South Indian Coconut Curry Recipes

Steps:

• Put the onion, ginger, garlic and the halved tomatoes in a food processor with 50ml water and blitz to a smooth purée. You may need to scrape down the inside of the food processor a couple of times. Heat the oil in a large, deep non-stick frying pan, pour in the purée, cover with a lid and cook for 10 mins.
• Add the 1/2 cinnamon stick, mustard seeds, cloves, cardamom, turmeric, coriander and curry leaves, and cook for a few mins, stirring. Pour in 300ml water with the stock cube, coconut and chilli, then leave to simmer for 10 mins more. Taste to ensure that the onion is fully cooked - if not, it is worth cooking for another 5 mins.
• Finally, add the tomato wedges, prawns and fish, gently stir into the sauce, then cover and cook for 5 mins. Serve with the Spicy cauliflower pilau (see Goes well with).

Steps:

• Wash the rice well and cook until tender in a rice cooker or by the absorption method.
• While the rice is cooking, heat 3 tablespoons oil in a medium-sized pan or skillet, and when hot add the chillies, chana dal, urad dal and mustard seeds. Stir and fry until the chillies darken and the dals turn golden brown.
• Add the curry leaves, salt, asafetida and coconut, and stir and fry for a minute or two before reducing heat.
• Gently cook the coconut mixture until the coconut turns a toasted reddish-brown and becomes quite crisp. It burns easily, so don't take your eyes off it for a second, and keep the coconut moving by stirring and tossing constantly.
• As soon as the coconut is the right colour and texture, turn off the heat. If the rice is not ready, transfer the coconut mixture to a bowl, so that it doesn't continue browning in the hot pan.
• Mix the coconut mixture gently through the hot, cooked rice, then stir through the chopped cilantro and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a deep pan.
• Mix/Grind coriander, chili, turmeric and pepper together in a bowl - set aside.("A").
• Fry mustard in hot oil and sauté onion, garlic, ginger, chili and curry leaves ("B") till onions are golden.
• Once done - remove onion mixture from oil to another frying pan & add tomatoes and keep over low heat till tomatoes dissolve from their skins.
• Meanwhile in the deep pan, add chicken, vinegar, salt, and spice mixture ("A") - stir for a few minutes . Mix coconut milk & water and add. Cover the pan with lid & cook over med-low heat ("C").
• When the meat is cooked through, add the potatoes. Once the potatoes are half-cooked (about 15 minutes), stir in the tomato-onion mixture from "B" and add the tomato paste.
• Leave uncovered & stir once in awhile. When the potatoes are cooked through & the curry thickens, remove from heat & garnish with chopped coriander & enjoy with jasmine or basmati rice!

Steps:

• Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep pan. Stir in mustard seeds and cook until seeds have been sputtering for 20 seconds; add cumin seeds. Stir in red chile and asafoetida. Add onion and fry for 2 minutes. Add garlic, bay leaf, ginger, and turmeric powder and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in curry leaves, chili powder, and black pepper and cook until onions are golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add chicken to the pan and fry until almost cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in coriander powder and mix well. Pour in coconut milk; bring to a boil. Add tamarind paste and salt; mix well. Add garam masala; reduce heat and let simmer, adding water as necessary, until curry reaches desired consistency and chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes more.