Serve up a sizzling Korai in minutes
For a fresh-tasting meal, you can’t beat making this spicy dish using The Tiny Takeaway’s Korai Spice Mix.
The beauty is in its simplicity and with the spices all premixed and ready to go, you just need a few other ingredients to complete the recipe.
Making Indian dishes requires a certain level of skill in balancing all the different spices, so if you are less than confident in this department, The Tiny Takeaway has done this for you and removed any guesswork.
As long as you’re able to chop and slice some vegetables or meat and open a can of tomatoes, the preparation is relatively minimal. One thing you’ll definitely need to make a ‘curry’ is patience — these things can’t be rushed. The initial browning of the onions needs to be carefully done as does the cooking of the spices to avoid burning. You want the flavours to develop fully to become sweet and fragrant avoiding any bitterness brought about by scorching.
Noticing that chilli powder was first in the ingredients list as well as extra chilli flakes, we anticipated a certain high level of heat and therefore wanted something to counter the fiery hit. As dairy products have the ability to do this, paneer cheese was an obvious choice, which we added along with peas and sweet red peppers. Of course, you can add anything you want — chicken thighs would be especially good.
What is Paneer?
Paneer is an Indian fresh curd cheese and has the marvellous property in that it does not melt when heated — just what you want when using it in a dish like this Korai.
How is Paneer made?
Paneer is made by warming whole milk and then adding lemon juice which curdles the milk. The milk separates into curds (the lumpy bits) and whey (the liquid part). This is then all poured into a cloth over a colander to strain away the liquid leaving the curds which are then pressed together under a weight to form the paneer cheese.
What does Paneer taste like?
The flavour of paneer is very mild and milky, it has a white colour and the texture is softy, spongy and a little squeaky. The texture makes it perfect in helping to absorb flavours from sauces.
Why doesn’t Paneer melt?
Because paneer is made using heat and an acid instead of rennet to curdle the milk, it alters how the milk proteins are bound together.
Heating paneer actually causes the milk proteins to bind together more closely and this squeezes out any water that’s left behind. So don’t overcook paneer as will turn rubbery.
How did The Tiny Takeaway Korai taste?
We were correct in assuming the Korai Spice Mix would be spicy hot and the paneer worked very well in the dish. The sauce is nice and thick and clings to your chosen meat, fish or vegetables.
The tomatoes lend a sweet tang that perfectly complements the fire and fragrance of the Korai Spice Mix. Yes, there is an element of fire but it’s not an entirely blow-your-head-off situation.
The array of spices comprise of chilli powder, whole coriander seeds, white cumin, ginger, chilli flakes, salt, garlic granules and turmeric.
The flavour of chilli is predominant backed up with earthy cumin and turmeric but the best part is the whole coriander seeds. Little pops of citrus fragrance burst on the tongue bringing a bright freshness to the tastebuds. Altogether an exciting eating experience.
We liked the whole coriander seeds with their bright citrussy flavour.
We found the best way to cook the paneer and peas is to add them once the sauce has come together rather than just after browning the onions, as the on-pack recipe suggests. They need less cooking time than meat and still perfectly absorb the spicy flavours.
The final batch of onions along with the sweet red peppers was fried in a separate pan over a high heat to take on a little caramelisation and stirred into the Korai at the end to retain some texture.
We served ours with homemade chapattis (see recipe), raita (see recipe) and some sweet mango chutney.
Artisan Food Trail Approved
We are pleased to give this award to The Tiny Takeaway for their Korai Spice Mix
Main photo (top): © childsdesign
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