Our cookbook book club is reviewing At Home with Lynn Crawford right now. I've sampled 11 recipes from the book which is, overall, good not great in my view. What is great, however, is this curry sauce. To my taste, it's the perfect pub curry sauce. You can make it ahead and freeze it for a quick, tasty curry later. The recipe makes approximately 5 cups of sauce. I freeze in two portions, each of which is enough for 1lb of chicken. What do you think?
Curry Sauce
2-4 tbsp canola oil
1 lb onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 c coconut milk
2 c tomato juice
2 c chicken stock
Salt, pepper and cayenne
Combine oil and onions in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until light brown, about 15 minutes. Add garlic, curry, garam masala, cumin seeds, cardamom and turmeric and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add coconut milk and stir until combined. Add tomato juice and stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about an hour, until sauce has thickened. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne. Let cool 10 minutes then purée until smooth.
To make chicken curry, brown 1 lb cubed chicken (I like thighs) in oil. Stir in approximately 2 1/2 cups of curry sauce (half the recipe), bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over hot basmati rice.
NB. This also works well with tofu.
