Main-course recipes - curries for cooks

Credit: Janette Watson

There has been much debate, over the years, about the use of the word ‛curry’, with many saying that a dal makhani is a separate type of dish altogether from mushroom biryani or aubergine curry. It is not a debate that I am going to be drawn into, but I think most people who use English as a first language will imagine the same thing as I do by the word: generally, food that is associated with the cuisine of the Indian sub-continent, particularly from the countries of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and including that of Sri Lanka. Similar ingredients are used in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries, but a ‛curry’ from one of these places is usually preceded by the country’s name. It’s very cumbersome to talk about food from the Indian sub-continent: curry is a great catch-all word that will be generally understood to mean any and all of the above-mentioned dishes and many more besides; equally, when I refer to 'Indian' recipes, I mean a recipe from the subcontinent, so will include recipes from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lank.  Before Partition, this is what people understood by India: my apologies if my usage gives offence.

Elsewhere on this blog, you will find recipes for what are best described as 'Western' curries.  These are either simplified versions of the Real Thing, or use curry powder/paste.  I have also included some very straightforward 'authentic' curries, which have fewer unusual spices, for those who don't want to carry several dozen different herbs and spices onboard.  I suspect most voyagers, aspiring or otherwise, are perfectly happy with the Western versions, which taste very good and ‛hit the spot’, but hope they will try the more authentic ones. However, for people like me who derive a huge amount of pleasure from making a more complicated ‛curry’, with a number of different spices, some ground, some whole, added at different times during the cooking process, I’ve decided to include some of my favourite recipes on this blog and, of course, add to them as time goes by.   More straightforward, Western curries, made with curry powder, curry paste or a simple mixture of four or five spices, will be found under ‛Main course dishes – rice based’ or ‛Main course dishes – vegetable based’.  On the other hand, more complex recipes will be found here.  Frankly, I'd be surprised if anyone does anything beyond clicking on the rice, curry, dal or pulao tag to look up recipes, but I live in hope that some may savour my pearls of wisdom in these different 'pages'.

As an introduction to those who fancy getting out lots of jars and measuring, pouring, mixing and blending them with other ingredients to produce fine curries, I thought I’d start with a pretty simple one which, ironically, does include vegetabes in with the dal!

Most people garnish Indian food with fresh coriander/cilantro. I don’t like it, but I adore kasuri methi and have noticed that some other recipe writers use it a lot. I have actually seen it suggested that you can use methi as a substitute for coriander – but never the other way round!  It also keeps much better on a boat than will fresh coriander, so this is what I recommend.  However, unless it is an integral part of the recipe, I will not write it in bold.

RECIPES

 

Mushroom matar malai - Mushroom white curry 

 

This recipe is so freely adapted from the more authentic ones, that I hardly dare to put it into ‘Curries for Cooks’. However, as it uses one or two spices/herb which only dedicated curry cooks are likely to have on board, that’s how I shall categorise it. (This, of course, assumes that anyone ever looks at the pages on this blog!)

I made this when I had been ‘off my food’ for a while and unable to face the thought of any Indian food. As I generally adore such recipes, this was a personal tragedy at the time. I had been sent a malai recipe in one of my blog feeds, and it attracted my attention as having not too many spices and looking like something might tempt my appetite. The recipe in question was for paneer, which I can’t obtain locally (and as an aspiring vegan, try to avoid), I looked to see if there were any more recipes on the Internet and came across a mushroom malai, with even fewer spices – perhaps too few- so I took a bit from both recipes.

When I came to look more closely, I discovered that these ‘white’ curries usually contain cashew nuts (this isn’t just a vegan spin on Indian food: a lot of Indian recipes call for cashews), which I don’t include and malai, which means cream, which I also left out. Vegan versions use cashew nut cream; vegetarian versions seem to use cream plus some yoghurt, which I think is because Indian cream is thicker than what is available in most countries (the UK being – or was! - a notable exception) and sounds more like ‘double cream’. Anyway, this is all irrelevant, because I simply used a goodly amount of nice, thick yoghurt.

The onions, garlic and ginger are meant to be ground to a paste in a blender. I couldn’t be bothered (another side effect of the appetite loss) and simply diced them very finely. They certainly didn’t intrude.

Matar, by the way, means peas, so they are, strictly, essential. Otherwise it will be simply mushroom malai. I used freeze-dried peas – essential voyagers’ provisions. The curry, even with all my alterations, was incredibly good. I could have scoffed the lot – so obviously it also restored my appetite for Indian food!!

I have made it several times since, and it has become one of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. I’ve been tweaking the spices to keep the curry mellow, but with lots of flavour and, having now got it about right, I feel I can finally post the recipe. If you’re not fond of too much chilli, leave out the chillies and simply use the Kashmiri chilli powder. I have even made this recipe without any cream, yoghurt or cream substitute and it is still delicious. I’m afraid the photos don’t show a white curry: the button mushroom that I buy locally, always turn any sauce brown. Oyster mushrooms would probably produce a lighter-coloured sauce. Use as many mushrooms as you think you can eat: this isn’t a particularly filling meal.

