Bring alive the flavours of curries:
rich, earthy, hot and sour, aromatic, or softly sweet. Infused with fresh, leafy herbs and fragrant spices, curries are much more than simply ‘hot’ or ‘spicy’.

For such a humble sounding word, ‘curry’ refers to some of the world’s most delicious and popular dishes. The word itself was first coined by the British in India, possibly deriving from the Tamil word kari, meaning ‘spiced sauce’. Today the term covers dishes that range from simple to sophisticated, complex to singularly bold, those that can be made in minutes or left for hours over a bed of coals, and includes the everyday food of peasants to the once-exclusive creations of the rich and royal.

Use of the word has expanded to include the curries of Southeast Asia alongside those of India, and this book features dishes from cuisines as varied as those of Kashmir, Goa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Laos and Vietnam. Despite this diversity, all curries share a few essential elements: a curry paste, seasonings — which can vary from fresh herbs to pungent shrimp paste — and the ‘main’ ingredient, such as meat, fish, pulses or vegetables. From there, curries can go in many directions. They may be dry, oily, wet, thick or thin. The cooking can involve frying, boiling, steaming or slow, gentle braising. Adjectives such as sour, salty, hot, sweet, creamy, pungent and fragrant may all be applied to a finished dish, more often than not in combination. In fact, if anything unites curries, it is their skill in blending various tastes, textures and aromas to create superb dishes of great depth and balance.

The essential starting place is the curry paste. The paste will infuse the other ingredients with its flavour and fragrance, and its creation is a real part of the pleasure of making a curry. Traditionally, curry pastes are made by hand, the ingredients added one-by-one to a mortar for grinding or to the frying pan for roasting, with the cook observing, smelling and adjusting as necessary. Buying prepared spice mixtures is convenient, but to experience the real thing, have a go at preparing one from scratch.

Of course, the other thing that unites curries is rice. This staple of life is central to the cuisines of India and Southeast Asia, and curries are there to support the rice — not the other way round. Once again, the trick is to seek balance, combining delicately perfumed rice with vegetable dishes, side dishes and curries to match. This book contains some classic raitas, pickles and breads to experiment with and many more wonderful curries that amply demonstrate the delight to be found in this age-old dish.

RICH CURRIES

Creamy, smooth curries are often the best place to start if new to curries. In fact, many of the world’s favourite curries belong to this type — the most common examples include butter chicken, Thai Massaman beef curry, Indian lamb kormas and the many kofta, or meatball, recipes that are served resting on a bed of rich, creamy sauce. These curries have coconut milk, ground nuts, yoghurt or cream as their base, sometimes singly but often in combination.

Coconut is perhaps the most versatile of these products. It harmonises flavours, subdues the potency of fiery chillies and balances sour ingredients such as Thai apple eggplants (aubergines), tart lime juice and salty shrimp paste. The taste of the coconut itself is also important. Fresh coconut cream, in particular, enriches the curry with its own depth of flavour, so that dishes are complex and sumptuous — not merely creamy. Tinned coconut cream does not have the same qualities as fresh coconut but is much easier to obtain. Every part of the coconut tree is used, from thatching for houses to making lotions for the skin and hair from the oil. In India, coconut forms the basis of golden, thick korma-style curries, perfected by the Moguls in the seventeenth century, as well as the yoghurt-based dumpling dishes of Gujarat and the spicy seafood curries of coastal Goa. Thai uses of coconut are just as varied and delicious. Their spicy red curries, the sharp green curries and the panaeng and Massaman curries of the south all have coconut as their starting point.

In contrast to coconut, yoghurt is more often used as a thickener and tenderiser of meat than as a flavouring, producing wonderfully tender, slow-cooked curries of lamb and beef. It is also the key ingredient in soothing Indian raitas, for which many of us have been thankful.

EARTHY CURRIES

The pleasure of many curries begins with the aroma that is released at the start of cooking, as dried spices roast and crackle in the wok or pan. This is especially true of the earthy curries. Spices such as cumin, fennel, coriander seeds, turmeric and curry leaves all bring a warm, rounded, toasty aroma and flavour to curries. For these curries, aroma is of equal importance to flavour and texture.

Taking the time to grind and roast your own spices may seem like a luxury but it is one of the best, and most enjoyable, ways to learn about the different qualities of the spices that go into a curry. Coriander seeds, for example, have a sweet, heady aroma, suggestive of pine and pepper, while warm and bitter cumin is immediately distinctive. Fennel seeds have a subtle anise aroma and warm, sweet, intense flavour that mellows on roasting. Different again are potent cloves, with their sharp and woody flavours contributing to many curry powders, and versatile, pungent turmeric. Hidden within the unassuming dull brown skin of this root is a vibrantly coloured golden interior that, as a ground powder, is used in countless curries to balance and enhance the other flavours.

Earthy curries share a depth of sensuous flavour and aroma that is not always anticipated — which makes cooking and eating them all the more enjoyable.

