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Edited on Mon Dec-01-08 09:51 PM by htuttle
Basic curry recipe: Saute a bunch of diced onions in ghee (or oil...) on a fairly hot flame. They should just start to carmelize (which releases a lot of sugars).
When they start to get golden, add a smaller amount of minced garlic and minced ginger, and maybe a deseeded and diced jalepeno or other hot pepper. Saute a few minutes.
Add the diced meat. I usually use chicken thighs, but sometimes use lamb. I saute just barely long enough to change the color. Do NOT cook it all the way. I don't saute it for longer than a couple of minutes.
Add tomato paste and your dry spices. There is no 'official' curry spice mixture. It varies from family to family, and sometimes from meal to meal, but are usually some combination of cumin, cardamom, coriander, cayenne and some others (listed in order of importance) OR add some prepared curry paste (Patak's is good).
Saute the pasty mixture for one minute, then douse with a diced tomatoes and a little water. Then I turn it way down to low simmer and let it simmer for about 20-25 minutes.
If you find the curries too hot, you can cut down the spices and also add some yogurt near the end. If you had a fair amount of heavy cream to a mild curry, you end up with something passable as a 'korma', which is basically a mild curry with cream and/or coconut milk (varies according to region).
I usually add about 2 tablespoons of yogurt about 5 minutes before it's done, so I end up with something in between a curry and a korma. I also like to sprinkle fresh chopped cilantro on top right at the end. I usually provide extra yogurt so that diners can cool the curry down more if they wish.
Wow...that was sort of a 'data dump', I guess...:)
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