Tell me the secret of a great curry

[PurpleSky300]

So, I love curry and for years, I’ve been trying all kinds of recipes for my favourites (jalfrezi, karahi, ceylon) – BIR-style ones on YouTube, cheat’s gourmet powders and blends, random things from Internet blogs, you name it.

They’re never terrible but they’re never fantastic. Every time I come away thinking “meh” – it’s a bit bitter, or too tomatoey, or lacking sweetness and nowhere near the quality you’d get in a restaurant. So what’s the secret to getting it right consistently? I’m following recipes but maybe I’m not fully understanding what the ingredients ‘do’?

Indian born and bred.

1. The degree to which you take the Time to fry the sliced onions at the very outset will greatly determine the depth and flavour. Take that time. Fry those onions.
2. Ginger and garlic paste. More garlic than you think you need. Not from a jar.
3. Dry roast whole spices and grind them.
4. Read about curries by indian chefs on indian websites.
5. Explore variations ofcuisine. The Bengali prawn curry is rather different from the Goan or Keralan one. The Punjabi kitchen different ffrom the Telegu one.

A few things that I think go wrong regularly:

• People don’t brown their onions properly. Indians let their onions go quite dark.
• Not enough salt.
• Wrong recipe. Homemade Indian food tastes different from restaurant food.

For my money, enough garlic and salt, and lentils cooked right down.

Rick Stein's India book. It's very easy to follow and there's not a duff recipe in the book.

In general:
cook your onions longer and slower than you think. They should be really quite melty
Use freshly ground spices
Cheaper cuts - shin, thigh etc. - are better than breast or chuck steak

Watching 😋

Cook your onions longer. Then cook them for even longer. It makes a ridiculous difference.
Spices, always double the quantity at least if they've been in the cupboard a while.

Add a teaspoon of sugar to tomoate sauces ?

With the spices, if you don’t want to buy whole spices, at least use Indian brands. They are much better quality.

Really cook your onions. Don't just sweat them. Get them brown.

Lots of garlic.

I agree with the others. Generally I find most people attempting curries don't take time frying/caramelised the onions until they are very melty and brown. Then add garlic and ginger. Fry briefly (it starts to burn quickly). Then add tomatoes and spices. I actually prefer tinned tomatoes for a lot of curries (unless it's a karahi) and the sauce needs to be really cooked down. It should be cooked until its all melted in and uniform. No obvious tomato lumps. The sign of it being ready is that you will start to see the oil/ghee separate from the tomatoes. Then you know its ready for adding meat etc. Make sure you use enough ghee.

Get a takeaway

Joining for tips.

At the tomato stage you might have to add a few splashes of water in to prevent sticking/burning.

Also do check out Indian and pakistani chefs on YouTube. Use the English subtitles. They have much better recipes and you'll actually see it being cooked.

Chef Ranveer Brar is good.

Ok, so cooking the onions is important 😃

I often find I need to add a lot of fat to mine I.E. Butter or coconut milk, to add taste. Is there a way to avoid this??

Then you know its ready for adding meat etc

^

So you added the meat straight to the sauce?? No 'frying off'???

When I met my DH, one of the first meals I made was a curry.
Apparently the best curry he had ever had in his life.
He asked for the recipe, I said it was a generations long family secret, couldn't possibly divulge.
Many many moons later..... he still rated it as the best you can eat, the family secret curry.
It's Maykway powder.
I'll take it to the grave.

Oh I really want a curry now. We are having fish pie, which I was quite looking forward to until I read this.

The thing that made my Indian curries taste better and what I think of as more “authentic” even though I’m sure it’s not the case is asafoetida.

I find the longer you cook them the better they taste, leave to simmer for an extra hour or 2 once you think it's done or bake in the oven.

Time. Everyone underestimates how long these take. My SM and wider family will spend a whole day cooking to get the depth of flavour.

Onions. Sweat and then brown. Can take easily up to 20+ mins just for that.

Decent spices.

Fresh garlic

Fresh ginger

If it says reduce the sauce. Really reduce it. But reduce it slowly. You can always add more water.

Some curried expect you to use Fresh, skinned tomatoes rather than tinned. It makes a huge difference to the taste.

Salt. Probably more than you think.

And pick and choose your recipes. Some will just be better than others.

Onions, you need tons of onions and time
To cook them down slowly

Ghee

I use ginger garlic paste from the Asian supermarket, I think it's better than fresh, the texture is better.

Fish sauce -15ml per 2 portions

My tips;

All curries have to be built up in layers

heating up the spices either by roasting or dry frying releases them

using meat on the bone for added depth

Cooking long and slow

I'm over invested now, I'm hungry and waiting for my dinner to cook! Fish sauce does not go in Indian curry, unless maybe Goan. Thai / Vietnam yes.