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Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm
Madhur Jaffrey's Eastern Vegetarian - nice veggie curries & more!
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There are thousands of curry recipes from many different regions. I have at least a dozen HBook cookbooks, all marked with sticky tabs with my favourites. I find I only like, can make, or have the right ingredients for certain recipes in each book.
Madhur Jaffrey has several good books on curry and her BBC series was also excellent.
The web is also a great source.
The ingredients are the key. I have one whole cupboard section dedicated to curry spices. I like to buy whole spices, pan roast them then grind them in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. (yes that's right to the basics)
It has taken me quite a while to source out these spices and other ingredients that you don't find in your regular grocery store. There are about 10 basic spices and many more exotic ingredients. I've included a pic of some of my basic spices in my curry spice container.
I am fortunate that we have some excellent South East Asian markets in Vancouver, not all of them close to me, plus some other ingredients that I can find in some Malaysian and Chinese grocers.
I don't use the packaged (yellow) curry powder since it is seldom called for in the recipes I use, plus it stinks up the whole place for days afterwards when you use it.
With the invention of the food processor, chopping onions and tomatoes, the 2 main vegetable ingredients, has made cooking curries much easier.
To be a purist, you also have to be prepared to cook with ghee, which is clarified butter. I buy it ready-made at the Punjab market and it stores in the fridge as a solid for months. Some suggest using vegetable oil as a substute but I, as yet, haven't tried it.
One of my favourites is a seafood curry over basmati rice. It all depends on which seafood is in season, and I am at the point now where I can doctor the recipes to my own tastes.
There are lots of great vegetarian curries out there also, and very easy to make once you have the ingredients you need.
I suggest you find a recipe, see if you can source the ingredients or maybe even find substitutions if need be. I have sometimes left an ingredient out because I couldn't find it, and wouldn't know if my curry was any better or worse. It is nice though, if you can afford it, to go out to a nice curry restaurant and see if what you choose looks anything like or tastes anything like what you have tried at home.
I haven't tried making any of the flat breads yet, although I did make regular bread from scratch yesterday after reading about the Zelda's and Patricia's coffee date.
I may post a favourite on the recipe board if I find the time.
WDE. (This is making me hungry)