Curry Night

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I need to know your best curry recipes please! I want to do a curry night for around a dozen people. I'm vegetarian but most of them are not, though tbh I'd prefer to avoid meat if at all possible.

I'll do mattar paneer and have a t&t recipe for that. Ditto a chickpea curry. But I'd like a really good recipe for a mixed vege curry, if you have one.

Also, recipes for fantastic sides/dips etc would be brilliant too.

Thank you.

sweet pot, spinach and chickpea curry is nice

My curry base, into which all manner of things can be added, would be as follows

oil or ghee
1 onion, finely chopped
a little garlic and ginger, finely chopped
1 red chilli pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
2 teaspoons each... cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
salt
cayenne pepper to taste
400g well chopped tomatoes (or passata)

• Start by heating a few tablespoons of oil of ghee in a saute pan.
• Add the seeds and cook until they start to pop and sizzle
• stir in the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger and cook over a low heat until softened but not too coloured
• Add the turmeric, salt and a little cayenne pepper and stir-fry until everything is well combined and smelling a little roasted
• Add the tomatoes and simmer for as long as possible

To this basic sauce can be added some par-boiled new potatoes and cauliflower florets. Or any combination of veggies, fish or meat. Once cooked, take off the heat and finish with some freshly chopped coriander, a pinch or two of garam masala and a good dollop of plain yoghurt.

Thanks both. That's pretty much hpw I do my chickpea one, Cog. If you were doing a fish one, what would you use? And does it smell v fishy (I hate the smell!)? Thanks.

Any more please? :)

OP i make this Chilli Onion Relish here

it is the best accompaniment EVER ..... add it to curry for extra spice or dollop onto poppadoms
how about Bombay Potato or Mushroom Kali Mirch?

Ooh yes, thank you. That sounds amazing.

Highly recommend nigella's red thai prawn cheaty curry. Includes sweet potato, butternut squash & at last minute small amount mango. very tasty & not as sweet as you might think. No strong fishy smell, she uses frozen prawns.

Thank you - I've got that recipe, actually - but prawns terrify me!

Not sure a Thai curry would go with the others, either - as they are more Indian/Pakistani, I think.

I made the sauce this evening and, sort of at the last minute, put some uncooked king prawns in it to warm through and turn pink before serving. If you add white fish chunks, they go in at the last minute as well... and the trick is not to stir it too much after you've done so. That means the fish stays in relatively whole pieces.

Prawns and white fish are not 'fishy' fish, unlike mackerel, tuna or salmon which contain a lot more oil and have a stronger flavour. And, if your fish is fresh, it shouldn't smell either

You can do a good fish curry that will fool most meat eaters - using frozen Tuna steaks - this one always goes down well around here & is pretty easy

tenderise Tuna Steaks by beating the hell out of them whilst almost defrosted & still in the plastic sealed bags - saves mess this way - this changes the texture of the fish so it acts more like meat & doesn't fall apart - it also helps with the fishy taste too

then cut into chunks & toss the chunks in dark soy sauce so that all are coated

then just use as you would chicken or beef - brown in oil in bottom of the pan etc

I personally add - a few dashes of lime juice, chunky chopped white onion, tomatoes cut into 1/4s & at the end of cooking add spinach & chopped coriander leaves

Sauce is tinned toms with added curry spices, garlic etc - & a bit of greek yoghurt stirred through to finish off

but whatever your usual sauce recipe will work fine - even throw in a jar of bought stuff & add tin toms & extra curry powder & yoghurt & coriander if you are not that confident with curry

taste as you go though & add more heat or yoghurt to cool as required

Thanks both - I'm quite confident but was looking for new ideas!

The idea of the fish still scares me - especially the idea of bashing it around. They may just have to cope with being veggie for the evening!

I don't use curry powder but have lots of spices. Lime juice is a good suggestion too.

Any ideas for good sides anybody? :)

Honestly the tenderised Tuna isn;t at all "scary" especially as you are obviously a confident cook & DOEs work really well.

though if you are still not convinced - I use a lot of mixed chunky nuts, such as Brazil & Cashew & added seeds & chunky veg such as broccoli, Cauli, Carrots, onion in my vegetable one - adds to the texture & taste so makes a more interesting veg curry.

Home made mango chutney & raita always go down well, along with dahl & bombay potato :)

Assuming you're making a big veg, chickpea or fish curry, for sides I'd go for:

• Cucumber raita (coarsely grate a couple of whole cucumbers (unpeeled), squeeze out as much liquid as you can, mix with 500g plain greek yoghurt, season to taste with salt, a few tablespoons of ground cumin, and loads of fresh chopped coriander)

• Lime pickle (out of a jar!)

• the chili onion relish listed above by aristocat looks great

• Bombay potatoes (I'd triple this recipe to serve 12, and you can always have the leftovers for breakfast: www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bombaypotatoes_1406)

I'd suggest making something like parathas on the griddle if you had 4 or fewer people to serve, but with 12 it becomes quite a chore and you won't be able to chat to your guests. Easier just to buy a load of assorted naan bread and stick it under a hot grill for 2 min a side, then wrap in a teatowel to keep warm when you serve.

Bombay potatoes - excellent idea.

I do a lovely chilli and coconut raita, so will do that one and a mint one.

How do you do homemade mango chutney?

Agree re: the breads - it would be a pain to do for so many. I may just buy some chapatis etc.

Thank you. :)

Samosas are easy to make if you get into a rhythm ... even easier if you have a few mates on the production line. Plenty of curried potato/onion/pea mixture for the centres... a quantity of plain pastry rolled thin and cut into semicircles, and a big old chip pan full of oil !!! Or go to M&S and buy them ready-made :)

This recipe looks good: rasamalaysia.com/mango-chutney/
(It's a guest post by an Indian blogger on a Malaysian food blog!)

The mango chutney looks gorgeous. Samosas are a v good suggestion - especially the M&S bit of it! Deep fat frying scares me even more than fish do! :)

A fantastic and really really easy and cheap veggy curry is on the BBCgoodfood website its sweet potatoe and spinch red lentil dhal. I cooked it for 50 and my daughters birthday party and nearly everyone wanted the recipe. It doesnt sound that wonderful when you read the recipe but its really tastey!

THE BEST SOUTH INDIAN PRAWN CURRY!

Here is the link :
doindubai.com/2011/06/21/south-indian-prawn-curry/