Dalchini Curry Recipe
I’m pleased to present to you this savoury and delicious BIR restaurant style curry recipe that I’ve called Dalchini (meaning Cinnamon). Needless to say it has the prominent keynote flavour of cassia (also known as ‘Chinese’ cinnamon), and a number of other spices are present to complete the pallete of flavours. The recipe also uses horseradish sauce, whilst perhaps surprising, it compliments beef so well. I hope your palate will approve.
I strongly recommend you use beef (shown in photos) as the main ingredients for this curry. The rustic flavours go nicely with red meat. Check out my recipe for pre-cooking lamb or beef and get marvelously tender and tasty chunks for your curries.
This recipe will feed 1-2 people. To stretch it out to go further, add a bit more meat and base gravy.
Books by Richard Sayce
INGREDIENTS
- 3-4 TBSP (45-60ml) Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
- ½ tsp Black Mustard Seeds
- 10cm Cassia Bark or Cinnamon Quill (see Notes)
- 1 Star Anise
- 75g Onion, peeled and chopped (about half a medium-sized one)
- 2-3 tsp Ginger/Garlic Paste
- 2 cm Fresh Ginger, peeled and finely chopped (optional)
- 2 tsp Mix Powder
- ¼ tsp Cinnamon Powder (this is usually just ground cassia)
- 1 tsp Kasuri Methi
- 2 tsp Regular or Kashmiri Chilli Powder (or to taste)
- 2 tsp Paprika
- ½ tsp Salt
- 330ml+ Base Gravy
- 5-6 TBSP Tomato Paste
- 1 TBSP fresh Coriander Stalks (if you have any), finely chopped
- 275-200g of the Main Ingredient (beef is perfect for this dish)
- ¾ TBSP Horseradish sauce
- 1 ½ tsp Sugar
- 4 fresh Tomato segments
- 3-4 TBSP Single Cream (optional)
- A sprinkle of fresh Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
METHOD
- Add the oil to a frying pan on medium high heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, the cassia or cinnamon, and the cumin seeds.
- Fry for approximately 20-30 seconds, or until the mustard seeds start to crackle and pop. Stir diligently.
- Immediately add the finely chopped onion, and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Then, add the ginger/garlic paste, and continue to fry for another 30 seconds until the paste starts to brown a bit and stick to the pan.
- Now add the mix powder, cinnamon powder, chilli powder, paprika, salt, and kasuri methi. Pour in a splash (e.g. 30ml) of base gravy to help prevent the spices from burning and to allow enough time for them to fry properly. Cook for 20-30 seconds, stirring with gusto.
- Add the tomato paste, sugar, and coriander stalks. Turn up the heat to high, mix together, then let cook until you see signs of floating oil and tiny dry craters forming at the edges of the pan.
- Next add the main ingredient, for example pre-cooked lamb or beef. If you’re using raw chicken, coat the pieces well to help the meat not to dry out.
- Add 75ml of base gravy, stir everything together well, and leave on high heat for 30 seconds. Scrape the sides and bottom of the pan from time to time to avoid burning. There will be a lot of caramelisation.
- Pour in a second 75ml of base gravy, stirring and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan once when first added, and leave to cook down for approximately another 30-45 seconds.
- Now add 150ml of base gravy and the horseradish sauce. Stir together once more
- Leave to cook on high heat for 4-5 minutes, or until the desired consistency is reached. Add more base gravy as required during cooking. Avoid stirring unless showing signs of imminently burning (important for the best flavour).
- Add the fresh tomato segments, turn down the heat to low, and drizzle in the single cream (if you are using it, and sprinkle in some chopped coriander leaves.
- Taste the curry, and if desired add a bit of extra sugar to balance the tartness of the horseradish.
- Serve, garnished with a some chopped fresh coriander.
NOTES
- Cassia (sometimes known as ‘Chinese’ cinnamon is the type most commonly used in my recipes, and indeed South Asian cuisine in general. It’s taken as bark from the Cinnamomum cassia tree, and is usually sold as thick chunky dark brown quills which can be snapped to the desired length or width for use in cooking. It’s often also sold in. bags of small shards – avoid these because they are a nightmare to retrieve from a a curry when you’re done with them! The other common form is that labelled ‘Cinnamon’ powder, which is usually ground cassia.
- Much more insights and useful cooking tips for cooking BIR style curries are in my Curry Compendium and Indian Restaurant Curry at Home Volume 1 cookbooks.
- All spoon measurements are level (1 tsp = 5ml, 1 TBSP = 15ml).
- As with all my restaurant style curry recipes, the base gravy should be added hot when cooking with it. Make sure it’s about the consistency of semi-skimmed milk by diluting with water beforehand (if needed).
- The amounts of base gravy stated in the recipe are for the diluted version. Please feel free to add extra base to the curry if you like more sauce.
- I hope you enjoy this dalchini ‘cinnamon’ curry recipe. Please visit the Misty Ricardo’s Curry Kitchen YouTube Channel for lots of Indian recipe videos.