TheCatWoman's Curries

ps always better the next day!

Love a good dhal TheCatWoman - ace recipe!

I tend to overcook mine as I go off on one and come back a bit tardy - youngest daughter did one this week and was in kitchen doing another recipe so kept an eye on - just right :-)

Can't resist saying that your post reminded me of this Spike Milligan -Put him in the curry

Heehe, times change - curries don't!  

Very nice recipe!!

It's the first time I've had cashews in a curry.

Nan bread produced by Shana.

Thank youTheCatWoman 

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Not yet.

Still acquiring ingredients.

Feedback will be forthcoming 

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Has anyone tried any of these recipes?

I'm not fishing for compliments, I'd just appreciate some feedback.

Oh that's shame.

Fingers crossed they may reach you in the future.

Ocado, don't deliver here, we're probably to far un the back of beyond for them to think it worth it, trouble is until they try, they won't know and I know a few people here who would use them.

Thanks for that I'll have a look.

If I have nan I tend to make them, using Madhur Jaffery's recipe, but many ovens don't go hot enough to cook them properly, I guess you could use a pizza oven if you have one?

Great.!!

Thank you for the tips!!

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Ocado, and I've just checked they have tinned jackfruit.

I do have an Asian wholesale place I can try for the  tinned curried chickpeas, next time I'm in town.

The Shana stuff from Ocado is so cheap and the frozen garlic nan are pretty good.

TheCatWoman said:

my dhal recipe is based on one given to me by my old Sikh newsagent, they used to hold an open house every xmas for thier customers who lived alone and had no family

Thanks for typing out the recipes. I'm sure many on here will try them! I find Indian people very friendly too. I used to live in Bourne End, near the Vedanta Centre [Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother] and attended their service every week. Swami said I could walk in the gardens as I had no garden of my own. The devotees were very kind. I wish I still lived there as people here are, lets say, very independent. 

I am vegetarian, but my local whole food shop dosen't sell much Indian food. I've lived in some very racially mixed areas and had access to lots of different ingredients, often far cheaper than I could get anywhere else. Food was always a way to connect with other cultures, my dhal recipe is based on one given to me by my old Sikh newsagent, they used to hold an open house every xmas for thier customers who lived alone and had no family. Some of my recipes come from daughter in law who's from Southern India, she's taught me a lot about Indian cooking, like the importance of onions and caramelising them, it seems weird to a European cook to cook so many onions for so long, but they form the basis of so much Indian food. Although we in the west think about Indian food as if it's all one thing and style, but India is huge and includes the mountanous regions of North India to the tropcal areas of Kerala.

I think having the right equipment is important too, heavy based pans, the ones I use the most are tesco's take on Le Crusier, just as good and much, much cheaper.

Pretty much all my measurements are approximate, as I rarely weigh anything and just chuck in what looks right, unless I'm baking which needs more precise measurements

Where's your online shop? I've not been able to get frozen methi for ages as our ethnic grocer seems to have stopped doing it. I get lots of my curry ingredients from an ethnic grocer, including curried chick peas, I think the brand are KTC. Does your online shop do Jack Fruit too? I've not been able to get this for months either and haven't been able to make my chilli.

I wish there was a better term than "ethnic grocer" it seems very demeaning.

Ha ha

I've just found Shana Frozen Methi from my online shop.

I always have a butternut squash in stock.

I have never seen chick pea curry in a tin. My usual online store only has chick pea and vegetable curry in a tin. 

I will improvise.

The fenugreek too is proving difficult to source.

I think I remember you saying you are a vegetarian. 

Do you have a heath food shop you visit?

What I'm asking is where do you get your ingredients from, the weird ones?

Thank you 

Potato and Cashew nut curry

500g of new or salad potatoes, washed and boiled until cooked, then cooled

100g of unsalted cashew nuts

3 large onions pealed and sliced into semi circles.

3 blocks of frozen methi, aka fenugreek, or you could use a bunch of fresh fenugreek or a couple of tsps of dried, but it's better with resh or frozen, always use the leaf for this recipe and not the seeds.

1 heaped tblsp ginger and garlic paste

2 fresh green chilliis, cut open lengthways but still left with the stalk attached, scrape the seeds out for a milder curry, leave the seeds in for a hotter one.

1 small pot of cream, this can be dairy or non dairy I use oat cream.

2 tblsps of vegetable oil or an ounce or two of ghee.

2level tsps of mild madras curry powder

salt to taste

1 tsp tomato puree

Start the onions off in a big pan over a low heat, sprinkle with salt and leave them to sofen and start to caramelise, stirring them occaisionally to stop them sticking.

Chop the potatoes into biggish, but still bite sized pieces and add to the onions and allow them to get a bit of a crust but not to go brown.

Defrost the methi or chop the fresh stuff.

Whizz up the cashews into uneven slized lumps so as some are almost dust and some are in lumps.

Add the methi, cashews and curry powder along with the, chilliis ginger and garlic paste, give it a good stir, then add the tomato puree and give that a good stir, now add the cream and slowly bring to a low boil, cover and allow to simmer for 5 mins. Add the dried fenugreek leaves if you're using them instead of the frozen or fresh stuff, give it all a good stir and turn off the heat and leave it to steep for a couple of hours, then reheat add more salt if you want too and serve. 

This can be frozen, but needs to be defrosted a bit carefully as the potatoes tend to explode a bit.

Chick Pea and Butternut Squash Curry

2 tins of ready made chick pea curry

1 medium butternut squash, pealed and deseeded

3 large onions pealed and sliced into semi circles

2 tblsps ginger and garlic paste

2 heaped tsps of hot curry curry powder

1tsps of cumin seeds

veg oil 

salt

I know it sounds like an odd start to a recipe to use tinned stuff, but it's loads easier and tastier and how the recipe came to me, from my son, via his friends Mum.

Chop the butternut squash into bite sized pieces, put on a baking tray and drizzle with some oil and rub it in to coat the pieces. Bake in a medium oven for about 45 mins.

Put some more oil in a heavy bottomed large pan and heat slowly add the onions cumin seeds and a biggish pinch of salt, turn the heat right down and let the onions slowly caramelise and turn brown, you will need to give them a stir and they take quite a while, almost as long as the squash takes to roast. You may need to sprinkle them with a little water if they start sticking.

When the squash is soft and starting to brown at the edges remove from oven and add to the onions along with the ginger and garlic paste and curry powder, give it all a good stir and then add the chickpeas along with thier juice. Bring to the boil, then reduce the hear, cover with a lid and simmer for about 30 mins, stirring occaisionally then serve. 

This freezes well

Wow, thank you so much for all of these. My curry making was not that successful until now! 

Thank you!! I'll make this next week .

Thank you.