Making a chicken curry and I have a couple of questions.

All,

Making a curry recipe I saw over at Spice house. Pretty basic really. But it calls to cook the chicken in the coconut milk for an hour, then add potatoes for another hour. Do I need to cook the chicken that long? Or could i cut the potatoes out of the equation and shorten that time?

Also, the curry is looking really runny right now, I was thinking about crushing a bunch of peanuts and using them to thicken it up, what do you think??

First off, the potatoes will absorb a fair amount of liquid, so that should help the runniness.

Second, you don't say what sort of chicken you're using -- on the bone thighs versus cubes of breast, but two hours is a long time for bird. I'd have cooked it all together with the potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour on a simmer at most.

Ground nuts are a fair thickener. If this is an Indian curry, almonds or cashews are more authentic than the peanuts (except those appear mostly in the northern cuisine, which don't use coconut nearly as much).

If it's a thai curry, soupy is probably what you're looking for. Serve with a lot of rice.

Well, I mean I am not too picky on what style it ends up being. I used a sweet curry powder from Spice house.

The chicken would be from breasts.

Perhaps I will throw in the potatoes now.

jpeac2 wrote:Well, I mean I am not too picky on what style it ends up being. I used a sweet curry powder from Spice house.

The chicken would be from breasts.

Perhaps I will throw in the potatoes now.

You ought to be "picky" as those are two entirely different cuisines which, aside from the derigeur exceptions, rarely morph into one another. Spice House sweet curry powder I imagine is an Indian curry. Do not thicken this with peanuts...dear god...

What I'd do is cut the meat into bite-size chunks and toss those into the curry...which if too watery for whatever reason...I've let cook down to a thicker consistency over moderate to low heat being careful it doesn't scorch. The chicken should cook quickly. Meanwhile, I've parboiled(and reserved) my similarly-cubed potatoes so they will cook through pretty much the moment the chicken is done.

Using the above method the longest cooking time is that of the curry slurry that you're trying to troubleshoot down to appropriate viscosity.

Potatoes: 15 min. high heat boil in salted water

Chicken in curry: depending on heat(and the chicken will lower the temp. of your curry) anywhere from 8 min-15 min.

Add potatoes to chicken/curry cook until heated through

fyi: you don't thicken A Thai curry with ground peanuts either

Well had the curry for dinner. First time every making a curry. Not a lot of flavor to be honest, although I only used the sweet curry powder.

What type of changes would I have made if it was a Thai curry? I am not educated on the differences between the two.

Made some killer cauliflower and potatoes though from a recipe I saw over at smittenkitchen.com

Well, the first ting that makes Thai and Indian curries different is the curry spice itself. Completely different creatures, The thai version is wetter and has more fresh ingredients in it like chilies, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, shallots, etc. Thai curries are also most commonly used with coconut cream which is cooked down till it separates, then the paste is added to give the flavor.

Indian I can't speak much about as I'm not sure of the exact ingredients but in my experience, they are dried spice based curries with yogurt or dairy added.

Thai curry powder at spice house is weak stuff. For a thai coconut milk curry, I HIGHLY suggest the maesri brand 4 oz cans that can be found in any asian store worth its salt. Much better and MUCH cheaper. You can also get your coconut milk there for probably less than 75 C / can. Simply sizzle the paste in oil and a good tbs of sesame oil for a few min and add your coconut milk. If you are going with potatoes, I would brown them a little first before adding. I would also brown bone - in chicken first. I usually use boneless skinless thighs for my stuff, and simmer at a very low clip. I never use potatoes w/ coconut milk, but that's me. I normally go with(seared) mushrooms, and pea pods added late in cooking process. I've tweaked this over the years, and I'm happy to say it's a standby for dinner, and comes out better than a lot of Thai joints for my taste. (TAC has slightly better stuff, I admit, but it's only a matter of time before get up to par with them - trust me. I re-create pretty well)
Some add ins to consider:
crushed peanuts / cilantro/sesame seeds on top.
fresh lime juice/ chili garlic paste/FRESH*** ginger/tiny bit of soy/tiny bit of oyster sauce in the pot.

