How to make Korma Curry Paste

Korma Curry Paste

I was never satisfied with any curry that I made, although the people who I made them for were always full of compliments. The reason I think was that I had certain expectations for my curry's and for me, they didn't live up to them.

So I changed my technique, I decided to perfect a curry paste for each kind of curry that I produced and keep them in the freezer. That way when I decided to make a curry I could concentrate on the stock and the meat or vegetables and then add the paste.

It worked for me, so I am going to start posting more recipes for curry paste, so keep a look out for your favorite.

For 100 Gm you will need;

 2 teaspoon - Almonds (ground)

2 desert spoon - Desiccated coconut

½ teaspoon - Cumin Seeds

1 teaspoon - Coriander Seeds

1 teaspoon - Ground Coriander

3 cloves - Garlic

1 thumb sized piece - Fresh Ginger

½ teaspoon - Garam Masala

¼ teaspoon – Rock Salt

25 Ml - Ground Nut Oil

3 - Green Chillies

1 teaspoon – Turmeric

50 Ml – Coconut Milk

Start by dry frying the cumin and coriander seeds for about 2 - 3 minutes. 

Allow them to cool and the put them in a blender along with all the other ingredients.

Blend to a paste and transfer to a ramekin. You can make your curry straight away, put the paste in the fridge or freeze it.

Use the paste to make this wonderful Chicken Korma 

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The Artist Tony Rose

Chicken Korma

Chicken Korma

Originated in South Asia Chicken Korma is a fairly mild curry with a lovely creamy coconut flavour throughout. This is my own take on this wonderful dish and I must say that it turned out to be one of the best curry’s I have ever made.

I developed a Korma Paste to use in this dish which you can use, or if you prefer you can buy one readymade.

For 2 servings you will need;

 

2 – Chicken Breasts (skinned and cut into bite sized pieces)

50 Gm – Plain Yoghurt

A little Olive Oil

1 – Onion (chopped)

2 dsp – Plain Flour

100 Gm – Korma Paste

2 teaspoons – Soft Brown Sugar

100 Ml – Coconut milk

100 Ml – Water

100 Ml – Single Cream (or milk if you prefer)

Mix the chopped and skinned chicken with the yoghurt in a bowl and leave it to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Put a little olive oil in a pan and add the chopped onion, gently cook the onion on a medium heat, add the flour and mix well.

When the onion has softened add the Korma Paste sugar and coconut milk and mix well, simmer for 5 minutes stirring frequently then add the water and stir well simmering for another 5 minutes.

Blend the mixture to a pulp with a hand blender or let it cool and put it in a liquidizer.

Now add the chicken and yogurt and stir in well, simmer on a medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes stirring from time to time tasting and seasoning if needed.

Take a piece of chicken out after the 15 minutes, cut it in half and check that it is cooked all the way through, if you see any pink then cook for a little longer.
Serve immediately with a rice of your choice.

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Smoked River Cobbler Kedgeree

Smoked River Cobbler Kedgeree

Kedgeree is one of my favourite dishes, so I decided to make it with my favourite fish; Smoked River Cobbler.

Boy did that make a good Kedgeree.

Smoked river cobbler is a boneless flavoursome fish, and really does make a good kedgeree.

 For 2 servings you will need;

2 fillets – Smoked River Cobbler

375 Ml – Milk

1 – Bouquet Garnet

½ - Lime (sliced)

35 Gm – Butter

1 - Onion (chopped)

½ teaspoon – Turmeric

1 teaspoon – Mild Curry Powder

175 Gm – Rice

2 – Hard Boiled Eggs (chopped)

Fresh Parsley (chopped)

Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

100 Ml – Single Cream

Poach the river cobbler in the milk with the bouquet garnet and lime slices for about 10 minutes.

Now strain the milk into a jug, discard the lime and bouquet garnet, and flake or chop the fish into large pieces and keep hot.

Melt the butter in a pan and cook the onion for about 3 minutes on a medium heat until softened, add the turmeric and curry powder give it a good stir and cook for a further 1 minute.

Now add the rice stirring to coat it with the butter, pour in the reserved milk and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 12 minutes until the rice has soaked up the milk and is tender.

Season to taste and add the river cobbler and egg with the cream, stir and sprinkle with parsley simmer for another minute or so and serve.

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Coconut Curry with Prawns

Coconut Curry with Prawns

This gorgeous fairly mild curry is made with homemade curry paste, which makes it so much easier (if you adjust the paste to your liking) to make the curry as hot or as mild as you like.

For 2 servings you will need;

For the Curry Paste;

3 – Green Chilli’s (seeded and roughly chopped)

1 – Chopped Lemon Grass Stalk

½ - Onion (chopped)

3 cloves – Garlic (chopped)

1 – Thumb sized Piece of Fresh Ginger (chopped)

1 teaspoon – Coriander Seeds

1 teaspoon – Mustard

¼ teaspoon – Ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon – Light Brown Sugar

15 Ml – Groundnut Oil

A pinch of salt

Method for the Curry Paste;

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a paste.

For the Sauce;

150 Ml – coconut Milk

The Curry Paste

15 Ml – Fish Sauce

Pinch – Salt

1 teaspoon – Granulated Sugar

100 Gm – Raw King Prawns (peeled & deveined)

100 Gm – Cherry Tomatoes

Coriander Leaves to Garnish

Bring the coconut milk to the boil in a pan, add the curry paste mix well and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the fish sauce, salt and sugar and simmer for another 5 minutes, taste to see if you need more seasoning.

