COOKING AN INDIAN CURRY	FOOD & COOKING VIDEO

Indian chef Cyrus Todiwala and former rugby international Kyran Bracken

What is it with this country and its love affair with curry? According to research there are over 10,000 restaurants serving Indian food in the UK and they account for around two-thirds of all eating out, serving over 2.5 million meals every week. Big business to say the least.

Many of us love to have a night out at the local Indian Restaurant (yes I know that most of them are Bangladeshi*) but it is not always possible or practical to eat out whenever you fancy a curry. This is a food we love to eat but many of us are too afraid to cook for ourselves or rely on something out of a jar or packet.

Some of the packet or jar mixes produce a reasonably good meal but there is nothing to beat cooking an Indian meal from scratch . . . and it is not difficult. The flavour will just be so much better and of course you can alter the ingredients to your taste.

What better way to get the hang of cooking Indian food than by watching Indian chef Cyrus Todiwala, ably assisted by former rugby international Kyran Bracken (not wearing his skates).

The idea of the videos below is to encourage everyone to get involved in this year’s Big Curry Cook-in. Working with Red Tractor beef and lamb they are helping to show everyone just how quick and simple it can be to whip up a really good Indian dish whenever you want to.
 
When cooking your own curry at home one of the musts is to make sure you buy good quality meat. Buying meat can sometimes be a bit challenging when looking in the supermarket but if you look out for a quality mark, such as the Red Tractor logo, then you will know that you are getting farm-assured beef or lamb.

Watch the videos that go with each recipe to see Cyrus give Kyran top tips on how to master a Mince Masala and a Lamb Rogan Josh, and if Kyran can do it then so can you!

*Until 1998 about 85% of Indian restaurants in the UK were Bangladeshi but by 2003 this figure had declined to just over 65% and continues to decline.

• Heat a large, shallow, non-stick frying pan until hot and cook the mince, onion, garlic and ginger for 5 - 7 minutes.

• Reduce the heat and add the tomatoes, chillies, seasoning, garam masala and half the coriander.

• Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Garnish with the remaining coriander and serve with plain basmati rice, poppadums and a cucumber raita or a selection of relishes.

Tip:

If preferred, replace the garam masala with a prepared curry paste of your choice.

LAMB ROGAN JOSH

Ingredients

450g / 1 lb lean lamb shoulder or leg cubes, cut into 2.5cm / 1 inch cubes
15ml / 1 tbsp oil
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped or 1 x 500g pack prepared diced onions
5ml / 1tsp garlic purée
1 x 420g (approximately) jar prepared Rogan Josh sauce
6 small new potatoes, halved
100g / 4oz prepared cauliflower florets (frozen are good too)
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
Natural yoghurt, to garnish
Freshly chopped coriander leaves, to garnish

Method

• Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan and brown the lamb with the onion and garlic for 3 - 4 minutes.

• Add the sauce, bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook on the hob for 1 - 1½ hours or according to the jar instructions.

• 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time add the vegetables and continue to cook. 

• Remove from the heat, season if required.

• Garnish with the yogurt and coriander.

• Serve with prepared basmati rice and a selection of Indian relishes and poppadoms or naan bread.

Serves 4

For more information visit www.simplybeefandlamb.co.uk

Published 12 October 2011

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