Of course, cooking time will vary depending on what kind of chicken parts you are using, but my b/s thighs will go for no more than 30 min. simmering on low heat (covered.) About halfway through cooking time, uncover pot to adjust to desired thickness. Turn up heat a little if it's way too thin.

Spice House and Penzey's both have some recipes that seem ridiculous in one way or another. One has an Indian recipe that calls to use one teaspoon of their Garam Masala for every lb of chicken - which is insane. No flavor at ALL.

Octarine says coconut cream, which may be correct, but I would never use that, and prefer coconut milk. Coconut cream is way too sweet for me.

***I've yet to find any dried ground ginger worth any amount of money. Fresh ginger is entirely different than ground ginger IMHO, and is the ONLY stuff worth using here.

I'm not one to follow exact recipes, so it's hard to write them down, but I'd be happy to for you. I'd be happy to go into further detail, since I love to cook, and I love a good Coconut milk curry.
Just my .02

seebee wrote:Octarine says coconut cream, which may be correct, but I would never use that, and prefer coconut milk. Coconut cream is way too sweet for me.

There's two different things called Coconut Cream. One is half of a piña colada, highly sweetened, and is not suitable or even usable for curries.

The other is sort of the butter to coconut milk: It's a much higher percent of fat, and will break into the oil and water components pretty easily, giving a good frying medium (oh, and coconut and palm oils are being called good fats now, by the way, highly saturated "medium" fatty acids that can raise good cholesterol).

Thai curries are a very different animal from Indian -- I didn't go into it above since it looked like you needed help ASAP. Usually, there are few or no dried spices, and a curry paste is usually a combination of chiles, garlic and/or shallot, ginger or galangal, and sometimes lemon grass. They can be bought jarred, stirred into simmering coconut milk with your protein and veg, and you're 90% of the way to dinner.

Next step is to make your own paste (use a blender not a food processor, it does a better job with fibrous things like the ginger and lemon grass).

I don't have recipes handy, but it shouldn't be hard to find online.

JoelF -

I'm going to assume then that the coconut cream is octarine referred to is
the stuff that separates in the cans of coconut milk? Hmm - never looked for it as a product specifically, but I bet that would be a pretty tasty frying or sauteeing medium.

Also Jpeac - would you mind posting the guts from that recipe? If the recipe is basically:
boil chicken and potatoes in coconut milk with "sweet curry" powder, then I may have to go down there, and offer them some help. I swear, their recipes are just plain foolish sometimes. I stopped looking at their recipes
quite some time ago for this reason.

seebee -

Yes for the most part that was the recipe. Previous to throwing in the coconut milk it calls for cooking a large onion and garlic. Then half the curry powder. the other half gets tossed in with the chicken.

seebee wrote:I'm going to assume then that the coconut cream is octarine referred to is
the stuff that separates in the cans of coconut milk? Hmm - never looked for it as a product specifically, but I bet that would be a pretty tasty frying or sauteeing medium.

Indeed it is. It's available in the freezer case at H-Mart.

seebee wrote:Also Jpeac - would you mind posting the guts from that recipe? If the recipe is basically:
boil chicken and potatoes in coconut milk with "sweet curry" powder, then I may have to go down there, and offer them some help. I swear, their recipes are just plain foolish sometimes. I stopped looking at their recipes
quite some time ago for this reason.

Ack -- I didn't even think about the process that got Jpeac to the point of asking for help, that is truly an awful way to simulate Indian.

