Monday, August 23, 2010

How to Make Deliciousness, Part Deux

I learned to make Indian curry from scratch because jarred sauces are really hard to find in the US and the ones that are available are pretty pricey (like $3.99-5 a jar). I actually prefer my sauce to the jarred sauces now that I have done it a few times! And now it's time for YOU to learn!

First off, you need your ingredients: butter, tomato sauce, salt and pepper, milk (or heavy cream), lentils (or meat of choice - a lot of people like chicken), spices, chilies, garlic, and cilantro. The spices I used today are tandoori spice, a tikka masala blend I bought in England, paprika, garam masala, and cumin. 



Next, you need to pour your lentils onto a plate or baking dish so you can sort through them. The machines separate the lentils from other goodies, but sometimes they miss something.
















Like wheat kernels!





Put your inspected lentils into some boiling water and simmer until they are tender and to a consistency of your liking. I prefer mushy lentils in my sauce.

Next, chop your chilies and garlic. I used hot banana pepper and habanero from my garden.




Melt some butter in the pan (I use about a tablespoon) and throw in your chopped veg.




Next, add your spices one by one, maybe a teaspoon or so of each.



Stir stir stir.





Then comes the tomato sauce. It will be very bubbly when you dump it in, so stand back!





Then comes das milch. Or "milk" in English if you don't speak German. If you want a thicker, creamier sauce, use heavy cream. It's richer and more delicious, but milk works fine if you're watching your calories. 





Your sauce will turn an orangy color, which will get darker as it reduces.



Add your lentils once they are tender!



Once those are mixed in, taste your sauce to determine if you need to add any more spice, or maybe more milk if it's too spicy or strong.



Let your sauce reduce for about 10 minutes on a low heat. This will allow it to thicken up.





While this is happening, lets talk about spices. Indian spices to be specific.



I have quite the collection of Indian spices, but the essentials are: cumin, paprika, and garam masala. Turmeric is another good one. I like to play around with all the spices to get a flavor combination that I like best (which ends up being whatever reminds me most of England curry restaurants!).

Ok. So when your curry has gotten to a thicker consistency and you're just too hungry to wait any longer, put it into a bowl with some naan bread heated up on the side for dipping and scooping!



Make sure you have a tall glass of H2O for guzzling when the habanaros want to burn your face off.


Last but not least -- ENJOY!!



5 comments:

  1. Wow looks delicious! I like the comic relief throughout this post lol! Seems like a tone of work, but worth it for a favorite dish.

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  2. That looks yummy! I haven't mastered even the basics of spices yet, but I'm working on it!

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  3. I love the word "reduce" when talking about sauce. I wonder why they say that?? What is reducing??

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  4. Reducing is when you let the sauce or whatever simmer so that a lot of the water/liquid in the sauce is evaporated, leaving a thicker sauce.

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