Chicken Curry and Beyond - The CurryFocus Blog

Hi, Ray here again.

Last weekend I had a couple of old friends around for dinner. I hadn’t seen either of them for over a year so I decided to push the boat out a little and make a range of dishes for them to sample.

I made a spicy potato and cauliflower, dhal and chicken jalfrezi, all from the range of delicious Curry Focus recipes.

The friends were bringing round some fresh fruit for dessert so I decided to try and make some ice cream (kulfi) to go with the fruit.

I know that you can buy ice cream making machines. But I don’t have one.

The Curry Focus ice cream recipe doesn’t need anything more automated than a whisk.

I bought all of the ingredients, conscious that there was a lot of fat and calories going into this dish. But I don’t have ice cream very often so it’s a bit of a treat.

The recipe was easy enough to follow.

It was the freezing and unfreezing that I had to think about.

Before adding the final ingredient of whisked egg whites, the ice cream had to be 80% frozen. I really had to make a guess at what this meant. I kept checking the mixture every 10 minutes after an hour and then finally decided it had frozen enough after 90 minutes.

Then I left the ice cream overnight to freeze.

I wanted to check out the ice cream the next day and found that it was frozen solid. There was no way that I could even chip out portions to eat. It must be because there are no added preservatives – ice cream that you buy from the supermarket never really freezes when you have it in the freezer so it must be down to something that is added to the ice cream.

So I left the ice cream in the kitchen for an hour to let it thaw a little. The ice cream could be spooned out of the bowl but had a fair amount of ice inside it.

I had to go out for the best part of the day so put the ice cream back into the freezer.

An hour before we were due to start eating, I took the ice cream out of the freezer again. Once more, it was frozen solid. By the time it came for dessert, just over 1.5 hours had gone by and the ice cream was almost perfect. I mixed it up with a fork to make sure that the few solid bits were broken up and then served it up with the fresh fruit.

Another hit on my hands!! The ice cream was loved by everyone and it received an impressive score of 8 out of 10.

So if you have a sweet tooth and are partial to ice cream, why not give this easy recipe a try?

Hi, Ray here again.

Time to try another of the great range of curry recipes on the Curry Focus website. My local supermarket was advertising a special on beef so I chose the Beef and Potato curry to take advantage of the special. The way I figure it, the more I save on ingredients, the more I can spend on a beer to have with the curry.

This is another really easy curry to make and all you have to remember is that you have to simmer the curry for about 2.5 hours – so if you’re planning on dining at 7pm then you have to start making the curry around 4pm.

I cut up the beef and mixed it up with the salt and turmeric.

Then I prepared the onions, garlic and ginger and was ready to start the cooking.

I stir-fried the onion, garlic and ginger for about 10 minutes. Then I added the beef and spices and stir-fried for another 5 minutes.

Then in went the water. I brought the curry to a simmer, covered and left it for 2 hours, returning to stir the curry every 10 – 15 minutes.

I quickly peeled and cubed the potatoes when the 2 hours were nearly finished and then added the potato cubes to the curry, stirring well and covering the frying pan again.

I started up some rice after 5 minutes and everything was ready just 20 minutes after the potato was added.

The Beef and Potato curry was served up to the assembled diner (just 2 of us for dinner tonight) and we tasted the results of my cooking.

It was a good curry. Not a great curry but a good one. It had a mild to medium spicy taste. The beef was lovely and tender. There wasn’t much colour on the plate so I maybe should have garnished the curry with some fresh coriander. The curry received a good rating of 7 out of 10.

Of course, there was far too much curry for the two of us. We had the same curry the next night and it tasted a little spicier than the previous night (funny how curries do that). And we still hadn’t finished the curry so put the remainder into a container and popped it into the freezer for another day.

I definitely recommend this curry if you want to try a curry that is not too spicy.

Hi, Ray here again.

After last week’s disaster with the poppadoms, I needed to get back into the cooking saddle again pretty quickly.

I decided to try out another vegetarian recipe and this time it was the Cauliflower and Potato recipe from the Curry Focus website.

Very little shopping was needed here because the only thing that I didn’t already have was the cauliflower.

This is an amazingly simple dish to prepare and it is absolutely delicious.

Through circumstances beyond my control, I was dining alone tonight.

So I followed the recipe, step by step, and pretty soon I had a plate full of delicious food.

And it was delicious. There was a divine spice taste and everything was cooked to perfection. There was easily enough curry for 2 (I had the left overs the next day for lunch) and would be a great side dish for a dinner party of 4.

