Vick from “Three” on the Clifton Road brings us the first of his weekly recipes (in his own words), as featured in the “Rugby Register” magazine.
This week it is the big one, my favourite meal of all time. The meal I usually make in a vat and eat for breakfast lunch and dinner till it’s gone. This will also furnish you with the base used for most Indian food. Indians love value for money so here I will give you one recipe that will give you over 50 dishes!
I saw one restaurant in France stretch this base to 54 dishes. The philosophy behind the base is to enhance and bring out the flavour of whatever you are cooking which is why I do not understand curry powder which makes every dish taste of, well…curry powder.
This curry is a favourite authentic dish in India. When someone makes it in a village everyone comes round for dinner as it involves a long winded process. Here in England in a post industrial world that has seen the creation of factories which produce cans of cooked Kidney beans it is a much easier affair. Not that you’ll be doing this, but in case you did want to make it the Indian way, you’ll need to soak the beans for a day in water then cook them in a pressure cooker with salt bearing in mind that they will be poisonous if you don’t cook them properly, and by poisonous I mean really poisonous so be warned.
Kidney Bean Curry & Rice
The ingredients;
2 cans of Kidney beans: Don’t use the cheapest or how are you going to make the best? Use salted beans or you’ll have to over salt later on.
Garlic, ginger & green chilli: Yet another appearance by the famous trio.
Two Onions: Medium sized and red although white will be fine.
One can of tinned tomato: See the above notes for kidney beans.
2 heaped teaspoons of Coriander powder: A dark brown powder used more as a thickener than flavouring.
Quarter of a tea spoon of Garam massala: I make my own mix of cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Try to make your own as shop bought packets are heavily loaded with cumin as it is the cheapest spice.
Fresh coriander: I can’t say any more than that!
Natural yogurt
The Method
Cut the onions into long thin strips or dice depending on how much you like to see the onions in the final dish.I normally dice them. Fry these till translucent. Then spoon the onions to one side of the pan and add finely chopped garlic and ginger. Fry till it almost goes brown then combine with the onions. I add a little salt to this mix as it seems to add more flavour to the finished dish.
When these are all browned add the tinned tomatoes, chopped chilli, a quarter of a teaspoon of turmeric and the coriander powder with a teaspoon of salt. This is the base which can be used for any number of curries.
Cook the base down on a high heat to further concentrate before adding the kidney beans. Bring to the boil and then simmer for approximately 45 minutes to an hour and a half and add the garam massala when the beans are almost done. Add too early and it will over power the taste.
Cook the beans till they are very soft and the sauce has thickened and merged with the beans. Add the fresh coriander.
Cook some rice and spoon on the beans with a very healthy amount of natural yogurt and garnish with fresh coriander.
To eat, stir till they are fully mixed together and eat for dinner or like me, for breakfast lunch and dinner! If this all sounds long winded then try it at the ‘three’ Friday night supper club. This month it may have been short on laughs but long on substance!
Three, Clifton Road, Rugby. https://www.threerugby.com 01788 544 782