I'd sample your sauce, IYKWIM.

The key to making any good curry is having a good curry paste. Making this for yourself can be quite tricky.

One of the best curries I do is a really simple Prawn and tomato and I use a cheap, ready-made, Sainsbury's basic, red Thai curry paste. (pic related). Then I just follow this recipe.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1813678/quick-prawn-coconut-and-tomato-curry

I'll often thinly slice a tomato (or two!) and throw that in shortly after the onion but before the curry paste. But that's because I'm a loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules you choose to live by.

I'll use half the jar if I do the given measurements of the other ingredients or often I'll stick the whole thing in and double up on everything else.

Try and use the whole jar though (instead of just half aka "3 tbsp") and you'll over power the curry and kind of ruin it. So finding that balance is key (and unique to each paste) so if you're making your own paste, there will probably be a little more trial and error.

I could type more but I've got some adventuring to do. Good luck.

>>10898
How are you supposed to blend the powder into paste? I just mix tumeric, cumin, coriander, mixed spice, garlic and chilli in a small pot and then add water, oil, and tomato puree. I do this every single time, and it always tastes the same, and I feel like a curry amateur.

>>10898
>The key to making any good curry is having a good curry paste.

Oh dear.

>>10899
Spices should be fried in oil, away from all the other ingredients. Doing it with onion/garlic/ginger is also acceptable.

>>10899

I might scan a page from Oliver's Ministry of Food that covers the different types and the method but that would involve me turning on another computer and using a scanner that might not scan. So don't hold your breath.

>>10900
A female deer?

>>10902
You have to fry them first? Damn, that's blown my mind already.

Main steps of cooking a banging curry:

Fry onions until they're at least translucent. Add a little salt, it helps prevent them burning.

Mix the spices with a little bit of water so they're moist, again this prevents them burning which they're very prone to doing when dry.

Add the spices to the onions, only add spices when you've still got a relatively empty pan, not after you've added a load of shit to it. They need to fry for a good five to ten minutes. Add the garlic/ginger too, but make sure they're only fried for a few minutes as they'll burn easily. If you feel the spices are burning then SLOWLY add little bits of oil or water.

Fry your meat in the spice/onion mix until it's cooked through. Consider cooking your chicken/beef/lamb at this stage too.

When you add coconut milk or whatever then turn the heat down to med/low.

>>10907
Thanks Masterchef, did you copy that off the side of a jar of Patak's?

(A good day to you Sir!)

>>10899
OP here, I usually fry the onion, garlic and ginger for a while and then mix the spices together with a tiny bit of water/almond milk to form a gloop. Putting them in dry means there's more chance of them burning.

A lot of people being massive twats ITT, not sure why, I just want them to stop.

>>10906
Yes. I'm a chemist so I wish I could explain it in better terms but frying the spices brings out all the flavours. The flavours are encased in whatever various oils you find in the spices, and as you'll know oil doesn't dissolve in water. Frying them (below smoke point of course) initiates dissolution of these spices in the oil you're using for cooking, so enables them to come out of the spice effectively and scatter itself around your nom. Don't fry the spices at too high temperatures.

>>10908
No, the guy at the corner shop has it tattooed on his back.

>>10910
Nah it's just me, it just disappoints me when people use curry paste when it's not hard to make your own. Cooking is a great life skill, and something that'll always be with you. For me it's one thing I'm always trying to improve on.

>>10908
The main things I was pointing out was the moist spices and salt to the onions. Most of it's pretty obvious, granted, but so many people end up dry frying and thus burning their spices when it's that that's most important.

>>10911
Wait, are you saying that I have to fry the spices before I mix them into paste, or are you saying I have to fry the paste before I add the other ingredients to it? Because I already do the latter.

>>10914
Fry the spice before your pan is chocka. Mix the spices with a bit of water and any other odd liquids you might be using like fish sauce or whatever so you get a thick paste, then fry them on their own (or with onions) for 5+ minutes at reasonably high but not maximum temperature, before adding paste/meat/other. Add water or oil to prevent the spices from drying fully.

I can't scan from the book. [x] Complain

>>10915
Like I said, I already do that.

>>10917
You said you already did the latter, which is the wrong way around.

>>10910
I blame /*/sfw/, I think it's brought a lot of snarky behaviour to the slower boards and now they're more like /b/pol/.

>>10919
We don't need to keep hearing this. There's a good chance you're right, but the benefits outweigh the negatives, so it's not like it'll be removed.

>>10920
Oh, I know that and I don't want rid of them. /sfw/ is pretty much all I use. Spreadsheetlad can probably back me up on this, but I reckon the bad behaviour on the slower boards has definitely increased since the links to /*/sfw/ were added to the top of the page; there certainly wasn't this issue when not everyone (i.e. not the cunts) knew about /*/.

Sageru because this has nothing to do with curry enrichment.

I bought some paneer because Lidls specials at the minute are Chinese/Indian food. What shall I do with it? I've never had it before but I'm imagining it's like Lancashire cheese.

I have spinach so I'm considering making saag paneer or if I get some ginger I could make tikka masala.

>>11937

It's essentially a solidified cottage cheese, with a mild and slightly milky flavour. It works well in recipes with a creamy sauce, but vegetarian Hindus use it in pretty much everything. I like it in a biryani, or quickly fried with some vegetables and served in a roti wrap.

