Chicken Curry and Beyond - The CurryFocus Blog

Galangal is a plant from the ginger family with the roots being very similar in appearance to ginger roots.

Galangal is used extensively in Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian cooking and has similar properties to ginger. For this reason, ginger can often be substituted for galangal in recipes. But you should be able to find galangal in good stgores that sell a complete range of spices.

Galangal is native to Java and southern China and is now widely grown across South East Asia.

Galangal used to be a very common spice in Europe but it is seldom used in Europe now.

Galangal also has some medicinal applications as well as the culinary uses.

It is used as an herbal medicine to treat upset stomachs and loss of appetite.

It is also used in cattle medicines and as a horse stimulant.

And galangal is used in some perfumes, tea and in brewing.

Hi, Ray here again.

I decided to cook two of the simpler recipes from the website today. Time for onion bhajis and chicken biryani from the Curry Focus recipe collection.

I already had most of the ingredients in the kitchen and only had to buy the chicken, yoghurt and chickpea flour. I couldn’t find any chickpea flour in my local Indian stores so substituted pea flour.

I made up the paste and marinated the chicken in it for an hour (the recipe said only 30 minutes but I thought the extra time would be worthwhile).

Whilst the chicken was marinating, I cooked the onions for the bharjis and made the pea flour mix ready for frying.

I fried the onion rings for the bryani and put them into a preheated low oven to keep them warm.

Then I fried up the spices for the biryani and then added the chicken. I stir-fried for 2 minutes then added the water and rice. The frying pan was very full.

I heated up the bhaji frying oil whilst the chicken was cooking and started cooking half of the bhajis once the oil was hot enough. One of the bhajis broke up into pieces but it didn’t matter. I put the bhajis onto a plate and put them into the oven when they were cooked. Then I cooked the remaining bhajis. As before, one of the bhajis broke up whilst frying.

I kept an eye on the chicken biryani whilst cooking the bhajis.

When everything was nearly ready, I grabbed some cilantro leaves and chopped them up.

I served up the biryani with some bhajis on the side and garnished with some cilantro.

The dinner guests were very pleased with my efforts. The biryani had a lovely, delicate taste (not too spicy) and was cooked to perfection. The bhaji was yummy.

The meal rated a good 7 out of 10.

I would definitely recommend that you try this meal.

We got an email from a George Morrison asking why there were no Japanese curry recipes on the website. The quick answer was that nobody had sent us any. We asked George to give us a recipe and he sent us a couple of them.

The first recipe is for a Japanese curry roux. A roux is a gravy base (curry sauces are really just gravies) that is added to dishes whilst they are being cooked.

Most Japanese cook with a roux that they buy from a store. The roux is dry and sold in a packet, or box, and contains all of the spices and flavorings that are needed for a great curry. Lots of different brands of roux are on sale in Japan and they cover a full range of tastes from mild to hot. It can be hard to buy roux outside Japan so the recipe that George supplied lets you make one yourself. You can experiment with changing some of the ingredients to try different flavours.

The second recipe is for a Japanese chicken curry.

Meat and vegetables are in most Japanese curries. The most popular meats are chicken, pork, beef and fish whilst the common vegetables are potatoes and carrots.

Japanese curries are usually served on rice or noodles.

Japanese curry? Oishii (delicious).

Hi, Ray here again.

I was browsing the Curry Focus recipes when I saw the paratha recipe. Being a big fan of this tasty type of bread, and having a delicious supply from my local Indian store, I decided to see if I could make them myself.

There are only 6 ingredients in the recipe but the method of preparation is quite lengthy with nearly a whole page of cooking detail.

I already had all of the ingredients so paratha was the next cooking experiment.

I quickly sieved and mixed the flours and made the dough. Then I rubbed the outside of the dough ball with some oil and put it into a plastic bag for 30 minutes.

The hard work really began now. It took me 40 minutes to roll and prepare the paratha. And then it took me 45 minutes to cook them. I sampled two of them whilst I was cooking and wasn’t impressed. I wrapped up six of them in some foil and put them aside for heating up later and put the remaining 4 into a plastic, separated by wax paper, and put them into the freezer for a future meal.

That evening I prepared a stunning dhal (which is the subject of a previous recipe review) and then heated up the paratha to have with the dhal.

