by Marcus Bentley Wise

Created on: April 17, 2010

To make a good curry you need to have the right spices. All depending of what king of curry you are looking for depends on the spice blend. This curry recipe works just as well with meat, fish, or vegetables. And as a starting block you could make it your own persona dish as you decide what to finish it with.

For the spices you will need.

2.5cm/1in piece of root ginger

2 to 3 garlic cloves

1tsp ground cardamom

½tsp ground cloves

½tsp ground chili

½tsp ground black pepper

2tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

½tsp ground turmeric

This as a basic starting block is all that you need. Now what you do with it is another thing. You can dry fry your spices in a pan with no oil or butter. This gives a nutty texture to the dish. Or you can cook them in the oil first to get all the flavours working before you add the rest of the ingredients. Once you have done that add it to your meat.

For the curry you will need

675g/1½ld of meat, chicken works best if you are in a rush.

2tdsp of oil

2 onions

400g/14oz chopped tomatoes

100g/3½oz coconut cream, yogurt or mayonnaise.

Bunch of fresh coriander.

Salt to taste.

Now you can add the meat to the cooking pot straight away. Or you can add the spice mix to the meat and let it marinade for a while before you cook it. It you marinade it you do get a beeper flavour to the meat.

Add your meat to the spices or the marinade to a pan with the oil and the onions. Cook till the meat is browned and the onions are soft. Then add the tomatoes. Now all depending on what meat you are using you might want to add some water. If you are cooking chuck stake it will take a lot longer then chicken. The longer the cooking the more it will reduce. So you will need to add water as you cook it or it will just burn to the pan. So you will have to be the judge of that. Then cook the meat till it is tender.

Once the meat is cooked then you just finish it with ether cream coconut, yogurt or mayonnaise. Yes mayonnaise is great to finish a curry with as long as it is out of a jar. And then add the fresh chopped coriander at the last moment. And season with salt to taste.

Once you have the basic spices then you can experiment and make other curries. Add a little brown sugar, fresh chili, more vegetables. The variations and choices are endless.

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