eG Cook-Off #80: The Aromatic, Exotic Flavors of Curry

[chromedome]

11 hours ago, Bhukhhad said:

What fun to see the gadgets all of you have discovered! 

 

 

I will point out that British Columbia, where Okanagancook lives, has a large Indo-Canadian population (even by Canadian standards, and Canadians with roots in the subcontinent make up a substantial part of our population). Finding these cool things in secondhand stores is probably a bit more likely in BC than elsewhere, but you never know your luck. I have one in much the same style as Sartoric, but the handle of mine was cast as part of the pan (ie, all in one piece rather than attached separately). I found it in a second-hand shop in a semi-rural area of Nova Scotia, where such things are decidedly less common.

[Okanagancook]

@Bhukhhad "Then place your cooking pot on top of it. And behind the two slats you can place a ‘Soop’ or ‘Soopda’ which is a metal thingamijing for shaking the flax off the grains. Do you know what I mean? I can post pictures from the internet but I am not allowed to do that here. The reason for putting the soop behind the vessel is to have the flame concentrate under the vessel. So that is one purpose. " 

 

I am not sure about the soop or soopda.  I googled both and did not find what have described above.

[Okanagancook]

Fascinating!  Thanks for finding that.

[Anna N]

On 6/26/2019 at 6:31 AM, chromedome said:

Finding these cool things in secondhand stores is probably a bit more likely in BC than elsewhere, but you never know your luck.

@Kerry Beal and I have come across them more than once in local thrift stores. 

[sartoric]

The best ever spinach paneer. I like this dish and have cooked it many times using different recipes. This one from Rick Steins India is the simplest and creamiest (despite using no cream). It’s cooked in one pan, no blenders involved. I may never try another version. Served here with rice, paratha, cucumber raita, black lentils and mango pickle.

[Smithy]

@sartoric, that's high praise for a recipe. Do you have a link that you can share?

[sartoric]

15 minutes ago, Smithy said:

@sartoric, that's high praise for a recipe. Do you have a link that you can share?

Sorry, no. There’s comparisons online which show various different palak paneer including his, but no recipes. I keep borrowing this book from the library, one day they might give it to me, ha ha. The thing I liked the most was the method - fry whole spices, add aromatics, add ground spices, fry the cheese, then tomato, add chopped spinach and yoghurt. Takes about 20 minutes.

[Duvel]

Found this instant curry at a Japanese market ... I am usually not a big fan of seafood curry, but this might be different 😉

 

[rotuts]

I love trying prepared curries , such as the above

 

too bad , they all seem to have way too much NsCl

[JoNorvelleWalker]

16 hours ago, rotuts said:

I love trying prepared curries , such as the above

 

too bad , they all seem to have way too much NsCl

 

Umamimart has a recipe for Japanese curry from scratch that I've made a couple times and love.  If only it were not so much effort.

 

https://umamimart.com/blogs/main/japanese-curry-scratch

 

 

[liuzhou]

18 hours ago, rotuts said:

NsCl 

 

 

Perhaps you meant National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory! Or perhaps NaCl, which you could just as easily abbreviate to "salt" (same number of letters) and avoid misunderstanding.,

Edited August 8, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Umamimart has a recipe for Japanese curry from scratch that I've made a couple times and love.  If only it were not so much effort.

 

https://umamimart.com/blogs/main/japanese-curry-scratch

 

 

 

Yeah, but where to get the whale meat required ..?

[liuzhou]

31 minutes ago, Duvel said:

 

Yeah, but where to get the whale meat required ..?

 

 

From whales, obviously!  😀😀😀

 

 

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

 

From whales, obviously!  😀😀😀

 

 

My local store has been out of stock for a while... they say it's too expensive to bring in a whole whale for just a few customers...

[liuzhou]

12 minutes ago, KennethT said:

My local store has been out of stock for a while... they say it's too expensive to bring in a whole whale for just a few customers...

 

No vision! Any imaginative store owner could deal with that problem.  Market it as Premium Grade Japanese Elephant Blubber, for example. It would fly out like flying out things.

Edited August 8, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Duvel]

From this weeks visit to the market ...

 

 

 

It made me so ulset that I couldn’t buy the “tasting set” that I bought above whale curry to compensate ...

[David Ross]

My newest dish is a Macau-Style Portuguese Chicken Curry that was inspired by a story in Saveur about the flavors of Macau.  I modified the recipe quite a bit, and this is now my favorite curries I make at home. 