If I could make a major change it would be this:
Finely slice or chop onion, cook on medium-low until golden in a mix of oil and butter (ghee is even better, but 50/50 oil butter will do in a pinch). Add minced garlic and ginger and cook for a minute or so, then add the spices and stir - before adding any liquid. When everything smells awesome, add the protein, veg and liquid. At the end of the cooking process, add more garam masala or cumin.

jpeac2 wrote:seebee -

Yes for the most part that was the recipe. Previous to throwing in the coconut milk it calls for cooking a large onion and garlic. Then half the curry powder. the other half gets tossed in with the chicken.

And was this supposed to be a THAI curry? If so, and you would LIKE a Thai coconut milk curry, sorry, but you've been misled. Also, if it was supposed to be some sort of Indian Curry, you've also been misled.

About 5 years ago, I was in your situation. Stepping up my game in the kitchen, and going to the Spice House for a start for some exotic (or so I thought) spice blends. Let me tell you - as soon as I went to the ethnic stores, I was a MUCH happier camper. Far cheaper, and Far better. When I think of what I spent on a 2oz jar of garam masala, rogan josh, and vindaloo seasoning from penzey's compared to what I just bought at the indian grocer in downer's grove, it's well, it is what it is. I actually asked one of the sales clerks at the spice house if the medium priced wasabi powder was any different than the stuff in the little green cans at most asian markets. The clerk told me it was the exact same. Same manufacturer.
The price was QUITE different at the little asian market tho.

Again, for a taste of a Thai curry that you'll be proud of, find an asian mkt, and buy some of those little 4 oz cans for starters, and then tweak it. You can tell how hot your curry paste is by the amt of chiles. They list the ingredient amounts by percentages. There is a wide variety to try - green, red, yellow, sour, fish, panang etc. You'll wind up where you want to be in a few tries, I promise.

For Indian, something called "sweet curry powder" is NOT going to create anything other than something that someone not very familiar with Indian food would call exotic. The "sweet curry powder" I have from the Spice House is more suited for like a taste twinge to add to say egg salad, or a chip dip, or chicken salad. I'd suggest their garam masala just to start
with an indian blend, and tweak it from there.

P.S. In no way am I bashing the spice house - I love the place for certain things, and greatly appreciate them making it easy for me to make my foray into more ethnic cuisines, but their prices and recipes are very suspect when you do your research. I still go there often, but mostly for
single items to make my own blends. If it's an ethnic blend I need, I'll usually buy the exotic spices from an ethnic store, and save $. Hope this helps. I'm very, for lack of a better term, passionate about this stuff. It's VERY easy once you get the hang of it, and it's quite a good feeling to know you can whip up that coconut milk curry when you want it for 4.00 and have stellar leftovers for two days instead of shelling out 6-8 dollars for a 5 oz portion of chicken at the little thai place down the street.

As mentioned in my first comment, the SH sweet curry powder is definitely Indian in nature. The Spice House only makes one Thai powder and that's their Thai Red Curry mix. I've used the Thai powder in the distant past and fyi: it adequately replicates a plebian red curry when mixed into a paste w/ fish sauce(as per SH instructions) and then fried in coconut cream. Maesri can be a step ahead and then you can start making your own. The Spice House's garam masala is a much higher quality product than you will find at your supermarket...I recommend trying it out.

I also recommend trying it out, however, when you get into an indian grocery store, you can try several different ones for less money. AND, once you get into the whole - frying up your own black mustard seeds, turmeric, aleppo pepper, cilantro chutney, curry leaves, etc. type thing, I can almost guarantee you'll not go back to the spice house for Indian spices again.

Also, is there even such a thing as "curry powder" in Indian cooking?

seebee wrote:I also recommend trying it out, however, when you get into an indian grocery store, you can try several different ones for less money. AND, once you get into the whole - frying up your own black mustard seeds, turmeric, aleppo pepper, cilantro chutney, curry leaves, etc. type thing, I can almost guarantee you'll not go back to the spice house for Indian spices again.

Also, is there even such a thing as "curry powder" in Indian cooking?

