Tag: Hot food

5 Best Goa Curries

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Goa is the smallest state in India yet it is the home to some great curries – often sizzling hot. The Portguese ruled the state for 450 years until 1961 so Goan dishes are often combine flavours from Portugal, Indi and often Africa (where Portugal had other colones). Here are Five of the Best Curries from Goa.

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1. Vindaloo

Vindaloo is probably the best known of all Goan dishes and is now eaten all over the world. As the only state with a predominantly Catholic population there are few food taboos so the tradional dish is a slow-cooked Pork Vindaloo with lots of vinegar. British restaurants used the word vindaloo as a byword for very hot curry so although their Lamb Vindaloo, Chicken Vindaloo and Prawn Vindaloo are vastly different to the tradional pork version they have become hugely popular among fans of spicy curries.

2. Chicken Recheade

As much a pickling paste as a curry, Chicken Recheade is made by combining red dried chillies, black pepper, garlic, ginger, and spices with vinegar to form a paste that is used to marinate the chicken then cooked with chopped onions, tomato paste and garam masala. As with many Goan dishes it combines Indian and Portuguese styles of cooking and ingredients.

3. Ambot Tik

Ambot Tik is another hot and spicy dish from Goa that combines Portuguese and Indian flavours. It can be cooked with any any type of fish but popular choices are shark and prawns. If using prawns keep their shells on to soak up the range of flavours. To cook this curry, first create the aromatic masala by dry frying spices, combine with a sauce of onions, tomatoes and tamarind and add the prawns.

4. Goan Fish Curry

Goa’s location along the western coast of the country, by the ArabianSea, means seafood naturally features prominently in its cuisine. Coconut milk, tamarind, juicy white fish and blazing heat from the chillies creates a delicious Goan Fish Curry.

5. Chicken Cafrael

Chicken Cafrael, a simple dish to make – marinate the chicken in a green spice paste, then fry – is another classic curry from Goa. Originating in Africa (probably Mozambique) it was brought to India by the Portuguese. Although this is a dish that traditionally uses chicken legs you can also use bite-sized chunks of chicken.

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How to cook… Chicken Livers Curry

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Serves 4 as a main dish

Often overlooked as an ingredient, chicken livers are excellent when curried. In this Chicken Liver Curry you need to marinate the livers first then cook them in a classic spicy tomato and onion sauce.

What you need…
• 600g chicken livers, washed and drained and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 Tablespoons oil
• 1.5 onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 4cm piece of ginger, peeled and cut into slivers
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 0.5 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste

Marinade
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 0.5 teaspoon salt
• 0.25 teaspoon ground black powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 3 Tablespoons chopped coriander
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• Salt to taste

CHEF’S TIP
Soaking the livers in milk before marinating for 30 minutes will remove the bitterness.

How you make it…
1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and coat the chicken livers with it. Set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Heat 2 Tablespoons oil to a medium heat and fry the chicken livers until they all brown (about 4-5 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and fry the onion until it softens (about 5 minutes).
4. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 1 minute.
5. Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, tomato, tomato paste and a little water, mix well, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed.
6. Add half the coriander, garam masala and salt and mix well.
7. Add the livers with any juices and stir fry until the are soft and buttery (about 2-3 minutes).
8. Check a piece of liver to ensure it is cooked and once you are happy add the rest of the coriander and serve.

If you like this you should try our…
Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona • Chicken Feet Curry (Africa)

People who order this dish never share… They’ll just tell you, “liver my food alone!”

How to cook… Lamb Vindaloo

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Serves 4 as a main dish

Lamb Vindaloo is for curry lovers who are after some serious heat. The restaurant-style Lamb Vindaloo has heat from the peppercorns and chilli, sourness from the vinegar and includes it’s trademark chunks of potato in a thick, dark sauce.