Mushroom matar malai - Mushroom white curry

Rice and black-eyed peas with Swiss chard - Lobhia saag pulao

 

This recipe is very freely adapted from one of Vegan Richa’s. For a ‘real’ curry, there are no weird and wonderful spices and there aren’t too many of them, either, which made me feel that the recipe might be tackled by a cook who likes curry, but doesn’t want to faff around too much. It’s a one-pot meal and Swiss chard, if bought very fresh and looked after with loving care, will last for 4 or 5 days, which will take you well into a thousand-mile passage. Spinach would also go very well in this recipe.

 

Black-eyed peas are quite popular in Indian cuisine and have the advantage that they don’t need soaking. They also need the same time to cook as brown basmati rice, so make a perfect match. This is a very pleasant curry, even following my method rather than making it the ‘right way’, which involves a blender and thus some awkward washing up.

Black-eyed pea and Swiss chard pulao 

 

Chana dal with courgettes

Chana dal is split white chickpeas and looks very similar to yellow split peas. I have seen various ways of cooking this curry, some of which appear to have the chana dal served very firm. This reciipe cooks them to a tender state and because it uses a pressure cooker, it also requires less time and fuel. This is a good curry for someone who wants to start out with ‛authentic’ curries, because there aren’t many spices and the only one that you are unlikely already to have in your lockers is asafoetida.

Courgettes/zucchini can sometimes present a problem for voyagers. In places where they’re grown, you're likely to be offered them frequently. When they are very fresh, they will keep for days or over a week without refrigeration, which is just as well, because a generous gift of courgettes will take up a lot of room in a fridge. I have on occasion been swamped with them and I like this recipe, because you can use up your surplus of courgettes without requiring other vegetables for the recipe. Chana dal goes very well with the courgette: the different textures complement one another well. If you're trying to use up your courgettes, you can add more than is recommended in the recipe, but remember that they produce a lot of liquid, so use the minimum of water with your dal when you cook it (ie 2:1 water to dal by volume). The end result is an attractively colourful dal, with the green courgette and the red tomatoes a pretty contrast to the yellow dal, but if you don’t want to use fresh tomatoes, you can add purée to get the flavour.

Chana dal with courgette 

 

Carrot Pulao

A lot of dals and curries are made without any additional vegetables apart from garlic, onions and chilli.    While the myriad vegetable side dishes that exist in Indian cooking, are both delicious and fun to make, if I want to have rice, I often don’t want to have another pan to wash up, or have to make smaller portions of each dish, so that I don’t end up with too much food.    I usually make enough for two meals, and eat the leftovers for breakfast (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!), but I don’t like having the same dinner two nights on the run.    The solution to this issue is to make a pulao that also contains vegetables.

Carrots are an epic voyaging vegetable, particularly if you can buy them from a market or greengrocer, unscrubbed and unrefrigerated.    While no doubt many voyagers would make a carrot and cabbage salad to go with curry, I confess to preferring both carrots and cabbage cooked rather than raw.    Grated carrots and shredded carrots do, however, use less of your precious provisions if you are trying to eke them out over a long passage.

Carrot pulao

Courgette curry

I find it hard to get excited about courgettes. Baby ones, fried in good olive oil and garlic are delicious, but that’s largely because of the olive oil and the garlic. They sop up the flavours well.    They are also good in ratatouille, especially with cannellini beans, for the same reason and indeed, can be used in all sorts of soups and stews; however when there’s a glut of them, it isn’t usually the time of year that you want to eat soup and stew.  Now I realise, that to many people, curry is not only similar to a stew, but because of the chilli and warming spices, might seem even less appealing in hot weather, but I adore curry and can eat it any time and in any weather. so to me it is a perfect way of using a bounty of courgettes.  I already have a recipe for courgette with chana dal, however this recipe is is quite different and more of a side dish than a main one, althoughI have some suggestions for using it as a main course.  This is a pretty straightforward recipe and I think most people would be happy to tackle it, but because it uses non-standard ingredients, I'll call it a Curry for Cooks.

This recipe is based on one of Swasthi's recipes and I think it’s a great way to cook courgettes.    The coconut milk makes it rich and substantial and all it needs is some rice to go with it, but of course a pan of dal would turn it into a generous meal. Alternatively, you can serve it with quinoa, whose protein will turn this into a fully-nutritious meal. I confess to finding quinoa worthy, but dull, particularly compared to brown basmati rice. However, if you're concerned about your protein intake, it's a good choice.

Even though this is made with Kashmiri chilli powder, rather than chilli flakes or cayenne, it packs quite a zing. If you don’t like too much heat in your curry, reduce the amount of chilli powder.

Courgette curry

Mushroom matar malai - Mushroom white curry