Black Chicken Curry

Chicken curry can be prepared in many ways. Here is "black chicken curry" (Nop the chicken you are going to curry need not be black). It is spicy and full of aroma. The black (dark brown rather) colour is created because of the roasted curry powder used.

Ingredients: Chicken, chopped onions and garlic, tomato, ginger, tamarind, chili, roasted curry powder, curry leaves, mustard seed, oil and salt.

Method: Cut the chicken into pieces. Add some oil to a saucepan and add mustard seed and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add chili powder and curry powder and let it fry for a few seconds (Keep the exhaust fan On or your windows open). Add the onions, garlic, tomato and ginger. Dissolve the tamarind in about 1/2 a cup of water and add it to the mix (do not add to much tamarind since it could make the curry very sour). Add water to make the amount of gravy you like. Add salt and check if the taste is according to your preference. Next add about 1/2 cup water for the chicken to cook in. Add the chicken to the gravy and allow to cook with the lid covered.

Note:

The chicken can be replaced with beef, mutton or lamb. Fish too can be cooked the same way but then "Goraka" (Malabar Tamarind) is used instead of tamarind.

Lentils or Dal or Parippu

Masoor dal and Gram dal (Chana dal). These usually mixed into many other dishes, which is very frequent in India since a lot of people are vegetarian. They are most commonly cooked alone is Sri Lanka, where the curry is referred to as Parippu. Gram dal can also be deep-fired and sprinkled with salt and chili powder to make a nice snack (extremely good when you're watching a close cricket match, since it gives an alternative to finger nails).

Dal Curry (Parippu in Sinhala)

Ingredients: Masoor or Gram dal, onions, garlic, mustered seed, green chili, turmeric, chili powder, curry leaves, rumpa (Pandanus leaf), coconut milk and salt

Method: Wash the dal well (if you are using Gram dal soak it in water overnight). Put into a saucepan and add the chopped onions, garlic and green chili, curry leaves, pieces of rampa, mustard seed, a sprinkle of turmeric to give colour and flavour, chili powder to give that little tinkle to the taste buds and cover with water till about 1 inch above dal. Let the dal cook really well, adding water if required. Next pour the coconut milk and mix well. Do not boil for long after adding coconut milk, since the milk tends to curdle. Finally add salt to taste.

Notes:
Do not add salt till end since most types of dal or as a matter of fact the bean family or pulse family do not boil well in salty water and takes ages to boil.

Additionally some may "temper" this:

• Pour a little bit of coconut/vegitable oil to a pan. When the oil is hot add some curry leaves, rampa, mustard seeds and let it fry (watch out when the mustard seeds start to pop ;-)). Add some chopped dried red chili and onions and let it fry. Add a little bit of chili to give colour. Pour the dal curry into the hot pan and mix well (else you could pour this mix into the saucepan with the dal curry.

If you do not like the pasty dal curry, you can try adding some salt when boiling, it is a variation of cooking Parippu.