Chinese Curry

JohnC6

JohnC6

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Thought I'd post something uplifting. I really like Chinese curry as opposed to Indian. Too spicy for me even the mild ones.

The problem is that if it's a chicken curry the Take-Away uses cheap chicken which is like rubber so why can't we make our own. ? I haven't come across anyone who can make Indian curry taste the same as from the restautrant or Take-Away. Packets/jars from the supermarket haven't matched up, either. Will it be the same for Chinese. ?

I found this Chinese curry sauce concentrate paste and I'd say it's at least as good ,in not better, than from the Take-Away. Just add water .100gm of the paste to 300 gms of water ..that's 352 mls. Instructions on the box. My wife bought quality chicken breast,onions,mushrooms and green pepper. Just as the Take-Away would serve it .We used Uncle Ben's mushroomn rice. It goes well. It tasted excellent.

We got ours from Amazon ..about £4 but I see Tesco do it for £2.75 online so probably instore,too. It's 405gms and 100gms gave us a meal each and we still had enough for a spare portion. Read the reviews in the Tesco link. First one says it's "too bland" ..personal taste...but the rest sing its praises.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-...VB5pQBh1Ndg0KEAQYASABEgKcu_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I see Sainsburys sell it,too. £2.80 405gms. My wife thought the mix she made was a wee bit thick so added a little more water.

I see Goldfish do Indian and Japanese pastes ,too. I suspect that the Chinese Take-Aways use the 4.5Kg size tub. I'm sure they wouldn't go to the trouble of making it themselves. Maybe the Indian curry paste is what the restaurants/Take-Aways use, too.

Here's the range https://keejays.com/goldfish-brand/
 
That's useful info re the range of pastes, I like to make my own whenever I can but jar/packet mixes are never that great.
 
I've tried that one, it's decent yup. Coincidentally I just posted this in the Air Fryer thread other day, I prefer this one, for me it's closer to what I expect from a decent Chinese take away curry:


You get 3 rounds of it in the pack, so about €1 per decent jug full of curry. They have a hotter one too, but it you like it mild this is about the best one I've found to date. It comes in powder form, I never measure it precisely just go with 1/3 of the pack to 340ml hot water, you can do it in pan or just mix it up in a glass measuring jug, once smooth just give it a further zap in the microwave or indeed, if you're just re-heating it.
 
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In a real Chinese takeaway they make up the curry sauce from a dry packet with added water so it’s likely you’ve bought the same one or similar hence why it tastes the same. All the curry sauce ‘flour’ mixes are very similar so easy to find one that tastes the same.

In most Indian restaurants they have one base sauce this https://greatcurryrecipes.net/2013/12/31/make-indian-restaurant-style-curry-sauce-large-batch/

And then add different meats and spices to make over a hundred ‘different’ dishes.

It's no more authentic Indian food than Fish and Chips is though. Best Indian ‘style’ food imo is what you’ll find at an Indian wedding or a decent restaurant such as Ackbars which seems to be a cross over between authentic home cooked Indian food and the above.
 
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Cagey75 said:
I've tried that one, it's decent yup. Coincidentally I just posted this in the Air Fryer thread other day, I prefer this one, for me it's closer to what I expect from a decent Chinese take away curry:

Click to expand...


Brazo said:
In a real Chinese takeaway they make up the curry sauce from a dry packet with added water so it’s likely you’ve bought the same one or similar hence why it tastes the same. All the curry sauce ‘flour’ mixes are very similar so easy to find one that tastes the same.

In most Indian restaurants they have one base sauce this https://greatcurryrecipes.net/2013/12/31/make-indian-restaurant-style-curry-sauce-large-batch/
Click to expand...

Thanks, Keith and Mark..I've sent the links to my wife's computer.
 
I’ve bought this in the past from places like B&M and find it hard to tell the difference between Chinese restaurant curry and this.

Takes about 3 minutes on the hob.

shop.mayflower.co.uk

Mayflower Curry Sauce Mix

Our Chinese style Medium & Extra Hot Curry mixes are perfect for a Chinese curry or alongside a traditional fish ‘n’ chips. Suitable for both Vegans and Vegetarians. This product contains only 100% sustainable palm oil. Ingredients: Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin...
shop.mayflower.co.uk shop.mayflower.co.uk
 
wibbly said:
I’ve bought this in the past from places like B&M and find it hard to tell the difference between Chinese restaurant curry and this.