"Curry Powder" is merely an elision of the masala plethora available to the cook. Unless we're speaking Hindi or Urdu, etc...the term "curry powder" is understood as...is a commonality concerning...a dry mixture of toasted, ground spices. The original poster is self-admittedly just dipping it's toes into this arena of cookery(he/she/it isn't familiar with the differences between Indian "curry" and Thai "curry"...let's not even introduce Japanese "curry" or the differences between British colonial aquisition and naming of Indian "curry" and, further, American interpretations of such).

My good Western Indian friend gave me a great, intimate primer on her interpretations of the Indian culinary diaspora. I have a jar of her mother's amazing garam masala(and also one made by her aunt) among my spices just now.

Remember, The Spice House is selling across a wide demographic; they sell to those educated and they sell to neophytes.

This talk of Spice House recipe(s) reminds me of Penzey's(yes...I know...same family) magazine recipes...they read as simple entry points for the home cook...nothing challenging in the slightest: ethnic cuisine as cuddled by the slowcooker. Still, I'm sure the homemaker who decides to shake things up a bit with a SH/Penzey's Indian curry ain't venturing too far afield. It's easy access...non-threatening, nigh-homeopathic doses of unfamiliar spices might innoculate the consumer from further mainstream adulterations: maybe they'll like what they taste and seek out something more "authentic."

For the further edification of the original poster, here is an article I wrote recently on curry -- and why defining curry often seems difficult.

http://www.hungrymag.com/2006/12/14/fav ... /#more-228

As for curry powder, it's actually British, not Indian. Curry made from curry powder is now considered the national dish of Britain.

Cynthia wrote:For the further edification of the original poster, here is an article I wrote recently on curry -- and why defining curry often seems difficult.

http://www.hungrymag.com/2006/12/14/fav ... /#more-228

As for curry powder, it's actually British, not Indian. Curry made from curry powder is now considered the national dish of Britain.

I believe that was tikka masala...not curry in general...and "chicken tikka masala" was recently dethroned. The national dish seems to change as often as the pop band du jour in Britain.

...and I feel compelled to add that American(nee' British?) generic "curry" powder is a parsing of the "curries" of India. That is...it's it's own thing(for better or worse...I think it's great in chicken salad
...and that's it).

I'm not sure that Brits actually use "curry" powder...they seem to have a handle on their own colonialist nomenclature for a variety of curries. Now, the Irish are another story...seems like "curry beef/chicken" is a pub favorite...with fries.

American "curry" powder is a devaluation, misapprehension, bastardization of the LCD masala. Of course, the Japanese "curry" is even moreso: a veritable beef stew with vague heathen exotic aromatic inflections...further gussied up with accoutrement such as rice vinegar, apple, etc. Yeah...it's good...but, damn is it weirded-out, manhandled, by imperialist means.

Here's a recipe and video for Thai Yellow Chicken Curry
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com/thaifood ... curry.html

egeefay wrote:Here's a recipe and video for Thai Yellow Chicken Curry
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com/thaifood ... curry.html

lovely nom de plume there...

Christopher Gordon wrote:I believe that was tikka masala...not curry in general...and "chicken tikka masala" was recently dethroned. The national dish seems to change as often as the pop band du jour in Britain.

...and I feel compelled to add that American(nee' British?) generic "curry" powder is a parsing of the "curries" of India. That is...it's it's own thing(for better or worse...I think it's great in chicken salad
...and that's it).

I'm not sure that Brits actually use "curry" powder...they seem to have a handle on their own colonialist nomenclature for a variety of curries. Now, the Irish are another story...seems like "curry beef/chicken" is a pub favorite...with fries.

American "curry" powder is a devaluation, misapprehension, bastardization of the LCD masala. Of course, the Japanese "curry" is even moreso: a veritable beef stew with vague heathen exotic aromatic inflections...further gussied up with accoutrement such as rice vinegar, apple, etc. Yeah...it's good...but, damn is it weirded-out, manhandled, by imperialist means.

