Curry is a strange beast - generally regarded as one cuisine despite hundreds of different dishes from countries across every continent.
There's curried goat in the West Indies, seafood curries in Goa, coconut and lemongrass heavy curries in Thailand and the curries we know in Britain, usually Bangladeshi specialties if the Observer's 2002 article is to be believed.
The dish all restaurants are judged by in this household and the first recipe to enjoy is pathia. A hot, sweet and sour curry, it must be perfectly balanced to give the right flavour. This is personal though so it's ideal to make at home if you fancy it. There's even a recipe for pilau rice without the fake food colouring.
There's curried goat in the West Indies, seafood curries in Goa, coconut and lemongrass heavy curries in Thailand and the curries we know in Britain, usually Bangladeshi specialties if the Observer's 2002 article is to be believed.
The dish all restaurants are judged by in this household and the first recipe to enjoy is pathia. A hot, sweet and sour curry, it must be perfectly balanced to give the right flavour. This is personal though so it's ideal to make at home if you fancy it. There's even a recipe for pilau rice without the fake food colouring.
Perfect Pathia
Pathia is perfect with prawns, chicken, lamb and as a veggie option. If you do go veggie option, I'd recommend chickpeas, lentils, potatoes or anything quite sturdy.
To serve two hungry and quite greedy people:
First soak your tamarind pulp in the boiling water. This needs a little while to make tamarind water while you slowly, slowly brown the onions.
That's the next thing to do - heat your oil and put in the onions, they have to be on a low heat to caramelise and add sweetness to the finished dish.
In whatever blender you have, pop in the garlic, chilli, coriander stems and cumin seeds and whizz to a paste.
Once the onions are browned, turn the heat up to medium/high then add the paste to the pan and cook it out for a minute or two before adding the ground/powdered spices. These need a 2-3 minutes to combine and cook out.
Add the meat, vegetables or legumes to the pan and seal them. Once browned, add the tomatoes which will add some moisture and some sourness.
Let the tomatoes soften before adding the tamarind water and curry leaves. Allow this to cook down for between 5 to 15 minutes depending on your main ingredient.
Add the salt and sugar to taste - you're looking for hot, sweet and sour to balance on your palate. Once you're happy, service with rice and the coriander leaves.
To serve two hungry and quite greedy people:
- 400g to 600g of your main ingredient - for us, chicken at home and lamb in restaurants
- Two tablespoons of oil - I use coconut for the high temperature
- 50g of tamarind pulp in half a cup of boiling water
- Two medium onions (or one massive one), cut into thin half-moons
- 4 to 6 garlic cloves depending on your taste
- 2 to 5 green chillies - again dependent on taste, deseed if you want to
- Bunch of coriander - stems and leaves separated
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
- 0.5 teaspoons of ground cumin
- Between a pinch and 0.75 teaspoons of chilli powder dependent on taste
- 1 teaspoon of garam masala
- 2 medium tomatoes or half a pack of cherry tomatoes
- Between 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon of palm sugar or brown sugar
- 8 to 15 curry leaves
- Enough salt to taste
First soak your tamarind pulp in the boiling water. This needs a little while to make tamarind water while you slowly, slowly brown the onions.
That's the next thing to do - heat your oil and put in the onions, they have to be on a low heat to caramelise and add sweetness to the finished dish.
In whatever blender you have, pop in the garlic, chilli, coriander stems and cumin seeds and whizz to a paste.
Once the onions are browned, turn the heat up to medium/high then add the paste to the pan and cook it out for a minute or two before adding the ground/powdered spices. These need a 2-3 minutes to combine and cook out.
Add the meat, vegetables or legumes to the pan and seal them. Once browned, add the tomatoes which will add some moisture and some sourness.
Let the tomatoes soften before adding the tamarind water and curry leaves. Allow this to cook down for between 5 to 15 minutes depending on your main ingredient.
Add the salt and sugar to taste - you're looking for hot, sweet and sour to balance on your palate. Once you're happy, service with rice and the coriander leaves.
Easy pilau to go with your perfect pathia
This is wonderful stuff, so easy and cheap to make. It goes with nearly every curry and can be fancied up with meat, mushrooms or even used to make kedgeree.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the diced onion. Brown it off, add the cinnamon or cassia bark, cloves, cardamoms and bay leaves.
Add the rice and stir it well into the butter. Add the water or stock and bring to the boil. Clamp the lid on and cook according the the packet time.
Before serving, fluff with a fork and remove as many of the whole spices that you can find.
- 1 cup of rice
- 2 cups of fluid (water, chicken or vegetable stock)
- Knob of butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 cinnamon or cassia bark stick
- 4 cloves
- 4 green cardamom pods, bashed (use 2 black ones for a smoky flavour instead if preferred or going with tandoori meats)
- Bay leaves to taste
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the diced onion. Brown it off, add the cinnamon or cassia bark, cloves, cardamoms and bay leaves.
Add the rice and stir it well into the butter. Add the water or stock and bring to the boil. Clamp the lid on and cook according the the packet time.
Before serving, fluff with a fork and remove as many of the whole spices that you can find.