Melo's Homestyle Curry

[Melodionxxx]

Aka Cheaters Guide to a Decent Ruby

Lots of these bits are optional, but the more the better. I always cook in a humongous frying pan. Nice and deep is good, vertical sides rather than sloped.

Ingredient summary:
Mustard Seeds
Coriander Seeds.
Oil. Ghee preferably (Indian clarified butter), I just use whatever is about.
Onions
Fresh garlic
Jar of Pataks Tikka Masala Paste. This is in a glass jar, it's not a 'Cook in Sauce' it must be the paste.
Ginger root. Not powder, the root itself.
Cardamon (sp?)
Cloves
Star Anise
Tin of tomatoes
Tin of coconut cream
Cherry tomatoes
Meat! (or not!)
Plain yoghurt
Fresh coriander leaves

1) Using a pestle and mortar, grind up some mustard seeds and some coriander seeds. I guess about a teaspoon full of each, or a bit more. The mustard can add a bit of burn if you overdo it =). Coriander seeds have a gorgeous orangey smell when you grind them, dont miss the chance to stick your nose and take a deep sniff, Yummy! Get the oil up to simmering and put the ground stuff in there. Not too hot, don't want to burn it. I know I should use Ghee, but I only ever have olive oil around the house.

2) Chuck in a couple of fresh red chillies. Leave them there till they go black, you can remove then then. Me, I like to leave em and chomp on them with the meal. They will add some spice to the oil even if you take 'em out

3) Chop up a shitload of garlic, really, a whole bulb for two is not unreasonable though the gf tells me off so I have cut it down to half a bulb =) Chuck this in the oil. Handy tip, garlic is best cooked REAL slow and REAL long. If you want to spend the time, take the oil temp right down so the garlic is only faintly simmering and leave it. It will slowly go yellow gold without going brown. Brown = fail for this. Longer the better.

4) Chop up a small onion per person. Chop it as fine as you can be arsed to. Onion has a major function in a curry of thickening the sauce (apart from flavour natch) so the idea is chop it small and cook it to death till it has almost completely fallen apart. Again slow cooking is good, dont burn it, you want an oniony, garlicy mush basically.

5) The big cheat! Patak's Pastes. My faves are the Tikka Masala and the Tandoori, they are all pretty nice though. The Tandoori paste I use in many different dishes even bolognese, a small teaspon adds some fragrance and colour. Great with baked beans too! Add about a quarter of a jar per person, and mix in well with the onions etc. Get it all really mixed up.

6) Add some ginger, me I love a shitload, can't get enough. Here's my tip for ginger. Keep the ginger root in the freezer, then you can just use a grater! Easy as, chopping ginger with a knife is a pain cos it's so woody and tough.

6) Chuck in some cardamoms and some cloves, be careful with cloves they are hella strong, seriously just throw in 2 or 3 max. Cardamom you can be a bit more generous. Either throw in whole cardamom pods or shell them and throw the mouse-shits in. You will know what I mean by mouseshit when you open one =) Let all this stuff fry for a bit now. You should have a beautiful smelling thick paste by the end.

7) Add the meat. A nice thing to do is, marinade the meat with some paste overnight. But I rarely know what I'm going to do the night before. Marinading is great if you can be arsed. Sear the meat a bit, but lets not pretend that searing does seal the juices in cos thats a myth. Basically a bit of brown on the meat tastes better.

I use a chicken breast per person.

8) Add the tomatoes and the coconut cream. A tin of each makes a good amount for 2 people. Chuck in some Star Anise too, 2 or 3 stars per person. I love this stuff, it's a fabulous flavour. If you have some fresh tomatoes around, cherry are best, throw them in now. Fresh tomatoes have a zing to them which tinned tomatoes lose. I reckon it really makes a difference.

9) Reduce to desired consistency. It will probably be a bit wet at first so let it simmer until it has reduced to your prefered goopiness factor!

10) Melo's rice tip. Chuck a couple of Star Anise in with the rice and a single clove, throw away before serving. It adds a subtle fragrance to the rice.

11) Serve with plain yoghurt (Greek yoghurt works well) and eat till you burst! Fresh coriander is always very nice and the greenery makes the dish look very scrummy.

Probably forgot some things, but that will do!

Cheers

MeloxXx