Indian food is known world over for being diverse, rich and well, spicy! Besides the royal treats of kebabs and biryanis, what Indian cuisine is most famous for are the curries. We can easily say that curries are to Indian cuisine, what probably pasta is to Italian cuisine or burgers and fries to American. No matter where you are, if there’s Indian food on the menu, a curry would definitely be a part of it to be relished along with a flatbread like roti or paratha. A curry is basically a flavoured broth or stew containing a host of essential Indian spices and herbs, including turmeric powder, cumin and coriander powder along with the staple- garam masala. Besides many of them aren’t also complete without a mix of onion and tomatoes along with a ginger-garlic paste, which lends an additional punch.
Curries can be anything from light and thin to rich and thick depending upon which curry you are preparing or what you are adding it to. But what a curry should be is the balance of spices, colour and texture, which can often be hard since curry isn’t one dish, it is used for a variety of dishes. However, knowing certain tips and tricks of cooking techniques can help you up your curry game. Here are five tips that can prove very helpful.
1. Use Fresh Ingredients
This is perhaps one tip that goes out for anything you make in the kitchen, simply because anything that isn’t fresh will make its presence felt. Be it your coriander leaves, chillies, onion or garlic, or even the spices, the curry can get spoiled even with a handful of dry, stale ingredients since they tend to lose their flavour.
2. Consistency
A stock or a stew isn’t really curry. If you are getting your curry of extremely thin consistency, it could be due to the use of packaged paste or ingredients which are often used to thicken the curry, which could be synthetic. Try to use as much of fresh tomato or puree, cashew paste or fresh coconut milk.
3. Garam Masala For Later
Garam masala make curries flavourful and for this we tend to add heaps of it quite early on in a hurry. The secret is to add it in the end. When the curry is almost done, check for taste and then add the garam masala.
4. Patience
Essential in the kitchen at all times, but when making a curry, don’t hurry up the process. Instead, cook your curry on low to medium flame for a while, so the ingredients are allowed to cook well.
5. Whole Spices In Hot Oil
Cooking the whole spices before anything else on the ingredient list is something most seasoned chefs and home chefs also practices since it tends to bring out the flavour of the spices well. Have you tried this trick? Let us know!