Indian recipe

How to cook… Chicken Livers Curry

Curry News

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

Recipes

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… Sindhi Biryani

Curry News, Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

Biryani is a rice-based dish, where all the spices, meat and vegetables are slowly cooked together over a long period of time. Although Biryani is a popular dish all over the world there are many variations – this is the version from the Province of Sindhi in Pakistani Punjab.

What you need…
• 400g potatoes, cut into 4cm chunks
• 2 drops yellow colouring
• 10 Tablespoons ghee• 2 onions, roughly chopped• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 500g chicken thighs and legs, on the bone
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 250g yoghurt
• 4 tomatoes, cut into halves
• 100g plums
• small handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• 5 mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 5 green chillies, with a small slit in each
• 300g rice
• 3 Tablespoons rose water
• 0.5 teaspoon nutmeg powder

Spice Mix
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamoms (cracked but not crushed)
• 10cm piece cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 Tablespoon chilli powder
• 1 Tablespoon turmeric powder


How to make it…
1. Boil the potatoes in water with a drop of yellow colouring until they are nearly cooked. Drain the potatoes and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. Heat 1 Tablepoon ghee to a medium heat and fry the potatoes until they are crisp and starting to brown. Remove the potatoes and set aside.
3. Add 2 Tablespoons ghee and the onions, and fry until golden brown.
4. Add the ginger paste, garlic paste and the chicken, and stir fry for 5 minutes.
5. Add the Spice Mix and salt and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Add the yoghurt and fried potatoes, mix well, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Add the tomatoes, the plums, coriander leaves, mint leaves and chillies, and mix well. Remove the pan from the heat.
9. Wash the rice until the water is clear. This will take 6–7 washes, maybe more. Boil the rice in fresh water, with a little salt, until cooked.
10. Drain the rice andspread it evenly on top of the chicken mixture.
11. Dissolve a drop of yellow colour in rose water and spread it, with the rest of the ghee, on top of rice. Allow this to dissolve for 30 seconds. Sprinkle the nutmeg powder on top of the mixture.
12. Return the pan to a medium heat and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes.
13. Remove the cover, allow the steam to escape for a couple of minutes and serve.
• Recipe courtesy of Zaynub Mahmood. Photo below: Miansari66 CCA.

CHEF’S TIP There are quite a few ingredients in this dish so get everything ready before you start cooking.

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

Never rush a biryani… it’s not a rice.

How to cook… Prawn Dopiaza

Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

Originally a dish from Persia, Dopiaza means “two onions” and gives it name to this curry because onions are used twice in the recipe (in the Base Curry Sauce and towards the end when the fried onions are added). You’ll need to quickly seal the prawns in butter and brown the onions first, then create the sauce before re-adding the prawns and fried onions again at the end.

What you need…
• small knob of butter
• 800g prawns, shelled and deveined
• 3 Tablespoons ghee
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 600ml Base Curry Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons tomato ketchup
• small handful fresh coriander (chop up the stems to add to the curry and set aside the leaves for garnish)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• salt to taste

Spice Mix 1
• 1 Tablespoon mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon vinegar


How to make it…
1. Heat the butter to a medium heat. While it is heating up mix the Spice Mix with the vinegar and enough water to form a sloppy paste.
2. Add the prawns to the butter and stir fry until they are pink. This should take about 2 minutes. Remove the prawns from the pan and set aside.
3. Heat 1 Tablespoon ghee to a medium heat and stir fry the onions until they are starting to brown. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
4, Heat the rest of the ghee to a high heat. While it is heating up mix the Spice Mix with the vinegar and enough water to form a sloppy paste.
5. Add the cumin seeds and fry for 15 seconds. They should sizzle immediately. You can test the ghee is hot enough by adding one seed.
6. Add the garlic paste and cook for 1 minute on a lower heat. You may have to remove the pan from the heat initially to stop the paste burning. (If it burns then throw it away and start again.)
7. Add the Spice Mix paste and cook for 2 minutes. It should now be thick and gloopy.
8. Add the Base Curry Sauce and the tomato and cook for 2 minutes.
9. Add the prawns, mix well and cook for five minutes.
10. Add the garam masala, salt, coriander stems and prawns and cook for 2 minutes.
11. Add the fried onions and continue cooking until the prawns are fully cooked.
12. Serve, garnished with the coriander leaves.


CHEF’S TIP
Caramelising the onions creates a sweet and slightly sticky dish so it’s complemented nicely with a spicy chilli pickle or tart lime pickle on the side.

