Morning Fellas. Excuse my ignorance, but I need to know what the British obsession with curries is. Its been many years since I left England but I still don't understand. Also what do those who don't like them have?
Mornin PL, Its hard to say really, I suppose it stems from the old drinking hours here. Only curry houses were open after the pubs used to shut. Personally I like them to make the toilet as unpleasant as possible for the rest of my family to use!
You can buy a very good authentic Thai Curry Paste from Wing Yip. Be careful with it though, or it'll blow your bollocks off!!...they also sell Thai aubergines..
Some good tips there fellas...I'm going to take heed and pop into tesco for some chilli variations Perryman it's because my dad was born in India Great idea for a thread OP Rep coming your way!
I made a curry last Saturday and we were lucky enough to have left overs on Sunday ... so we put it on the boys half of the pizza that we share every Sunday with our neighbours. It's a nice tradition to end the week, but generally involves too much red wine, which can be a dumb idea on a school night.
When it all comes down to it, nothing really beats proper chip shop curry. None of this fancy stuff they try and do now, that just looks like sludge and tastes like bleach, just proper chip shop curry. Saying that, I do love a quality Jalfrezi or Balti.
Each to their own, no? But its probably got something to do with the fact that the only decent curry you can get in South Wales comes from a chip shop
so it's more like a specialist chip shop which you're lucky to have? haha. trust me, I wouldn't go near the curry sauce at my chippy, let alone a full on curry.
Curry's a great thing socially, I'll go out with the lads and have a few beers then all order a vindaloo each and see who cracks first! Just more sociable than other foods, and up north it tastes great and is ridiculously cheap for what you get!
Finally a thread on my specialist subject! To make a great curry, you start with the base flavour - Coriander Seeds, Cumin Seeds and powdered Turmeric. The whole spices (apart from Turmeric which is only there for colour and should be used sparingly - a teaspoon in a curry for four) ground up in a coffee grinder are much better than powdered, they are usually stale before you open them. Add good whole chillies (Kashmiri are best) chopped as small as possible. For extra flavour add ground whole cloves and/or allspice, a few dried chillies. Add these to fried chopped onions (for best flavour fried in ghee, but veg oil will do). The more fat, the richer the curry, but even with very little is a decent flavour. When the onions and spices are softened and appear an even colour, add meat/chicken/fish (meat should have been sealed seperately before) and simmer for 2 hours, 30 minutes before the end add veg if using (Spinach, potatoes, mushrooms all good). Add lentils and/or chopped fresh tomatoes half way trough cooking and finish with chopped leaf coriander. Can't go wrong! Use water to give consistency required.
