Archive for April, 2007

What is Ghee?

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Lots of curry recipes call for ghee as an ingredient.

Ghee is clarified butter that is used instead of oil for frying. It is popular for frying because it has a very high “smoke point”, which means that it is safe for cooking at very high temperatures without discolouring or burning and it is these properties that makes it good for deep frying.

People are moving away from using ghee nowadays because it is high in cholesterol. Groundnut, sesame, corn or sunflower oil is being used more and more.

It’s very easy to make ghee. All you do is melt unsalted butter over a low heat. Then you simmer for at least 20 minutes. Any solids that rise to the top of the liquid are skimmed off and discarded. After simmering, the liquid should be clear and light yellow. You strain the liquid through a fine cloth into a clean jar, discarding anything that is trapped by the cloth. The liquid will solidify into ghee as it cools. You can store the ghee at room temperature for a few weeks or in a fridge for about 6 months.

If you want ghee and don’t want to make it yourself, you can buy it from most Indian food stores or some of the larger supermarkets.Â

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Beef Curry - An Experiment In Cooking

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Today it is become time for me to attempt to cook another curry. However today’s curry has somewhat of a twist to it. Due to it being a public Holiday in NZ - I have little or no ingredients, so I need to make a tasty Beef curry out of whatever I can find in the cupboard and the fridge.

Ingredients Pulled together.

900 grams Beef (cut into cubes)
2 Tbsp Garlic Paste
2 Tbsp of Karahi Chicken masala Spice blend
Chilli Paste
1 Spoon of Butter
1 Cup of Water
1/4 cup of yoghurt

Now the spice blend that I am using I have tried before with Chicken and it was delicious. This time we will see what it tastes like with Beef. Unfortunately we have no onion available, so we are just going to have to see how this one turns out.

To prepare the Curry firstly the butter is heated in the pan, then the cubes of beef along with the Garlic paste and masala spices are fried together for 10 minutes or so. The chilli paste is also added during this time.

Now we add the cup of water and leave the Beef Curry to simmer for a couple of hours.. the yoghurt was added about ten minutes before serving to thicken the sauce. This turned out very tasty!

Yummy Curry Rating from the diners:Â 7 out of 10
Hotness Rating:Â Mild

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Chicken Curry is on the Menu Tonight

Sunday, April 1st, 2007

I noticed a Chicken Curry recipe had been submitted to the site and decided to give it a shot, it also looked fairly simple to make which was an added attraction.

You can try it yourself - Chicken Curry Recipe. This would have been one of the quickest to prepare curries that I have tried. Cut up the onion, heat and add the rest of the ingredients, then the chicken pieces and Boil for 30 minutes. It really was as simple as that.

Simple, quick and very tasty. Quite healthy too. When you want a curry in a hurry this is the way to go.

Yummy Curry Rating from the diners:Â 8 out of 10
Hotness Rating:Â Mild

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