Takes about 3 minutes on the hob.

shop.mayflower.co.uk

Mayflower Curry Sauce Mix

Our Chinese style Medium & Extra Hot Curry mixes are perfect for a Chinese curry or alongside a traditional fish ‘n’ chips. Suitable for both Vegans and Vegetarians. This product contains only 100% sustainable palm oil. Ingredients: Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin...
shop.mayflower.co.uk shop.mayflower.co.uk
Click to expand...
I've tried that same one in the past, I too was impressed.
 
wibbly said:
I’ve bought this in the past from places like B&M and find it hard to tell the difference between Chinese restaurant curry and this.

Takes about 3 minutes on the hob.

shop.mayflower.co.uk

Mayflower Curry Sauce Mix

Our Chinese style Medium & Extra Hot Curry mixes are perfect for a Chinese curry or alongside a traditional fish ‘n’ chips. Suitable for both Vegans and Vegetarians. This product contains only 100% sustainable palm oil. Ingredients: Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin...
shop.mayflower.co.uk shop.mayflower.co.uk
Click to expand...
Yup that's decent, that's the one I posted earlier only a Tesco link , I need to try the hot version
 
wibbly said:
I’ve bought this in the past from places like B&M and find it hard to tell the difference between Chinese restaurant curry and this.

Takes about 3 minutes on the hob.

shop.mayflower.co.uk

Mayflower Curry Sauce Mix

Our Chinese style Medium & Extra Hot Curry mixes are perfect for a Chinese curry or alongside a traditional fish ‘n’ chips. Suitable for both Vegans and Vegetarians. This product contains only 100% sustainable palm oil. Ingredients: Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin...
shop.mayflower.co.uk shop.mayflower.co.uk
Click to expand...

The problem with that, is that it is high in palm oil, which is a saturated fat and can lead to heart desease if consumed regularly.
My first curries, in the mid 70's were chicken curries from the local Chinese takeaway, they were very tasty, but had this "gloopy" feel to them. My first real Indian curry, was a Rogan Josh from an Indian restaurant, which I regularly ran past when training for marathons in 1981. This was the real thing, an explosion of flavours which was so different.
I haven't had a Chinese curry since.
 
Our local Chinese take away does a superb mixed meat curry +chips which is more than enough for the two of us for £10.20:. It’s honestly not worth doing it yourself when you can get a piled high plate for a fiver each ..
 
the black fox said:
Our local Chinese take away does a superb mixed meat curry +chips which is more than enough for the two of us for £10.20:. It’s honestly not worth doing it yourself when you can get a piled high plate for a fiver each ..
Click to expand...

It's all about quality, Jeff. Mixed meat ?.. curry. :eek:

As I mentioned,the quality of the chicken,which is what most people eat, is poor..it's the texture of rubber. The green peppers we get,the mushrooms, the onions are all fresh and lightly-fried in sunflower oil. As you'll know,the chips are different to those from our chippes. I found them soggy but as a young man having a late Take-Away after a night out, I did enjoy them. Just curry/chips.Not so, these days,though. So..yes, their curry/chips are quite tasty so I'm not totally decrying them. We never buy chips from Indian restaurant/.Takeaways.


A copy/paste:
"It's Feng Shui; the orientation of the fryers polarises the potato molecules into crunchy crystals. And MSG, lots of MSG. Pretty sure they fully cook them in preparation, and by the time they are ordered they have gone cold, so they stick them back on the fryer, overcooking and drying them out on the inside" MSG..

Monosodium Glutamate, is, as you'll appreciate, a flavour enhancer and it's in pretty well all processed foods but it seems the Chinese use a lot of it. I also read that they fry them in the same oil as they use for their spring rolls so the flavour goes into the chips. I suppose people, like yourself, quite enjoy that taste. In Chinese cook programmes on TV they use peanut (groundnut) oil.

As I mentioned, we use Uncle Ben's range. My wife says she just hasn't been able to get the hang of cooking rice properly . This evening we're trying their Special Fried Rice. The first time we had the mushroom rice.

