It’s national curry week, which has always had a place in our hearts here in the SK kitchen, after all it is our bread and butter (or should that be naan?)
To mark the week, supermarket Morrisons recently launched a new eight chilli-rated curry dubbed the Flaming Fiery Phaal. This was after complaints that their Volcanic Vindaloo was nowhere near hot enough.
This new dish comes with warning label as it contains scorpion chillies (which top the Scoville Heat Scale) as well as naga and green chillies.
So, it’s no surprise that after it was launched, there were lots of newspaper articles on people who had dared to try the curry – we were thankfully not one of them.
Call us old fashioned but when we eat curry we like to be able to taste it and not to have to resort to downing a pint of water or milk after every mouthful to cool down. You probably know by now that beer does absolutely nothing to help the cooling process so remember that next time you are downing your six pints of Kingfisher.
Of course, when we were younger we liked to show off to our friends by ordering ridiculously hot curries. The hottest I ever had was a vindaloo and put it this way I haven’t had one since.
Your taste buds get better with age and you learn that milder curries (and no, we are not advocating for a korma because that’s going too far down the scale) are the best because you can actually taste the ingredients used to make them.
Going back to the Phaal, there’s no way you will be able to taste the array of spices, including paprika, garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, fennel, fenugreek and cardamom, that are in the dish, so what’s the point?
So stick to curries you can taste and enjoy and while you are at it, ditch the Kingfisher as well. Have you not heard of craft beer!!!
Here’s this week’s recipe for a perfect curry accompaniment and also one of our specialities here in the SK kitchen:
Onion bhaji
Ingredients:
- 2 free-range eggs
- 3 onions, sliced
- 120g/4oz plain flour
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra if required
Method:
- Beat the eggs in a bowl.
- Add the onion rings and mix well.
- Add the flour, ground coriander and cumin seeds and stir well to combine.
- Heat the oil in a deep-sided frying pan over a medium heat. When hot add a large spoonful of the bhaji mixture and fry for 30-45 seconds, until golden-brown.
- Turn the bhaji over and fry for a further 30 seconds, until crisp and golden-brown all over. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
- Repeat with the remaining bhaji mixture, replenishing the oil in the pan if it runs low and allowing it to heat up again after a new addition.
About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