The small dinner party of 3 thoroughly enjoyed the dhal but the paratha were a different store. The paratha were dry and tasteless.

The paratha only rating a tiny 4 out of 10 and that didn’t really seem a good return on the time it took to make them.

I don’t think that I’ll be making paratha again so the local Indian store can look forward to my regular visits for some time into the future.

Time to cook another Curry Focus recipe. I picked the dhal recipe because I like dhal and it looked so easy to make.

Everything was in the kitchen except for the lentils and I just picked them up from my local supermarket.

This really is an unbelievably easy meal to cook.

I washed and drained the lentils and put them on to cook.

Whilst the lentils were cooking, I chopped up the onion and garlic and measured and mixed up the spices.

I drained the lentils after they were cooked and fried the onions and garlic. Then in went the spices.

Soon the lentils were added to the frying pan and everything was going along nicely. I noticed that the dhal kept drying out (maybe I had the heat up too high) so I added some boiling water a few times (just a little so I didn’t turn the dhal into soup).

Then I cut off some of the cilantro plant that I’ve got growing by the kitchen window and chopped up the leaves for the garnish.

It was really that easy.

The recipe said that that it served 4 but it was really only enough for 2. Luckily there were only 3 of us for dinner and I padded it out with a few paratha.

And what was the verdict? Delicious! It rated an excellent 8.5 out of 10. Pretty good. And I’m under orders to cook it again soon – I won’t be complaining, so tasty and so easy.

Curry Leaf

The curry-leaf tree is native to India and grows to a height of about 12 feet tall.

The leaves are very aromatic and are used as an herb in cooking. The leaves give a mild curry taste with an herb aroma and a hint of citrus and some mild bitterness.

The leaves are used in Indian cooking much like bay leaves and are often added to curries that contain fish or coconut milk.

The leaves lose their potency very quickly so be sure to use fresh ones wherever possible. The leaves are typically fried in oil to release their fragrance and taste.

Despite it’s name, curry leaf is not usually part of commercially made curry powder.

Mustard

Mustard is a plant that is widely grown around the world. It is a common crop in Hungary, UK, India, Canada and US.

The mustard seeds are usually either ground into a powder, and mixed into a paste, to be used as a condiment or fried whole until they pop and release their flavor into the oil.

The seeds can be black, brown or yellow and they have a sharp and fiery flavor. The black seeds are the most pungent with the yellow being the mildest of the three.

Mustard seeds are widely used in curry powders and pastes in Indian cooking

Mustard has medicinal applications and is used in poultices to give a soothing, warm feeling and it is also used to help in soothing stiff joints.

Time to try out another great curry recipe. The last few have been chicken curry recipes so this time I’ve gone for the Beef Curry recipe from the Curry Focus web site.

Apart from the beef, I had most of the ingredients except for the fresh cilantro and chillies. So a quick trip to the meat counter at the supermarket and then on to my local Indian supermarket. I couldn’t resist the paratha that were beside the till so paratha was my impulse purchase of the day.

The beef curry recipe is really very simple.

I cut up the meat and trimmed off the worst of the fat whilst the oven was heating up, before coating the beef in flour and frying to seal the meat. I used my big, heavy frying pan.

Then the beef went into a casserole with the sliced onion, cardamom pods, bay leaves and garlic with enough water to cover it all.

I made the spice paste, prepared the garam masala gravy and chopped up the cilantro before sitting down and relaxing for 90 minutes.

Then I was up onto my feet again. First I got the basmati rice ready to go into the microwave.

I fried the onions and then added the garlic, ginger and fresh chillies. There wasn’t much oil left over from frying the beef so I added 2 more tablespoons to do the onions.

The rice was already underway when I added the spices for quick frying before transferring the beef from the casserole into the frying pan, adding the garam masala gravy and simmering the beef.

The rice finished cooking and the paratha went into the microwave whilst I added the cilantro and started dishing up the meal. Everyone got a neat mound of rice with a good serving of beef curry, garnished with a sprinkling of fresh cilantro, with a generous portion of paratha.

The dinner guests were hustled up to the table and the eating began. It was great. Everyone loved the meal and I got a lot more praise than I felt I deserved seeing it was such an easy recipe to follow.

We gave it a rating of 7 out of 10 and everyone wanted to know what I was planning to cook next.

