Cooking a curry - how difficult is it?

Just made this,tastes pretty nice but still tastes nothing like the curry i get from my takeaway:

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looks like it may have been a bit watery still deluxe, try reducing it more next time and it should be a little better. I like adding a few long thin(ish) slices of green pepper 5 minutes before serving, too.

@ At, thanks for the recipe, it's quite similar to the one i already use. Gonna cook one tonight if i can find all the ingredients (i'm currently in brazil).

A small change i think spices up the chicken more:

add two garlic cloves to the onion, and then add the other two after you have fried the spices, just before you add the chicken.
 
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Why is it that when I try to make curry form scratch. It just tastes like watery tomatoes with grainy curry power and spices floating in it. Almost as if the ingrediants don't mix together.

It usually looks a mess and tastes disgusting.

Any tips?
 
englishpremier said:
Why is it that when I try to make curry form scratch. It just tastes like watery tomatoes with grainy curry power and spices floating in it. Almost as if the ingrediants don't mix together.

It usually looks a mess and tastes disgusting.

Any tips?
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i guess cooking practice in general will help (everyone makes mistakes at first). But to help, i'd suggest you do the following: on a medium heat with a healthy dose of oil, add fresh garlic and ginger (this thread contains measurments somewhere), then after a few minutes (don't let them brown) add the onion, cook on a low heat until the onions are nice and soft (should take no less than 10 mins). Now add the curry powder and thoroughly mix in. then add the meat (i chop up 2 cloves of garlic and rub this into the meat beforehand), and fry until the meat is cooked/slighly browned on the outside. at this stage add some fresh, ripe tomatoes and a little water, and half a lime.

If you want to shortcut at this stage, don't put a lid on the pan and let it simmer so you reduce the liquid on a medium heat - it should bubble but not overly. In about 10-15 minutes it should be a lot thicker, at this stage (if it really is nice texture) add a green pepper chopped into long thin(ish) wedges, and keep going for another 5 minutes. Now add some freshly chopped corriander, and serve.

It should make a reasonably nice curry, and you shouldn't have the issues you described.
 
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Try using passata (sieved tomatoes) so you don't have to worry about chunks, seeds, skin, will make the curry very smooth.
 
englishpremier said:
do you use chopped tomatoes or do you buy tomatoes and put them in the blender?
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just grab some ripe tomatoes, and chop them up nice and fine, while in the pan simmering they will soften.

An alternative is to boil some water and put the toms whole in there, leave for a few minutes and the skin will become loose and you'll be able to peel it all off. Then chop them up finely and add.

definitely don't use a blender, and a tin of tomatoes just won't taste as "fresh".
 
I'm still going wrong somewhere. I can still really taste the tomatoes. It's like all the ingredients do not mix well.


I finely chop or blend ginger, onion, fresh corriander, a large chilli, garlic and add 3 Tbsp of ghee oil.

I fry this up, then add a can (or 2 depending on quantity) of chopped tomatoes or passata.

I leave this to simmer for around 40mins. It reduces nicely, I then add some peppers, and my spices (garam masala, corriander, cumin and tumric). I leave for a little while and serve with the meat of my choice.

I also tend to add a dash of lemon and finish with fresh corriander.

There is a hint of that curry aroma and a sprinkling of taste here or there, but its certainly not great. There is no fusion of flavours. Despite and exceptionally strong base, it can sometimes seem weak and watery or very tomato like.

If I leave it off the heat for a little while I notice it seems to dry out.

In addition the sauce never really changes colour. It still looks very red even after adding my spices.


What am i doing wrong?
 
wrong order imo.

Chop ginger, garlic and onion together, cook until soft.

Add spices, continue to cook for a few minutes.

Add the meat, along with some more garlic, brown for a second.

now add fresh chopped plum tomatoes, and less of them than you were using, add some water (not too much) a spoon of lemon juice and allow it to reduce.

Once it gets thicker, add the peppers and cook for about 10 mins more, then before serving, add fresh corriander.

It should make a good curry.
 
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