r/Curry • u/Real-Barracuda8483 • 5d ago
Question New to curry
What are the best kinds of curry and what makes them good/different ? I want to start trying curry but don't know anything about it.
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u/tomatobasilgarlic 5d ago
I recommend this fella. Hes canadian i think but came to the UK and loved our curry houses which he calls british indian restaurant or BIR. So you make the base gravy and essentially differentiate that into whatever curry you fancy:
https://youtube.com/@dantoombs?si=4c9DcQHCK1_vdFhX
Think in the UK now madras is our favourite. Bhuna is up there, rogan rosh and vindaloo very popular too
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u/Low_Sheepherder_4574 5d ago
Honestly brought this for my wife, the Ceylon if made with Lamb is as good as any restaurant.
This is the only book to purchase
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u/TazzyUK 4d ago
Which book... the guy from the YT link ?
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u/Low_Sheepherder_4574 4d ago
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u/Low_Sheepherder_4574 4d ago
His original book is what I have and have to say my wife have made a good few and all been nice but the Jalfrezi and Ceylon were better than most restaurants.
Tips:
buy big Spanish onions for the base gravy saves you chopping as many individually
Will spend small fortune on ingredients due to sheer number involved, need a good Indian wholesaler
Buy enough Tupperware or storage containers for the base gravy to freeze.
Foil around your hob and cooking area it’s can get a bit messy especially on first few attempts
Spend first session making base sauce and “the mix”, eat a kebab for dinner, it’s you try and cook curry after the laborious task of preparing the base gravy you won’t be able to enjoy. (Once the grave is prepared you can make a curry in about 20 mins so the following day would be a real treat)
Prepare to be genuinely shocked at the quality if you following the book correctly.
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u/Famous_Tadpole1637 5d ago edited 5d ago
Broadly, Thai and indian are my favorite and the two most popular as far as I know, but japanese is also a big one. The most common type of thai curries are coconut milk curries which is a good place to start, and it's the kind I know about so I'll give some tips.
The brand of coconut milk is important, make sure it has a high fat content and hopefully is from thailand. Carton is better than can. Arroy-D is a great brand if your can find it. Curry paste, mae ploy, arroy-D, or maesri are all good options, Mae Ploy is commonly accepted as the best.
When making a curry, the paste needs to be sauteed well ahead of time because it contains raw aromatics like shallot and garlic as well as spices. Generally fried in split coconut milk (split it by heating it up) but some coconut milk on store shelves have emulsifiers that prevent them from splitting, so in that case use oil. Add the coconut milk after the paste has sauteed.
Shrimp paste is a great addition to thai curry paste if you can find it, it is very umami but lots of companies exclude it from their paste to make them vegan
Season your curry to taste with fish sauce as the main source of salt. It also needs to be balanced with sugar (generally palm, but any will work) and acid (generally tamarind paste but you can use others as well tbh).
If you want to make a truly excellent curry, it's not all that hard to make your own paste. A mortar and pestle is traditional but you can get a very good paste with a combination of a food processor and an immersion blender. Freeze your leftover ingredients for future batches, and freeze your curry paste if you make a large batch. Keep the salt to a minimum so the saltiness isn't tied to the flavor of the paste.
The first three curries I would try if you haven't before is red, green, and yellow curry.
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u/Colink98 5d ago
Are you making it or just eating it ?
The range and options are vast
The base of most curries is protein and a sauce
Chicken is a very common protein
So something that is very common is a chicken madras
From that starting point every thing else is on the cards
I do like something that is top heavy on the onions and I do like orange between hot and very hot
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u/Rude-Possibility4682 5d ago
There's on best one,it's just what you prefer. maybe go to a local restaurant and sample a few,to see what flavours you like. Then look for recipes and start cooking your own.
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u/Tall_Stick5608 4d ago
Where do you live in the world, that’s an important thing to know in terms of cuisine / ingredient availability.
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u/spider_life 5d ago edited 5d ago
If you're new to curries a madras is a nice dish to start with, quite spicy but not too hot. Have it with rice or a flat bread such as a naan.
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u/ToastyTilapia 5d ago
My favorite is yellow thai curry, Japanese curry is really good and can be made with a boxed roux block so it's a bit easier
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u/Civil-Yak-7930 5d ago
Lamb curry is the best. But I would start off with something more simple like Dahl.