Indian is my favourite cuisine and I was suprised how few and far between Indian Restaurants were when I went to the US. None of my US friends or family had ever tried it until I introduced them to it. They all loved it. As a rough guideline, if you like Mexican food you will like Indian food. Although in some ways they are quite different they also share similarities.

Here's a very basic starting recipe. It can be eaten on its own, with rice or flat breads, or as a side-dish for other dishes. My wife insists that I serve it whenever we have any Indian dishes.

Dahl

Finely chop one onion and gently fry in a little vegetable oil until just starting to turn brown. Add a teaspoon of minced garlic, a heaped teaspoon of minced ginger, about 3 teaspoons of curry powder (less or more depending on your chilli tolerance), about a 1/4 teaspoon each of the fragrant spices (cloves, cinnamon, allspice, cardamon etc. - whatever you have, none of these are vital) and a good teaspoon of cumin. Stir and allow to fry for a few minutes until the aromas are released.

Add about 3/4 of a cup of red lentils that have been washed until the water runs clean. Stir into the cooking spices and then add chicken or vegetable stock until the mixture is well covered. Add one small chopped tomato. Put a lid on the pot and simmer.
Stir every now and then.
If the mixture starts to dry out add a little water.

When the mix gets close to the consistency of porridge then its ready.

That sounds good, CM ~ with one exception, that I'll explain below ~ but my first question is about the curry ~ there are a gazillion curries ~ do you have a favorite, one that you'd recommend?

The exception in your recipe for me is the chopped tomato ~ I don't like tomatoes in their natural state, but I do eat tomato products [paste, sauce, and the like] ~ is the tomato necessary for flavor? ~ and if so, can I try adding some tomato paste or sauce instead of chopped tomatoes?

When I was still working, there was a group of maybe 6 - 8 of us [lawyers and staff] who tried to have lunch together every two months or so ~ one day, a partner suggested an Indian restaurant ~ the rest of us said "sure" ~ once seated, he did all the ordering for us since it was one of his favorite cuisines ~ he ordered something that he warned us "might be a little hot" ~ he tasted it first ~ and he turned red, with sweat literally pouring off his face ~ after he recouped, he said "that's the one that's a little hot" ~ FTR, the rest of us passed on the dish ~

Sooz

Actually the tomato is my addition - you won't find it in most recipes, so you can leave it out or just add a little tomato paste. It gives it a depth of flavour I think, but the dish shouldn't taste of tomato at all.

No particular favourite. Rogan Josh maybe, or Vindaloo. If people show any interest I'll post some more recipes. Most of them are my variations rather than the traditional recipes though.

But you are right, there are a million recipes for curry. If you like I'll do a kind of basic one and point out the kind of variations you can make. And in all of them you can adjust the heat, so no red faces

I've become somewhat more adventuresome in my eating in the past several years, so I'd love to see more along with suggestions for variations ~

Sooz

Indian cuisine is an area I've not explored yet.

Generic Curry Recipe

In a good sized saucepan gently fry one sliced onion. When it starts to become translucent add two cloves of crushed garlic and an inch or so of finely chopped ginger. Fry for a few minutes.

Add 3 or 4 heaped teaspoons of curry powder, a heaped teaspoon of powdered cumin, two heaped teaspoons of powdered coriandar (cilantro) and a teaspoon of Garam Masala. Stir until the spices begin to cook.

Add enough white vinegar to make a smooth paste.

Cube about 500gms of beef (the rough cuts are fine) and stir into the mixture, making sure to coat all the cubes.

Put a lid on the saucepan and simmer gently for at least 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. If the curry starts to dry add water or stock to maintain a reasonable amount of gravy. Add salt to taste (although with beef it doesn't really seem to need it).

Serve with rice.

That's a basis for further experiment. You can use any kind of meat or seafood instead of the beef, but you need to vary the cooking time. Seafood is very quick, chicken a bit longer, pork a bit longer again. You can even make it totally vegetarian - potato, mushroom, cauliflower, pumpkin, beans, peas and (sorry sooz) tomatoes are all great, either in combination with each other or with one of the meats. There is even one type (Saag) of curry that combines lamb and spinach.

You can also make a quite different style of curry by replacing the vinegar with either coconut milk or stock, although in much larger quantities than the vinegar. I find the coconut milk goes particularly well with seafood, vegetable and pork curries, but one of the most famous Malayian curries - Rendang - involves cooking beef in lots of coconut milk which is then reduced to a very thick sauce.

The spices are also variable. Food snobs would turn up their noses at my use of curry powder, but I find it a very useful base and there are various different varieties you can get. The Garam Masala is also a spice mix - usually of the fragrant spices, so you can experiment with them. The heat levels are optional, but I'm warning you that if you ever get a full-blown Vindaloo then prepare yourself. You can always add chilli or pepper, but its very hard to get rid of them (the common cure for the overly hot curry is a side dish of sour cream mixed with finely chopped cucumber).

an inch or so of finely chopped ginger

Not a one inch deep layer, I hope.

Nope, just an inch of the root.
But there is a recipe for a Burmese curry which involves a cup of garlic cloves ....

CM, I do an excellent chicken dish with 20 cloves of garlic ~ sounds excessive, I know ~ but the garlic roasts along with the chicken and the flavor is very mellow ~ if anyone is interested in that, just say so and I'll post it ~

Sooz

Is that the one where you cover the bottom of a pan with garlic and then cook the chicken on top?

Everyone loves this potato curry.

Take three or four large whole potatoes and simmer gently in salted water until they are just cooked through. Peel and cut into about 1" cubes.

In a large saucepan (a Wok is ideal) put about 3 teaspoons of black mustard seeds and about two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Gently raise the heat until the mustard seeds pop. Be careful not to burn them.
Add one large finely chopped onion and cook until it starts to brown. Add a couple of crushed garlic cloves.
Then add the spices: 1 desert spoon of good curry powder and about a teaspoon of garam masala (adjust to taste).
When the spices release their aroma add the potatoes. Carefully turn and mix the potatoes until they are covered with the spice mix and onions. Salt to taste (I like lots!).

It can be eaten hot or cold, as a side dish or as a main.

In fact, its so versatile we even had it as a side dish with my wife's thanksgiving turkey. Heresy you say?
Possibly, but very nice heresy -)

Just a hint to speed up the above recipe. Wash, peel (if you want) and cube the potatoes first. Drain and rinse with very cold water so the cook process is stopped. They cook much faster and you don't have to play "hot potato" to peel them after or wait forever until they are cooled. I usually leave the skin on since it's good for you.

The added benefit is that doing it that way cooks out some of the starch.

You could do it that way. I tend to use fairly waxy potatoes. You don't want the cubes to break down. I boil them whole and then when a skewer goes through them easily transfer them to cold water. It only takes them a few minutes for them to cool down enough to work. I'd normally leave the skins on as well, but in this case you actually want the oil/spice mix to soak into the potato a bit.

I use waxy potatoes too and make potato salad a lot in the summer. I haven't noticed that they break down, but I have to monitor them closely. I started doing it that way when I live in a very hot, humid climate without A/C. The shorter the boiling time, the better. lol