Curry In A Hurry

What Is Curry?

What exactly is curry? Where did the word originate, and what does it describe? The origins of the word curry are debated. Some people say that it was derived from a Tamil word, kari, meaning spiced sauce. If this is the case, any sort of food cooked in or served with a gravy could be considered a curry.

Other people have asserted that curry could be derived from the Hindi word for a wok-shaped cooking vessel, kara, which incidentally are what many curries are cooked in. One of the more interesting hypotheses is that the word is actually derived from the Old English word for “cooking,” cury. Many of the more exotic Indian spices had found their way into better English kitchens by the 14th century, and foods cooked in spiced gravies were familiar to the English. As a matter of fact, when English merchants began landing in India in the mid 1600’s, they were served a spiced chicken stew which was strikingly similar to a chicken pie recipe in a Indian spices in stews were already familiar to the merchants.

Regardless of the origin of the word curry, which nobody seems to be able to agree upon, the word describes any dish of meat, fish and/or vegetables that is served in or with a sauce. So, if you think you don’t like curry, you are really limiting yourself. There are literally thousands of different curry blends that range from sweet and mild to hot and spicy.

How Curry Is Prepared

Most traditional Indian cooks make their curry seasoning from toasted whole spices that they grind themselves. There are probably as many curry seasoning blends as there are cooks who make curry, and most of them contain anywhere from 5 or 6 to as many as 30 different herbs and spices. As a convenience, curry powder blends are sold in most grocery stores. Some curry powders are hot and spicy, and some are much milder. If you don’t fancy grinding your own spices, try several different brands of curry powder until you find one that you like.

What About Curry Leaves?

Curry leaves come from the curry tree, and they are used in many Indian dishes, much like bay leaves are used in Italian cooking. Curry leaves taste slightly bitter and a bit like citrus, but their flavor is short-lived. Dried curry leaves have very little flavor, so very rarely will you find them listed as an ingredient in commercially produced curry powders. If you can find fresh, bright green curry leaves, you can add them to a curry whole or chopped, or they can be ground into a spice mix that you will use immediately.

Many commercially produced curry powders are somewhat yellow, to one degree or another. This is due to the use of turmeric in the blends. The more turmeric, the more yellow the curry. By itself, turmeric is used not only for its earthy and slightly bitter flavor but also for its brilliant yellow color (in small amounts, it is even substituted for saffron—for the color more than the flavor). Because of its vibrant hue, turmeric is often used as a coloring agent in other food products, ranging from yogurt to popcorn seasoning to cookies.

What About Garam Masala?

What further confuses the curry issue is another spice blend known as garam masala. Literally translated as “hot spice mixture,” garam masala also comes in many forms and is often unique to each individual cook. To cut through some of the confusion, a curry blend and a garam masala blend can both be added to a curry.

As you can imagine, Indian cooking can seem daunting, especially when faced with a long list of exotic spices needed for making both a curry seasoning and a garam masala. It is for this reason that prepackaged blends have come into favor, although true purists will tell you that you will get the best, most aromatic blends by making your own.

Making Your Own

If you are interested in making your own curry powder or garam masala, here are a couple of recipes. Keep in mind that there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of different recipes for these spice blends, so feel free to experiment.

The traditional procedure for making a curry powder or garam masala is always the same. Put all the whole spices except in a dry skillet over medium low heat. Cook the spices for several minutes, stirring constantly, until the spices have darkened a shade or two and are very fragrant. Don’t turn up the heat; this must be done slowly, to toast the spices all the way through without burning the outsides.

Pour the spices on a paper towel to cool.

Once cooled, grind all the spices together in a mortar and pestle. Stir in any ground or granulated spices after grinding. Use immediately or cover tightly and keep in a cool, dark place for 3-6 months. Of course, grinding spices by hand using a mortar and pestle is time consuming, and you might not end up with as fine a grind as you might like. Fortunately, you can get very good results using a spice grinder or a bladed (not burr) coffee grinder. If you are a true purist, by all means use a mortar and pestle, but if you want all of the flavor with less fuss, it is perfectly fine to use an electric grinder.

If you come across a recipe for a spice blend that calls for all ground spices, you can still bring some depth to the flavor by toasting in a dry skillet for 2-3 minutes, just be very careful since ground spices will burn quickly.