>>11937

Tikka Masala with Jeera rice lad.

>>10911
Fascinating. I shall always fry my spices from now on, and I shall do so moistly. I think I was doing it anyway subconciously.

So hang on, is the moisture the reason you need it to be a paste, and not just powders added straight to the oil as I do? I've never really seen the point of going to the trouble of making the paste when you can just fry the powders and then add the tin of tomatoes.

OP I know it's been two years but if you're still around and would write up some instructions or method for the curry you mentioned I'd be most grateful - it sounds delicious. I'm a great fan of nutty veggie curries. Thanks to >>11937 for bumping this as well, I've got the idea for a Thai-ish peanut-and-coconut cream curry percolating in the back of my mind that I'm probably going to try tomorrow night, and I'll now be sure to fry my spices in the proper order and not let them get dry.

>>11942

Don't mention Thai food on /nom/, especially the tease of a potentially good recipe. We've been burned before...

Are there any other soluble spices, other than pilau spice mix? Not sure which other ones would work effectively.

>>12042
Plenty. Do you mean in water?

>>12042

The ingredients of that mix are listed as:
Salt, Red Bell Peppers, Ground Cinnamon (Cassia)(8%), Black Pepper, Cardamom (5%), Turmeric (5%), Bay Leaves, Onion Powder, Fennel Seed, Cloves, Natural Garlic Flavouring.

The red bell pepper will be there just to add bulk and colour, not flavour. The rest of those you can just buy the ready ground spices separately and mix them yourself.

There's nothing inherently "soluble" about the spices. The only thing that matters is being finely enough ground so that you don't have to chew it.

>>12043
Yeah. I mean ones that'll actually taste alright, though.

I did crispy tofu yesterday and you leave it to soak in recently boiled salty water for quarter of an hour or so and it got me thinking about whether I could replace the salt with something else without completely fucking up the taste.

>>12044
>There's nothing inherently "soluble" about the spices.
You fry them to elucidate the fat-soluble taste chemicals in spices.

>>12045

No.

Salt isn't a spice. You boil the tofu in salt water to drive the water out of the tofu. If you take the salt out, you'll end up with soggy tofu.
You could perhaps replace the salt with other electrolytes such as magnesium or potasium salts, but spices wont work.

>>12046

Which is why I said "inherently".
The spice itself isn't soluble. Chemicals in the spice may or may not be soluble in oil or water.

>>12048
You still press it after soaking it in the water and the flavour of the salt water definitely permeates into the tofu. Are you sure it wouldn't work?

>>12048
>electrolytes
Boil it in Brawndo, The Thirst Mutilator. It's got what tofu craves!

Always keep in a bottle of oyster sauce
And not the 3-quid-for-a-dash tiny bottles you get from supermarkets... find a chinese grocer/supermarket and get one of the (many) 750ml or 1 litre bottles that they sell. you can get a good quality bottle for £2.50ish (look for higher percentage of oyster extract on back label)
It is delicious to make a meal with - (stirfry veg and meat and add 2 desert spoons per person)
But also add a gloop of it to standard chicken or meat gravies with a roast, or a gloop in a casserole.... the effect is like magic

Don't mess with Yorkshire.

I use a saucepan, put an onion in with some oil and my spices followed by garlic. Then I'll add a load of water, put the main ingredient of my curry in, add tomato puree and some other bits, then let it simmer for 30 minutes. Is this good technique?

>>12082
I've been wondering why this place has been closed down all year. Turns out its worse than being closed down - its getting renovated with a modern architectural design.

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/about/city/news/hendospub-1.571952

Can you lads recommend some samosa fillings? I've recently hit upon the idea that I can simply fry wheat wraps once I've made them airtight with a bit of flour-water glue. I've just made a batch of mashed potato, pea, dill, onion and cumin ones (idea stolen from Nadiya Hussain's TV show) and they were rather nice.

>>12309
Try Somalian samosas.

I use minced ginger paste. It's far more convenient than fresh ginger.

>>13686
I've also started buying similar in bulk. Too convenient.

>>13686
Also, the same for minced garlic in bulk.

>>13687
>>13688
I buy all my food ready-minced now. Saves chewing.

>>13691

It's time to make the obvious leap to SARAH MILLICAN'S SQUELCHY FANNY CUSTARD.

>>13691
We'll all soon be that age ladm9. It'll be Steradent and Tena reviews around here before long; and how to get off a shoplifting charge.

Looking forward to it.

>>13693

Don't forget the carlads building their own stairlifts out of old Mazda rotary engines.

>>13696
We'll have built the .GS nursing home by then - your families will drop you off one day and you'll all actually come and live with me.

Also, I love this Indonesian tribe/culture where once a year they dig up their dead relatives - I can see that being a thing at the home.

Mushy pea curry might be the most disgusting thing I've read in some time.

>>13708 Is that not just a dal, with all the possibilities and horrors that that can entail?
'curry powder' isn't an auspicious start, but might be rescued.
I'm just saying the jury's out, this could go either way, despite how foul it sounds at first.

>>13709
I'd agree it's just a dal - I mean tarka dal is yellow split peas I believe, so it's not too out there.

>>13710
>just a dal
Waking up at twelve with my cloves again
Feel my mouth explode from madras and vin
Another tarka plate