So..the cost..The quality chicken breasts we use costs about £5 (the pack is enough for three meals) but we have a quality-meat Farm shop just 2 miles away and the veg, 75p. It's really quick and easy to cook and half the price of yours and with quality chicken and fresh veg. We use Chesswood mushrooms which are also quality mushrooms.

Btw. Not sure your "piled-high' plate of mixed meat or any meat curry is too good for one's health...:D
 
andya700 said:
The problem with that, is that it is high in palm oil, which is a saturated fat and can lead to heart desease if consumed regularly.
My first curries, in the mid 70's were chicken curries from the local Chinese takeaway, they were very tasty, but had this "gloopy" feel to them. My first real Indian curry, was a Rogan Josh from an Indian restaurant, which I regularly ran past when training for marathons in 1981. This was the real thing, an explosion of flavours which was so different.
I haven't had a Chinese curry since.
Click to expand...

Palm oil, sadly, can be found in many products though - like peanut butter, some cakes, chocolate. I think if you're not ingesting it regular it's no worse than having any of those 'treats'
 
Shop carefully and you can find products free from palm oil.
 
Cagey75 said:
Palm oil, sadly, can be found in many products though - like peanut butter, some cakes, chocolate. I think if you're not ingesting it regular it's no worse than having any of those 'treats'
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Palm oil products are a real problem for a lot of people who worry about how vast square kilometres of rain forests have been felled to make way for palm oil plantations thus depriving wildlife of their environment, especially Orangutangs. 98% of plantations are in Malaysia and Indonesia and Orangutangs are now restricted to just the two Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. We 'adopted a couple in one of the "Save the Orangutangs" schemes run by WSPA.

As you'll know, palm oil is in so many every-day products it's impossible not to buy a product that containes it.
 
Not impossible, just harder than it should be!
 
JohnC6 said:
Palm oil products are a real problem for a lot of people who worry about how vast square kilometres of rain forests have been felled to make way for palm oil plantations thus depriving wildlife of their environment, especially Orangutangs. 98% of plantations are in Malaysia and Indonesia and Orangutangs are now restricted to just the two Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. We 'adopted a couple in one of the "Save the Orangutangs" schemes run by WSPA.

As you'll know, palm oil is in so many every-day products it's impossible not to buy a product that containes it.
Click to expand...

These days though many companies are claiming 100% sustainable, as in specifically grown and not endangering wildlife. How true that is we don't know for certain. I'd not really considered palm oil being in so many foods but I will be checking labels more often.
 
Nod said:
Not impossible, just harder than it should be!
Click to expand...
Here are two lists. The second one, identifies the products in greater detail.There's non-palm oil soap but it's £2.75 per 100gms. Soap in the supermarkets..eg Dove is about 80p. Sometimes I have chocolate. Bread is the one we can't avoid.


An even longer list here https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/foods-contain-palm-oil


Soap Palm oil -free https://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/c...g/bath-and-body/soap/palm-oil-free.htm?page=3
 
After others eating curry lock the toilet door, sit back and watch the fun
 
Looks like we're f'd trying to get around it, I love that the 'palm oil free' products are like triple the price of the norm, you're cornered every way
 
I went in search of a palm oil/fat free curry today with no luck :/ I got a tub of Macdonnell's chinese curry powder and I read through the ingredients, was happy that I didn't see palm on there but turns out I was just a bit blind to it ... oh well.
 
I use dried spices from Rajah and East End, which do not contain palm oil. I no longer buy ready made curry sauces, so none of my homemade curries contain palm oil. The oils which I use are vegetable, olive and ghee.
 
andya700 said:
I use dried spices from Rajah and East End, which do not contain palm oil. I no longer buy ready made curry sauces, so none of my homemade curries contain palm oil. The oils which I use are vegetable, olive and ghee.
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I need to learn to make a decent Chinese style, I have loads of spices and use olive oil all the time, anytime I've tried though my curry was too runny or just didn't taste great.
 
Cagey75 said:
I need to learn to make a decent Chinese style, I have loads of spices and use olive oil all the time, anytime I've tried though my curry was too runny or just didn't taste great.
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It's good that you try to make one yourself with spices but I think there comes a time to give up and buy a quality sauce paste.

