Before I start any of the curries, I will get my rice started. It can sit on the stove while I cook the rest of the meal. Normally, my method, 4 cups water to 2 cups basmati. Boil the water, reduce heat to low, add some canola oil and sea salt, then the rice. Cook covered for fifteen minutes then check it. If still lots of water, then cook another five minutes and then off goes the element and cooks on residual heat.
my preferred brand of basmati rice
Tonight, I am using a Patak's Mango Chicken which will have: chicken (of course), onion, broccoli, and peppers (usually green sweet). For this one, I will fry the onions with some canola oil until soft and then add the chicken and "brown" it. Then I will add the broccoli for a few minutes and then the sauce and let it simmer. I also add a bit of water to the jar to get all the sauce out. If I thin out the sauce too much, then I add a bit of flour or corn starch to some cold water and blend it in to re-thicken. Near the end I will add the peppers so they do not get too soft. If I was using hot peppers, I would add them in near the start for the heat to blend in to the flavour.
mango chicken curry
The second dish tonight, which is usually veggie only, is a stock set of ingredients with little variation. Onion, fried up as above. Then I will add potatoes, which when pre-cut are placed in water to keep them fresh. I learnt a long time ago to cut the potato smaller than you would normally find in a restaurant dish, like soup size or a little bigger. I also learnt to add water to the cooking process so the potatoes soften. This works out really well when they are soaking. When most of the water is absorbed, I will add cauliflower and cook for a few minutes, then the sauce and simmer. Again, I add water to the jar as above. Near the end, sweet peppers. We love peppers of all kinds. At the very end, I sometimes add some tomato. This selection of ingredients is from a dish we used to get at an Indian restaurant in Ottawa that the wife and I used to frequent, but has apparently gone downhill. This dish was Aloo Gobi. Normally, we use a mild curry sauce, but tonight it is an Aloo sauce from K of I. Sometimes, I may substitute sweet potatoes or yams and sometimes hot pepper or red shepherd pepper.
aloo gobi
As this week is going to be crazy with the boy in training at Ray's Reptiles Monday night, a Jamboree planning meeting and sword training Tuesday, Regular Scout meeting Wednesday, prepping for a winter camping trip on the weekend, I decided we needed more dishes so we can have enough for another meal this week to save time. I am also making another big batch of garbage can soup tomorrow for the same reason.
So, the first extra dish is tandoori chicken. We were in a grocery store a while back and they were dumping pre-seasoned tandoori chicken thighs. We bought a few packs and froze them. Normally, I would make it myself, but I have this convenient ready-to-go stuff, so some time saved. I will place it in the oven when I start the rice and there you go: easy-peasy.
super-cheap, reduced price, tandoori chicken
The second and final extra dish is closer to a scratch dish than the others. I will start with onions as the other two dishes as well as garlic sliced julienne style. I often use garlic like a vegetable. It will also have fresh grated ginger that I grated on a rasp I got at Lee Valley Tools. I will then add yams prepared like the potatoes above (going in to tomorrow's soup too).
As a sauce base, I will use condensed tomato soup. You can also use any condensed cream soup, such as chicken, celery, or mushroom. You can also use plain yoghurt or sour cream (real sour cream, like 14% fat, not the no-fat garbage). This one will also have zucchini (also going in tomorrow's soup) and the stems from the broccoli and cauliflower. Finally, I will finish it with green peppers as the other two sauce dishes.
As it is cooking, I will taste and season. After curry powder, possible seasonings include: ground cumin, ground white pepper, cayenne powder, flaked chile peppers, paprika, turmeric, and if needed granulated garlic, onion, and powdered ginger (I will have to see if I can find it granulated somewhere). Sometimes, I will use real chile powder like ancho or new mexican. This one will take longer than the other two, so it will be started before them. I will also add water as necessary.
fixins' for "scratch" curry
With the rice, this will provide two meals this week and still enough leftovers to make some lunches for the wife. Round it out with some naan bread to sop up extra sauce and we will be eating like the Raj.
naan, from costco, it freezes well and comes with its own zip-bag
Yes, I know, not really scratch dishes, but way better than any pre-made junk found in the freezer section. As a note, other veggies I use in curries include: string beans, snow peas, snap peas, leafy greens like kale or chard, turnips, carrot, beets, parsnips, other green tops like carrot, beet, radish, and the like. The root vegetables work really well with the Japanese curry pastes.
Some other additions I add are chickpeas (usually, as a main ingredient), almonds (usually slivered), raisins (I prefer green raisins or golden), dried apricots, and sunflower seeds. You could probably add other dried fruit, nuts, or seeds. I once added mushrooms by accident, I prepped for a stir-fry inadvertently; not a preferred ingredient for me, but it was not too bad in the end; dried mushrooms ground in to powder would probably add an earthy quality.
For meats, you can use any poultry (leftover turkey is great, Patak's used to make a sauce just for this in the UK), beef, lamb, goat. I have even used pork, but you will not find such a dish in any South Asian restaurant that I know of. You could even use TVP or firm tofu, but freeze it first for better results.
What are waiting for? Grab a jar of sauce next time you are in the grocery store and wandering down the "international food" aisle. Better yet, you probably have a can of Campbell's cream of chicken kicking around and long forgotten curry powder in the back of your cupboard. Give it a try.
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