“Curry”

This recipe isn’t “traditional” or “authentic”; I don’t care. Rather, it’s an Americanized adaptation of a style of cooking found in certain regions of India. It’s tasty, easy to make, and I like it. If you want something “authentic,” go look at someone else’s website.

As recipes go, this one is pretty sparse; I think of it more as a method than a recipe. If you’re a decent cook and you’re comfortable cooking without a recipe then I think you won’t have any trouble. If, on the other hand, you don’t have much experience cooking or you need a precise recipe to follow then you’re likely to find this very difficult; you may want to look for a different recipe on a different website.

Hardware

• Large sauteuse pan
• Saute pan (for some variations)
• Immersion blender

Ingredients

cooking oil

yellow onions

tomatoes

garlic (optional)

fresh chili peppers (optional)

water, cream, milk, stock, or yogurt

beef, chicken, fish, lamb, legumes, or shrimp

“curry powder”

garam masala

salt

Procedure

1. If you’re using beef, chicken, or lamb, cut the meat into chunks and saute in oil until nicely brown on the outside. It doesn’t matter if the meat is cooked all the way through as it will finish cooking during the final simmer.
    
   If you’re using legumes, typically chickpeas (garbanzos) or red beans (large or small), cook them in your preferred (salted) liquid until they're soft. Reserve the cooking liquid.
    
   If you’re using fish or shrimp, cut into pieces and store in the fridge until needed.


2. Chop the onions.
    
   Cut the tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds. If you want you can remove the skins but I usually skip this step.
    
   If you’re using garlic or chilis, chop them, too. Remove the seeds from the chilis if you want a less spicy dish.


3. In the large sauteuse pan, heat some oil then gently saute the onions. You want them starting to get soft but not brown.


4. After the onions have cooked a while, add the tomatoes, garlic, and chili peppers.
    
   Add the curry powder and garam masala. For a red or yellow curry, I suggest about 5 parts curry powder to 1 part garam masala; for a brown curry, I suggest either the inverse ratio or no curry powder at all. Add turmeric powder as desired.
    
   Cook until everything is soft.


5. Turn off the heat and blend the mixture until there are no chunks left in it; how smooth you make it is up to you. Use just enough water, cream, milk, or stock to blend to the desired smoothness. If you cooked legumes, use the cooking liquid instead of water.


6. Return the blended mixture to the sauteuse pan and add as much water, cream, milk, stock, or yogurt as needed to achieve the desired consistency. If you cooked legumes, use the cooking liquid instead of water. If the protein has not been cooked all the way through, add a little more liquid because the mixture will thicken a bit during the final cooking step.
    
   Taste and add salt as needed. Try to avoid adding more curry powder, garam masala, or turmeric here; you need to get it right while the sofrito is cooking or the dish will likely have an unpleasant taste.


7. Return the mixture to the pan, bring it up to a simmer, then add your protein; cook until the protein is the desired degree of doneness.

Notes

The first trick is to know how much sofrito to make, knowing that you’re going to thin it out with your preferred liquid. This is especially important if you’re using water as the taste will be diluted.

The second trick is to know how much spice to use, since it all needs to go into the sofrito; if you add more spices and don’t cook them, the dish will likely have an unpleasant taste. Salt, however, can be adjusted at any time.

For about 1 pound of meat or half a pound of cooked legumes, I suggest about 2 onions each about the size of a baseball or cricket ball (about 2.5 inches in diameter) and either 1 tomato (about the same size as the onions) or 3 to 4 tomatoes if you want a more “red” dish. If I had to guess, I’d say I use about 3 tablespoons combined curry powder and garam masala for a red or yellow curry; for a brown curry I think I use about 1.5 tablespoons of garam masala and no curry powder. It’s easy to use too much garam masala.

I tend to use more oil than is normally required for sauteeing; this adds a richness to the final dish. Another thing I sometimes do is to stir in some butter just before the sofrito is finished.

If you don’t have an immersion blender you can use a food processor or a regular blender.

I like to serve this over brown rice with an Indian-style bread on the side.

Rating

Difficulty:		Easy (or Hard)
Time:		1 to 2 hours
Precision:		1

Source

My own foolin’ around.