Yes, and as I mention in the article, not only have the Japanese adopted a type of curry big-time (just stroll through a Japanese grocery store here -- usually at least half an aisle devoted to "curry roux").

But it was the British who invented the first curry powder. And while tikka masala is common, so is kedjeree and HP curry sauce, and lamb curry is almost inescapable. The London Times, the Curry Club of Great Britain, and a Gallup Poll all simply identify "curry" as the number one dish in Britain. So it's more pervasive than chicken tikka masala. And it's not just at Indian restaurants or the local "curry houses" that exist in every neighborhood -- even ancient pubs will have at least on curry item on the menu. I don't think I've visited pub in my last ten visits to England where I didn't see at least two curry items listed, though almost never chicken tikka masala.

And yeah -- while curry powder isn't as good as buying all the different spices and blending your own masala, it's sure convenient. I do both -- I get all the spices, for when I'm cooking serious Indian food, AND I have curry powder, because sometimes you just want to add a bit of flavor to something, like a bland vegetable or soup that just doesn't sing. And actually, there's a third option -- Southeast Asian curries all use curry pastes, and these, I sometimes buy and sometimes make from scratch. It's nice having lots of options -- including options that don't take too much work.

Cynthia wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:I believe that was tikka masala...not curry in general...and "chicken tikka masala" was recently dethroned. The national dish seems to change as often as the pop band du jour in Britain.

...and I feel compelled to add that American(nee' British?) generic "curry" powder is a parsing of the "curries" of India. That is...it's it's own thing(for better or worse...I think it's great in chicken salad
...and that's it).

I'm not sure that Brits actually use "curry" powder...they seem to have a handle on their own colonialist nomenclature for a variety of curries. Now, the Irish are another story...seems like "curry beef/chicken" is a pub favorite...with fries.

American "curry" powder is a devaluation, misapprehension, bastardization of the LCD masala. Of course, the Japanese "curry" is even moreso: a veritable beef stew with vague heathen exotic aromatic inflections...further gussied up with accoutrement such as rice vinegar, apple, etc. Yeah...it's good...but, damn is it weirded-out, manhandled, by imperialist means.

Yes, and as I mention in the article, not only have the Japanese adopted a type of curry big-time (just stroll through a Japanese grocery store here -- usually at least half an aisle devoted to "curry roux").

But it was the British who invented the first curry powder. And while tikka masala is common, so is kedjeree and HP curry sauce, and lamb curry is almost inescapable. The London Times, the Curry Club of Great Britain, and a Gallup Poll all simply identify "curry" as the number one dish in Britain. So it's more pervasive than chicken tikka masala. And it's not just at Indian restaurants or the local "curry houses" that exist in every neighborhood -- even ancient pubs will have at least on curry item on the menu. I don't think I've visited pub in my last ten visits to England where I didn't see at least two curry items listed, though almost never chicken tikka masala.

And yeah -- while curry powder isn't as good as buying all the different spices and blending your own masala, it's sure convenient. I do both -- I get all the spices, for when I'm cooking serious Indian food, AND I have curry powder, because sometimes you just want to add a bit of flavor to something, like a bland vegetable or soup that just doesn't sing. And actually, there's a third option -- Southeast Asian curries all use curry pastes, and these, I sometimes buy and sometimes make from scratch. It's nice having lots of options -- including options that don't take too much work.

quote quote quote

I hope I don't come off terribly pedantic(above)...