What you need…
• 1 large potato, cut into 5cm chunks (you should have 6-8 of them)
• 2 Tablespoons ghee
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 800g lamb, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 600ml Base Curry Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons tomato ketchup
• salt to taste
• 0.5 onion sliced
• 1.5 Tablespoon vinegar

Spice Mix 1
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• 0.5 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

Spice Mix 2
• 1 Tablespoon curry powder
• 4 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 1 Tablespoon garam masala


How to make it…
1. Boil the potato chunks until cooked. Set the potatoes aside once cooked.
2. Heat the ghee to a high heat. Add the Spice Mix 1 and fry for 15 seconds. The spices should sizzle immediately when you add them to the ghee. You can test it is hot enough by adding one cumin seed.
3. Add the garlic paste and cook for 1 minute on a lower heat. You may have to remove the pan from the heat for a while to the paste burning. (If it burns then throw it away and start again.)
4. Add the lamb and stir fry until sealed (about 2–3 minutes).
5. Add the Base Curry Sauce and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed to avoid it sticking.
6. Add the Spice Mix 2 and tomato ketchup, mix well and cook for 20 minutes.
7. Add the salt, onion and vinegar and continue cooking until the lamb is tender (about 5 minutes). Add water, as needed, to maintain the consistency.
8. Finally, add the cooked potato pieces, make sure they are coated in the sauce but be careful not to break the pieces up, and serve.



CHEF’S TIP
Add water to this dish as it cooks to maintain the consistency but don’t overdo it because you want a thick, dark sauce when it is served.
Lamb Vindaloo, extra hot in a dark, rich sauce.

If you like this you should try our…
Lamb Madras • Chicken Phall • Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo •Chicken Bhoona

Check out 5 Best Goa Curries

Where do chillies live? … Scoville.

How to cook… Swahili Chicken Curry

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Serves 3–4 as a main dish

Swahili Chicken Curry, a creamy on-the-bone chicken dish, is a popular East African dish served with rice and chapatti. This recipe is from the Hilton Hotel in central Nairobi, Kenya

What you need…
• 5 teaspoons cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 5 teaspoons cardamon powder
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons chopped ginger
• 500g yoghurt
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 litre coconut milk
• 1kg chicken thighs and legs
• 4 teaspoons corn oil
• 100g chopped onions

For the garnish
• 100g chopped onions
• 1 tomato cut into small cubes
• small handful of chopped coriander
• pinch of parsley

How you make it…
1. Mix half of the cumin, turmeric, cardamon, garlic, ginger, yoghurt and lemon juice and 150ml coconut milk, and coat the chicken with the mixture to marinade. Set aside for two to three hours.
2. When the chicken has marinated arrange the pieces on an oven tray, making sure they are all well coated with the mixture. Preheat the oven to 180 C and cook the chicken for 25 minutes. Check that all the pieces are cooked through.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion then stir in the rest of the cumin, turmeric, cardamon garlic, ginger, coconut milk and lemon juice. Reduce the sauce to half of its original amount then add the rest of the yoghurt and let it boil for 1 minute
4. Add in the chicken pieces and heat through.
5. Add the garnish and serve with rice and chapatti.
• Recipe courtesy of Dominic Keya, chef at the Hilton, Nairobi, Kenya.

If you like this you should try our…
Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona

Kenya make this delicious Swahili Chicken?

How to cook… Chilli Paneer

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Serves 4 as a main dish

Chilli Paneer is a popular and spicy Indo-Chinese dish, combining flavours from both cuisines and with Indian cheese as its main ingredient (make your own paneer). These dishes are emerged in states that border China and India and also from a group of Hakka Chinese people who moved to Calcutta.

What you need…
• 4 Tablespoons cornflour
• 1 Tablespoon red chilli powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 Tablespoons cooking oil
• 500g paneer cheese, chopped into small, evenly sized chunks or strips
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 each of red, yellow and green capsicum peppers, chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 20g garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons chilli sauce (try Baj’s Blazin’ Original Hot Sauce)
• 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 green chillies, sliced down the middle and cut into chunks (don’t deseed)
• small handful of coriander to garnish


How you make it…
1. Mix the cornflour with 20ml of water, the chilli powder and some salt and pepper. Coat each piece of paneer in the cornflour mix.
2. Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a frying pan to a medium heat and shallow fry some of the paneer for a 1–2 minutes until just turning golden. Set aside on kitchen towel. Repeat until all the paneer has been cooked.
3. Add the onions and peppers to the remaining oil and cook for 3–4 minutes on a medium heat.
4. Add in the garlic, the chilli sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar to the onions, peppers and garlic and cook for 2 minutes on a medium heat.
5. Add in the paneer and cook for 3 minutes, then add in the chillies, salt and pepper to taste, then stir well and ensure everything is warmed through,
6. Serve, garnished with coriander leaves.
• Recipe courtesy Baj’s Blazin’ Sauce in Greenwich.