Madras Curry Powder (Fairly Hot)
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon turmeric
3 small dried hot chilies
2 teaspoons cumin seed
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
3 whole cloves
1 1” piece cinnamon
½ teaspoon granulated garlic

Mild Curry Powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Garam Masala
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons cardamom seeds
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 (3-inch) stick cinnamon, broken up
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Garam Masala 2
1-inch piece cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup cumin seeds
1/3 cup coriander seeds
1 tablespoon green cardamom pods
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons whole cloves
1 dried red chile
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground mace

Homemade curry blends and garam masala made with whole spices will almost always be more flavorful than a purchased product. This is because ground spices lose their flavor much more rapidly than whole, and you have no control over how long a powder has sat on a store shelf.

If you want to purchase your curry powder and garam masala, I suggest you try to find a brand that is sold in dark jars or, better yet, metal tins, as exposure to light can rapidly degrade the essential oils in the spices. If you are lucky enough to have an Asian, Indian or Pakistani grocery in your area, buy your curry powders and spice blends there, as there will be a higher turnover rate and the spices are likely to be fresher than at your local “regular” grocery store.

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Grilled Curry Lamb Burgers

Sea Scallops with tomato Ginger Vinaigrette

Curry Chicken in a Clay Pot

Growing up my mom we ate a lot of lamb on Sundays. I asked my mom why that was and she told me it was my Dad’s favorite meal. She would roast a leg of lamb with bone in on Sunday and we would eat it for 3 nights in a row in one form or another but always with some incredibly bright green mint jelly on the side.

My mom didn’t prepare a mint sauce like I’m suggesting you try here. It just wasn’t her style of cooking but it couldn’t be easier. I’m not sure you could go to the supermarket and buy a bunch of fresh mint like you can today. I guess we could have grown some in our garden, but I remember the garden was reserved for beets, carrots, parsley, potatoes, & tomatoes.

This recipe for mint sauce comes from Barbara Kafka’s Roasting, A Simple Art and is the perfect accompaniment for my roast leg of lamb recipe. It can be used right away or made ahead of time and served later.

Mint Sauce

Ingredients

1 bunch of fresh mint, about 4 ounces
1/3-cup boiling water
1-tablespoon sugar 
 1/3-cup cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Prep

Wash the mint leave and pat dry. Remove the leaves from the stem and discard stems. Finely chop the leaves

Start boiling the water.

How to Prepare Mint Sauce for Lamb

Put the mint in a small container and add the water to it. Stir in the sugar and let stand until the water is cooled off enough to touch it. This should take about 15 minutes. Stir in the cider vinegar and sea salt.

That’s it. Serve immediately or reserve to use later.

If you like garlic, you are going to love the traditional Latin condiment chimichurri sauce. Although there are many different variations, it is basically a simple combination of parsley, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and some seasonings.

Although Chimichurri sauce originated in Argentina, it has become popular throughout the Latin American countries and now here in the United States. My friend told me in Argentina they use it as commonly as we use ketchup. He said there is always a bowl on the table and when it starts to run out they just make another batch and add to what’s there.

You can buy it commercially, but don’t bother. It is so easy to make and so much better fresh than anything you’ll find in a jar.  If you don’t use it all one night, save the leftovers to serve with something the next night. It goes great with chicken, steak, pork, and fish, just about anything. I have a slightly different variation for the sauce at my recipe for Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce.

There are lots of stories how the name Chimichurri came about. I like the one that says it was invented and named after an Irishman whose name was Jimmy McCurry. The local Argentineans could not pronounce his name correctly so instead they called him and his sauce Chimichurri. Not sure if that is true or not, but it makes for a good story.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

This recipe came from one of my favorite cooking magazines, Cuisine at Home. No advertising, just recipes and techniques. Basically you are cutting up pork tenderloin into 2-inch pieces that cook very quickly and can dry out if you are not careful. They wrap bacon around each piece of meat to add flavor but it also prevents the pork from grilling to quickly.

The bacon-wrapped pork chunks are skewered, basted with the Chimichurri sauce and grilled. In the article, they warn you not to put to many chunks of pork on a skewer and to be sure to leave some room between the pork pieces so the bacon is exposed and will cook evenly.

I didn’t follow their directions very well and had to spread them out while I was cooking. It would have been a whole lot easier to just use a few more skewers. And speaking of skewers, they suggest threading the pork on two skewers instead of one. Adds stability, making it easier to flip them without having the pork spinning out of control.

I did follow their instruction and they are right. It is easier to turn them and I’ll be trying this technique on all future shish kabobs.

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