Three Asian Curry Recipes
I rarely cook typical Gujarati dishes though I enjoy them so much (I leave that to my mum because she makes them better and also I rarely visit the Indian groceries to buy the vegetables). I love to experiment with different types of curries and have put together a list of three of my recent Asian inspired curries. Keep reading for recipes on Indo-Chinese Soya Chunks (v), Malaysian Prawn Rendang & Keralan Fish Curry. The recipes below are for two people.
PRAWN RENDANG WITH ROTI CANAI
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Ingredients
- Prawn Rendang
Rendang curry paste ( I was gifted this by Maktok)
Raw prawns (15-21)
Coconut Milk (1 cup)
- Roti Canai
220g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp ghee
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup warm milk
1/4 cup warm water
additional ghee or
butter for cooking
Method
- Prawn Rendang
- Marinate the prawns using half the jar of Rendang paste for about an hour. I prefer raw to cooked prawns.
- Heat a pan then add in the prawns with the marinade. You don’t need any oil because the paste has it in there. Add in the paste left in the jar and let this cook for a couple of minutes before adding the prawns with the marinade.
- Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes then add the coconut milk. Stir it through and then let the dish for simmer for about 15 minutes.
- I garnished mine with some toasted desiccated coconut and a kaffir leaf.
- Roti Canai
- Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and ghee together
- In a separate bowl mix the egg, warm milk and warm water
- Combine the two ingredients to form a dough. Takes about 9 minutes. A machine with a dough attachment will help. The dough should be stretchy.
- Lightly grease your hands with ghee and form four equal balls. Place them in a greased bowl. Coat each bowl with ghee to ensure it doesn’t dry
- Cover the bowl and leave them to rest in the fridge overnight
- Take the dough out of the fridge an hour before cooking. Grease the work surface with oil. Place one ball and flatten with the help of fingers. I found it easier to work from out to in.
- Keep stretching until you get a thin dough. It doesn’t matter if you get some tears. Once you have a thin dough, fold it in a third and repeat four times until all ends are folded. I lightly patted the roti at this stage to flatten it before cooking.
- It took a few you tube videos to understand what I was doing and I still did not get it correct but it was my first attempt. The key is to have a nice stretchy dough and grease it well.
- Cook on a lightly greased pan, on medium heat. Cook on one side for about a minute then turn and cook again for a minute. Add a few drops of oil around on the sides of the roti. Turn it around and cook for a final time.
- The idea is to end up with a crispy layered roti that just melts in your mouth. Mine didn’t quite melt in my mouth but they were delicious. The trick is to add more fat (ghee, butter) in between folding but I skipped that stage.
KERALAN FISH CURRY WITH CUMIN RICE
Ingredients
- Fish Curry
4 large cod fillets ( Frozen or fresh)
1/2 juice lemon – to marinate fish
1 tsp salt – to marinate fish
1/2 tsp turmeric powder – to marinate fish
1/2 tsp red chilli powder – to marinate fish
1 sliced red onion
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp crushed ginger
1 – 2 chopped chillies dependant on the heat you like
5 curry leaves
1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
1 tsp salt or more to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp thana jiru (ground cumin & coriander)
1 cup passata
1 cup coconut milk
A handful of chopped coriander
- Cumin Rice
1 tsp of cumin
Basmati rice
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ghee
salt to taste
water to boil
Method
- Fish Curry
- Marinate the fish in the lemon, salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. If you have frozen fish, put the marinade in and let the fish defrost in it. This can be done for a couple of hours (for the frozen fish wait until it defrosts)
- In a pan heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add in the cumin and fenugreek seeds and sizzle for a minute then add in the sliced onion.
- Cook on low/medium heat until the onions are soft. Add in the garlic, ginger, chilli & curry leaves and sizzle for a couple of minutes. Ensure it doesn’t burn or else you will get a bitter taste from the burnt garlic
- Add in the passata and the rest of the spices. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes then add in the coconut milk. Let this simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Wash the marinade from the fish (cut into the pieces if the fillet is too large) add it into the curry. Coat the top of the fish too with the sauce, cover and let this simmer** on low heat for 15-25 mins (until fish is cooked). **If you are not eating the curry straight away, don’t cook the fish at this point or else it may get mushy and overcooked. Leave it in the marinade and cook when you are ready to eat**
- Garnish with chopped coriander. I served mine with cumin rice.
- Cumin Rice
- Soak rice to remove excess starch.
- In a pan, heat from ghee, add in cumin seeds and once they sizzle carefully add in boiling water, turmeric and salt. I generally use a 1:2 measurement for rice i.e. if the rice is an inch in a bowl I use 2 inches water.
- Drain the rice and add it carefully in the boiling water.
INDO-CHINESE SOYA CHUNKS WITH HOMEMADE NAAN
Ingredients
- Chilli Soya Chunks
100 g cooked soya chunks1 tsp crushed ginger
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp crushed green chillies
1 choppedmixed pepper (I used half of each colour)
1 sliced red onion
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp sriracha sauce or any chilli sauce
1 tbsp brown vinegar
salt & pepper
coriander to garnish
- Homemade Naan
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup yoghurt
chopped coriander and 1 crushed garlic (optional)
salt to taste
Method
- Chilli Soya Chunks
- Add 1 tsp chilli powder and 1 tsp pepper & salt to 100g of soaked/
boiled soya chunks (see instruction on the packet for boiling instructions)
- Heat some oil and cook the soya chunks for 10 mins. Take them out
in a bowl and leave on the side. In the same pan add 2 tbsp oil. - Once hot, add 1tsp crushed garlic, 1tsp crushed ginger &1tsp crushed green chillies. Cook for 2 mins
- Mix soy sauce, tomato ketchup, brown vinegar & sriracha sauce
- Add in sliced red onion & mixed pepper. Cook for 2 minutes. You want that crunch so try not to overcook.
- Add back the soya chunks & the sauce you prepared in step 4.
Cook for about 10 mins on low heat, garnish with coriander and serve.
- I had some leftover and the next day I added in some pan-fried halloumi. It worked really well. The sauce would work well with cooked paneer too.
- Homemade Naan
- Mix the ingredients together and knead to form a soft dough. Split the dough into equal balls.
- Flour a surface and roll out each dough. If the surface or/and rolling pin get sticky, sprinkle some flour.
- Heat a pancake pan on medium heat. Place the naan and cook on one side for about 1 minute. Turn the naan and cook for another minute or so, moving it to ensure it doesn’t burn/stick. Turn and cook again for 30 seconds or so to ensure it is done. At this stage, I press the naan gently to allow it to rise.
- Spread some butter on top and serve.
What is your favourite type of curry? I like mine with heat but equally, give me a fragrant mild curry and I will equally enjoy it.
Neha
x
Disclaimer: I was gifted the jar or Rendang Sauce
Some great curry inspiration ideas here Neha and love a Rendang sauce! That soya mince curry is a regular at ours. Usually like my curries spicy but don’t mind a Thai fragrant one either.
I love Asian recipes! Your blog is a godsend for me. I will definitely try to cook! Thanks for sharing!
Now this has made me hungry! I’m actually making a curry for dinner tonight!