Can anyone recommend a good sauce to use as a base for making a mixed vegetable curry? A lot of Indian vegetable 'curries' are spiced accordingly to what the main vegetable is (or at least that's how I have always thought), but I have been asked to make a mixed vegetable curry - which will contain carrots, peas, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. I have had good results in the past from using Patak's curry paste, but I don't want to go down that route if I can help it...especially when I have a cupboard full of spices!

If I am making a mixed vegetable bhaji dish I would cook the vegetables in the pan without blanching them first, but what I have noticed when making a 'curry' this way is that there are too many flavours that take over the sauce (especially carrots cooked in the sauce), so I have always had better results by blanching the vegetables prior to adding them to the sauce. I usually cook the potatoes separately (because of the starch), but when I blanch other vegetables I use the water for cooking the rice, so in a sense nothing is lost.

Sid

Sid,

We have a mixed veg recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's 'Eastern Vegetarian Cooking' which is Thai/Burmese. It's called Yum Tavoy.

We haven't done it for years, but my notes say that it's yummy, so we used to call it 'Yum Yum Tavoy'.

It has coconut milk, shallots, garlic, coriander roots, peanuts, paprika and sesame seeds in the sauce.

I can give details, if you like.

Phil

That sounds nice!

Details would be good if you don't mind, thanks.

Sid,

You need whatever mixed veg you have (the recipe we have has red peppers, aubergines, green beans and cauliflower). We used to cut these into half-inch slices, aubergine slices quartered.

The idea is to boil these gently in coconut milk for about 10 mins.

You put chopped shallots, garlic and coriander roots in a blender to make a paste.

You put that paste into cream of coconut milk, simmer and stir until you have a paste.

You add this fried Thai curry paste to ground peanuts, tamarind paste, paprika, salt and sugar to the cooked veg, simmer for a minute and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Sorry: this is very rough and ready. I'll do it myself soon and see how it goes.

If you have a go, do let us know how it went.

Phil

Thanks for that, Phil. Yeah, I will give it a try in the week and I will let you know how it goes.

I would boil potatoes cut into 2cm cubes until soft. Then fry some onions, garlic, ginger and chillies until soft, than add julienned carrots, and small broccoli/cauliflower florets, and cook until softish, then add a little spice, including coriander and cumin, pepper and turmeric powders. Then I would add the potatoes and peas and heat through. Lastly, I would add whipped yoghurt, a large spoonful at a time, until absorbed by the veg. Lastly I would add a little fresh herb, stirred in, and salt to taste. Great in dosas.

Thanks for that, Lapis!

I cooked a chicken curry tonight and I decided to cut back on the amount of spices that I used. I was surprised that the end result wasn't that much different to usual. So I guess that saying 'less is more' has some truth LOL!

The only time I make mixed vegetable curry, a staple of many Indian restaurants, is when I am trying to empty the vegetable drawer of my fridge. Next time I make it, I will write it down and take a few pictures. I don't think I have ever parboiled vegetables for it. Like Lapis, I will probably add them at different stages according to how long they take to cook, depending upon what they are.

I might actually try them in this curry sauce the cookery course 3 students made last night for their course; Fish Curry in mustard sauce. As it has yoghurt, it shouldn't be cooked for ever. So if there are any 'tough' vegetables to be added, like colocasia or potatoes, they will require parboiling or cutting into small pieces. The sauce is tasty, so it is worth a try with vegetables.

Yes, Mamta, I could see that sauce working well with certain veggies.

Four students, we had four students yesterday!

It was a great fish curry that one.

And don't forget the very easy and delicious "basic curry sauce" recipe!

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10139

I had a bowl full of fresh vegetables left-over from students making Vegetable Pakoras yesterday. So I made the curry with the sauce I usually use for fish curry. It looks good. I have taken a few pictures. If it tastes good when we have dinner, I will post the recipe on site.

Incidentally, Leons are serving my basic curry sauce not only as chicken curry, but also as a Squash and Peas curry, which I would have never thought of doing. Just goes to show that mixing and matching/chopping and changing does work, if done thoughtfully! You might have a few failures, but you will also get a few new flavours/dishes as a result.

Sid, as I get older, I seem to add less and less spice. BUT, it is how and when you add spice that is the secret to great flavours. The secret is to not mask the flavour of the ingredients, but to augment them. What's the point of using chicken if you can't taste it's flavour? That's why I never cook chicken vindaloo!

Leftover dishes are great. I hate wasting food, and it's so economical to use up what's in the fridge. For us, it's usually risotto, but there's also Singapore noodles, which we did for lunch today, with some leftover green pepper and chicken thigh.

Too true. When it comes to the point where you add the powdered spices to a dish, would you add them all at the same time or would you add them one at a time and fry for a while before adding the next one? I'm just curious if it would make any difference to the overall result. I normally add all the powders at the same time once the onions have browned.

Sid

Sid, I add different spices at different times. The key criteria are extraction ability into oil, change of flavour, change of colour and how easily they may burn. Adding spices all at once doesn't really work, IMHO, and just one reason why 'curry powder' is to be avoided.

That is very interesting Lapis.

On the subject of curry sauces - I have tried quite a few recipes from books and the internet but I always returned to our favourite which is on http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/People/National-Curry-Week-Atul-Kochhar-of-Benares

However, we are totally hooked on Mamta's recipe now. I fry black peppercorns, cardamon, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and cloves until they give up their flavour then I take them out and follow Mamta's basic recipe. The only whole spice that I leave in is the cumin seeds.

I do stick to one of Atul's beliefs - 'Only add ginger/garlic paste after achieving the right colour in sauting the onions. Once you add the paste it seizes the cooking of an onion and you can?t colour them beyond that'.

I didn't know abut salt reducing the frying time of onions! I will try it next time. Thank you seabird and Atul Kochar.

Interesting tips. I have heard about adding salt to the onions to draw out the water, but I'm sure this has been raised on here before and someone wrote that it doesn't work.

I always add the whole spices at the beginning but I don't take them out once they have fried. I often get comments like: "It was really nice, but it would have been nicer without the Pot Pouri."

I know you add seeds just after you have fried the garam spices, but one thing I noticed a few days back was that the fenugreek seeds I'd added were really dark brown by the time I was ready to start adding the powdered spices. The result was still good, but I was wondering if there is anything you can do to stop the seeds from overcooking while the onions are frying?

Sid

Hello sid

I just tried frying onions for a vegetable and prawn biryani I was making for this evening?s dinner. I added a little salt to the sliced onions, not sure if it made a difference. I will have to try again a few times before I can be sure, one way or another.

I don?t take out whole spices after they have fried. Most of our Indians/other friends know or have been told often enough by me to just slide them to the side of the plate. They are not for eating, just to add flavour. If that is a problem, you can pick the large ones like cardamoms, cinnamon and bay leaves out when you transfer to a serving dish.

If fenugreek seeds were dark brown, they were probably burnt and bitter. You have to be careful with any of these seeds to not over fry/burn them. They not only get an unpleasant flavour then, they can also taste bitter. Once you have added onions etcetera they don?t really get overcooked. They only overcook if there is a slight delay in adding onions/other vegetables/dals whatever it is that you are cooking at the time.

Hope this helps

Mamta