CHEF’S TIP
This recipe uses strips of paneer but you can use cubes if you prefer.



If you like this you should try our…
Make your own Paneer • Sag Paneer • Medium Chicken Curry • Chicken Madras • Chicken Vindaloo • Chicken Bhoona

Some may warn you that this dish is very hot but it’s really quite chilli.

Curry Guide… Goan Cuisine

On By Daniel FordIn Curry GuideLeave a comment

 

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The food in Goa is quite distinctive from the rest of the India, despite it being one of the smallest states in the country and home to fewer than 1.5 million people. Its location along the western coast of the country, by the Arabian Sea, means seafood features prominently in its cuisine and because its population is largely Christian (Catholic), thanks to just over 450 years of Portuguese occupation, beef and pork are also common, unlike in the rest of India. Chillies are also important in Goan cuisine having been introduced to to the country by the Portuguese in 1498. Curries without chillies, who’d have thought? The Indians used peppers for heat before that.

The most famous Goan dish is Vindaloo, which is a favourite of all heat lovers. Vin means vinegar, thanks to the southern Europeans and the aloo bit is for the amount of garlic in it (the aloo bit is commonly confused as meaning potato because “aloo” means “potato” in Hindi and chunks of the good old spud is in the dish. The traditional dish, cooked with loads of vinegar and pork, is nothing like the curry house dish you’ll get in Britain, although it does share the heat levels.

Other well-known Goan dishes are Xacuti, a dish of chicken or prawns with chilli, white poppy seeds and coconut, and Cafrael, a Portuguese-Indian combination dish which uses a lot of coriander and lime juice and has its roots in Africa.

Photo: Zerohund Wikipedia.

Recipe… Chicken Chilli Dry Fry

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Chicken Chilli Dry Fry Low Res

Chicken Chicken Dry Fry
Serves 2-3 as a starter

This is an Indo-Chinese stir-fry dish, combining flavours from both cuisines. It is a very hot, dry dish and should be always be served fresh.

 

What you need
• 2 Tbls cornflour
• 6 tsp soy sauce
• 150gm chicken breast, cut into bite-size chunks
• 3 Tbls oil
• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1-3 green chillies (to your taste), chopped
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
• 1 tomato roughly, chopped
• 2 spring onions chopped
• a small handful of coriander, chopped

How you cook it
1. Mix the cornflour with 4 tsp of soy sauce and coat the chicken in the mixture. Marinate for 15 minutes.

Chicken Chilli Dry Fry Step 1
Step 1a: Mix cornflour with soy sauce.

Chicken Chilli Dry Fry Step 2
Step 1b: Marinate chicken

2. Heat oil to a medium-hot heat.
3. Fry the chicken until all the pieces are sealed (about 2-3 minutes), then set aside.

Chicken Chilli Dry Fry Step 3 Low Res
Step 3: Seal the chicken pieces

 

4. Add the green peppers to the pan and stir-fry until they start to soften (about 3-4 minutes).
5. Add the onions, chillies, pepper and chilli flakes and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add a tiny bit of water if needed but not too much as this is a dry dish.

Chicken Chilli Dry Fry Step 4 Low Res
Step 4 and 5: Fry the peppers, onions and chillies

6. Add the other 2 tsps of soya sauce and mix in well.
7. Add in the tomatoes and chicken and stir-fry until the chicken is cooked.

Chicken Chilli Dry Fry Step 5 Low Res
Step 6 and 7: Add the remaining ingredients and return the chicken to pan until cooked through.

8. Garnish with spring onion and coriander and serve (this dish is best served fresh).

 

The Spice Card offers savings on curries, including on takeaways at many venues. You can get your Spice Card here.

