Recently I was "doing a Mamta" (a much more used phrase than "doing a Delia" in our household!) making a Beef Madras Curry, knowing if I follow her steps the recipe will work - well I have tried over twenty recipes from the site and all have been met with rapturous applause (and mine are a particular lot who speak their minds.)

My heart sank realising I had added a mug of black coffee to the meat instead of the mug of beef stock by its side. Stoically I carried on, adding the stock; at least reassured I had some Dal as well to serve.

Imagine my surprise when it turned out really well! I have heard of people adding chocolate to Chilli con Carne but coffee to curry?? - and yes I do have separate blenders so my coffee won't taste of curry.

I'll now have to make the Madras without the Coffee so I can compare the two. Suppose the moral of the story is if you do something daft while "doing a Mamta" just get back on track to the recipe and it can still turn out fine.

Heheh, that's a fantastic story, thanks so much for sharing it with us!

Mum's in India visiting her family but is usually able to get online every few days, I know she'll be amused at your story.

Glad it came out OK, perhaps we should add your variation to the recipe notes? ;)

glad it turned out well... even if the guests did stop up till 4 in the morning.. lol

Steve

thats funny - did you confess to your guests or just leave them to it? Definately recommend making mamtas meat (beef) madras next time - drooool

Cheers

Steve

Hello winton

A fantastic story indeed, such a brilliant idea, and why not? Thanks for writing about it here. If you get around to comparing the 2, with and without coffee, I would love to hear from you.

You know, brewed tea is often added by Indians like me to many rice pilafs, to give them a 'lightly fried' brown colour and extra flavour, so why not coffee? Coffee pilaf will be delicious I bet!

So, who is going to try coffee in Indian cuisine next, while I am in India living a totally vegetarian life in vegetarian households?

Hello Steve

"... even if the guests did stop up till 4 in the morning.. lol".

Very funny! I could do with some in all my food. I always feel sleepy before the guests leave, being a person whose body clock runs best on early morning rise and early to bed routine!

Mamta

It is HOT here in India, I am sitting in an airconditioned office of my brother and still a bit warm!

the heat doesn't help with the sleeping either !... in Cyprus it was 35-40 deg most days which meant for the first 3 days we had to go back to the airconditioned room by 1pm and fell asleep !...

Steve

Thanks for all your replies - luckily the coffee was decaff, and I didn't tell the guests until they had all wiped their dishes clean and didn't seem at all pertured when I confessed the coffee intrusion.

Interestingly I have just seen a recipe for Chill Con Carne that called for 100ml of strong coffee so if that's a good South American twinning perhaps Indian (and certainly chicken) dishes would benefit from 'a nice cup of tea!'