A few days later I had friends around for dinner and decided to cook saag gosht again. The recipe was a big hit the last time I made it and this time I had a great side dish to go with it.

I was running a bit late with the cooking and the guests were very eager to sample the food when I eventually served it up.

The saag gosht went down well but the big hit was the cauliflower and potato side dish.

The word “stunning” came out of the mouth of one of the guests which was high praise indeed.

The dish had a little bit of a spicy kick to it but wasn’t too hot. And the textures and flavours were great.

The cauliflower and potato dish scored a great 9 out of 10 with a heat rating of medium.

This is the recipe for you if you want a great side dish that is easy to make.

Try it for yourself.

Hi, Ray here again.

I’d been looking through some of the curry books that I’ve got and was struck by the lack of recipes for Poppadoms. Indeed, some books just said to buy a packet from a shop and then grill or fry them. I seem to remember somebody saying that poppadoms were difficult to make.

So here’s a challenge. I did pretty well making naan bread so poppadoms should be easy enough.

There’s a Poppadom recipe on the Curry Focus website that looks easy enough.

I started by making the dough.

It was too dry. Way too dry.

So I added more water, a dribble at a time, until I got what I thought was the correct consistency.

But I obviously got it wrong. The dough was way too sticky.

So I added more flour to dry it up a bit.

Then I rolled the dough out into a cylinder and sliced it into equal rounds and put a dab of oil on the top of the rounds.

But the dough kept sticking to my rolling pin. I put flour on the work surface and the rolling pin but as the poppadoms kept getting bigger, they kept attaching to the rolling pin and splitting.

I was ending up with strips of poppadoms.

I got all of the dough back together a couple of times and tried again but no luck.

I don’t know whether I messed up the recipe or that the recipe doesn’t work. I am fully prepared to accept that the problem was with me. I don’t have a real rolling pin and use an empty wine bottle but I can’t see that blaming my rolling pin is the answer – I think the person wielding the rolling pin is the problem. Maybe I wasn’t careful enough. Or maybe I’m not adaptable enough in the kitchen – I assume that real cooks automatically compensate for dough inconsistencies.

It wasn’t a huge disaster because I had bought a packet of poppadoms earlier.

I’ll try the recipe one more time and I’ll buy a proper rolling pin to see if that makes a difference.

And if the recipe doesn’t work, I’ll hunt down another one.

I won’t be beaten. I need a recipe that works so that I can create my own flavours.

Hi, Ray here again.

This week I wanted to try out a recipe for a dish that I’d never eaten before. I searched through the yummy recipes on the Curry Focus website and decided to try the Beef Pasanda.

The beef needed to marinate overnight so I made sure that I got all of the ingredients early enough.

The marinade is about half a bottle red wine. Now here was the hard decision. I didn’t like the idea of buying an expensive wine just for cooking (I know that’s probably a silly thing to worry about) but I didn’t want to buy cheap, nasty wine either (because I’d have a couple of glasses to drink). I finally went for a middle of the road merlot.

Now this is easily one of the noisiest curries that I’ve ever made. I don’t have a meat tenderiser so resorted to putting the beef onto the kitchen work surface, covering it with the plastic meat preparation board and pounding the board with a hammer. I made a lot of noise but the beef was flattened just fine.

I put the beef, with the marinade, into the fridge overnight.

The next afternoon, I started to make the Pasanda.

I prepared the onions, garlic and ginger and stir-fried them for 10 minutes. The mixture gets very dry so needs to be kept moving at all times. There was a lovely ginger aroma when the cooking stopped.

I made up the spicy paste whilst the onion mixture was cooling.

After a while I put the onion mixture, along with the coriander and coconut, into the food processor and made a puree.

After that the spicy paste was stir-fried for 90 seconds to be joined by the puree before stir-frying for 5 minutes.

I mixed in the ground almonds and tomato paste and then removed the mixture from the heat.

The oven had already been preheated by now and the beef, marinade and cooked ingredients all went into a large casserole. After mixing everything well, the casserole went into the oven.

I checked and stirred after the 30 minutes and cooked it for another 30 minutes.

I checked the Pasanda once again and all was good.

I returned the Pasanda to the oven whilst the rice was started.

After five minutes I turned off the oven, leaving the Pasanda to cook for a further 10 minutes.

The pasanda and rice was served up to the waiting dinner guests.

