What have U never made that U shoulda got round to by now?

[Jenise]

My list is unfortunately long, but the first two things that come to mind are:

1. homemade tortillas
2. gumbo

The tortillas are really embarrassing since I've owned a tortilla press for about 30 years.

The tortillas are really embarrassing since I've owned a tortilla press for about 30 years.

Ha! Is it still fresh in the original box/packaging?

[Jenise]

No, in fact IIRC it never had a box to begin with. I bought it in a small Mexican market, possibly in Tiajuana. What's on your list?

[David M. Bueker]

Well I have made gumbo and tortillas many times.

My main item is Chicken Korma. I have largely perfected my Butter Chicken, so time to move on to the next Laura favorite. Of course the issue with the Korma, is, as with so many Indian dishes, that there are 1000s of versions. I know what we are generally trying to achieve, but that leaves hundreds of recipes. Still a daunting exercise.

[Jenise]

What are the essential ingredients that make a korma Korma? I don't think I've ever had any two kormas that were alike enough to ID the dish blind, let alone attempt to make my own since I lack a sense of what I'd be aiming at/for. I can tell you that a lamb korma in London was the best I've had, and my opinions stop there.

We had the WORST butter chicken recently in a local restaurant whose door we shall not darken again. A truly butterless Butter sauce with dry slices of overcooked chicken breast warmed up in it briefly before serving. Horrible. It's on my list of dishes to make at home now, I give up on Indian food in restaurants around here. Everything's dumbed down for white people who don't know the difference between good and bad.

[David M. Bueker]

What are the essential ingredients that make a korma Korma?

Depends on who is making the Korma. The one Laura loves (from Coriander restaurant in Voorhees, NJ) seems to have a lot of caramelized onions turned into a paste with cashews and cream, as well as quite a lot of cardamom. I do not have the actual recipe, although I have lobbied for it a few times at the cooking demos the restaurant did in the before COVID times.

Something like this, I suppose: https://www.thespruceeats.com/indian-ch ... ma-1957358

What's on your list?

Can't think of things that I've been meaning to make but never have. There are plenty of dishes I made a few times and then never again. Often because of the tools required. I enjoyed making gratin for a while after getting a mandoline, but haven't used it in years.

I'm kinda with Rahsaan on this one. Plenty of dishes I've made once or twice and then dropped. But, if I'm envious of a dish, I go look it up to see if I can handle it.

Alas, I have to nix a dish if it is too onion- or berry- dependent but, otherwise, I'm hard-pressed at this instant to think of a dish that was just too hard. (Some things, like Baked Alaska, are not worth the trouble, in my view, but that's probably not what we're talking about.)

The main thing that makes a korma a korma is the yogurt-based, mild (by Indian standards), thick white sauce. Most korma recipes I've seen also have ground-up almonds, cashews, or white poppy seeds.

My dish that I shoulda got round to by now is Shanghai soup dumplings.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Something like this, I suppose: https://www.thespruceeats.com/indian-ch ... ma-1957358

That looks promising. Thanks.

Artichokes!!

[David M. Bueker]

The main thing that makes a korma a korma is the yogurt-based, mild (by Indian standards), thick white sauce. Most korma recipes I've seen also have ground-up almonds, cashews, or white poppy seeds.

True, but you have demonstrated one of the many variables that results in thousands of variations. I think I am going to try the one Jeff posted the next time "Indian Chicken" hits our menu planning. I can then keep going from there.

Yes, the recipe Jeff posted looks very good indeed.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Strangely the kormas I remember didn't have ground nuts in them, they were smooth sauces (wherein the nut element could have been whizzed into creaminess).

[David M. Bueker]

Strangely the kormas I remember didn't have ground nuts in them, they were smooth sauces (wherein the nut element could have been whizzed into creaminess).

Yes - the nuts are supposed to be finely ground.

[Jenise]

In the picture with Jeff's recipe, they looked coarse, not fine, to my eye. Nuts in the kormas I've had weren't visible to the eye.

[David M. Bueker]

In the picture with Jeff's recipe, they looked coarse, not fine, to my eye. Nuts in the kormas I've had weren't visible to the eye.

Yet another of the 1000s of variations. The recipe calls for almond meal. I suspect the irregular texture may not just be nuts.

Good luck with the recipe, and do report back. I'm curious, too.

I chose that one because (a) I rustled up the menu of your NJ spot and that was the name they used for the dish, and (b) I have generally found Spruce Eats to be reliable.

Looking at the mise, the almond meal is fine. I think the nubbly texture is probably coming from softened onion bits.

What makes a Korma a Korma?

Over here in restaurants it's a creamy dish usually with almonds. It's distinguishing feature is the creamy sauce, as opposed to Bhuna which is distinguished by an onion sauce, Dhansak with lentils, and Rogan Josh which has a tomato based sauce

I was listening to today's Food Programme*on BBC Radio 4 which was all about chef/restaurateur Cyrus Todiwala who, after working his way up to Executive Chef in India's Taj Mahal hotels, came to Britain where he opened the influential Café Spice Namaste restaurant.

He spoke about his childhood eating in different houses and said that every village had different cuisines, and that no-one could be an expert on Indian cooking because there were so many variations.

So, I guess that Korma - a standard in UK 'Indian' restaurants - is what people expect. Is it authentic? Probably no such thing.

(I've never had Korma - I don't like creamy dishes.)


*https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xdsj

Korma is an authentic Indian dish of Mughlai origin, characterized by a white, yogurt-based sauce. I have no idea how authentic the UK restaurant versions are. Probably closer than what we get in Indian restaurants in the US.

-Paul W.

Korma is an authentic Indian dish of Mughlai origin.

No quibble from me, but I doubt the current Korma cooked in northern India is identical to what was served to the Moghuls.

Restaurants have to supply what their audience wants/expects, made from what is available where they are. Different chefs interpret dishes in their own way, even if the ingredients are the same, the proportions will differ and thus taste different.

He spoke about his childhood eating in different houses and said that every village had different cuisines, and that no-one could be an expert on Indian cooking because there were so many variations.

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” -- Charles de Gaulle.

Given that we live in a city with a large Indian population and food components re easily obtainable, there are a few Indian dishes that I am remiss in making - even simple things like saag paneer, which makes a nice vegetarian side.

And I am way behind my usual experimentation rate on terrines due to Covid and lack of experimental volunteers to taste them. Think I have only done two in the last year!