HOT AND SOUR CURRIES

It has been said that chillies should be treated with respect, and most of us would agree with that. When scanning the ingredient lists of some curries, chillies seem to jump out, regardless of how many other ingredients surround them. Some of us relish the challenge of eating a hot curry; others would prefer to go hungry. But chillies need not — and generally should not — scorch. Rather, they should enhance the overall flavour and fragrance of a dish, with specific chillies being used for their different properties.

Having said that, there are certain curries where no other description besides ‘fiery’ will do. The jungle curries of Thailand, for example, some of Goa’s seafood curries and many Malaysian and Balinese curries fall into this category. Chillies were introduced to Southeast Asia and India in the sixteenth century by traders and spicy dishes can reflect an area’s mixed heritage. Goa’s notoriously hot vindaloo curry began life as a vinegar and pork dish of the Portuguese, and the Nonya cooking of Malaysia, a mix of indigenous and Chinese cooking, is famous for its hot, tangy and aromatic curries.

The active agent in chillies, capsaicin, is found mostly in the ribs and seeds of chillies. So, seeding a chilli is a fail-safe way of reducing heat levels. Otherwise, use less than the recipe specifies — you can always add more. As a general guide, the smaller the chilli, the hotter it will be.

Chillies are not the only ingredient adding heat to a curry. Mustard seeds and peppercorns can also be extremely potent. But, as with chillies, searing heat is generally not the aim — both of these spices offer a warm, biting flavour and aroma that blend well with other fresh and dried spices and herbs. In particular, hot curries invite the use of sour flavours such as tamarind, tart vinegar and yoghurt and crisp, clean lime juice and lemongrass. The combination of hot and sour is a particularly happy one, with the sour elements adding an extra layer of flavour and fragrance to a hot dish. Sour ingredients also include a number of vegetables — such as bitter melon and Thai apple eggplants (aubergines) — that add textural interest.

AROMATIC CURRIES

Most curries could be described as aromatic, but some specifically favour herbs and spices known primarily for their fragrant qualities. Pepper, chillies and turmeric are all aromatic, but that is not what first comes to mind when thinking about the impact they have on a curry. On the other hand, fresh Thai basil and coriander (cilantro) leaves, cloves and nutmeg all suggest dishes whose aroma — be it sweet, clean, sharp or pungent — immediately invites and seduces.

The frying of the curry paste is a careful exercise in letting your nose tell you when to add the next ingredient.

Thai cooking in particular makes good use of fresh herbs to engage the sense of smell. If Indian cooking excels at combining dried spices, Thai cooking delights in creating curries with layers of flavour and aroma from a wide range of fresh herbs, spices and seasonings. These include local ingredients such as the aniseed-like Thai basil, floral makrut (kaffir lime) leaves and tangy galangal, as well as more familiar ones such as coriander (cilantro), ginger, lemongrass, garlic, spring onions (scallions) and onions. It is sometimes easy to overlook the importance of these reliable ingredients, but few curries could do without the body and flavour they provide, as well as their sharp, clean and sweet aromas.

A Thai green curry is the classic example of this art, blending most of the above with chicken, vegetables or fish in a coconut-based sauce with green chillies for heat. The finished dish — tart, salty and hot — is generously garnished with fresh-tasting, fragrant makrut and Thai basil leaves. Thai curries are renowned for the care taken with the preparation and cooking of ingredients, and the frying of the curry paste is a careful exercise in letting your nose tell you when to add the next ingredient. Learning to recognise the different aromas of herbs and spices is not essential for the occasional curry cook — you’ll still produce delicious results — but is certainly something dedicated lovers of curries aspire to.

SWEET CURRIES

Many of the sweet flavours in curries come from introduced ingredients, and it is a testament to the versatility of curries that they can absorb new ingredients and very successfully make them their own. For example, the chilli, native to Central America, could not be more at home in the curries of India and Southeast Asia. But this is true also of perfumed lychees from China, sweet almonds from Persia and juicy tomatoes from South America. Barbecue duck curry with lychees has two of China’s most famous ingredients, here seamlessly blended with classic curry spices such as cumin, paprika, turmeric and ground coriander, as well as the ever-present coconut cream, fish sauce and palm sugar. Minted lamb curry transfers the classic combination of fresh, sweet mint and lamb to the world of spicy curries, complementing the fresh herb taste with green chillies, tart lemon juice and sharp cayenne pepper and turmeric.

Sweet ingredients also provide the perfect opportunity for including robust flavours, such as duck and pork, but also seasonings like Indonesia’s hot and spicy sambal oelek and fruit such as green bananas. As when blending hot and sour ingredients, sweet and robust flavours are used to complement each other, not compete. An Indian pork, honey and almond curry also contains fresh herbs, citrus zest, spices and yoghurt, all brought magically together through slow, gentle cooking. Snapper with green bananas and mango is another excellent, delicious example of the art of balance that is so central to all curries. The starchy bananas provide texture and act as a thickening agent, the mango contributes a lovely summery sweetness and the fish just absorbs it all, supported by a spicy yellow curry paste and rich coconut cream base.