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

Last time I was in a fruit and veg shop the owner told me that his onions could sing a Bee Gees song. I had to stay a bit longer to listen but then I noticed it was just the chives talking.

How to cook… Chicken Dopiaza

Recipes

Serves 4 as a main dish

Dopiaza is the restaurant favourite for onion lovers. Originally a dish from Persia, Dopiaza means “two onions” and gives it name to this curry because onions are used twice in the recipe (in the Base Curry Sauce and towards the end when the fried onions are added).

What you need…
• 3 Tablespoons ghee
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 600ml Base Curry Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 800g chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• small handful fresh coriander (chop up the stems to add to the curry and set aside the leaves for garnish)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• salt to taste

Spice Mix 1
• 1 Tablespoon mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon vinegar


How to make it…
1. Heat 1 Tablespoon ghee to a medium heat and stir fry the onions until they are starting to brown. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
2. Heat the rest of the ghee to a high heat. While it is heating up mix the Spice Mix with the vinegar and enough water to form a sloppy paste.
3. Add the cumin seeds and fry for 15 seconds. They should sizzle immediately. You can test the ghee is hot enough by adding one seed.
4, Add the garlic paste and cook for 1 minute on a lower heat. You may have to remove the pan from the heat initially to stop the paste burning. (If it burns then throw it away and start again.)
5. Add the Spice Mix paste and cook for 2 minutes. It should now be thick and gloopy.
6. Add the Base Curry Sauce and the tomato and cook for 2 minutes.
7. Add the chicken, mix well and cook for five minutes.
8. Add the coriander stems, garam masala and salt, and cook for 2 minutes.
9. Add the fried onions and continue cooking until the chicken is fully cooked.
10. Serve, garnished with the coriander leaves.


CHEF’S TIP
If you really want to go for it with the onions you can place a couple of slices of raw onion to the top of the curry as a garnish instead of the coriander leaves.

Chicken Dopiaza, strictly for onion lovers.

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

I told my friend an onion is the only vegetable that can make me cry. So he threw a coconut at my head.

How to cook… Handi Chicken

Curry News

Serves 4 as a main dish

Handi Chicken is a popular Punjabi dish named after the wide Indian cooking pot used particularly in north India and Pakistan. The famous Balti has origins in dishes such as these.

What you need…
• 2 Tablespoons ghee
• 3 onions sliced
• 2 teaspoons ginger paste
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• salt to taste
• 800g chicken, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 5-6 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 Tablespoons plain yoghurt
• 1 Tablespoon double cream
• small handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Spice Mix 1
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds crushed
• 3 whole chillies

Spice Mix 2
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder


How to make it…
1. Heat the ghee in a pan. Add Spice Mix 1 and fry for 15 seconds. to test if ghee is hot enough put in one cumin seed. It should sizzle immediately).
2. Add the onions and fry until they are golden brown.
3. Add the ginger, garlic, Spice Mix 2 and salt, stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add in the chicken and cook until all the pieces are white. This should take about 3–4 minutes.
5. Add in the tomatoes and cook for 8 minutes.
6. Add in the yoghurt, cream and most of the fresh coriander (keep a small bit for the garnish), stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes. Ensure that the chicken is cooked through.
7. Serve, garnished with the remainder of the fresh coriander.
• Recipe by Kedar Chandra, chef at Pakbo restaurant in Flic en Flac, Mauritius.


CHEF’S TIP
The stalks of the coriander have the most flavour, so mix them in with the curry and keep the leaves for the garnish.

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

Why did the chicken cross the leather? … To get to the other suede.

How to make… Paneer

Curry News

Makes 250g of paneer

What you need…
• 6 pints full cream milk
• 1–2 Tablespoons white vinegar or fresh lemon juice

How to make it…
1. Put the milk into a pan and bring to the boil. Keep stirring to ensure the milk does not stick or burn as this will ruin the taste of the paneer. You’ll know it has boiled when a mound forms on the surface of the milk
2. Take the pan off the heat and add the vinegar or lemon juice a little at a time until the milk separates (these are the curds forming). The separation is pretty obvious so if the whey (what’s left after the curds are forming) still looks like milk, keep going with the vinegar or lemon juice. Let it cool for 10 minutes.
3. Next, remove the curds from the whey. Put some cheesecloth (you can also use muslin or even a J-cloth) over a large bowl and pour the mixture through it to strain out the whey. Rinse the curds with cold water to wash away the taste of the acid.
4. Bring the edges of the cloth together to wrap the curds and squeeze as gently as possible (this ensures the paneer will be soft and crumbly and not flattened completely). Make sure all the liquid had been removed.
5. Put a weight on it and leave it for an hour or more. Some more liquid will come out so put something underneath it.
6. The paneer will have formed and you can now cut it into chunks or strips for use.
• Thanks to Chili Paper Chains. Main photo: Sonja Pauen, CCA.

