Well, I bought new (vegan) curry paste, wondering how spicy/hot it would be. Today I used it for the first time. The recipe said "add two tablespoons" and I thought "that much?". Now, the lesson is, of course, if you think that the recipe asks for too much curry paste and you wonder how spicy that paste is, try with a little bit less first. But that's said with the benefit of hindsight.

So, my question is: does anyone know a way to make a curry dish less spicy/hot?

To make it a proper thread, feel free to add any thoughts you'd like to share about curries and other spicy food. What do you like, what don't you like, and what are you're favorite recipes?

Depends on what kind of curry you made.

The long way to go is to add more of the other ingredients to dilute the curry altogether. If it is a sweeter curry you can add milk, yogurt or cream to the dish to make it less spicy. If it is a savory curry, add something acidic to it like vinegar or lime juice. Again, it will depend on the kind of curry you made and the amounts involved, but start off small with the additives and work your way up.

Personally, I love a hot dish, but I have to tone it down for my son and my beau since they don't have the dead taste buds that I do, so I make it mild then add to my own plate.

~spidey

Thanks, Spidey! I made a vegetable curry dish with lots of veggies and noodles. To save dinner (before I posted this thread), I turned it into a curry soup, i.e. watering it down. Wasn't so hot anymore, but lost most of the taste as well.

Since I did cook the dish for two days, tomorrow I'll be trying your advice on the part I didn't turn into soup. I like spicy, but this was a bit too spicy for me.

Has anyone ever tried to make curry paste from scratch? If so, what do you use?

The base for curry paste is essentially just cooked down tomatoes and onions, then it gets modified with spices from there. Your best bet is to just go out in the internet and look for a recipe for the specific style curry you want to make, like Biryani or Masala.

On that same token, has anyone found a really good cookbook for Indian food? The one I have is ok, but most of the recipes in it are meat based and I'd like one that has more sauce recipes and side dishes so I do tend to look on the internet for inspiration. I just prefer to have a good cookbook in my collection.

~spidey

nachtvlinder, there are many different grades of curry paste. I'm not sure if you can get Patak's products where you are, but this may well be ideal for you. Alternatively, look for korma recipes in Indian cookbooks as they tend to be very gentle but nonetheless extremely pleasant. I do, however, note that you mentioned that the curry paste was vegan; would there be any problems with doing as Spiderlimbs suggested with regards the addition of cream or yoghurt?

Spidey, Michelle and I tend to use a few different recipe books, because we've found that while all of them tend to have some recipes which are very good, none of them are great throughout. We frequently use recipes designed as meat dishes (mainly chicken) and substitute Quorn.

You can buy some Patak's products in the bigger supermarkets over here (but not as much as I saw in the UK), but the one you mention is available and is something I use regularly. But I had shopped at another supermarket this time. As I said, I do like spicy food (I often add the red pepper things or sambal), but I think I threw in a little too much this time.

The reason I had vegan curry paste is that I'm trying to eat less animal products in things that don't need animal in them (like curry paste). After the discussions we had on here about eating vegetarian or vegan, I took a look at the labels of my food and noticed in how many products things like eggs and dairy are. Sometimes I understand it, often it wouldn't be there if I would make it myself. So, I decided to try and cut down on that.

I think Spideys tips will work. The lime juice thing will not be a problem, and I do have some soy yoghurt and soy cream in the fridge. Might try coconut milk though. I think I'll just put a bit on the plate and then add one of the suggestions and hold my own comparative research


I have only a couple of curry recipes, and I often make them vegetable curries by leaving out the meat/fish and throwing in lots of veggies.

I used to add Cream of Coconut to my masala sauce, but I haven't been able to find it since I left the east coast. Coconut milk works ok, but it doesn't add the same level of sweetness to the dish that I prefer.

Minnie - which cookbooks do you use? Like I said, the one I have is ok, but I am looking for another and the ones I have seen so far haven't really impressed me on any level. Why isn't there a "Joy of Cooking" for Indian food?