I'm very interested in this "diaspora"/reduction of "Indian-ness" vis a vis "curry."

as I mentioned earlier...well, I consider myself a neophyte just in the past year really, rigorously investigating the cuisines of India. I trace my first taste of "real" Indian cuisine-beyond "curry" powder-to visiting friends in Cincinnati ca. 1990---(oh my god they eat with their hands!?...then Ethiopian..etc)...and I remained in a rut until the past year or so when I met this now very close friend who took me under her wing and taught me(or, rather, let me soak in whatever she was working at in the kitchen) some fundamentals...made Indian cuisines seem more the efficacy of a Hazan and less the provenance of occult, impenetrable enclaves.

and, while my friend thinks American "curry" powder in her words smells like "fart"...I think it works gangbusters in chicken salad with grapes(a version I first encountered and immediately grokked from a sandwich truck parked by the river one Spring visiting my long ago then boyfriend in Marietta, Ohio).

Not that my opinion matters for anything, but very well said to both Cynthia and C Gordon.

To Jpeac: Keep trying - I guarantee you'll come up with something that will be great, just takes a few tries to get the hang of. When you do get the hang of it, and venture out to get more creative, please venture to an Indian Grocer, and a nice asian mkt. I too, have some leftover Garam Masala from penzey's and also a bag of that Thai red curry mix from the Spice House that I bought three years ago. I will use the garam masala from time to time, but I can't say I've ever even thought to use the red curry mix after using the pastes found in the asian mkts, be they canned, or jarred. I will make up my own paste every once in a while too. As for the Indian stuff, I've only been at it for about a year and a half now, but the Indian grocery joints will IMHO net you a better result than what is available at the spice house. I wish I knew that before spending as much $ as I did at the sp house, but live and learn. I also knew in the back of my mind that I should be going straight to an Indian mkt for the stuff, but as was written before, The Spice House is a great way to get introduced to new flavors with their blends. When I finally got to an Indian grocery, after my second try at an Indian inspired meal at home, I pretty much figured it out, and well, no need for sp house Indian mixes anymore. I'll betcha their G Masala is simply a bulk version of one of the Indian name brands in an Indian mkt. you can find for less than 1.50 for a 2 or 3 oz box.
Plus, you'll get introduced to a whole new variety of chutneys, go through a fun trial and error period of frozen samosas, some interesting chile pepper, the curry leaf, and a whole new meaning for the word 'pickle.' Go ahead, take a big spoonful!

An alternative to experimenting is check out the listings on LTH for Shoba Havalad. She teaches Indian cooking in Glenview. You get some demo, some hands-on experience, a bunch of recipes, some history, and a great meal. You can join a group or, if you have three friends to bring along, have your own group.

MAn, this thread has taken on some serious momentum.

Thanks everyone for your great insight!

Basically I wanted to cook a curry last night and since the "Curry Powder" was from Spice house I htought their recipe would be ideal. However, I was wrong!

I do not have an Indian cookbook, but am thinking about buying one. Furthermore, I have found some excellent posts over at egullet of people documenting their treks through some different dishes.

Onward!

Yeah...interesting how this opened up-

may I suggest: Mangoes and Curry Leaves by Alford/Duguid

(an exploration of the cuisines of the subcontinent)

it should be available through the library system

they also compiled the previous, iconic Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet

(a celebration of SE Asian cuisines)

And if you don't want to start out buying a cookbook, you can just do a Google search for Indian Food Recipes, and you'll get a gazillion responses, most of which are good. It's clear from your original post that you can recognize when a recipe is not workable, so going online is not that dangerous. A lot of the Indian Food sites are actually based in India, and lots are maintained by the Indian community here in the US, to protect the heritage when mom isn't close by to help with a recipe.

If you want a cookbook, there are lots of good ones. Madhur Jaffrey's "Indian Food" is not a bad place to start, but there are lots of options.

Enjoy.

Also -- here on LTH both sazerac and tatterdemalion have good posts on cooking, illustrated with photos. For example,

Chicken 'Kerala', by sazerac:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7238

Cooking with Ma (Pt.2) - salans, by tatterdemalion:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9824

Hmmmm. Guess what I'll be making this weekend?

Spice House's Chicken Curry recipe!!!

LOL!!!!

Actually, that Chicken Kerala stuff looks to be right up my alley.