Curry Night

rosie383

I echo what the others have said, although I wouldn't agree that you do them on a very high heat. Do them really slow until they are really, really brown. That's where all the flavour comes from.
You also need to use quite a bit of onion. I would use 4 large ones, sliced for a decent curry, and about 1/2 to a whole head of garlic. If you cook it right, you don't get an onion or garlic smell off it, but by the time you have cooked your onions, your clothes will smell of fried onions. Nice smell, but not the most sociable!!!

Stephen_Leak

If you really like onions, make it into a Dopiaza. Add another 2 onions, sliced into rings, after 15 minutes.

Dopiaza is Urdu for ‘two onions’ and is any curry with lots of onion, half of which are added part way through cooking. According to legend, it was created by accident, when one of the Mughal emperor Akbar’s cooks, thinking that another cook hadn't put any onions into a curry, put a second lot in. Fortunately, Akbar liked onions, thought this ‘new’ dish was delicious and everyone lived happily (albeit flatulently?) ever after.

meritaten

If you add cream or coconut milk to a curry it isnt going to be 'brown'! leave out the cream?
Personally, I love the milder creamier currys - and they are always sort of yellowish!

SUESMITH_2

if you like the taste don't alter the recipe and add a touch of gravy browning like others have already said

mogwai

its the spices that add the brown colour - garam masala, cumin (jeera) powder, turmeric, chilli powder and curry powder, and coriander powder if you use it.

OP your recipe doesnt have curry powder, I'd recommend you add that for your brown colour and more curry-ish taste, and a touch of chilli powder won't make it too spicy, but will give it a slight edge, I use it in butter chicken and its not spicy.

I wouldnt advise using non curry ingredients to make it browner, its unnecessary and will alter the taste. The cream in your recipe is making it pale as well, cook it for a bit longer to make it browner, hth!

zippychick

as this has dropped down the board, ive merged it with our curry night thread

If you are happy with the taste, why worry what colour it is?

There are so many variations of curry i recommend maybe trying some authentic recipes - Jamie O has some good recipes online - you can make the pastes or buy the pataks ones instead - they are damn good curries - in fact, check his site out as it's loaded with curry recipes

Let us know how you go

Zip

shays_mum

If you want authentic, fast & easy check out:

showmethecurry.com

These girls have food variations from all over India including Gujerati veggie food (this was indian veggie food Gordon Ramsey so loved on his show!).

Their video's are easy to follow as well
HTH

ps)yes! it is all about the onions, they should be the very darkest brown & reduced down in size to about half.

Mrs_Grey

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread. We are eating our way through it. Another one tomorrow:-)

andygb

As someone who loves a curry or three, I have always wanted to cook them properly, to get that authentic taste. So I have searched around on the internet, and it would seem that the majority of currys use a "base gravy" to provide the sauce. The advantage of making this in a large quantity, is that it keeps well in the fridge, and it enables you to knock up a curry in around 15 minutes.
You will need the following:
A large stainless steel stockpot capable of taking 5 litres at least, a stainless or wooden spoon and a magimix hand blender (or processor would do).

Ingredients:

2 large onions
1 green pepper
2 carrots
2 medium baking potatoes
1 tbs crushed garlic
1 tbs crushed ginger
1 tbs turmeric powder
1 tbs coriander powder
1 tbs cumin powder
1 tbs garam masala powder
1 tbs all purpose seasoning (I use Raja from my local Indian shop)
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 litres water
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

Chop the onions, pepper, carrots and potatoes into small pieces.
Heat the oil in the pan and add the chopped vegetables, allowing them to soften - do not burn them. Then add the all purpose seasoning and the garlic and ginger and stir well.
Once all this has softened a bit, add the rest of the spices and stir well, then add the tomatoes and again stir well.
Then add the water, bring to a rolling boil and let the whole thing simmer for about 25 minutes.
Test the vegetables to make sure that they are soft, then leave to cool down.
Once cool, you can blend them thoroughly, the consistency should allow the gravy to coat the back of a spoon.

The idea behind this gravy, is that you pre cook the meat or vegetables (think Bombay potato) in onions, garlic and spices, then once they are cooked through, add as much gravy as you want, keeping it on the heat and reducing down, until you get a sauce like consistency, like you would find in a Jalfrezi or Balti dish. The main character of the dish is determined by which spices or herbs you add - more chilli, lemon, almonds, sugar, sliced peppers.

I like cooking up a batch of chicken or lamb chunks in a slow cooker with chopped onions, garlic and ginger, salt and pepper, until they are tender (not falling apart though). Once cooked, this meat can be kept in a fridge for up to a week (assuming that you have used fresh meat). You can then take out the portions which you require.

Emm-in-a-pickle

I sometimes do something similar, though on a smaller scale and a bit more concentrated, due to often limited freezer space. I generally throw in any cooked leftover veg, and cook up stuff that needs using as well, to get a sort of spicy veg stockpot. I have found that leaving out the tinned toms & the potatoes helps reduce the quantity (when I want to use the curry base I add the toms then, and a good sprinkle of instant mash powder helps he texture too.)
My `key ingredient` that you don`t use in yours is sweet potato cut up small & cooked in the oil/veg/spices. There, my secret is out!