I mean “powdered/preground” where I say “dried” up there.
Actual Indian cuisine is far more diverse than what you get in restaurants. I don’t eat at Indian restaurants often, because usually the options are from a generic “Restaurant Indian” style (either North or South) that doesn’t really exist in any particular Indian household.
There are dozens of sub-genres of cuisine. There are even significant differences, for example, between Ghoti (West Bengali), Bangal (East Bengali), and Bengali Muslim cuisine. And in reality, the specific recipies vary from one home kitchen to another. Every home cook will insist that his or her way is the only way of doing something and will threaten to kill another cook who messes with his or her pot on the burner. (My wife, for example, goes for my throat if I approach her curry with a spatula.)
So, yeah, there are curry-type (i.e., saucy) dishes that don’t contain both coriander and cumin. It’s just a matter of doing it. I often leave the coriander out of my chicken curry (which is why I forgot to put it in in the first place).
It’s definitely for dipping or pouring over chips. Works best after a few beers. I think it’d make a rotten base for a proper curry though.
[quote…also, what the hell is Daddy’s sauce?[/QUOTE]
It’s a copy of the king of sauces HP , the uses of which are myriad. I’ve heard people say it’s a bit like A1 steak sauce (or something) but I’ve never tried that myself.
A standard chp shop menu(?) item is curry and chips which is a bag of chips with a blandish curry sauce poured over the top. Probably reminds people of their old school dinner curry (maybe that’s just me). It’s not a dip, more of a gravy.
Where did you come across this? It’s just a particular brand of brown sauce - like HP sauce - sort of pickle based ketchup.
Thanks to you and Struan for the insight. As I mentioned, there is a small but pretty extensive English specialty foods corner in one of our large grocery chains (Publix). I think this is probably more peculiar to this particular store because there seems to be a rather large contingent of English (UK) tourists and expatriates in this little corner of Florida. Makes sense that Daddy’s favorite is like HP, it’s right next to HP on the shelf.
I love sauces and condiments and was tempted to try the Curry and Daddy’s but wanted a little info, I might pick some up and give it a try.
I don’t know whether every “garam masala” is the same, but the box I glanced at earlier today includes pretty much the flavorings I’ve used, plus nutmeg, mace, and, something else I can’t remember. It seems like just another spice mix to me; nothing special.
It’s basically a lot of the same spices as you have in your except ground into a very fine powder. Generally I’ll do the whole bay leaf-cloves-cinnamon-cardamom in the oil thing to spice the oil itself, and then put in a teaspoon of garam masala into the onion-tomato mash for an extra kick. Not everyone likes that much ground spice…shrug I’m South Indian (part Marathi, Part Goan), we probably overdo it. Konkani food isn’t exactly known for its subtlety.
Which is to say I follow your recipe almost exactly, but I add the garam masala on top towards the end of the recipe to restore the aroma that was lost during the slow cooking.
Generally I do the same thing for sabjis with coriander/cumin powder.
I was checking out the section today. They have the Colman’s Shepards Pie packet, Colman’s Chip Shop Curry, and one other mix packet that I forget at the moment; HP, Daddy’s, Picalilly, English Pickles (Looked like a brown paste?), English Tea, and Preserves. They also had tiny jars of Marmite ($6.25 for a tinyjar???!!!).
Upon closer examination of the chip shop curry packet instructions and suggested recipes, you Hob (??) it together with water and bring to the simmer to pour over bangers and chips, you might also make a curry with chicken and potatoes. They also have cans of Tikka Masala in this section (simply add to sauteed chicken breast). I don’t know what brand the tins of Tikki Masala are, but do they make for a passable curry?
Couldn’t say, looks like people here vote for Pataks and Sharwoods. BUT. The trick for (Chicken) Tikka Masala is that the chunks of chicken are marinaded and grilled/baked before being chucked into the sauce.
Here’s what you do (phall0106 are you listening?)
Cut the chicken into one inch-ish pieces.
Mix Tandoori powder (not “curry power” the proper marinade stuff) yogurt and a bit of lemon juice and marinade the chicken pieces for at least and hour.
Get the oven hot ~ 200[sup]o[/sup]C
Bake the chicken pieces coated with the marinade paste for about 20 minutes - don’t let them dry out.
At this point the chicken will be so yummy you won’t want to bother with a sauce. Serve with pilau rice* poppadoms and chutney.
- the rice is lightly fried before boiling, I’m sure Google will turn up a few recipies – a quick look finds 18,400 hits.
In my experience (and I’ve been there) people who eat this viciously hot stuff are just engaging in a spot of dick-measuring.
You know. Phallic symbolism. 
Oh I understand. Come to think of it, I think I have seen recipes that call for jeera (cumin) but not coriander, or at least a much smaller amount. It’s just been my observation that the two spices seem to go hand-in-hand and are present in a vast majority of dishes from that part of the world and are the signature flavor profile of what Westerners think of when they think “curry.”
That said, around here you have plenty of Indian options that are not generic North or South. You can find restaurants specialize in Bengali/Bangledeshi food, Punjab, Pakistan, Bombay, Andra, Hyderabad, plus homestyle places that have their own takes on regional cuisines.
Am I the only one slaving over a hot pot of the recipe posted upthread?
Just me? Ok, but I have to warn you, I am then the only one in a house that smells like heaven incarnate and a big pot full of what looks to be utterly delicious.
So I’m missing turmeric. I’ll live.
Did I mention I hate cooking?
God almighty my house smells yummy.
So, how was it?
I’m trying your recipe tomorrow ascenray, as I don’t think I’ve ever had a curry without garam masala…but I want to know about the mustard oil. Is it really necessary/does it give it a special flavour? The only reason I keep it around the house is to mehndi my hair and it always smells a bit…fragrant…to me.
Definitely not!I use Madhur Jaffrey’s. A quick Google found the recipe online, here, and I see the site has 12 other recipes listed
I’m not sure if this is true acros the UK but in my family we don’t normally refer to "curry"as a separate dish. My understanding was that the generalised term “curry” was an Anglo-Indian invention. I would talk about cooking a korma or a roghan josh etc. and mix up the appropriate mixture of whole and ground spices for that actual recipe. Many of them will use a garam masala (which just means hot spices) - normally added just before serving - but not all of them.
ps I’m also a fan of Patak’s - excellent when you’ve no time to do the full works.
As I indicated, mustard oil is not mandatory – you can use any standard cooking oil. But it’s my personal preference.
Mustard oil is the choice oil for traditional Bengali cooking, especially fish dishes. It’s also used raw in “bhate-bhat” or “sheddo-bhat,” which is the Bengali equivalent of leftover pizza – white rice, boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, salt, chilis, and raw mustard oil all mashed together – what you eat when no one feels like “cooking.”
It is fragrant, which is the point – but it mellows when heated. Generally the oil used for cooking is blended rather than pure mustard oil – somehow, the blend brings out the flavor better. In the end, the difference will be subtle, so there’s no problem with using regular cooking oil.
It was absolutely fantastic, thanks for the recipe. The mustard oil did give it a different touch (I had to buy a new bottle since my grimy mehndied hands have been in the current bottle). The only thing I did differently was to marinate the chicken overnight (I used cornish rock hens) in Greek yoghurt and 1/2 a bottle of that Indira garlic-ginger-chili paste (so sorry, but I’m a lazy sod) and chop a lot of coriander into the curry at the end.
FAGE fat free yoghurt, btw. I pay out the nose for it at Trader Joe’s but I’ve become addicted to the taste.
Glad to hear it worked out!