The sauce was rich, thick, smooth, nutty and tasted of the red wine. And the beef was very tender. The Pasanda was eaten quickly enough but failed to ignite hearty enthusiasm. One of the guests commented that it would have been better with some yogurt. I did a quick search on the internet and most of the Pasanda recipes did indeed use yogurt as the marinade. So I need to find another Pasanda recipe to try. And one of the guests was looking for some red wine to go with the food but I had already drunk the remainder of the wine whilst cooking – I think this is a valid cook’s bonus.

Overall, the Pasanda was very tasty and scored 7 out of 10 with a heat rating of mild.

If you like a mild curry and red wine then this could be just the curry for you.

Hi, Ray here again.

Last week I wanted to make a Rogan Josh curry but left it too late to make because I had forgotten that the lamb had to be marinated overnight.

So this week I was properly prepared to make a Lamb Rogan Josh from the Curry Focus website.

I made up the marinade and mixed it in with the lean lamb and then put it into the fridge to marinate overnight.

A couple of hours before dinner, I started preparing the ingredients which really only involved getting ready the onion and second garlic clove.

Then I started the cooking.

I stir-fried the cumin seeds and then stir-fried the bay leaves and cardamom pods.

Then I stir-fried the onion and garlic for 5 minutes before adding the coriander, cumin and chilli powder.

Soon it was time for the lamb to enter the frying pan.

And not long afterwards, the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and water joined the lamb.

All was mixed up well and brought to a simmer.

The lamb simmered for 90 minutes and the basmati was timed to be ready at the same time as the curry.

Whilst I was serving up the Rogan Josh, I quickly microwaved a couple of stuffed paratha to go with the meal.

The Rogan Josh was served up and went down fairly well.

The lamb was really tender but this wasn’t the curry that I expected. The curry had a lot more liquid than I am used to and, to be honest, it was more like a stew than a curry. And it was very mild.

The Rogan Josh was awarded a sympathetic 6 out of 10 with a spice heat rating of mild.

I carefully reviewed the recipe to make sure that I had followed the steps correctly. And I had. Maybe the lid could have been left off the frying pan to allow the curry to reduce and thicken a bit. But the spice level was too low – I’m used to a Rogan Josh with a bit of bite.

But I won’t let the odd failure stop me. I’ll be hunting down another Lamb Rogan Josh recipe to try because it is usually such a tasty dish.

I’ll let you know what I find in due course.

Hi, Ray here again.

Time to try out another great recipe from the Curry Focus website. I liked the look of the Lamb Rogan Josh recipe but hadn’t looked at the recipe early enough. The lamb needs to marinate overnight and the dinner guests were arriving in 6 hours. So, instead, I went for the Jamaican Chicken Curry that looked pretty easy to make.

I went out to buy the scallions (spring onions), chicken and chicken broth. I had already decided that I would not buy a whole chicken. I’ve read how to joint (chop up) a whole chicken but the whole process seems a bit too involved for somebody of my limited cooking abilities. So I bought 6 chicken thighs. Chicken meat cooked on the bone is great.

Cooking time had nearly arrived so I prepared the ingredients – pretty simple stuff. I cut the chicken thighs in half, along the bones, to make sure that they would cook properly in just over 30 minutes.

I stir-fried the first ingredients and then added the chicken broth.

After cooking for the 3 minutes, I added the chicken pieces and mixed it all up. The mixture looked pretty dry so I boiled up some water in case I had to add some liquid.

I simmered the chicken and got the potato parboiled and drained.

The rice went on half way through cooking the chicken.

Near the end, I added the parboiled potato and finished cooking the curry.

As it happens, I didn’t need the extra boiled water and everything was cooked to perfection.

I served up the chicken curry on rice and presented it to the small dinner party.

The food quickly disappeared with words of praise ringing out. This is quite a spicy curry and has a distinctive, yummy, pungent taste. There’s a tablespoon of allspice and curry powder in the recipe and this probably contributed a lot to the taste. The curry is quite dry so it’s a good idea to have a glass of beer handy (as if I need any coaxing in that department).

On average, the guests rated the curry an excellent 8 out of 10 with a heat rating of medium to hot.

This really is a delicious dish and one that you should try. It is a very simple dish and I would recommend that you make some paratha or naan bread to go with the meal. And maybe a bowl of raita for those who need to cool the curry down a little.

Hi, Ray here again.

Time to try out another great recipe from the Curry Focus website. This time it’s the Cumin Chicken Curry recipe.

I only had to buy the chicken – the other ingredients were already in the kitchen.

This is really a very easy curry to cook.

