The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (28 page)

All curries are endlessly variable. You can use a good teaspoon of curry paste or your own spices, as below; experiment to find out what you prefer and how strong you like them. Coconut milk, yogurt or a can of tomatoes can form the basis of the sauce or, if you want a really mild curry, ordinary milk works beautifully.

The absolute rule with these curries is always, always to cook the spices for a good minute or two before adding the liquid. This will take off their raw edge and intensify the flavour. If you want to use fresh meat, you will need to add it to the pan before the liquid, turning it well over a fairly high heat until it has coloured on all sides. With leftover meat, though, the opposite is the case – you need to build up the flavours and thicken the sauce before tossing in your meat to warm through right at the end.

This is a gentle, well-behaved curry. You can play around with the spices as you like: substitute a rounded teaspoon of curry paste or powder for the individual spices used below or replace them with gentler spices such as cumin or coriander seeds – well toasted and then bashed in a mortar -or bruised cardamom pods, fenugreek and fennel seeds along with the ginger and garlic. With mild curries like these, a final squeeze of lemon adds real brightness and a generous handful of toasted flaked almonds will give a sweet crunch.

When it comes to vegetable curries, take inspiration from your favourite Indian restaurant; sweet potatoes and pumpkin are particularly fine together; mushrooms pair deliciously with green beans.

Serves 2

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

a little butter or oil

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1½ teaspoons garam masala

a small pinch of chilli powder (or more, to taste
)

2 ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped

½ teacup coconut milk or yogurt

about 2 teacups (200g) diced leftover poultry, fish or vegetables of your choice (or fresh meat, fish or vegetables
)

a handful of chopped fresh coriander

Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger in a little butter or oil until just beginning to colour. Add the turmeric, garam masala and chilli (or replace these with curry paste or powder) and cook gently for 1-2 minutes to open up the flavour of the spices.

If you are using fresh meat, fish or vegetables,
add them now and turn them in the spiced onion mixture until well coated. Then stir in the tomatoes, followed by the coconut milk or yogurt (which will separate slightly into delicious curds) and bring gently to the boil. Cook at a lazy bubble for about 8 minutes if using chicken or fish, more like 20 for vegetables.

If you are using leftover meat, fish or vegetables,
add the tomatoes to the spiced onion mixture, followed by the yogurt, and let the curried sauce bubble away for about 15 minutes, until thickened. Then slip the meat, fish or vegetables into the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes or so, until they are thoroughly heated through.

Sprinkle the chopped coriander over the curry and serve with rice, salad or flatbreads, plus mango chutney, plain yogurt or yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber and fresh mint.

As with the mild curry on the previous pages, you can substitute curry paste or powder for the spices listed below, or vary the spices as you like. Always make sure they are cooked well before adding the liquid – this is vital, to ‘open’ and mingle the spices and prevent them burning the back of your throat. The canned tomatoes can be replaced by the same quantity of plain yogurt – in which case reduce the simmering time by half.

Serves 2

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1cm piece of fresh ginger, grated

a little butter or oil for frying

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

a good pinch of cayenne pepper

3 cardamom pods, bruised (bash smartly with the flat side of a knife
)

400g can of tomatoes, drained

2 teaspoons tomato purée

2 teacups (about 200g) diced leftover beef, lamb or pork (or fresh meat, if you prefer
)

a handful of chopped fresh coriander

In a small casserole, sweat the onion, garlic and ginger in a little butter or oil until softened and beginning to colour. Add all the spices, stir well and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes. (If you are using fresh meat, add it now and turn it in the spiced oily mixture until well coated.) Stir in the tomatoes and purée, bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to a very gentle simmer. Put on the lid and cook for 30-40 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Add the leftover meat and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Scatter over the chopped coriander and serve with rice, mango chutney, plain yogurt or yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber and fresh mint.

Root vegetable curry
Omit the meat and instead add your favourite root vegetables, peeled and diced, as soon as the tomato liquid has been brought to simmering point. Potatoes and cauliflower florets are a classic (
aloo gobi
).

Paneer and pea or spinach curry
Paneer (see
page 206
) is great with an equal quantity of frozen peas or spinach – add them to the sauce once it has begun to thicken, omitting the meat.

Jalfrezi
A spicy curried dish with fresh tomatoes and green peppers, traditionally made with leftover meat. The process is the same, but add a deseeded and chopped hot green chilli to the onion mixture and replace the canned tomatoes with a similar weight of skinned and chopped fresh tomatoes and a finely sliced, deseeded green pepper. Leave out the cardamom. Simmer until the tomato sauce is thickening, then add leftover chicken or lamb.

Milder tomato curry
Tame the dish by adding a teacupful of yogurt to the onion and spice mixture just before you add the tomatoes. The yogurt will reduce and thicken in the heat, coating the meat in a gorgeous satiny blanket.