Chicken Curry and Beyond - The CurryFocus Blog

Just where do you go to get curry powder, cumin, ginger, garam masala and all the ingredients for your mouth watering chicken tikka masala, lamb rogan josh or dhal?  

Well, the obvious place is your local supermarket. Most good supermarkets stock a wide range of spices including curry powder, cumin, garlic, ginger, garam masala, turmeric, coriander, fennel and cardamom – the list is almost endless.  

And most good supermarkets also stock fresh ingredients such as chillies, ginger, cinnamon and spinach. Be careful when using chillis for the first time if you’re not sure how hot they are – it’s better to use just a little and build from there rather than use too much and kill your tastebuds. Be careful when handling chillis to make sure that you don’t rub the residue in your eyes.  Most people buy their rice from a supermarket and the range includes long grain and basmati (my favourite). If you’re into rice in a big way, or have a big family to feed, you can usually buy big bags (and sometimes sacks) of rice from your supermarket.  You can buy your meat from the supermarket or your can pop into your local butcher.    

Again, you can get your vegetables from a supermarket or you can visit your local greengrocer (or vegetable barn). My local greengrocer has a wide range of produce including spinach, aubergines, fresh herbs, onions, etc. 

Most large towns and cities have Asian food stores where you can buy a vast range of fresh ingredients as well as all of the different types of flour to make those yummy poppadoms, chapatti and naan bread. The more lazy of us can just buy these items ready made and heat them up in a microwave or oven – who says you have to work hard to enjoy good food?  The Asian stores or supermarkets are also good suppliers of lentils and beans that you need for your favourite dhal. And you can also pick up jars of your favourite mango chutney or lime pickle from these places. 

If you don’t know where your good supermarkets or Asian food stores are located just check out your local yellow pages web site and do a couple of searches. You’ll find what you need very easily.  Remember to experiment with your recipes – that’s part of the fun of cooking for yourself. If there isn’t enough curry powder then add some more. If you think there’s too much garam masala then cut back a little. Food is different for everybody. 

If you’ve got a good recipe then why not post it on to the CurryFocus web site? We’ll publish it for the world to see and try. And we give you the credit. The address to post to is http://curryfocus.co.uk/newrecipe.php . 

Happy cooking. 

There is a wealth of information out there about the health benefits of some of the ingredients of Curries. We look at some of these articles.

A Curry a Day keeps the Doctor Away?
Science Daily — The chemical that gives spicy food its kick could hold the key to the next generation of anti-cancer drugs that will kill tumours with few or no side effects for the patient, say academics at The University of Nottingham. more..

Garlic could provide cancer drug
The chemical which gives garlic its flavour could be used in a “smart bomb” to fight cancer, scientists say. more..

Curry Spice ‘Help for Arthritis’
Extract of a spice used in curry could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis, US research suggests. more..

At the end of the day you need to make your own decision as to what is right for you, along with consultation from a medical professional, however it is very interesting to note that many Curry dishes have a number of ingredients that appear to have excellent side effects.

This week we decided to try one of our all time favourites Butter Chicken. This was a bit of a challenge for me and should only be considered if you have a bit more spare time than some of the other recipes. This is how Wikipedia describes butter chicken

Butter chicken or murgh makhani is an Indian dish popular in countries all over the world that have a tradition of Indian restaurants. While the dish’s general recipe is well known, the actual flavour can vary from restaurant to restaurant even within Delhi. Butter chicken is usually served with naan ,roti,parathas or steamed rice

It is a dish made by marinating a chicken overnight in a yoghurt and spice mixture usually including garam masala, ginger, lemon or lime, pepper, coriander, cumin, turmeric, chilli, methi and garlic. It is in some ways similar to chicken tikka masala. The chicken is then roasted or baked.

A sauce is made from butter, tomatoes, almonds and various spices, often including cumin, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, pepper, fenugreek and sometimes cream. Once the sauce is prepared, the marinated and roasted chicken is chopped and added to it.

Firstly the yoghurt ginger and salt was mixed up into a marinade, the chicken added to this and soaked overnight. Then the chicken is placed in an oven proof dish and baked for about an hour.

Then and this is where I return to my comfort zone the saucepan the other ingredients are mixed up and the baked and marinated chicken pieces added.

Unfortunately something was not quite right with the way I cooked this dish, because as per one of the comments from the diners “I have never seen butter chicken look like that before” there were a few taste and display issues. Maybe it was because I just don’t like that much cream and butter, but it didn’t really do it for me either. If anyone has a slightly healthier and more flavoursome butter chicken recipe I would be keen to review it. If so please submit it.

Yummy Curry Rating from the diners: 4 out of 10
Hotness Rating: Mild