Recipes
Articles about recipes in the UK curry industry
Ghee: Making Cultured Brown Butter the Indian Way
Ghee is butter taken to its nutty, golden, shelf-stable conclusion, and the traditional cultured bilona method gives it a depth no shortcut can match. Here is how ghee is made from malai to clarified gold, why the caramelisation point matters, and how it defines tarka and mithai.
Kasuri Methi: The Dried Fenugreek Leaf That Finishes a Curry
Kasuri methi is the crushed dried fenugreek leaf that gives butter chicken and dal makhani their distinctive bittersweet, almost maple-like aroma. Here is how to use it, why it goes in at the end, and how to store it so it lasts.
Curry Leaves: The Tempering Herb of the South, Fresh vs Dried
Curry leaves have nothing to do with curry powder. This is the fragrant South Indian herb that spvutters in hot oil to flavour dals, sambars and chutneys, and a guide to using it fresh or dried and keeping a plant alive in the UK.
Tamarind and Jaggery: How India Builds Sweet-Sour Backbone
Tamarind brings the sour and jaggery brings the sweet, and together they give countless Indian dishes their addictive backbone. A practical guide to pulp versus concentrate, choosing your jaggery, and the dishes that depend on the pairing.
Black Cardamom: The Smoky Heart of Garam Masala
Black cardamom is the big, smoke-dried pod that gives slow-cooked North Indian dishes their savoury, campfire depth. Here is how it differs from green cardamom, when to bruise it or leave it whole, and its role in nihari, biryani and garam masala.
Bhuna: The Patient Fry-and-Reduce Technique Behind Real Depth
Bhuna is not a dish so much as a technique: frying and reducing the masala until the oil separates and the flavours deepen. Master it and even a simple curry tastes like it took all day.
The Restaurant Base Gravy Secret: Why Curry Houses Cook Onions for Hours
Order six different curries and they all arrive in minutes. The secret is the base gravy, a giant pot of slow-cooked onion sauce that underpins the entire British curry-house menu.
Achaari Cooking: Building Curries on the Spices of the Pickle Jar
Achaari curries borrow the bold, tangy spice blend of the Indian pickle jar, nigella, fennel, fenugreek and mustard, to build dishes that taste sharp, oily and gloriously punchy.
Marination Science: Why Yoghurt, Papaya and Time Tenderise Meat
The secret to melt-in-the-mouth tikka and kebabs is not just spice, it is chemistry. Here is how yoghurt, papaya and acids actually tenderise meat, and how to avoid the mushy trap of over-marinating.
Laccha Paratha: Building the Flaky Layered Whorls
How the pleat-and-coil method, ghee between every layer, and a sharp crush on the tawa turn plain dough into the shatteringly flaky, ring-patterned laccha paratha. A practical guide for the home cook who wants restaurant-grade strands.
Luchi: Bengal's Pillowy White Flour Puris for Feast Days
Luchi is the soft, pale, balloon-puffed maida bread at the heart of Bengali feasts, fried to puff without browning and served with kosha mangsho and cholar dal. Here is how to get the pillow without the colour, and why it belongs to Puja mornings.
Sheermal: The Saffron Milk Flatbread of Awadhi Tables
Sheermal is the faintly sweet, saffron-and-milk-enriched flatbread of Lucknow and Hyderabad, baked rather than fried and built to soak up nihari and korma. Here is the dough, the saffron-milk glaze and the regal pairings.