Easy curry paste recipes | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

How do you use Jamie Oliver's curry paste? ›

Preparation and Usage

For a meat or veg curry, heat a splash of oil, then add the paste and diced meat or roughly chopped root veg, and fry for about 5 minutes, before adding tomatoes, passata or coconut milk with a splash of stock to make your sauce. Stir in pulses.

Add the turmeric, cinnamon, paprika and dried chillies to a pestle and mortar. Add the cooled toasted spices and grind everything together into a fine powder. Add the salt. Add grated ginger, garlic, tomato purée and white wine vinegar and mix well to make a paste.

Add in more dried spices.

While the store bought pastes may contain them, in my experience their aromas don't come through. So I've gotten in the habit of toasting a small amount of my own whole spices, pounding them into a powder in my mortar and pestle, then mixing that powder into my paste.

Curry powder is a dry ingredient that must be activated with a liquid or oil. It does not include fresh chilies, so it will be much less spicy than a curry paste. Curry paste is ideal for Thai-style curries. Dry curry powder is better for Indian-style dishes.

Flavor a marinade or rub

The paste will add flavor and help to tenderize the meat as it cooks. The same goes for rubs: Thai curry pastes can be mixed with a little oil and used as a rub for grilled or roasted meats to add flavor and to tenderize them.

The paste is mixed with coconut milk or water plus vegetables, meat or seafood, then served up on a bed of jasmine or sticky rice. You can also use Thai curry paste in warming soups and sizzling stir fries.

You can use it in a marinade or as a rub for chicken, fish, or beef. Mixing it with vinegar or yogurt will result in a tasty salad dressing. What's more, adding curry paste at the beginning of cooking can help you build flavor in soups and stews.

Kinds of Curry Pastes

That being said, there are a few curry pastes that are so widely used that it's worthwhile knowing what they are and what goes into them, and they can be divided into two main categories: curry pastes used to make coconut-based curries and curry pastes used to make water-based curries.

You want to be able to control the spiciness of your curry paste. This is one problem with store bought - if it's too spicy, the only thing you can do is to use less; but that also means weaker flavours. Making your own is a great way to make it as mild as you can tolerate.

The easiest way to fix a bland and tasteless curry is by adding spices like red chili powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, curry leaves and turmeric. Just make a quick tempering and pour over the curry to give it a nice punch of spices and herbs.

What happens if you add too much curry paste? ›

If you added too much of curry paste it will increase the spiciness and pungent smell of the gravy. Add ground coconut paste and simmer in Sim flame. Add a little tamarind juice and cook for 5 minutes. Add salt if needed.

Your curry can taste bitter if the spices and garlic are burnt or if you've added too much fenugreek to the dish. You see, the secret to cooking a delicious curry recipe is to create a spicy paste and slowly cook it before adding your meat.

While the dish's spiciness can vary based on the chef, typically, red curry is hotter than green. Red curry tends to be more versatile, while green is more unique in its flavors.

If you do not have mortar and pestle at home, we think that using a blender is a good alternative which efficiently helps you make into a spice paste within minutes! Keep spice paste refrigerated once turn into a paste. If not consumed within 3 days, keep it in the freezer to ensure freshness.

I'm a great lover of Thai-style curries like Phat Phrik Khing and Khao Soi, and through the years we've found that the best way to get flavor out of your aromatics is by pounding them with a mortar and pestle. This is true whether you're making a curry paste, a pesto, or even the flavor base for guacamole or salsas.

The amount of curry paste you use for one batch of curry depends on the strength of your paste and your personal spice tolerance, so taste the paste before you start! If it's really strong, start with about 2 tablespoons of paste for a batch of curry for four.

You can, but most curry recipes instruct you to sauté the paste to bloom the herbs and spices in fat as the first step, and if you use a watery paste, you'll be boiling it for a while before it actually starts to fry.