What does a Vegetable Korma cost?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Our nearest curry house is about 25 miles away and is rubbish. To be fair they cater to the French market which believes that curry comes in three types only: red, yellow & brown.

This is my utility curry recipe:

* A teaspoon of mustard seeds
* A tablespoon of coriander seeds
* One large onion, chopped finely
* Five green cardamom pods
* A generous lump of root ginger (say two-three inches)
* Three cloves garlic
* One hot chilli (more or less to taste)
* Three chicken breasts, diced (or joints, or lean diced lamb or shelled prawns or assorted vegetables– enough for 4)
* One tin of chopped tomatoes
* One tin of brown lentils
* Juice of one lemon
* Oil

1. Take a large pan (a wok is ideal), heat some oil to smoking and throw in the mustard and coriander seeds. Cook until they crackle, then turn the heat down and add the chopped onion.
2. Cook the onion slowly until golden. In the meantime, purée the ginger, garlic and chilli together with just enough oil to make a smooth paste.
3. Once the onions are cooked, raise the heat and add the meat to the pan with the cardamom pods. Crack the pods with the blade of a knife before including them.
4. One the meat is browned, coat it with the ginger paste, then add the tomatoes and the lentils with their liquid.
5. Simmer gently until most of the liquid is gone, then finish with the lemon juice.

[Jessiebean]

thanks!I will get some ginger root and cardamom pods and we will be in business!

[Keaniebean]

Jessie bean, have you tried to make one yourself? I had never tried cooking Indian food before and made an Aloo Gobi, which came out much nicer than any takeaway version and was really easy. I can get hold of spices so easily here in London, but I don't know if that would be a problem for you.

The recipe was from this site.
http://www.route79.com/food/aloo-gobi.htm and the site has other Indian dishes too, but I haven't tried them yet. ( Indian tends to do nasty things to the Husband )

[greenorelse]

I've always found that curries freeze really well (note: we never eat meat or dairy) - in fact, curries re-heated always seem to me much more mature than the original batch.

[Millymollymandy]

Definitely - I tend to make a huge batch of dhal then freeze in 2 people portion size. Likewise if I use a whole chicken (we eat curry on the bone) I freeze it in portions. There's always some bits of veg curry floating about in the freezer and if I'm lucky I can get a whole meal out of all the leftover bits I've frozen. They do say curry is much better made the day before anyway then reheated the next day to eat!

[Shirleymouse]

I love Balti too, but I don't think there is anywhere in Tassie to have one- there wasa restaurant in Canberra (where I grew) called the Brum Balti- it was a birmingham themed Kashmiri restaurant with "authentic Birmingham decor" and laminated copies of albums by recording artists from Birmingham used as place mats (part of the excitement of going there was the warm beer and finding who you got as a placemat- "Joan Armitrading AGAIN!")
I might just have to try to make a decent korma myself and freeze(does curry freeze ok?) as it looks like I can't move anywhere to get a cheaper curry. I have found out atht simmer sauces are dreadful so will have to knuckle down and do it proper like.The korma would have cost £7.80 by itself here at present (wow the £ is really down at the moment- I hope you guys are doing alright- might be time for me to pick up a Burberry trenchcoat though- if I don't buy any more curries I might be able to afford one)
ETA. note to self- don't buy a winter coat on the other side of the world when they are in the middle of the worst cold snap in who knows how long!

Wow! That's cool. I'm a born and bred Brummie curry addict. My favourite Indian restaurant has about 75 different main courses (all veggie) and is take you own drink and it is quite possible to have a 3 course meal for 8-10 quid a head. My husband and I make a point of trying to test the standard of curry wherever we go on holiday, Norwegian curry was the most expensive I have found so far - it was about 40 quid for 2 courses each plus rice and drinks!

[greenorelse]

<jealous>

The best curries over here are home-made. Restaurant-bought ones tend to be wimpish.