Cooking a curry - how difficult is it?
- Thread starter BubbySoup
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Caporegime
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well it also depends on the region its made in
all southern indian curries are crap
best curries are from the northern region, specifically punjab
a proper curry can only be made by someone who has been taught how to make it "desi" style
Which restaurant do you have?
Agree, it's a million times better using a 'proper' knife.
I'm a Global fanboy, so get one of them
see I have a globa, sabatire and a wasbi.
Non of them are perfect.
The wasbi would be, but it's got a dimpled blade coating. That means veg sticks and I mean sticks to the blade. If it wasn't for that it would be a perfect knife.
Not sure which make I'm going to try next. Anyone got any suggestions.
Caporegime
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dont work in the kitchen unless i really need to and the chefs have too much work on their hands or understaffed
the fact im indian, have been eating them all my life, worked in several restaurants and my family now owns a restaurant and have owned take-aways in the past, etc
im probably the best person to advise you on a proper curry
whats wrong with the global and sabatier?
Consigliere
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So how come it takes an hour - marinating the chicken and all fresh ingredients etc? Enlighten us!
I am British, eating "British" all my life, worked in several restaurants, I eat a lot of take away. I don't know everything in British cuisine.
Shun Knives are the best you'll get, but you will pay for the privilege.
I've also got an Anolon knife that's pretty good too, slightly cheaper than the Shun too!
I can't say i've ever noticed that, I use the vegetable chopper mostly (GS5).
^^ I've heard nothing but good about Shun knives, they're supposed to be the dogs danglies.
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Consigliere
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This is the one That everything sticks to
http://www.cooksandkitchens.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=737
Global ok, i just don't really like the weight r the Handel and the sabatier Althea good, doesn't keep a sharp edge for long.
Caporegime
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So how come it takes an hour - marinating the chicken and all fresh ingredients etc? Enlighten us!
well im gonna use words which are punjabi which cannot be translated fully into english - but ill try my best to explain them to you
first of all the base of every curry is "tor-ka" pronounced many different ways "tarka", etc
this is made from ginger and garlic and onions
even to prepare the base properly can take ages
my old chef used to slice the garlic so thin that it would take over a minute to even do 1 clove
some people though to do it the fast way just throw it all in a food processor - this is cheating
you need to peel the ginger and then chop it
peel the onions then chop them
making tor-ka could easily take up 15 minutes and thats only 3 ingredients
now depending on the type of curry you want you then have to get the rest of the ingredients and prepare them
now if you were to ask me how do you make a chicken tikka masala or korma, etc properly - i would say you cant because its not a proper curry
in proper desi style cooking you dont marinate the chicken, the chicken is cooked in the spices so whilst its being cooked the flavour goes into the chicken
im not a proper desi chef i have only ever made a proper desi curry once and it took so much effort and work i'd rather the chef which is employed by my family in the restaurant make it
but to make a curry for a takeaway or sit in takes me approximately 5 minutes
even when i was making the authentic curry my chef who has decades of experience had to keep telling me what to do - whereas if im making an english style one he dont need to tell me anything
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Caporegime
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if you wanna know what a proper curry is
go tou your local take-away or restaurant - or phone them up
ask them if they make a staff curry
then ask them to give you the staff curry instead of what you normally have
each day they should have a new staff curry - this is the only way you would get a proper authentic staff curry
oops forgot to add - ask them what style of cooking it is
make sure it is punjabi style - you dont wanna be trying any of that southern indian curries or any of the other regions
for me to make you up a full recipe and instructions on how to cook it would take about an hour of my time - sorry
this is the only way you will get a proper authentic curry from any restaurant - if you simply walk in and say i want a chicken curry - make it authentically and proper indian style - they wont do it - because it takes hours
what they will do is just cook you a normal one and stick a wee bit of extra stuff in it to make it taste different
just ask your local for a staff curry next time you fgo there - its the easiest way to try a proper one - just make sure thats its punjabi chef's and a punjabi style of cooking
Consigliere
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I think you should make a dedicated thread, everyone would love it!
Surly you could spare an hour at some point over the next few weeks? or find a recipe online which is very close?
AgeedI think you should make a dedicated thread, everyone would love it!
Caporegime
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I think you should make a dedicated thread, everyone would love it!
i already made several extremely long posts the last time i saw a curry thread over a year ago
lots of people were interested and followed my tips