CHEF’S TIP
Full cream milk is essential for the proper taste of paneer.
Paneer is beautiful with creamy sauces such as Butter Paneer or as a side dish with spinach.

If you like this you should try our…
Butter Paneer • Muttar Paneer • Sag Paneer

What is a paneer diet? … Curds and weigh.

Recipe… Chicken Chilli Dry Fry

Recipes

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.

3D card image

 

 

Ginger Chicken

Recipes

The lovely, fresh-tasting Ginger Chicken

Kuku paka

Recipes

You certainly won’t come across this dish in many places outside of East Africa.

Chicken Mezhukkupuratti / Stir Fry

Recipes

You won’t come across this Keralan dish in many places. But just look at the colour of that chicken. Mmmmm…

Recipe… Egg Curry (street style)

Recipes

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Egg curry street style
Serves 4

What you need
• 8 eggs
• 3 potatoes
• salt to taste• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 tsp roughly chopped garlic
• a 2-3cm piece of ginger peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• a small handful of coriander (tear the leaves off and chop the stems)

Spice mix 1
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardomom pods (cracked open slightly)
• 6 peppercorns
• 3 whole dried red chillies (or a tsp of crushed dried chillies)
• 1 bay leaf

Spice mix 2
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cummin
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder (add more if you like your curries hot)

How to cook
1. Hard boil the eggs and remove the shells.
2. Peel and slice potatoes and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle potatoes with salt.
3. Heat the oil and fry the potatoes until they are cooked through and just start to brown. Set aside.
4. Fry the eggs in the same oil for about 5 minutes, rolling them frequently to avoid them crisping. Remove eggs and set aside.
5. Turn up the heat to ensure the oil is piping hot. Add the whole spices and cook for 20-30 seconds (cover the pan with a lid as it may spit). Timing is important. You want to infuse the oil with the flavours of the whole spices but if they burn you will have to do stage 5 again.
6. Add onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes and turn down to a medium heat. Cover and cook for about 12-15 minutes, stirring from time to time to avoid the sauce sticking.
7. Add the Spice Mix 2 with some salt, and stir in thoroughly. Cook for another 10 minutes. You may need to add in some water if the sauce is too thick.
8. Add the potatoes and eggs. Stir so the eggs are covered with the sauce but be careful not to break them up. Heat through for about five minutes.
9. Spinkle on the coriander.

Devilish Hot Tuna Curry

Recipes

Tuna doesn’t always spring to mind when you think of fish curry but because it’s firm it works a treat. Monkfish is also nice and firm if you want a white fish.

POTATO KOOTU

Recipes

This is a delicious dish but not that common in U.K. Restaurants for some reason, although Gaylord in Island Gardens in east London serves a good version.

Egg & Veggie Fried Rice

Recipes

Indeed. Is there anyone who doesn’t like fried rice…

Dal Chawal with ghee/ Dal rice with ghee.

Recipes

If anyone still underrates dal as delicious food then take a look at this…

Brinjal fry

Recipes

Leg of Lamb

Recipes

Leg of lamb with spice. Mouth-watering…

Recipe… Gato patate (Sweet potato cake)

Recipes

Makes 8-10 cakes

Ingredients
• 5 sweet potatoes
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 tbls desiccated coconut
• 1 tbls golden raisons
• 250ml vegetable oil

Method
1. Boil the sweet potatoes in their skin until soft. Drain, remove skin and mash.
2. Mix the mash with the flour to create a dough ball. The consistency should be fairly dry. Add more flour if it is sticky.
3. Mix the brown sugar and desiccated coconut in a bowl.
4. Lightly flour a board and using a rolling pin flatten the dough to about 3-4mm thickness.
5. Use a press or mug to cut out discs about 4cm in diameter.
6. Add a tsp of the coconut and sugar mix to the centre of each disc and fold over.
7. Use the back of a fork to crimp the cakes tight.
8. Heat the oil in a large, deep pan until a medium heat. Add the cakes and deep-fry until golden.

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Crimp the cakes closed using the back of a fork and deep fry until golden.