Btw. We tried the Goldfish Madras curry paste and were unable to eat it. I think we ended up having beans on toast for tea that night.. :D
 
There is nothing decent about even the best Chinese curry it’s just flour and spices to which you add water! They should never be confused with a proper curry, they are basically a condiment. It’s a bit like putting Heinz ketchup on pasta!
 
Brazo said:
There is nothing decent about even the best Chinese curry it’s just flour and spices to which you add water! They should never be confused with a proper curry, they are basically a condiment. It’s a bit like putting Heinz ketchup on pasta!
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What's decent is the flavour, otherwise we wouldn't keep going back for more!
 
Brazo said:
There is nothing decent about even the best Chinese curry it’s just flour and spices to which you add water! They should never be confused with a proper curry, they are basically a condiment. It’s a bit like putting Heinz ketchup on pasta!
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...but we eat a lot of food that isn't really good for us and differentiate between the good a not-so-good versions.

By the way. You mention ketchup. We have a Sikh couple living a few doors away and I spoke to him one day about the "Indian" takeaways, run by Pakistanis, and mentioned a local one in particular and he said he'd tried it and condemned it as just meat, whatever variety, with a tin of tomatoes thrown in. Lol. Many years my wife came home from work one day with a home-made curry made by a Pakistani couple and it was great. So.. as much as I enjoy the Chinese curry I do appreciate what you're saying. We maybe have one once a month.I can't eat Indian curry as it 'burns' my stomach, even the mildest of them... . ie...heartburn.
 
JohnC6 said:
We maybe have one once a month.I can't eat Indian curry as it 'burns' my stomach, even the mildest of them... . ie...heartburn.
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I'n not really a fan of curry, although I do have a mild one now and again.
But I much prefer a Lamb Biriani.
 
Cobra said:
I'n not really a fan of curry, although I do have a mild one now and again.
But I much prefer a Lamb Biriani.
Click to expand...

Ah,yes..Biryani. I really like that. I recall going to a dance in Southport..us lads went all over to Saturday night dances (in the NW) and that night after the dance venue closed we went to an "Indian"..I thought I'd try something different and chose a "Persian Biryani' On the top it had a banana that was sliced in half..longways. I've never been able to find that dish again.

In those days..I was 17..I once had a vindaloo..at that age you do mad things like that. I recall the waiter saying ...warning,really, that it was very hot and he brought a jug of water with it..lol. I had it just that once and next time dropped to a Madras,then Bhuna and eventually, whatever 'just a chicken curry" was..Lol .I do like Korma...coconut flavour.
 
Cobra said:
I'n not really a fan of curry, although I do have a mild one now and again.
But I much prefer a Lamb Biriani.
Click to expand...

Lamb is the only red meat I cannot eat, I'd honestly rather eat Horse! Just something about lamb, I've always found it 'sour' and dry, no matter how it's cooked.
 
JohnC6 said:
Palm oil products are a real problem for a lot of people who worry about how vast square kilometres of rain forests have been felled to make way for palm oil plantations thus depriving wildlife of their environment, especially Orangutangs. 98% of plantations are in Malaysia and Indonesia and Orangutangs are now restricted to just the two Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo. We 'adopted a couple in one of the "Save the Orangutangs" schemes run by WSPA.

As you'll know, palm oil is in so many every-day products it's impossible not to buy a product that containes it.
Click to expand...
Jacksons bread is palm oil free and tastes rather good.
 
Cagey75 said:
Lamb is the only red meat I cannot eat, I'd honestly rather eat Horse! Just something about lamb, I've always found it 'sour' and dry, no matter how it's cooked.
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Lamb is actually my favourite meat. Cooked slowly its juicy and of course it goes well with mint sauce and or onion sauce.
Bugger I'm hungry now :D
 
Cobra said:
Lamb is actually my favourite meat. Cooked slowly its juicy and of course it goes well with mint sauce and or onion sauce.
Bugger I'm hungry now :D
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I love lamb as well. I slow cooked a lamb shoulder for Christmas, very forgiving and such a distinct taste and aroma. Ribeye is my other favourite meat.

Not a huge fan of pork though.
 
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