Curry! Did I hear Yummy?

As most of my friends know (this is for you Caron!), I am rather obsessed with Indian food and Indian cooking...

I've been experimenting for years to replicate the amazing, sweet, spicy and complex flavours of Indian food you can find in South Africa. When I was still living in South Africa, I only cooked Indian food occasionally. It was so much easier to drive down to the Indian restaurant and grab take-aways rather than wrestle with spices, garlic, ginger and chillies!

Basic Indian cooking ingredients

Before I moved to Cambridge, Damon had warned me that the Indian food in the UK does not compare to the curries in South Africa. He was right! I haven't been able to find such tasty Indian food much to my tastebuds' despair! The only way for me to get my greedy hands on Korma, Masala, Makhni and other curries is to cook them myself...

Busy cooking Korma in our (tiny) Cambridge kitchen...

Tonight I made Cauliflower Bhaji with Beetroot Paratha but I will also include other Indian recipes I've made in the past in this post (this is for all those who've been asking for my Korma recipe!). 

Cauliflower Bhaji

Cauliflower Bhaji with Beetroot Paratha served with Yoghurt and Mango Chutney

Ingredients:

Butter/olive oil/coconut oil/ghee

1 Onion, chopped 

1 Red or Green Pepper, chopped

1 tsp Special Spice (see below)

1 tsp Fenugreek leaves, soaked in some water before adding to the curry

1 Cauliflower, cut into small florets and steamed/boiled/cooked

4 Tbsp Basic Curry Sauce (find recipe at the bottom of this post)

Optional: 2 tbsp Tomato Paste if the curry is not sweet enough for your taste

How to:

Heat the oil on medium heat. Stirfry the onion and green pepper until both are soft.

Add the Special Spice and Fenugreek leaves. Mix thoroughly.

Add the cauliflower and the Basic Curry Sauce (and tomato paste). You can also add a cup of water if the curry is too dry for you (I like my curry saucy so I added water). 

Heat through and serve with Paratha or Basmati rice.

Beetroot Paratha (Stuffed Indian Flat Bread)

Ingredients: 

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour (or all-purpose flour)

1 cup Water to knead the dough (you may not need all of this)

2 tbsp Butter/ghee at room temperature

Salt to taste

Stuffing:

2 cups Beetroot, chopped

1 Onion, chopped

2 Red Chillies

2.5 cm piece of Ginger

2 Garlic cloves

1 tsp Garam masala

Salt to taste

Coconut oil/ghee/vegetable oil

How to:

Add the butter into the flour and mix well until it has the consistency of sand. 

Add the salt and mix. 

Add a spoonful of water at a time and knead the dough until it is soft. Keep aside. 

Grind all the stuffing ingredients, except for the oil.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the beetroot on low-medium heat until it is almost dry. Remove the heat

Divide the dough into small balls, roll them out into thick wraps and put a little beetroot filling in the centre. Bring the edges together in the centre and pinch them together. Roll out the dough purse into parathas (thick-ish wraps).

Heat some oil in a large flat pan and fry each parathas until light brown.

Paneer Korma (vegetarian)
I am not claiming this is a traditional Indian recipe but it is the one recipe amongst dozens that comes closest to the Paneer Korma I used to eat on a weekly basis in South Africa. I may modify it as I perfect it, so keep an eye out!
Note: I did add peas to this dish because I had them in the freezer. Feel free to add any vegetable that you have lying around to make this dish a little bit more "healthy". 

Paneer Korma

Ingredients:
250gr Paneer, grilled in a pan with a little oil (or meat - just let it cook long enough for it to be tender) 4 Tomatoes, skin removed

1 tbsp Tomato paste
2 tbsp Butter/ghee/coconut butter
5cm piece of Ginger and 3 Garlic cloves - blend it with a bit of water into a paste
2 Green Chillies (or 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder)

3 Cardamom pods (or 1/2 tsp powder), seeds removed from the pods and crushed
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Turmeric

1 Onion, grated

1/4 cup Korma paste
1/2 tsp Salt, adjust to taste

1 Anise Seed Star

1 cup Mava - you can leave this out if you'd like, just double the cream and add 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 cup Cream

1/2 tsp Garam masala

Handful of Coriander leaves
Oil/Ghee

Korma paste: 

1/4 cup roasted cashew nuts/raw almonds, blended to a paste with a splash of water
Mava:
Evaporated Milk 1 Tin ( Nestle Coronation or any such )
Milk Powder 2 cups

- Mix in a bowl into a thick dough. Use as needed for this dish and keep the rest in the freezer until needed again.

How to:

Cook the tomatoes and tomato paste on low-medium heat until the tomatoes have "melted", then blend into a sauce. Keep aside.
Heat up the butter on medium heat in a large pan. Cook the garlic and ginger paste until light brown. 

Add the cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon and chillies and cook until fragrant (about a minute) but watch out not to burn the spices.

Add the onions and cook on medium heat until translucent and soft. Pour in the korma paste, mix well and cook for another minute. 

Add the tomato sauce, anise star, (peas) and salt. Cook for 3 minutes or until the tomato sauce is reduced a little bit. 

Add in the mava, mix well to make sure it dissolves throughout the dish. 

Add the garam masala, stir and reduce to low heat. Pour in the cream, stir well, making sure it does not come to the boil. 

Carefully add the paneer in to make sure not to break up. Heat through and serve with Basmati rice!

Basic Curry Sauce 

This sauce is the basis for pretty much all Indian curries. I made the full quantity and it should be enough for about 3-4 curries. I guess it keeps quite well frozen though I can’t guarantee it because I have’t tried to do that yet. 

Steaming Curry Sauce

Ingredients:
7 tbsp Ghee/Vegetable oil/Coconut oil or butter (or more if you feel the paste is too dry)
2 tbsp Garlic
2 tbsp Ginger
1 tbsp Turmeric
1 1⁄2 tbsp Curry Powder
2 tsp Chilli Powder or 4 Chillies
1 tbsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Ground Coriander
4 onions, chopped
1-2 cups water
(depending on how thick it gets)
1 tsp stock (or 1⁄2 Knorr cube) dissolved in the water
5 tbsp tomato paste
1⁄2 tsp Ajowan seeds (I had to order these online but I think a pinch of thyme might do the trick if you cannot get hold of these)
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp of brown sugar (I like a bit of sweetness in my curry) 

How to:
Blend the garlic and ginger to make a thick paste - you may need to add a spoon of water.
Heat the oil, stir fry the garlic and ginger until light brown (Not burnt!). 
Add the spices to the paste and continue to stirfry for another 3 minutes. 
Add the onions and cook on medium heat for about ten minutes before adding the water, stock, tomato puree and ajowan seeds.
Cook for another ten minutes.
Add the salt and sugar and mix thoroughly.
Blend the whole sauce and use it in curries. 
You will usually need 4 tablespoons of it per curry.

Special Spice

This is the basic spice mix I use for most curries. For convenience, mix it all together in advance and keep in an airtight container. 

Special Spice Mix

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp Ground Coriander
3 1/2 Tbsp Turmeric
2 1/2 Tbsp Ground Cumin
1 Tbsp Paprika
2 Tbsp Curry Powder (get the best quality one you can find)