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The most popular hot curries

On By Daniel FordIn Curry NewsLeave a comment

In a recent survey we asked: “How hot can you go with your curries?”

The Goan classic, Vindaloo was a narrow winner with our spice heads, just pipping that perennial favourite Madras, which was preferred by 29% of curry fans. The super hot Phall polled 19% among the serious heat lovers, while another 19% said they couldn’t eat anything that hot. Korma or Chicken Tikka Masala it is for them then.

Spice Card holders can enjoy a 20% discount on curries, including on takeaways at many venues. Get your Spice Card here…

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The Riz (Margate, Kent)

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

The Riz, Margate

If you love a good old British-style seaside resort and you love a good curry may I direct you to the Riz in Margate?

The smartly dressed owner directed proceedings and gave us all the information we were after when it came to what was and what wasn’t in certain dishes. It’s always good to gauge different dishes and if the owner or staff are happy to help out then they’ve found the right man for a chat.

The decor is as smart as the owner. This is a real little gem, albeit not in the smartest of streets. And it looks like the locals know it too as there was a gaggle of girls getting stuck into and a couple of families enjoying the food.

My previous experience of trying to get a curry in this street had not gone well (yawn! Is it ever coming?) but my Margate friend assured us that this was the place to try. He was right.

The Riz serves superb dishes and they are as fresh as they come. This is the place to dip into South Indian and Sri Lankan dishes. So where to start? How about Nethli Meen Varuval (£4.50), spiced anchovies which are then deep fried. A pretty lively taste of Kerala I’d say. Or Fish Cutlet (£2.50), Sri Lankan traditional fish dumplings, crumb fried and served with hot spicy sauce perhaps?

House specials are parathas, iddapams and puttus, which all use eggs. A chicken paratha, scrambled with eggs and cooked with minced parathas is £6.95. But it’s got to be fish for me so the recommendation is Monkfish Curry with Mango (£8), a Keralan dish made with mango, coconut milk and ginger.

The Riz, 49 Northdown Road, Margate. Tel: 01843 293698.

Scores on the tandoors
Food 9
Decor 8
Service and friendliness 8
Atmosphere 7 (Tuesday evening)
Value for money 8

Lightly spiced

On By Daniel FordIn 2. Reviews (Other UK)Leave a comment

Lee Raj, Blackpool

There are so many food options in Blackpool town centre and along the Golden Mile that when a local recommends somewhere beyond the lights it’s worth taking note.

Lee Raj is only just beyond the lights in fact, only a short walk from Starrs Gate, the last tram stop on the south shore. It’s quite disconcerting leaving the flashing lights behind after a couple of days, like you’re heading into no-man’s land, but it’s a welcome relief too, to get back to some sort of normality.

This is a neighbourhood restaurant serving locals very good food. It’s under new management  and the service is efficient and very friendly. It’s got a long and comprehensive list of choices, many of which were new to me so the waiter received more than the usual amount of queries about how dishes are cooked and their origins. It’s Bangladeshi run so there are some nice specialities from there, such as Biran Mas (£8.50) a dish of lightly spiced fish, but there is food from many regions, including Sri Lanka, which is forgotten on many menus.

Shatkora is a citrus fruit that is used in Bangladeshi cooking. If you like lime pickle you’ll like this, although it has a sharper and cleaner bite on the tongue than the pickle tray favourite.  Shathkora Torkar (chicken at £7.40) it was then. Fantastically sharp, the chef  used nice big chunks in the dish. Other times I’ve tried this dish chefs seemed a bit afraid of the fruit and its taste was hard to discern. I was delighted that this chef pushed the use of the fruit to the limit. If you order something you want to taste it, not go searching about in the sauce.

Because of the distinctive taste of shathkora I went for plain pilau rice (£2.30) to avoid a taste clash, but a couple of chapatis (£1.30 each) or a plain nan (£2.30) would work equally as well.

Lee Raj, 23 Squires gate, Blackpool, FY4 1SN. Tel: 01253 401800/406300

Scores on the tandoors

Food 9

Decor 8

Service and friendliness 9

Atmosphere 7 (Friday evening)

Value 8