Indian Food

anything I don't mind

anything I don't mind

anything I don't mind

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28 Dec 2009
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london
I realy like indian food but I have never even tried to make it. I can make one type of pasta using jar of pasta sauce like tomato and basil. Other than that I don't realy make any pasta or rice dishes, I always buy them ready made. Indian food seems complicated.

Do you know of any easy indian recipes for beginners ? I would like to make a chicken dish that you would get from the indian take away. Like a thick jalfrezi with tasty tomatoes and spicy chicken.

Also why do they have one meal called say chicken jalfrezi and so many different types of combinations of ingredients. I looked for a video on the jalfrezi and it was nothing like the ones i get from the take away.
 
I've always found 'curry house' recipes can look quite complicated. I think the restaurants have a few bases that they then adapt and add different meats to make different curries. I also get the feeling they're not really 100% authentic.

Sharwood's curry paste is a very easy way to make reasonable curries, instructions are on the jar but since you add the onions meat and other veg you've got some flexibility.

EDIT: One of my favourite easy curry's is Keith Floyd's tandoori chicken. It's a pretty forgiving recipe. I often use vingegar instead of lemon juice, I've never bothered with the saffron and I just use yoghurt. It still comes out v nice. Also use chicken thighs and scale the ingredients down since I'm usually cooking for one.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61358887/Floyd-s-India-Keith-Floyd Page 100.
 
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You can make a really simple curry as per below:

2 peppers
2 onions
4 gloves of garlic
tin of tomatoes
pack of chicken thighs (better than breast imo)

2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teasapoon salt

Slice the onions. Peel and chop the garlic. Slice the peppers. Slice the chicken.

Lots of oil (more than you'd think) in a pan..hot temperature.
Fry of the onions and peppers until they go soft.
Add the garlic, fry for 1 minute.
Add the spices, fry for 1 minute.
Add the chicken, fry for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes, salt and a cup of water.

High heat until simmering but not boiling. Lower heat to lowest. Leave for at least an hour to simmer at lowest heat. Check every 30 minutes to ensure that it isn't sticking.

It will seem liquidy at first but will start to thicken after an hour. Just cook it until you're happy with it.

Adding more spices will make it much nicer but it is a nice and easy curry to start you off :)
 
Once you have all the spices in your cupboard it's pretty easy. If you want to make lamb then you need to stew it for quite a few hours to make it good.

Madhur Jaffrey does a great chicken kadhai recipe which is really fresh and full of tomatoes. Takes about 30 mins to make if you've done it before. No jars involved!
 
Thanks will definitely look out for the Sharwood's jars as never seen those before and will give that try first. I am not very good a cooking rice either, usually comes out all crap compared to ones i get from the shop. I might try and steam it as just bought this steamer for the pots that can change any pot in to a steamer or get those microwave rice packets.

Yea all the spices and fresh ingredients must add up to a lot if you don't use them often. I think i must first get used to cooking that kind of meal and then start doing big recipe with spices.
 
When buying spices don't buy the Schwartz ones, just get the supermarket branded jars. They are exactly the same and half the price. Even better though is to go and find the 'World Food' asile in your supermarket and buy the big bags of spices that they sell there. They are very, very, cheap (often as cheap as the supermarket brand but much bigger). I put my bags of spices into empty coffee jars to keep them fresh.
Spices may seem like a high initial outlay, but they will last for ages and will really improve the taste of your food. Garlic will last a while if you keep it in the cupboard, and there's no reason to buy fresh tomatoes. Just get the value cans of chopped tomatoes, they are around 30p and one can should do.
Onions will last ages if you keep them in the fridge as well, and I find peppers have quite a long fridge life. The trick is to disregard any use by dates that you see and just trust your judgement. Basically, if it doesn't have mould on it then it's safe to eat!
When you get comfortable with rice, then you can buy the 10kg sacks of rice from the supermarket which are much, much, cheaper than the smaller bags. Rice will last forever as well. There has been many an argument on here on how to cook rice, but if you're not comfortable just measure out half a mug of rice and pour it into a large pan. Then add loads of boiling water and some salt. Bring it to the boil, and it'll take about 15 minutes to cook. Check after ten, and just keep an eye on it. Then drain it in a sieve and serve. I usually do a mug full of rice, and then make fried rice with the left over.

For the purists - this isn't actually how I make my rice, but it's straightforward and makes fine enough rice.
 
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