 

Ingredients-

For the Chicken and Marinade-

8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on

2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. chicken bouillon powder

2 tsp. Kosher salt

2 tsp. black pepper

2 tbsp. light soy sauce

2 tbsp. Shaoshing Chinese rice wine substitute sherry

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp. minced fresh ginger

3 tbsp. all-purpose flour

3 tbsp. canola oil

 

For the Curry Stew-

2 10.5oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup

2 13.5oz can unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup evaporated milk

2 tbsp. curry powder

1 tbsp. turmeric

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 cups daikon radish, peeled and cut into large chunks substitute potatoes or turnips

1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped

3 cups chopped spinach

2 tbsp. sliced green onions for garnish

4 fresh lime wedges for garnish

 

Instructions-

Marinate and Brown the Chicken-

In a large bowl, add the cornstarch, chicken bouillon, salt, pepper, soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, garlic and ginger and stire to combine. Add the chicken thighs, and toss to coat in the marinade. Cover the bowl and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken thighs from the marinade. Save the marinade. Heat the canola oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Dust the chicken thighs with the flour and brown on each side, about 4 minutes. Now make the curry stew.

 

Make the Curry and Braise the Stew-

Heat the oven to 325. In a heavy dutch oven, add the cream of mushroom, coconut milk and evaporated milk. Stir in the curry powder, tumeric and red pepper flakes. Add the daikon, yellow onion and spinach. Stir in the reserved chicken marinade. Add the browned chicken thighs to the dutch oven.

Cover the dutch oven and place in the oven. Let the curry slowly braise for two hours until the chicken is very tender and the curry is hot and bubbling.

Serve the Macau-Style Portuguese Chicken Curry with steamed white rice and garnish with sliced green onions and fresh lime wedges.

 

 

[Bhukhhad]

On 9/22/2018 at 4:23 PM, sartoric said:

While we’re talking tamarind, here’s some black tamarind. It’s black because it’s been smoked, lends the typical sour taste, but also a smoky flavour. Used mainly in South Indian cooking, and very sparingly, it’s really strong.

Hi Sartoric, 

I am so glad I bumped into this topic. I did not know it existed!!

The ‘black tamarind’ pictures here is, you said, smoked tamarind. That I dont think I have heard of at all. There are some references to a ‘fish tamarind’ used in Kerala fish curies like Meen Moilee. Is this it? 
Or is it in fact Kokum? Wet Kokum is a sour plum variety (mangosteen) and is the color of black plums and very tart. 
Bhukhhad

[MokaPot]

Here's a curry stew I made a couple of months ago. I use the S&B (Japanese) curry powder. Or I use the Frontier brand "muchi" curry powder, which I can buy from the bulk bins. I also use canned coconut milk (not low-fat). It has potatoes, carrots, green peas, and mushrooms.

[heidih]

45 minutes ago, MokaPot said:

Here's a curry stew I made a couple of months ago. I use the S&B (Japanese) curry powder. Or I use the Frontier brand "muchi" curry powder, which I can buy from the bulk bins. I also use canned coconut milk (not low-fat). It has potatoes, carrots, green peas, and mushrooms.

 

 

I also use S&B - it has a nice depth. Depending on my supplies I like to add fresh ginger for a  different note. Since I have way more citrus than we can use or give away I'll cut some type in half and drop in the pot. The pith adds a hint of bitter. Citrus leaves also work as does lemon verbena.  I used to buy whole coconuts and the whole making the milk thing but admit to canned now And as you note NOT low fat one.  For that type of stew I prefer chickpeas and eggplant for heft rather than potatoes and maybe some tofu and serve with a short grain rice. Being a California girl the rice is usually Calrose. Freezes nicely for future meal as well. 

[David Ross]

Today I'm making a vegetarian Thai red curry.  So far I'm going to include carrot, potato, mushrooms, and turnip.  Vegetables I already have on hand and I found I had both yellow and Thai red curry pastes.  Curry seems to be a very good dish, with lots of possibilities, to make right now.

[BeeZee]

As a matter of fact, leftover Thai red curry was present in our dinner of leftovers last night. Curry is very forgiving of the odds and ends we may have of veg/meat, you are spot on!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My curry repertoire is rather limited to say the least.  But even though I have a number of Indian cookbooks I was excited to read Vivek Singh's Curry Classic and Contemporary.  I've made a couple things from the book, most recently kadhai ka shikar earlier this week:

 

 

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/160121-dinner-2020/?do=findComment&comment=2247719

 

 

One of the finest dishes I have eaten, even though necessity required I forgo the called for grouse, partridge, quail, and pheasant in favor of organic chicken.  Now I am craving it again.