have taught myself chinese cookery, but still can't master a decent curry, any top tips??

[nipersvest]

me & the dc's have even learned how to make sushi rolls, but curries still evade me. have been doing them from scratch, but something is still not quite right.

any tips?, recipes to try?

(am i going to get jumped on now for using the term 'chinese cookery' as it's not pc? )

watching as I'm the same. ..

We use a cook book called the Shish Mahal Cook book. It's written by the owner of The Shish Mahal Restaurant in Glasgow. It has the best Madras recipe ever!

If you are serious about cooking Indian food at home, this is the one for you, it covers all the basics. I have many cookbooks, but this one is very well used with cooking splashes on every other page (unlike most of my other books which I only use two or three recipes from).

Maddhur Jaffrey - Curry Easy - book - its genious and v simple

I don't know about chinese cookery but sushi is Japanese ;)

Yes yes to Madhur Jaffrey. Also Anjum Anand.

My tip would be: curry leaves. These are the thing that takes my curries from nice to wow (IISSM).

Also, using whole spices and grinding them myself is much tastier than using pre-ground. And cook the spices out well.

I buy the spice packets from the 'World Food' aisle in supermarket, I don't go anywhere posh or specific. And the curry leaves can be found on the market, on Indian stalls, or in big supermarkets - with the other herbs. They freeze well.

Sorry, to qualify above post - curry leaves obvs don't go in every type of curry. But they do make a big difference to those curries that they do go in.

Thanks. I always use fresh spices, but never curry leaves. somehow my curries taste weak, they lack something.

I'll try curry leaves

Third the Madhur Jaffrey recommendation, and the use of whole spices. Much less technique involved than Chinese stir fries, as the timing and temp aren't so sensitive.

Maybe a stupid question, but are you using enough salt?

I have read that the big secret to a good curry is the onions. You need to make an 'onion paste' which then flavours the whole thing and makes it taste authentic.

http://www.notdelia.co.uk/british-indian-restaurant-curry-prerequisites/ Try this site

[ www.notdelia.co.uk/british-indian-restaurant-curry-prerequisites/ This]

[http://www.notdelia.co.uk/british-indian-restaurant-curry-prerequisites This]

Omg I am so out of practice at doing links sorry

Camellia Panjabi: 50 great curries is a brilliant book and has a lot of general tips at the beginning as well as really yum recipes ( but slightly random editing, so you do have to read the recipes carefully!).

Home-made Indian food doesn't taste much like takeaway though, just in case that's what you are trying for. The spicing and cooking style vary massively across the country so experimenting with regional styles until you find one you like is great fun. Goan cuisine has a strong Portguese influence and can be very firey, for example, whereas move further south and you get more tropical ingredients coming in. Y Y to whoever said lots of salt and also onions being important, and any puddings/sweets tend to be very sweet.

There are lots of good books out there. Madhur Jaffrey definitely; I also have one called Cooking Like Mummyji by Vicky Bhogal (sp?) which is Punjabji style mostly with a bit of English adaptation thrown in, and that has some nice recipes plus detail about the terms she uses and a bit of background too.

Now I really want a nice curry and to spend lots of time making it.

Y Y to the Camellia Panjabi book, too.

My generic tips for a good homemade curry are :

1. Onion base - chop finely and cook for a long time
2. Spices: Add each individual spice and fry for a couple of minutes before add the others. In a lot of homemade curries, the spices are not cooked properly
3. Most curry recipes need to be cooked far longer than people do at home. For eg, for a basic chana masala - the onion, tomato, spice mix needs to be cooked for about 20 minutes.
4. A lot of curries have a "tadka" which is mustard seeds fried in hot oil until it splutters along with other whole spices either at the beginning or the end.
5. For most meat/fishes, the meat/fish is cooked in two ways, i.e. fried and then simmered with the sauce, fried and then in oven etc.
6. Most meat and fish are marinaded for quite a long time before cooking so that the spices seep into the meat

Feeling quite hungry now but on a diet.