The Art of Building a Delicious Indian Curry

When it comes to cooking Indian food, many people think that it's all about throwing some curry powder into a pot and serving it up. But that's not exactly how it works. Good Indian food requires a layering of flavors that can't be rushed or compromised on. To make a truly delicious curry, you need to take the time to build those flavors from scratch.

One of the most important things to understand about making a great curry is the importance of layering. This means starting with a good base of ingredients and then gradually adding more complex flavors to enhance them. In this recipe, we're going to start by sautéing some onions and ginger in oil until they're softened and fragrant. This may seem like a simple step, but it's an essential part of building those layers of flavor.

Once the onions are softened, we'll add in our curry powder and stir to coat. But here's the thing: we're not just going to dump a spoonful of curry powder into the pot and call it a day. We need to take the time to let that powder bloom and release its flavors. This means stirring constantly for about 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture is fragrant and slightly darkened.

Now it's time to add in our other ingredients. First, we'll toss in some chickpeas and stir to coat. These can be canned or cooked from scratch, whichever you prefer. Next, we'll add in a can of coconut milk, which will give our curry its creamy texture. But that's not all: we're also going to add in a very untraditional ingredient - tahini! Yes, you read that right - tahini is being added to this Indian curry. And the reason for it is twofold: first, it adds an extra layer of richness and depth to the dish; second, it provides a subtle nuttiness that complements the other flavors perfectly.

While our curry simmers away on the stovetop, we can start thinking about how to serve it up. In this recipe, we're going to make some quick rice using our instant pot - it's the perfect accompaniment to our delicious curry. We'll also add in some chopped greens, such as Swiss chard or kale, which will wilt into the curry and provide an extra boost of nutrition.

As our curry simmers away, we can start thinking about how to finish it off. First, we'll add in a few teaspoons of garam masala, which will give our curry that classic Indian flavor. We'll also squeeze in some fresh lemon juice to brighten everything up and add a bit of zing. And finally, we'll garnish with some chopped cilantro and mint - the perfect finishing touches for this stunning dish.

When it comes time to taste-test our curry, we can hardly believe how delicious it is. The flavors have melded together beautifully, with the creaminess of the coconut milk balanced by the brightness of the lemon juice. And the best part? It's all completely vegan! So go ahead - give this recipe a try and experience the joy of building your own delicious Indian curry from scratch.

