Milly

The essential ingredients to be a gourmet Indian cook:

To be a brilliant Indian cook, you just need the following basic ingredients that are then mixed aroun din varying quanitites to create all sorts of Indian dishes.

I have a spice drawer full of the following:

Tumeric Power
Red Chilli Powder
Whole Red Chillis Crushed
Coriander Powder
Salt
Cumin Seeds, ground and whole.
Garam Masala

And in the fridge:

Garlic
Ginger

The Garlic and Ginger can be found in paste form now, in jars, this makes it easier to cook.

And in the Cupboard:

Onions
Chopped Tomato Tins

That is it, that is the basis of any Indian recipe and if you can purchase these and put them together you can easily save a fortune! All these spices can be found in any local Indian/ethnic shop and they are only 70p per packet which will last you six months if you cook Indian everyday!

This is the basic recipe that can be applied to make any curry, the contents of which is your choice, either lamb, chicken, prawns, its up to you.

Fry the chopped onions in any oil until brown
In a seperate bowl put:

1/2 tsp of chilli powder
1/2 tsp of tumeric powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp ginger and mix to make a paste with a little water.

Add this to the onions and fry for a few seconds and then add 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes and mix thoroughly breaking down lumps. Evaporate as much water from the tomato tin as possible make a thick paste. Then add 1lb of meat, any kind, cover and cook on a low heat until meat is breakable. Finally evaporate the excess meat water and then add a little boiled water to make more curry sauce.

That is it, very easy and take only a few mins to prepare and will save you a fortune. You will kick yourself when you realise how much money you've been wasting on take outs etc when you realise how tasty and easy it all it to make. All the quantities of the spices can be changed according to your tastes, if you like spicy then just increase everything, but do keep all the spices in proportion, try not to increase one without increasing the other, otherwise you will find it will change in its basic taste.

You may find that lots of Indian cookery books talk about using coconut milk and all sorts of difficult ingredients to get hold of, but you have to remember, India has been a poor country and so the most authentic Indian dishes are probably those that are the simplist in form, so don't worry about all these extra ingredients, they are not needed, just use the above and you'll be more than pleased with your results.

I have been cooking Indian food for five years and nothing beats a home made curry!