Category: Chips

Chip shop curry sauce recipe


Perfect with some nice chunky chips.

For me this is another big comfort food!

Love it or hate it, it’s a staple when it comes to fish and chips, or more importantly chips.

This recipe is somewhat similar to Chinese curry sauce, but with a slight variation on flavour and a few raisins thrown in.

Ingredients (makes enough for about 6 people)

  • 60g butter for cooking
  • 1 large onion or 2 medium
  • Garlic paste (about 1tbsp)
  • Ginger paste (about 1 tbsp)
  • 3-4 tbsp mild curry powder
  • 1-2 tsp ground turmeric
  • About 50g of raisins
  • 1 star anise
  • 1-2 tbsp of malt/white wine vinegar
  • 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper

Equipment

  • Saucepan
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Wooden spoon
  • Measuring jug

Prep and cooking (60-90 minutes)

  1. Heat the butter in a pan, dice the onion and cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for another 5 minutes. You want to get the mixture nice and soft, but not too much colour developing.
  3. Mix the curry powder and turmeric together with a little bit of water and add to the pan with the star anise, raisins and vinegar. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, be sure to keep stirring so nothing burns to the bottom of the pan.
  4. Add the stock and turn the heat up full to bring to the boil.
  5. When it starts boiling turn the heat down low and simmer for about half an hour, again be sure to stir occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan and burns.
  6. Take out the star anise and mix 3-5 tbsp of cornflour with some water to make a slurry, add it bit by bit to the sauce, cook for a minute or so before adding any more until you reach the desired thickness.
  7. I like to serve the sauce how it is, but if you want it smoother just put it in a food processor or blend it with an immersion blender.

Costing

Looking at price, I was in the chip shop a couple of days ago and got some curry sauce, it came in the usual polystyrene cup which is guess is about 100ml and it set me back £1.40

The above recipe will cost about £1.80-£2, Working out around 30p a serving!

So quite a saving, but it was a long day, we were all tired, and that’s kind of the point of paying someone else to make food for you(!)

The most expensive components here are the curry powder, butter and stock cubes (for chicken stock, unless you have fresh) do you can cut the cost further by replacing butter with oil, using a bit less curry powder and use 1 less stock cube (I usually use 2-3 for 500ml).

Just remember this will compromise in flavour a slightly on texture, but it can cut the cost to about 20p a serving.

Enjoy!

More recipes soon.

Champion chips recipe


Chippy chips chips, everyone loves chips!

If you don’t, then you probably should but I’m not one to judge.

What with storms taking over the past few weekends, why not have a go at these chunk-a-dunk homemade chips.

This is my favourite recipe for mouth watering moreish chips.

CHIPS!

Ingredients (serves 1-2)

  • 4 large potatoes, russets come out well
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • Handful of fresh thyme on the stalk
  • Handful of fresh rosemary on the stalk.
  • Oil, I usually use rapeseed or sunflower (enough to deep fry)
  • Salt and pepper (preferably sea salt)
  • Water

Equipmmet

  • Medium/large saucepan, if you have 2 it speeds things up a bit
  • Roasting tray/oven dish
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Collider or slotted spoon
  • Plate
  • Kitchen towel
  • If you have a deep fat fryer it helps, if not we just use a saucepan on the hob

Prep and cooking (25-30 minutes)

  1. Start by peeling the potato and cutting the chips, I haven’t done a guide for this yet I’ll try and get one up tonight, but it’s similar to a julienne slice. I cut them quite thick, about 1 inch squares and usually get 4-6 chips from 1 potato.
  2. Put the chips the a saucepan, slice the onions into quarter and add to the pan (skin still on).
  3. Separate the cloves from the bulb on garlic and roughly crush them, add to the pan (skin still on).
  4. Add the rosemary, thyme and a fair amount of salt.
  5. Fill with water until everything is covered and put on a high heat to boil.
  6. Either turn on your deep fat fryer (180°c) or fill another saucepan with oil and put on a high heat.
  7. As the potatoes come up to boil turn the heat down but only slightly. Keep an eye on them but they should need about 5-10 minutes depending how thick you’ve cut them (thinner will cook quicker). You want them to be at the point of nearly being ready to mash, but still hold their shape enough to manoeuvre.
  8. When they are ready either drain with a colander and put the chips on a wire rack/chopping board or remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.
  9. Let them cool for a minute or two then deep fry for 3-5 minutes until golden brown, if using a saucepan turn the heat down slightly when you add the chips, and before adding test the oil is hot enough by holding a chip and dipping it in.
  10. Remove when ready and put on a plate/bowl with kitchen towel. You can get them warm in the oven but they will lost their crispness overtime, but they will become nice and soft.
  11. If you want to make these to freeze, only half cook them when deep frying, clean of oil and freeze. To finish them off just add to hot oil straight from the freezer or defrost first.

Chip chip horay!

Now you can enjoy top notch chips all day long.

It seems that chips, or fries first started showing up in Latin America around the 17th century.

Here in England the first chips that were commercially available were reportedly made by a mrs.’Granny’ Dulce in 1854, more than 100 years after Latin America.

This started the English fast-food tradition of what we know and love today as fish and chips.

More recipes to come!