In conclusion, making a great Indian curry is an art that requires patience, practice, and attention to detail. But with these simple steps and a few key ingredients, you can create a dish that's truly greater than the sum of its parts. So don't be afraid to experiment and try new things - after all, that's what cooking is all about!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Today I'm gonna show you how to makean incredible chickpea curry.Chickpeas are coated in a generous blendof spices and aromatics,simmered until creamy,and finished with greens and fresh herbs.We're gonna get startedwith the aromatics.(tray clattering)Wow, that was heavy.(film reel beeping)We'll finely dice a large onion,doesn't matter if it's yellow or red.We're also gonna minceup six garlic cloves,and take a knob ofginger, about two inches.Grate that up.And dice a Serranopepper, or two, or three.This is where you can reallymoderate the heat of this curry.If you tend towards the babymouth side of the spectrum,go ahead and use one.And if you're off the scale,like a baby, baby mouth,maybe take out the membranes from these.They will get moderated in the curryso it's not gonna be super spicy.Try not to just directlyinhale it like I did just now.What I do recommend is immediatelygoing to wash your hands.Soap it up.We are left with the task of putting thisinto our bowl and I havejust washed my hands.I feel like I have done this beforeand yet I have not learned my lesson,but that's why I'm here.So you can learn my lessonsand not repeat them.I don't think I mentioned this yetbut this is an Indian chickpea curry.So these four ingredients,the onions, ginger, garlic,green chilies are what I callthe holy quaternity of Indian cooking.They create the flavor basefor so many amazing Indian recipes,and that's how my mom taughtme how to make my recipes.And moms are never wrong.And if you're wondering,are we making a chana masala, Nisha?No, we are not.Although I do love that.This is more of a creamyversion with greens,some different spices andit's pretty quick to make.We also need two Roma tomatoes.I'm pretty impressed I caught that.This is about one half poundor eight ounces of tomatoes.I like to cut the tomatoes pretty finelyso they melt into the curry.And if tomatoes are trulyhorrible where you live right nowbecause it's winter, you can use halfof a 14 ounce can ofdiced or crushed tomatoes.(water spraying)And because this is an Indian curry,we of course needs some spices.I've got my Indian masala dabba here,and the two whole spiceswe're gonna use todayare cumin seeds and coriander seeds.Want a heaping teaspoon of the cumin seedsand two teaspoons of the coriander seeds.I'm also gonna use somecurry leaves in this recipe.So if you're thinking, I don't have those,I'm not gonna make this recipe, bye,stay 'cause they're optional.But if you have an Indian grocery store,I highly recommend seekingfresh curry leaves out.They are low-key a superstar ingredient.Not low-key for Indian people'cause we already know they're amazing,but low-key for everybody elsewho might not be familiar with them.Smells so good.For this recipe, I'm gonna usemaybe 15 fresh curry leaves.They obviously vary in size,so if yours are reallylarge, you can use less.And if they're reallysmall, you can use more.And for our ground spices,we're using some pretty commonspices that you should haveat home, or easy to findat any grocery store.A teaspoon of ground coriander.A teaspoon and a half of curry powder.A half teaspoon of ground cinnamon.Quarter teaspoon of turmeric.And a half teaspoon offreshly graded nutmeg.(grater scraping)Everything that needsto be prepped is ready.So I'm gonna grab my tinystove and get to cooking.Medium high heat.Pro tip, if you have a stainless steel panand you feel like thefood sticks too much,let the pan heat up dry fora minute and a half or two.Then add your oil and let that heat upfor a little bit and yourfood will stick a lot less.We're gonna add two tablespoons of oil.This is avocado oil.And we'll add in ourcumin and coriander seeds.What we're doing istoasting our spices in oil.This is called blooming.And the reason I like to do thisis because spices are fat soluble.So you're gonna unlocklots of hidden aromasand flavors when you toastthem in a fat source.This shouldn't take long.You just wanna get thema few shades darkerand it'll smell really aromatic.Now for our curry leaves,if you're using fresh,have your lid handy 'causethese will sputter up.(pan sizzling)That's because there's a lotof moisture in the leavesso they're interacting with the hot oil.And this really onlyneeds like 20 seconds,so don't do it for too long.(pan sizzling)If you're using dried curryleaves, this will not happen.So don't worry.Now we're gonna add in our onions,hit them with a little salt,and show you what it looks like so far.Because we diced thoseonions pretty finely,they won't take too longto get some color on them.Maybe five minutes.If you feel like things arestarting to get a little toasty,maybe too toasty, add asplash of water to the glaze.(pan sizzling)Time for our other aromatics.The jar, jarlic.(giggling)(film reel beeping)The garlic, ginger, and green chilies.Oh, this is when the Serranopeppers are activated.You'll know.Your nostrils and yourthroat pipe, you'll know.I don't know what the medicalterm is for a throat pipe.Larynx?(film reel beeping)Now we are ready to add tomato paste,two tablespoons of this,and those ground spices.You wanna stir vigorously now,otherwise the spices will burn.(coughing)This is where you mightsneeze a little bit.And we have some stuffsticking to the bottom,so let's add in our water.You wanna stir this prettyvigorously for maybe 90 seconds'cause now we're gonnaadd in our tomatoes.Tomatoes need about five minutes.So in the meantime, I'mgonna drain our chickpeas.(upbeat music)And this is pretty mucha perfect recipe to me.It's got so much flavor,it's relatively easy to make.It's got protein, fat, fiber, even greens.Honestly, the onlything that would make iteven more perfect is ifit were a 30 minute meal.But good Indian food requiresthis layering of flavorsand you can't rush that process.You can't just dump some curry powderinto a soup pot and call it a curry.I'm sure you've seen those recipes online.We're not doing that.We wanna build an actually superflavorful, delicious curry.So once it's nicely softened like this,that's when you add therest of the ingredients.Chickpeas, just toss to coat.I'm just using canned chickpeas today'cause I wanna keepthings relatively quick.But if you're the kind ofperson who makes their own beansfrom scratch, more power to you.This will be even more delicious.Now we're gonna add our coconut milk.This is what makes thiscurry creamy and velvety.Wow, it is so beautifulalready, I have to show you.Woo.We're also gonna add a veryuntraditional ingredient.Tahini, what the heck is thisMiddle Eastern sesame pastedoing in my Indian curry?It's gonna add anadditional layer of richnessand a subtle nuttiness, butyou're not gonna taste tahini.It's just gonna be this kindof subtly hidden ingredient.And this is similarto my red lentil curry thatI know a lot of you love,where I use almond butter.Again, you don't taste the almond butter,but it does add that noticeable richness.And a half cup of waterso it's not too thick.Once she's simmering,you're gonna cover itand simmer for 15 to 20 ish minutes.I forgot an important step, salt.I was supposed to addit with the tomatoes.I didn't.We're gonna add it now.And black pepper.It's going to activate thecurcumin in the turmeric.Stir that in.(lid clattering)Oh, also, one more thing.Sugar, just a tiny bit tobalance everything out.You can use any sugar.I'm using coconut sugar todayand just a half teaspoon.Normally I would've added thesugar with the coconut milk.All right, while this simmers,we're gonna do a few things.First, we're gonna make somerice to serve with the curry.I like using my instant potfor this because it is very hands-off.(upbeat music)As I mentioned, we've gotsome greens in this curry.I am using Swiss chard today.It is one of those vegetablesthat's so good for youthat I kind of forgetto eat most of the time.So this is a great wayto get it into your diet,get it into your kids' diets,get it into your picky partners' diets.I'm pointing over here'cause my picky partner Max isbehind the camera over there.First we're gonna wash it andthen we'll finely chop it up.You can make this curry with any greens.So if you wanna skip thechard, you can use kale.You can use pre-bagged babyspinach or baby kale too.We've got some freshherbs, cilantro and mint.And these will be used asa finishing ingredient.I'm not measuring these,but I'd say a large handful of each.And if you only haveone or the other herb,that's totally fine too.(chopping)All right, it's been about 20 minutes.I'm gonna add in our greens.The greens need to simmerfor about five minutes.If you're using somethingmore tender like baby spinach,it probably just needs a minute or two.Last couple things.We're gonna add twoteaspoons of garam masalaonce the greens have wilted.Garam masala is oftenused as a finishing spicelike this, and it addsthis incredible, bold,slightly sweet, warm flavor.I usually like to adda little more salt nowbecause once you add thegreens, they start to drawout some of the saltthat's already in there.Little bit of lemon juiceto brighten everything.And our cilantro and mint.Yum, this looks so good.Wow.I can't tell you how good it smells.When I was growing up,people used to make fun of me'cause my house smelled like curry.And honestly, now I'm justlike, y'all are stupid.Curry smells delicious.And you would be so lucky ifyour house could smell like it.I wanna live in this.Time for a taste test.Would you look at this?It's so beautiful.It's creamy.It's got that nice green colorfrom the herbs and the greens.(upbeat music)It's warming, it'scomforting, it's creamy.It's got a little freshness from the mint.And if you want even moredelicious vegan Indian recipes,I've got a short playlistfor you right here.Bye-bye.Tomatoes.\n"