I cut up the chicken and mixed it up with the spices, yogurt and lemon juice, in a bowl. Then I covered the bowl and left it in the fridge to marinate.

I peeled and prepared the onion and garlic and heated up the frying pan.

I started to cook the onions and then got some rice underway.

Once the onion was ready, in went the chicken.

Near the end I added the water.

I noticed that the curry was going to be a bit pale so grabbed some fresh coriander and chopped it up for garnish.

The curry and rice were served up to the dinner guests and the dished were garnished with the coriander.

And the verdict? Simply delicious. This is a delightful curry with a delicate taste and a great aroma. It isn’t a spicy hot curry, if anything it’s a mild curry. But the dish got a very respectable rating of 8 out of 10.

If you’re looking for a curry for somebody who doesn’t like a lot of heat then this is the one for you. It’s a very tasty meal and is amazingly easy to make.

Hi, Ray here again.

Once again it’s the weekend and so time for another yummy curry from the Curry Focus website.

This time I chose the chicken dhansak. The recipe looks simple enough and I do enjoy the blend of dal, chicken and spices that you get with the dish.

As usual, I had most of the ingredients in the kitchen. Luckily I had run out of red lentils (masoor dal) so I had to go down to my favourite Indian supermarket where I got the lentils, some fresh coriander, a can of pineapples and a packet of stuffed paratha. The paratha are not part of the recipe but they go very well with curries.

I set the dal cooking and prepared the ginger, garlic, chillis, onion and chicken.

I drained the cooked lentils and stir-fried the initial spices before adding the chicken.

Then I stir-fried the second set of spices before cooking the onions. The curry was quite dry so I added some of the pineapple juice to stop the curry from sticking.

Then the chicken, pineapple, cooked lentils, ginger, lemon juice and the coriander were added to the frying pan. I mixed it all up, covered the frying pan and simmered the curry for 10 minutes.

The rice went into the microwave at the same time.

With about 3 minutes to go until the curry was ready, I started microwaving the stuffed paratha.

Then I served up the dhansak on rice and garnished with a little more coriander.

The finished curry was served up to the assembled dinner guests who quickly made the food disappear.

The curry proved to be popular and scored 7 out of 10 with a medium spice heat.

It was a pretty standard, easy, curry to make and the result is a delicious meal.

Hi, Ray here again.

My girlfriend wasn’t going to be here for my weekly curry so it gave me an opportunity to try a great Pork Vindaloo recipe that had been given to me by my flatmate’s mother. A vindaloo is a very hot curry (although not as hot as a phal).

I had to buy the pork and also some ground cloves and nutmeg. So I went to my favourite Indian supermarket and found the spices pretty easily amongst all of the bins of flours, lentils and spices. I always enjoy shopping at this supermarket where the spice smells are almost intoxicating. I already had some dried chillies at home but found a huge bin of dried Kashmiri chillies so I bought a few for the vindaloo. I also strayed into the freezer section and grabbed a packet of frozen aloo paratha to accompany the curry.

Making the vindaloo was really very, very easy.

I made up the marinade, cut up the pork and then put it all into a bowl that I covered with kitchen film and put into the fridge. Then I went out for the day whilst the pork was marinating.

I cut up the onions a couple of hours before the planned eating time and fried them to perfection.

Then I fried the pork. I was a bit dubious about there being no oil left in the frying pan once the onions had been taken out but there was enough marinade inside the pork to make sure that the pork didn’t stick whilst frying.

Then I turned down the heat, added the cooked onions and marinade, covered the frying pan and left the vindaloo to simmer for 90 minutes.

I checked, and stirred, the vindaloo every 15ish minutes.

After 75 minutes the rice went on and I started to cook the aloo paratha in my second frying pan (the paratha are cooked in the frying pan without any oil – they just take about 2 minutes to cook on each side).

It all came together and I served up the meal to the waiting diner (my flatmate).

And the vindaloo was stunning. It is a spicy hot curry – be warned – and does taste of vinegar (all vindaloos taste of vinegar). The pork was very tender and had a good texture as well as heat. I thought that it was one of the best vindaloo curries that I’ve ever eaten (and that includes my favourite Indian restaurant in Thornton Heath). Even my flatmate enjoyed it and he doesn’t really go for vindaloos.

We gave the vindaloo a high rating of 8.5 out of 10 with a heat rating of hot.

If you like vindaloo then I definitely recommend that you try out this recipe.

And we got a double bonus because the recipe makes enough curry for 4 people and there was only 2 of us – so we have pork vindaloo for dinner tomorrow night – result!!