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Bengal Curry

A curry made with ground coriander, red curry powder, black pepper, onions, butter, turmeric, curds, meat, grated coconut, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Coriander and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,253 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Bengal Curry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spices

  1. Grind the coriander seeds in a mortar until smooth.

  2. Mix the ground coriander, red curry powder, black pepper, and chopped onions together.

Cook the curry

  1. Melt the butter in a stew pan and add a sliced onion.

  2. Cook until the onion is brown, then remove it.

  3. Add the turmeric to the pan and fry until the raw flavor disappears.

  4. Mix the curds with the pounded ingredients.

  5. Add the mixture to the pan along with the meat and grated coconut.

  6. Stir continuously.

  7. Sprinkle water to prevent the meat from burning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Turmeric + coconuttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Coriander + coconuttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Coriander + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Fat that fries the onion and spices, carrying their flavor through the curry.
Curds
Acidic dairy that tenderises the meat and adds a tangy body to the sauce.
Onions
Browned for sweetness and depth, and bulk out the sauce.
Coconut
Adds richness and body to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring and adding water while the meat cooks. Thick mixtures containing milk solids and sugars can scorch on the base of the pan. Constant stirring and a little water keep the sauce from sticking and burning while the meat cooks through.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, pepper, butter, turmeric, meat, coconut):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, pepper, butter, turmeric, meat, coconut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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