I bought some Mauritian chilli pickle today, the lady told me to store it in the fridge. When I got home from shopping, I tasted some. Virtually no oil, but what was there was mustard oil, not my favourite!

I was making tea tonight, and had bought some chicken breasts and spinach, and a packet of coconut powder, which is like desiccated, but powdered. I don't like the texture of desiccated.

So, fried some onions, and added a tablespoon of the Mauritian chilli pickle. Added a tbsp of garlic/ginger paste, and fried a little. Added coriander, cumin and haldi powder, and about 2 tbsp of the coconut powder. The mix became too dry, so I added some more oil. Then a can of coconut milk, and a little water. Brought to the boil, then to a fast simmer, adding coriander leaf and fresh mint and 2 tsp of crushed black pepper, before adding two large bunches of palak.

After about 20 minutes, I cut up the two chicken breasts into bite sized chunks, and added them to the pan, stirring all the time, until cooked (about 10 minutes). Sampled the curry, and added salt to taste.

Served with plain rice (with fried onion ) and a simple cachumber.

The flavour of the curry was exceptional, so I'm sharing.

I made a curry a few nights ago and I added lots of olive oil to the pan, then I fried a couple of large cardamoms, 2-inch cassia, and 3 cloves. Fried this for a few seconds then I added 1 diced medium onion, 3 garlic cloves and 1-inch ginger. Cooked this until golden brown and added 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp haldi, 1 tsp cumin powder and cooked out the spices. Added 2 medium-sized tomatoes, two desseded and finely chopped Dorset naga chillies and cooked until they broke down. Added a bit of water and 500g chicken breasts. Cooked until chicken was well sealed and added 1x400g tin full fat coconut milk and 1 level tsp gram masala, cooked until the chicken was done and garnished with chopped fresh cilantro. Left it over night and ate it the following day for dinner. Yummy.

Sorry, Lee. LOL.

@Lapis.......good innovative cooking though never seen a Mauritian pickle in the shops.

@Andrew.......whoa man ......red chilli powder plus 2 dorset nagas topped with garam masala....now that is not for the faint hearted.

Why does Indian food often taste so good the day after?

The meat will be more tender on reheating?

The spices will have had overnight to flavour and blend?

You have done all the work the day before, and just need to reheat it?

Besides all the marination and such ... one of the reason I will put forward is because you haven't had all the smells in the air while cooking it and tasting and checking... so the day after you start from a clear nose and palette and you notice much more of the flavour...

Steve

Those could all be right, I guess. My wife sometimes complains that, by the time we get to eat a dish which takes time to prepare, she feels as though she's already eaten it.

There's also the phenomenon of 'taste fatigue': you can keep tasting a dish for, say, salt, to the point where you can't tell whether it's over-salted or under-salted. My wife often has to get me to step in and taste for seasoning when she's suffering from this.

Phil

I think 'curries' taste better a day or two later. I guess it's just because everything has had a time to sit and so the flavours infuse more. I don't eat meat, other people eat the meat but I will quite happily eat the sauce. I have no taboos about meat but I don't like it much and prefer vegetables. I don't tend to let vegetable curries sit overnight, I think they taste nicer eaten fresh and hot. When they're warmed up the flavour is different in my opinion.

I believe vegetable curry tastes better when eaten freshly cooked but with one solitary exception for me = The chickpea curry (Amritsari chole) which always tastes better after 1-2 days.

So I guess the question is: why should most meat-based Indian dishes taste so good the next day, when veg dishes don't? Perhaps only because the veg becomes overcooked?

Anyway: back to the kitchen now for a Chinese beef and broccoli dish.

Tomorrow: salmon steaks in Marco-Thingy White's basil, double cream and Noilly Prat sauce. We haven't done it for at least 12 years.

Phil

I don't really know why, but obviously meat contains its own fats, so maybe it has something to do with that.

@Rajneesh re: whoa man ......red chilli powder plus 2 dorset nagas topped with garam masala....now that is not for the faint hearted. The chilli powder I use is one I make myself by grinding shop-bought dried red chillies and it really isn't that hot but gives a nice flavour.

I think many of the reasons have been covered.

The flavours continue to be formed. These are new flavours developed during the cooking process, not just added flavours. Just because the heat is less, doesn't mean chemical reactions stop.

The flavours have time to equilibrate between water and oil phases, and to adsorb onto meat.

Our noses are more able to detect the flavours, they are not full of kitchen smells.

As for vegetable dishs, there is not the same amount of flavour making reactions going on, and oil/fat amounts are generally less.

Lapis has explained the scientific reasons for curry tasting better next day. I mostly make meat/chicken/fish/some vegetable curries with gravy/Kadhi etc. the day before a party. They taste better. However, the vegetable bhajies, the ones made with fresh vegetables, taste better freshly made.