What exactly is a curry? How do you make one?

Question

I am a very inexperienced cook and I'm really not sure what a curry is. I've heard of them before but never paid attention to how to make one. Does anyone have a simple recipe to make a good one? Thanks a bunch!

Answer 1

Curry is the English description of any of a general variety of spiced dishes, best-known in Indian, Thai, Malaysia and other South Asian cuisines, but curry has been adopted into all of the mainstream cuisines of the Asia-Pacific area. Along with tea, curry is one of the few dishes or drinks that is truly "pan-Asian", but specifically, its roots come from India. The concept of curry was later brought to the West by British colonialists in India from the 18th century. Dishes that are often classified as curries in Europe and America are rarely called curries in the native language.

RECIPE;
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cooking Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients

* 2 tbsp vegetable oil (canola works best) [1]
1 tsp cumin seeds [2]
* 1 medium red onion, chopped [3]
* 2 cloves garlic, diced [4]
* 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced [5]
1 or 2 green chiles, seeded and diced [6]
* 1 tbsp cumin powder [7]
* 1 tbsp corriander powder [8]
1/2 tsp chile powder or cayenne pepper [9]
* 1/2 tsp turmeric [10]
* 1 can of petite-diced or crushed tomatoes [11]
something else [12]
2 tbsp fresh, chopped cilantro [13]
Instructions

* Heat the oil in a sauce pan, wok or pot until it gets really hot (i.e. when a drop of water hits the pan, it sizzles like crazy).
Add the cumin seeds and fry until they start to brown.
* Add the onion and stir well. Mix it up occasionally. When the onion starts getting soft and translucent, it's cooked enough.
* Add the garlic, ginger and chiles. When the garlic turns light brown, move along.
* Put in the spices (do not use the yellow supermarket "curry powder"; that stuff is too bland and is to "real" curry powder what Pizza Hut is to "real" pizza), stir well, and cook for another minute or two.
* Pour in the tomatoes and stir occasionally. You want to make the tomatoes' water evaporate, so the sauce is thicker. Aim for something roughly as thick as tomato sauce; not too watery and not too thick and pasty.
* Add your anything ingredient. This can be range from canned red beans to zucchini to pieces of leftover chicken. Stir well, to let it absorb the ingredients. If the sauce starts gets too dry, just add some water and mix well.
Add the cilantro as garnish (cooking destroys a lot of its flavor and fragrance) and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with long-grain rice (e.g. basmati), plain yogurt (or raita) and chutney

Answer 2

Curry is a spice used alot in asian and indian dishes. My favorite recipe is coconut curried shrimp. It is pretty simple to make.
Get a couple cans of coconut milk some curry (try and find it at an asian market, it will be fresher and less exspensive) Shrimp or chicken works to if you don't liek shrimp, vegetables like potatos, carrots, tomatos, bamboo shoots, baby corns, and anything else that you like as far as veggies, egplant is good to, but fry it first in sesame oil. Get the cocnut milk to a simmer then add the curry and vegetables and meat and let simmer till the meat is fully cooked. there you have it curry. You can also get recipes from www.foodtv.com I love Curry a lot.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry

Musamun Beef Curry

Serve with steamed or a pilaf style rice on the side.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 teaspoon Curry Paste (recipe follows)
3/4 pound beef top round, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 russet potato, large, cut into 1 inch dice
1 onion, sliced
1 can coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
3 Pequin chile peppers, chopped
1/2 cup peanuts, roasted

Preparation:

Heat the oil and the curry paste in a heavy skillet until the paste bubbles. Add the beef, potato, onion, coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar and chile peppers. Stir well and cook for 10 minutes over high heat. Reduce the heat and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Serve immediately. Sprinkle with roasted peanuts.


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Curry Paste

It's fun to make your own curry paste, but if you don't have time, you can buy some in the Oriental section of your supermarket. Put a little in at a time until it's right.

Ingredients:

20 Ancho chile peppers, dried, seeded
1 stalk lemon grass, coarsely chopped
1 cup shallots, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon ginger root, coarsely chopped
1 lime, zested
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
1-tablespoon coriander seeds
1-teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanut oil

Preparation:

Make sure that the seeds have been removed from the chile peppers. Soak the peppers in hot water for 10 minutes. Remove the peppers from the water and drain them. Coarsely chop the peppers and combine them with all of the remaining ingredients. Place them in a shallow roasting pan and bake them for 20 minutes at 350°F. Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes and process in food processor until smooth.

Store the paste in a covered glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.