For that little bit extra when cooking sweet and sour dishes such as Dhansak and Pathia, use jaggery instead of sugar for your sweetener.
Tag: Curry News
Curry tip of the week 14
Venturing into the world of fresh fish for your curries? Fresh fish should have shiny eyes and body and slippery wet skin.
Curry tip of the week 13
Onions form the base of almost all curries so you’ll be chopping a lot of them. Follow these steps for frustration-free chopping.
1. Cut onion in half through the stem before peeling.
2. Cut off stems and peel.
3. Slice the onion long ways but do not cut it all the way through to ensure it is still held together. You can help with this by pinching it together with your thumb and forefinger. The end result, if you were to pick up the onion, would be a fan shape
4. Twist the onion around and slice in the other direction, this time cutting all the way through.
Hey presto, nice small chunks of onion.
Spices and rices
Ok, I was like a kid in a candy store. For a curry lover wandering around massive sacks of rice, packs of brightly spices, pots of pickles, moth beans, bags of gram flour and lentils of every description this is heaven.
Charlton’s Masala Mart is an Asian wholesalers offering everything you’ll need for your curries as well as frozen seafood and fresh meat (and a fair bit of other stuff too).
While it’s obviously aimed at the trade (20kg of rice for R19.99, 1kg garam masala for £3.87) there are well-priced smaller packs of most things on offer for the rest of us (100g turmeric for 35p).
You can also get your hands on things that few mainstream supermarkets are likely to stock such as the sweetener jaggery (475g for 89p) or the Bangladeshi fish tilapia (£2.49 a kilo).
Or, if you really like the stuff, you might just be tempted to stock up on lime pickle (4.4kg for £6.56).
Masala Mart, Unit 1, Ramac Way, Charlton, SE7 7AX. Tel: 020 8858 9858.
Curry sausages
What’s the greatest of all ‘British’ foods? We’ve heard so often over the years about Chicken Tikka Masala being our national dish that it’s become ingrained in our consciousness.
But no I say! We need to question it. After all, I hardly need persuading about the merits of curry now, do I? But what about sausages? Man can live on curry alone (I’ve tried it and it works) but it would be a dull life without a post-hangover sausage sandwich with HP, and mum’s bangers and mash.
But wait, what if we combined the two to create… drum roll please… curry sausages? Which is why over the last two months Greenwich Curry Club has been working with gourmet sausage-maker Martin Heap at his Heap’s Sausages shop in Nevada Street, Greenwich.
The result is three new sausages: dark and fiery Beef and Pork Madras, creamy smooth Lamb Korma and spicy Goan Pork, Chilli and Ginger. The recipes have been created with spices that are at the heart of these curries such as turmeric, cummin, pepper, garam masala and coriander as well as using fresh onions, ginger, garlic, chillies and coriander.
Welcome to the best of both worlds.
Elvis likes King Prawn
Fancy a bit of Heartbreak Hotel with your curry? Mehak in Greenwich’s Trafalgar Road (Tel: 020 8858 0227) is hosting an Elvis night on Thursday 2 February. It’s £15.95 for a starter, main, rice or nan. You should, of course, order the ‘King’ Prawn, but it’ll cost you an extra £2.50 (as will Tandoori Mixed Grill).
Curry tip of the week 12
Put a piece of asafoetida in the same container as your chilli powder to keep it fresh for longer.
Courtesy of Sweet ‘n’ Spicy phone app.
January curry column
If you like curry you’ll love the new curry column in the Greenwich Visitor. News on Curry Garden in Blackheath, Shampan 3 in Welling, whisky and curry pairings, the best curry book of the year and turkey curry. Many thanks to the column’s sponsor, The Mitre Hotel.
Curry tip of the week 10
Beer is great with curry, don’t get me wrong. But the spicy notes in whisky makes it an ideal drink to accompany Indian food. Don’t be afraid to experiment (and add water to your whisky to release the flavours) but for a starter for 10 try Johnnie Walker Red with Onion Bhajis.
The Royal Curry Club 