in mine all the time, just use coconut milk, a curry paste and whatever meat I want then leave all day. You can add potatoes and veg onion etc. I also add a spoonful of crushed garlic, I’m lazy and buy the one in the jar. You can experiment with different spices, there are loads of different spice pastes to try.

veggiedesserts.co.uk/red-lentil-dahl/

The slimming world mushy peas curry is really nice and easy to make. It wouldn't rival the Indian takeaway or anything but it's an ok midweek meal that does well in the slow cooker.

I make this red lentil dhal a LOT. There's probably four meal's worth in my freezer right now.

I’m such an idiot. I have the hairy biker diet cook book on my shelf!

If I freeze the dhal , can I just blitz in microwave to heat up? Thinking it might be nice I take to work.

I take dahl to work all the time I just freeze it in portions and then put the frozen lump in some of those microwave mugs on top on a couple of handfuls of raw spinach. I leave it on my desk until lunch time then blast in the microwave for 2.5 minutes. Lovely!

Use a hand blender to make the pastes (I use the bowl attachment)
Thai curry pastes are so easy to make I never buy pre prepared.
Lemongrass, dried and fresh coriander, dried cumin, fish sauce, shallots, shrimp paste, garlic and chillis and a bit of sugar I think is the green curry paste. Whizz it up and then sizzle in the pan before adding coconut milk.
Also Indian curries are much nicer when you make a paste first with your spices and onion then fry off and add tinned tomatoes. I usually add creamed coconut and then blend again.