A Trilogy of Curries - Introduction
Curry from the Indian sub continent is one of the things I really miss about living in the UK. Popularised in the UK during the 1950's as a result of immigration, curry has since become something of a national dish in the UK. I'm sure what you get in many restaurants is bastardised all to hell and there are without doubt some truly awful curry restaurants in the UK (a lead contender for the single worst meal I've ever had was at Shezan Tandoori in Edinburgh), but you were never far away from a good one if you take the time to look. I didn't really appreciate this enough when it was freely available and now I miss it.
I love everything about curry. I enjoy the spicy, hot, fragrant, sweet and sour flavours. I adore hot and sour lime pickle in roti and stacks of pappadums with onions. I like all the veggie dishes and the cool, sweet lassi. One of my favourite meals is a whole bunch of curry dishes served up Thali style with a couple of beers and a good movie.
So it is unfortunate that Australia does not do curry well. I've had some really bad curries since moving here, including Butter Chicken loaded with pureed tomatoes (which is possibly authentic but definitely revolting) and a lamb Rogan Josh so overcooked that the meat crumbled. In general the sauces tend to be pretty thin and watery and are less like the tasty stews I'm used to. I have had a couple of decent curries too, but after so many disappointments I decided it was best to start making my own.
I used to cook a lot of Thai curry at home because Thai food in the UK, at least at that time, was generally quite expensive and not terribly good. In Oz, Thai food is incredibly good and dirt cheap so my focus switched to learning how cook a decent British style Indian sub continent curry. The first few times the dishes weren't quite right but practice has made them......well, better if not perfect.
Over the next week or two I'm going to post up recipes for a vindaloo, a korma and keema. All three are extremely easy to make, damn tasty and, best of all, remind me of the British curry houses I miss so much.
