I know this is quite an old thread, but having recently joined the forum I'm amazed at just how little content there is around Indian cooking. In my opinion, a decent plant based curry is like a State Funeral for vegetables; a showcase of the very best plants have to offer. I was taught that there are a few key basics that will make or break an Indian dish, so I'll try to give a simple walkthrough of what I learned.
The heart of it all is what is termed the masala; the combination of spices, onions, garlic, ginger and liquid that is the foundation for everything else. If you can get a masala to work, keep using that formula for all sorts of different curries you may want to cook.
- Beforehand, you'll probably want to do a wee bit of preparation to save being flustered later on. I'd suggest preparing (i.e. grating or finely chopping) 3-4 large cloves of garlic and a piece of fresh ginger about the size of the end joint of your thumb (don't bother peeling the ginger; just grate it as is). In both cases, "about" means plus or minus 50% or so, so there's plenty of wiggle room. I'd also suggest chopping 3-4 large tomatoes or opening a can of tomatoes and pouring out an equivalent amount into a bowl that you can set aside. Finally, get all the spices you want to use together in one place that's easy to hand; I'd suggest whole cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, some ground chilli powder and some ground turmeric.
- Start off with any whole spices you intend to use. Unless a specific recipe asks for different, I use a teaspoon of cumin seeds, 3 or 4 whole cardamom pods (crushed slightly under a knife blade to allow a bit of access to the seeds inside) and an inch or two of cinnamon stick. Chuck them in a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil and fry until you can start to smell them. That's the point the flavours have been mobilised. Do not add any ground spices at this point or you'll just cook off all their aromas before you get to dish up and taste them.
- Now add a chopped onion. It doesn't have to be really finely chopped, but it's better the chopping gives even sized pieces so they all cook at the same speed. The idea here is that you keep frying gently until they start to go darker and perhaps a bit brown. I don't mean browned at the edges, but more that they've gone past the stage of just being softened and start to darken throughout. That means they'll break down well later on and give both a really good texture and plenty of flavour to the eventual sauce.
- Here comes the bit where there are a few things to do in quick succession. Firstly, add your grated garlic and ginger, then give a quick stir round to mix with the onions. Next, add a teaspoon of turmeric and a quarter of a teaspoon (or to taste) of chilli powder, and stir again. If you want to add any other ground spices - coriander seeds for example - this is the point. Finally, add in the tomatoes along with a good pinch of salt and stir round to combine everything together. Turn up the heat a little and stir regularly as the tomatoes (i.e. liquid) thicken. If you used fresh tomatoes, you'll want to keep mushing them with the end of your spatula as they soften so you get all that flesh into the sauce. The end result you're looking for here is to get rid of the wateriness of the tomatoes but not so dry as to be likely to stick to the bottom of the pan. Taste several times and adjust the seasoning to taste.
This is your masala, and will taste great on its own. However, you can then use this base to create your variety of curries. If you add some chunks of potato, cauliflower and spinach, for instance, you can coat them with the masala, turn the heat right down, pop on a lid and let the moisture from the veggies combine to turn the masala into a proper curry sauce. If, alternatively, you have been simmering some lentils in some mushroom stock, you can add those lentils along with some of the stock and simmer with the lid on until cooked; that'll give you a fantastic dhal. In short, whatever curry you want, add the bulky bits into that masala, stir, add the lid and then cook over a low heat until the veggies and pulses are tender enough.
There are variations, of course, using coconut milk (as an example) instead of tomatoes as the liquid. However once you've got the hang of the basic masala process above then you'll see all the variations are basically playing with the same process.
Everything I've laid out is vegan. The beauty is that even if you're an omnivore like me, the basic masala is the same, so adapting any recipes to fully vegan alternatives is as simple as ignoring the meat and adding chunks of veg in instead. Oh, and whether meaty or vegan it'll blow away any takeaway curries you might be able to get in your area.
