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Mother NurseHolliday's top tip number 1: Don't add the spices into the curry, fry them with your onion and garlic to get them working, you can always tell when someone's added spices after the curry has been made as you get a gritty taste. If you need to add some spices once your curry is made, fry them first then add them.
Yes, part of why Indian method is sometimes called 'scientific' is because things are added at the right time. Onion, garlic, ginger, chillies (and whatever else is cooked with them initially) effectively become part of the underlying masala this way.
Mother NurseHolliday's top tip number 3: Go easy on the tomatoes, too many tomatoes make your curry a bit soupy and washes out the flavour.
Well, that depends on what you're cooking, doesn't it? If you're doing a tomato curry, you don't want to go easy on them. :) In other recipes, if tomatoes feature the other ingredients should be appropriate for them (e.g., one of my favourites, blending them with fennel seeds and garlic, in which the tomatoes very much help enhance the flavour rather than 'washing out' the flavour). Iif you want to avoid 'soupiness' if you're improvising, there are other ways of adjusting spicing, and/or ensure that the tomatoes are reduced appropriately and not too watery. Tomato purée is your friend. Tomato quality also varies widely. (I got some dried Greek cherry tomatoes the other week which I'm slowly using up. They're lovely.) Then again, everybody tastes things slightly differently, and I just happen to really like tomatoes.
A tip I learned from Rick Stein(!) was to use red onions instead of white and I really like the difference in flavour, my mum has even switched to red since I told her about it.
Or use shallots, which have an even better flavour. They're a bit of a pain to prepare, though, which is why few people bother. I always find it's worth the effort, though.
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Oliver Schick
@NurseHolliday
@giofox88 My mum is Pakistani and she always uses pre-ground spices which she buys in bulk and keeps in jars. I always grind mine fresh and my mum's food still tastes better. If you enjoy the theatre of cooking which I think you do, then you'll enjoy the experience of toasting the spices and grinding them yourself, but it won't necessarily make a huge difference to the flavour. It will make everyone who comes round think your food is amazing because you get this beautifully fragrant scent from the toasting and grinding.
Mother NurseHolliday's top tip number 1: Don't add the spices into the curry, fry them with your onion and garlic to get them working, you can always tell when someone's added spices after the curry has been made as you get a gritty taste. If you need to add some spices once your curry is made, fry them first then add them.
Mother NurseHolliday's top tip number 2: Go easy on the onion, too much onion makes your curry sweet.
Mother NurseHolliday's top tip number 3: Go easy on the tomatoes, too many tomatoes make your curry a bit soupy and washes out the flavour.
A tip I learned from Rick Stein(!) was to use red onions instead of white and I really like the difference in flavour, my mum has even switched to red since I told her about it.