~spidey

There's an Indian restaurant that serves this curried veggie dish that is awesome! I don't remember the name of the dish, but it has cauliflower and broccoli in it.

Heh, part of the reason I don't bother with recipes unless I am learning a new cooking technique and need more specific guidelines. With a new ingredient, I generally try some and add it bit by bit until it tastes good. I trust my senses more than what some recipe says.

Sorry, hun... I literally just remembered you asked this!

We mainly use a little volume called, originally enough, "The Curry Book", by Laxmi Khurana, Asha Naran and Shelina Jetha. It was published over here by a company called Clarion in 1996.

Here's my favourite recipe, for Chicken (or in our case Quorn) Biryani:

25g (1oz) fresh garlic, peeled
55g (2oz) fresh ginger, peeled
900ml (1 1/2 pints) chicken stock (we use vegetable stock)
170g (6oz) basmati rice
3 large chicken pieces (we use a back of quorn pieces)
120ml (4 fl oz) cooking oil
3 whole cloves
4 whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1 tsp tomato puree
85g (3oz) frozen peas
1 small carrot, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli powder

Method:

1 Place the garlic and ginger in a liquidiser and chop finely. Add the contents of the liquidiser to the stock and mix well.

2. Wash rice

3. (If using chicken) Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and cut the chicken into small pieces, about 7cm (3in) long.

4. Heat 60ml (2 fl oz) of cooking oilo to a high temperature in a wok or deep frying pan; add the chicken/quorn pieces and cook over a low heat until the pieces are golden brown.

5. In a separate pan heat the remaining 60ml (2 fl oz) of oil to a high temperature. Add the cloves, peppercorns, cumin, black mustard and asafoetida and cook for a few seconds. Add the chopped onion, and cook until the onion is golden brown. Add the rice, cooked chicken/quorn, tomato puree, peas, carrot, turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder. Cook for a further two minutes, stirring continuously.

6. Add the stock mixture to the rice. Bring it to the boil and reduce the heat. Cover the pan and simmer gently for about 15 minutes. The rice should now look pretty dry.

7. Transfer the contents to a serving dish and serve while hot.

8. The cloves and peppercorns are discarded while eating and left on the plate.

It's also worth noting that it's worth having a side portion of a vegetable curry.

Is that from Indianfoodrecipes.net? I'm personally a big fan of the Butter Chicken recipe on there...

Not to my knowledge - it came from the book I mentioned. However, I'll have to give that a look - thank you for the recommendation. I have an incredible fondness for Butter Paneer, but at my age it's a choice between half an hour of exquisite, but ridiculously high cholesterol raising, pleasure, or probably about five years off the rest of my life.

Yeah, the Butter Paneer wins out every time. Send flowers!

The organization is a bit strange, but everything I've tried went over well.

Butter Chicken:
http://www.indianfoodrecipes.net/non-ve ... icken.html

What I'm having trouble with is the Garam Masala and other Indian common spice mixes. I found a guesstimate recipe for Garam Masala online and its not bad, but if anyone knows a more official one I'd like to know.

I'll look into it for you and see what I can find out. I'm sure we made our own at some point in the past but whether we still have the recipe handy is another matter.

EDIT: This is recipe from "The Curry Book":

225g (8oz) coriander seeds
125g (4oz) cumin seeds
125g (4oz) cardamom seeds
55g (2 oz) cinnamon sticks
125g (4oz) black peppercorns
55g (2 oz) cloves
1 tsp grated nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 150C (300F, gas mark 2) and roast the coriander and cumin seeds seperately, stirring occasionally, for half an hour.

2. Allow to cool, then grind each ingredient separately (Minnie's note: A coffee grinder is suggested) until very fine. Mix thoroughly and pack in an air-tight container.

3. Will store for up to a year if kept air-tight.

Don't worry - it will just be those five years where you're shitting your pants and can't remember who you are anyway.

And thanks for that book. I'll see if I can find a copy of it.

Kitten - ty for that link as well. I've been trolling the internet for a decent recipe site for indian food and had yet to really come across anything good.

~spidey