I’m not sure which curry will be next but I do know that it will be one of the Curry Focus recipes.

Fenugreek

Fenugreek is both an herb and also a spice. Fenugreek has a strong, aromatic and bittersweet flavor similar to burnt sugar.

Fenugreek originated in the Mediterranean region and India.

Fenugreek is used in five-spice powder and is often used in curry powders, especially the hot vindaloo curry powders.

Similar to lots of spices, fenugreek is used as a digestive aid. The spice also reduces the sugar levels in blood and this makes it helpful in treating diabetes. Fenugreek also lowers blood pressure and helps relieve congestion and reduces inflammation. It’s a very useful spice indeed!

Fennel

Fennel, like fenugreek, is an herb and also a spice and has leaves and seeds that have a sweet and aromatic flavor similar to anise. In fact, there is no different word for fennel and anise in some languages, such as Hebrew and Amharic.

Fennel originated around the Mediterranean and gradually spread to India, where it is widely used in cooking. It is a staple ingredient of five-spice powder and is used a lot in fish recipes.

Fennel is used in some natural toothpastes and is chewed as a breath freshener in India.

Fennel has some medicinal applications, mainly as a gas-relieving agent and has been used to aid pain relief and as a diuretic. It is also used to improve the taste of some natural herbal medicines.

Massaman is a Thai dish that can be made with chicken, beef or pork. It often contains roasted peanuts, coconut milk, bay leaves, potatoes, cardamom pods, cinnamon, palm sugar, tamarind and fish sauce. Massaman is a Muslim-influenced curry. As you can see, the curry is a blend of traditional Indian and Thai curries. What a winning combination!

Spices were introduced to southern Thailand by early Portuguese traders who brought spices (such as turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and nutmeg) from the Middle East and India.

The dish is normally served with rice and occasionally pickled ginger or and peppers and cucumber that have been soaking in vinegar.

The dish originates from the south of Thailand where about 60% of the population is muslim. Please try the Curry Focus Massaman Curry Recipe.

Massaman is generally regarded as sweet rather than overly spicy and is a much loved dish around the world. This video shows you exactly how to make one yourself, and bring the taste of a Thai restaurant into your house!

Hi, Ray here again.

Time to try another chicken curry recipe from the Curry Focus web site. Which one shall it be? How about the Chicken Sagwala? Looks good. I think it appears on lots of restaurant menus as Chicken Saag.

I had most of the ingredients in the house but needed to make a quick shopping trip to pick up some fresh spinach, chicken and tomatoes.

I cooked the spinach, drained it and then let it cool whilst I got together the other ingredients.

I prepared a small dish of spices and cardamom pods that would go into the frying pan together.

Then I chopped up the garlic, ginger and onions. I’m getting pretty good at this cooking game.

Then I cut up the chicken. I bought chicken breasts so they were easy to cut up.

I washed 2 cups of rice and left the rice in a pan of water ready to start cooking when needed.

All set to go.

First I heated the first lot of oil, fried the chicken and then put the chicken aside in a bowl.

Then the remaining oil went into the frying pan quickly followed by the ginger, garlic and onion. It wasn’t too long before the onion was a nice golden color.

Then in went the spices and cardamom pods with a cup of boiling water. At the same time I started cooking the rice by replacing the cold water with hot water and putting the pan over a medium heat.

This is so, so easy.

I put the spinach into the food processor and gave it a quick 15-second burst. Perfect.

After 10 minutes of cooking the spices in the frying pan, I added the chicken, brought the curry back to a simmer and cooked it for another 5 minutes.

Then in went the spinach and garam masala.

5 minutes later the curry was ready and I pushed the frying pan off the heat whilst I drained the rice.

Once again I microwaved some shop-bought chapattis whilst serving the sagawala on the rice.

And what was the verdict? Delicious. It isn’t a “spicy hot” curry but there is a lovely delicate taste of spices. The assembled friends gave the “thumbs up” to the meal and overall it received a rating of 7/10. Pretty good.

The one thing that I found when cooking this chicken curry was that the curry became dry fairly quickly. To stop the curry from sticking to the frying pan, and to make sure that the chicken was properly cooked, I added a few extra amounts of hot water. The water disappeared pretty quickly during the cooking process. I changed the recipe to include this extra water – I’m sure you don’t mind, Myra.