Add the prawns and cherry tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes until the prawns are pink and tender.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

I've made this dish to suit my own personal taste, there are so many ways that you adapt this to your taste. For instance you can use more or less coconut milk, or thicken the sauce with a corn flour mix; it’s such a versatile dish.

Cheese and Garlic Pasta Sauce on Smoked River Cobbler

Cheese and Garlic Pasta Sauce on Smoked River Cobbler

I loved this pasta sauce so much that I had the leftovers the next day straight from the fridge cold and enjoyed it just as much. I’ve added a little mustard to the ingredients of this sauce because there is something that I love about cheese and mustard, I think they go together really well. When you next have cheese on toast spread a little mustard on the toast before the cheese goes on and you will see what I mean.

For two servings you will need;

2 – Fillets of Smoked River Cobbler

 

For the sauce;

100 Gm – Pasta of your choice

50 Gm – Grated Cheese

125 Ml – Milk

½ teaspoon – Italian Seasoning

1 ½ teaspoon – Vegita (or 1 – vegetable stock cube)

2 Cloves – Garlic

½ teaspoon – Mustard

1 teaspoon – Corn Flour

50 Ml – Water

Cook the pasta in boiling water for about 10 minutes and then drain,

leave to cool for a few minutes then pour the milk in and heat gently while adding the cheese stirring until the cheese has melted.

Then add the rest of the ingredients except the corn flour and water and keep stirring, taste and season to your liking. 

Now mix the corn flour with the water until it is smooth and add it to the sauce stirring until it thickens, simmer for about 5 minutes and your done.

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Crushed Coconut Melon with Grape and Rum Sauce

Crushed Coconut Melon with Grape and Rum Sauce

You will need a really ripe honeydew melon for this, ideally it should feel quite soft to the touch on the outside so that when you slice it in half it will be really juicy.

On a hot day this is a very light refreshing dish, the gentle taste of the melon and coconut cream covered with the sharp sweet taste of the grape and rum sauce.

You should prepare the sauce on the day before because it is best refrigerated overnight

For 4 servings you will need;

1 – Ripe Honeydew Melon

80 ml – Coconut Cream

Multiple Scoops - Vanilla Ice Cream

 

For the Sauce;

350 gm – Green Seedless Grapes

150 ml – Water

25 ml - Honey

1 desert spoon – Soft Brown Sugar

¼ tsp – Cinnamon

1 tsp – Vanilla Extract

50 ml – Rum

Put the grapes and the water in a pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

Let it cool down for a while and then liquidise the mixture.

Now press it through a sieve into the pan so that you have a smooth liquid with no bits of grape skin.

Bring it to a simmer on a medium heat; add the rest of the sauce ingredients and simmer for another 15 minutes to reduce it a little. Let it cool down and put it in the fridge, preferably overnight.

To prepare this desert the next day is quite simple.

Slice the melon in half and scoop out the seeds, scoop out all the melon from one half (saving the empty skin) and mash it up in a bowl with the coconut cream.

Put it in a sieve over a container to let the juice run out, you can save that for a rum shot to go with the desert.

Scoop the flesh from the other half in neat pieces with a desert spoon (also keeping the empty skin).

Cut both empty shells in half and each one load with equal amounts of the pulp, cover with melon pieces and a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream, pour over the sauce and serve.

 

What a delight. 

The Artist Tony Rose

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4 Steps to Make a Good Sauce

How to Make a Good Sauce

When I first started cooking seriously quite a few years ago I decided to progress from Spaghetti Bolognese, Chilli Con Carne and all the other concoctions that we in the UK used to cook quite badly in the 70s and 80s. Not that I don’t cook them now, I just cook them properly with care and attention and with a lot more knowledge.

I remember about 10 years ago the current Mrs Rose at that time said to me “Tony I love your cooking but you really need to get a grip with your sauces they are not the best”. That was when I decided to “get a grip” with my sauce skills, and now that I have I am going to share it with you.  

 I always make a sauce in 4 stages

1.         The solids IE mushroom, onion, chillies, herbs and spices etc.
2.        The thickener IE plain flour, corn flour etc.
3.        The wine, water or stock
4.        The cream, milk or more water or stock

That goes for gravy as well, because after all gravy is a sauce.

Some people complain about lumps in their sauce, there is only one reason for that; too much liquid at the beginning.

I perfected the art of sauce making purely because I am in the main a wet food man, rarely do I eat food without a cold or hot sauce, burgers and bacon sandwiches with ketchup, fish with white wine sauce and so on.

Let me take you through the process of one of my all time favourite sauces White Wine Garlic and Fennel Sauce.

I invented this sauce to go with one of my favourite types of fish River Cobbler I love fennel and I think that it compliments fish very well.

First of all take the solids; Fennel seeds (crushed to release the flavour) parsley and garlic, fry them for a few minutes in a little olive oil.

Then add 1½ desert spoons of plain flour and make a paste.

Then add about 50ml of white wine and mix to a paste.

Then add cream and mix well.

All this is happening on a medium heat and at this point you need to be tasting and seasoning and also adding stock or water to adjust the thickness to your preference.

That’s it, it’s done, there is nothing complicated about making a sauce.

Here are some more sauces that you can try; 

How to make The Best Gravy

Marsala Sauce

Creamy Lemon and White Wine Sauce

Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce

The Artist Tony Rose
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