Hello!
I've got some ready done meatballs and I wanted to curry them.
Ive got onions and garlic, coconut milk, tinned tomatoes and various assorted spices (ground cumin, turmeric, ginger, chilli powder etc) does this sound like it would make a nice curry? Or has anyone got an alternative recipe/method that's tried and tested?
Thanks

Tomatoes and coconut milk?! Please don't...
Leave the milk out and use the rest for a spicy tomato sauce.

Simply bung it all in one pot. You can't go wrong.

Yahoo Voices has a recipe.

Go for it!

No !

Fry up the onions in olive oil and butter until the water from the onions has gone, then add the spices and gently cook for about two minutes - this takes away the raw edges from the spices and binds them in oil.

At this point you can bung in the canned tomatoes and whatever else you wish and cook until the consistency is right.

This recipe was given to me by a Sikh lady and is easy and fabulous:

Ingredients

2 medium /large onions – rough chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 fresh green chillies - seeds removed (just use one if you don't like it too hot)
1” fresh ginger - peeled
Paprika – 2 teaspoons
Turmeric – 2 teaspoons
2 tins chopped tomatoes
Garam Masala – 2 tablespoons

Fresh vegetables and/or meat of your choice.
I always add pureed lentils to make a thick sauce.

Method

Puree onions, garlic, chillies and ginger.
Fry gently in oil stirring occasionally for 5 minutes
Add paprika and turmeric
Fry gently stirring occasionally for 2 minutes
Add tomatoes, lentils if used, and any other vegetables you might like to put in
Add any cooked meat
Cook in slow oven for about one hour
15 minutes before serving stir in Garam Masala

Curry is best made 24 hours before eating and left to mature.

For a hotter curry add more green chillies.

For a Thai variation substitute coconut milk for tomatoes, add lentils, juice of a lime and sweet basil leaves. Remove leaves before serving.

ENJOY!!

Thanks everyone, can I just ask to the poster who said not to use coconut with the tinned tomatoes why not? Is that a personal preference or something you shouldn't do when making curry??

I think they curdle and will taste foul - you will see in the recipe I set out, if you want Thai leave out the toms and subsitute coconut milk.

I was trying to make the curry stretch further by adding the tomatoes, if I added a bit of water it might do the same?

I have no problems with combining those two. It's how I make my tikka masala type curry. Although usually I will just use tomato puree instead of tinned toms.

A great recipe I got from the Irish Saturday morning bbc1 cook involved toasting the following to frying onions before adding ingredients already mentioned:

Yellow and black mustard seeds
Cloves
Cumin seeds
Coriander seeds
Tumeric
Dried chillies

The kids love it too!

Let me know if you want me to find a link!

i always use a small tin of tomatoes along with coconut milk/cream in mine too - i liquidise them along with the fried onions, garlic and ginger.

Well I made it this morning, it turned out ok but it was a bit oily! I've spooned off as much as I can but didn't want to lose too much sauce, also I put a bit of bread in to remove oil too. This cooking for myself and my family is hard, I'll never wrinkle up my nose at my lovely mums cooking again!

Wheres the oil come from?

I used a tiny bit of oil to fry and then I put in a bit of pataks paste. It was ok for a first attempt!

Ah, i use pataks pastes sometimes too. I agree about the oil thing. I dont add any oil, but also use a slotted spoon to dish up.

I think if I'm using pataks paste in future ill just use a bit of water to soften the onions first. My mum always does. Good idea about the slotted spoon

Some good ideas in this thread for next time!

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1647797

Found it>
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/629535

You can use the coconut milk for Thai or South Indian Curries. Do you like Thai food? Thai curries are easy and economical to make - you can get Thai pastes in the all the supermarkets now - red, green or yellow - just fry the paste according to taste and how hot you like your curry in the fat of the coconut milk - then add the rest of the coconut milk. fish sauce and sugar and whatever veggies, fish or meat you like - I usually add in some stock too and jazz it up with lime leaves and lemon grass. Nigella has some good, quick Thai recipes.

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipe...d-curry-recipe

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/curry-in-a-hurry-11

Sounds like a you got it all going there with those ingredients already.

There's really no rules in curries as long you have those spices & herbs then you're all set. You can substitute natural yoghurt with coconut milk too if you have it available. And if you have a spare time pop-in to a shop that sells fresh chillies...it just makes a tad difference to the dish.

ETA just fry everything (chopped onion & garlic & spices & tinned tomatoes) then your meat/chicken/seafood then your coconut milk, add water or ready made chicken stock, boil a bit until meat is tender then season with salt or fish sauce if necessary and then some lemon or lime juice.

That looks nice. I might try that later in the week.

Some great responses thanks, I like Thai curry so I think I'll try that next, haven't long been in this flat so was just using what I had, I'm building up my stocks so what would people say were must haves for the cupboard for curries?

I'd say in addition to the spices you mentioned - ground coriander, paprika and garam masala are also used in India curries - I also stock cumin and mustard seeds for daals.

It's worth making a trip to the Chinese/Indian stores to stock up on ingredients - they usually sell them cheaper than the supermarkets - ingredients are usually better value than the the supermarkets - though if you live in an ethnic area many of the supermarkets now have an ethnic aisle with better value produce - though I'd still say there's more variety in the ethnic stores.

I get my Thai ingredients from my local Chinese store - Thai pastes, fish sauce, tinned coconut milk. Also lemon grass and lime leaves which can be frozen. I always keep stock cubes/ pots in my cupboard for Thai curries but they're a store cupboard essential anyway. Also if you like those takeaway Chinese style curries I recomend the Goldfish curry paste concentrate - it comes in different strengths - it's easy peasy to use - just add hot water to some paste and bring to the boil to make a curry sauce which can be used on it's own as a dip for chips or can be made into a Chinese curry added to cooked vegetables/meat.