The other night, we made a coconut-milk based curry from a cookbook.
Lots of spices, a nice hot pepper, blended to a smooth cream. Marinated
some chicken breasts in it and grilled them. Pretty good, but not as
sweet and "smooth" tasting as somewhat similar dishes we've had at the
local Indian place. In fact, it wasn't sweet at all.

What is is about a coconut-milk curry that gives the sweetness? The type
of coconut milk? The recipe (book printed in England) specified a
"brick" of coconut, which had boiling water poured over it. I've never
seen such a thing; we used a can of coconut milk. Was that what made the
difference?

Anybody got a recipe?

Isaac

augie wrote:
<snip>

> The Indian foods I have had over the years have rarely, if ever been
> sweet. Perhaps your recipe was more authentic than the restaurant-
> sweetened dishes you may have experienced? I never add sugar to Indian
> recipes, nor do any of the books or on line recipes I looked at have
> sweeteners.

Speaking of Indian food - my husband did some shopping while I was in
hospital recently.
He tried to look for "easy meals" and we ended up with a tall bottle of
Pataks brand
"Creamy Korma" ( i think ). I never buy "ready-meals", and now I know why
....

Now we are moving house, so I am trying to clear a few things out of the
pantry.
I cooked this the other night with chicken - it was just *horrible*.
The only people that would have liked it would be "Mr & Mrs Bland", and only
if they had never tasted real Indian food before. God, my cheapest homemade
curry with a whackfull of generic curry powder tastes better than this (

"Isaac Wingfield" > wrote in message
...
> The other night, we made a coconut-milk based curry from a cookbook.
> Lots of spices, a nice hot pepper, blended to a smooth cream. Marinated
> some chicken breasts in it and grilled them. Pretty good, but not as
> sweet and "smooth" tasting as somewhat similar dishes we've had at the
> local Indian place. In fact, it wasn't sweet at all.
>
> What is is about a coconut-milk curry that gives the sweetness? The type
> of coconut milk? The recipe (book printed in England) specified a
> "brick" of coconut, which had boiling water poured over it. I've never
> seen such a thing; we used a can of coconut milk. Was that what made the
> difference?
>
> Anybody got a recipe?
>
> Isaac

I don't think there's any secret ingredient other than sugar. I've seen
several supposedly authentic Thai curry recipes that include coconut milk
and sugar.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.

On 2004-06-15 14:11:34 +0100, "Peter Aitken" > said:

> "Isaac Wingfield" > wrote in message
> ...
>> The other night, we made a coconut-milk based curry from a cookbook.
>> Lots of spices, a nice hot pepper, blended to a smooth cream. Marinated
>> some chicken breasts in it and grilled them. Pretty good, but not as
>> sweet and "smooth" tasting as somewhat similar dishes we've had at the
>> local Indian place. In fact, it wasn't sweet at all.
>>
>> What is is about a coconut-milk curry that gives the sweetness? The type
>> of coconut milk? The recipe (book printed in England) specified a
>> "brick" of coconut, which had boiling water poured over it. I've never
>> seen such a thing; we used a can of coconut milk. Was that what made the
>> difference?
>>
>> Anybody got a recipe?
>>
>> Isaac
>
> I don't think there's any secret ingredient other than sugar. I've seen
> several supposedly authentic Thai curry recipes that include coconut milk
> and sugar.

I suppose if you want to be a completist you could use palm sugar. Or
use ground almond as a thickening agent; this is standard as far as I
know in passanda dishes.

As for coconut "bricks" this sounds to me like something called
"creamed coconut" (not to be confused with the pink and white candy or
the cocktail syrup both called coconut cream). According to one Indian
recipe book of mine:

"Coconut mik and creamed coconut: When fresh coconut isn't available,
these two ingredients are ideal for adding an authentic Indian flavour
to sweet and savoury dishes. Coconut milk is sold in cans or as a
powder which needs to be made up with water. Creamed coconut is sold in
compressed bars and can be added directly to dishes, or dissolved in
water first. It gives a richer flavour and texture than coconut milk.
You can make coconut milk by soaking unsweetened desiccated (shredded)
coconut in water and squeezing out all the flavoured liquid."

Of course, you could always use fresh coconut if you can get it!

--
Tony

augie wrote:
> :
>
>>> augie wrote:
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> > The Indian foods I have had over the years have rarely, if ever
>>> been > sweet. Perhaps your recipe was more authentic than the
>>> restaurant- > sweetened dishes you may have experienced? I never
>>> add sugar to Indian > recipes, nor do any of the books or on line
>>> recipes I looked at have > sweeteners.
>>>
>>> Speaking of Indian food - my husband did some shopping while I was
>>> in hospital recently.
>>> He tried to look for "easy meals" and we ended up with a tall
>>> bottle of Pataks brand
>>> "Creamy Korma" ( i think ). I never buy "ready-meals", and now I
>>> know why ...
>
> Yes, I agree, very ordinary.
>
> Which leads me to the question - why do people think that using ready
> made meals etc is 'cooking' ?
>
> Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against some use of convenience
> produce, but to call it cooking, well, it just ain't kosher!

I agree.
So glad that jar is hidden in my recycling bin
( I wouldn't want the neighbours to see it and think less of me !

On 2004-06-15, Tony Walton > wrote:

> "Coconut mik and creamed coconut: When fresh coconut isn't available,
> these two ingredients are ideal for adding an authentic Indian flavour
> to sweet and savoury dishes. Coconut milk is sold in cans or as a
> powder which needs to be made up with water. Creamed coconut is sold in
> compressed bars and can be added directly to dishes, or dissolved in
> water first. It gives a richer flavour and texture than coconut milk.
> You can make coconut milk by soaking unsweetened desiccated (shredded)
> coconut in water and squeezing out all the flavoured liquid."

Agreed.

Coconut milk is made by leaching/squeezing the fats and solubles out of
shredded coconut meat. Just like milk from a cow, there is the cream and
there is the milk. The cream will float to the top. High quality canned
coconut milk (Mae Ploy, Chaokoh) have a high amount of cream. Some
companies separate the cream and freeze or chill it in blocks. I use these
two Thai brands and have tried a Chinese frozen all-cream with good results.
As stated previously, the stuff intended for bartender use is not the real
McCoy.

I sometimes add sugar if the dish is not sweet enough. You're the cook. Do
what you like.

nb
--
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