Curry Recipes Online
Curry Photos & Videos => Pictures of Your Curries => Topic started by: Peripatetic Phil on March 18, 2013, 09:44 PM
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Waitrose were remaindering fresh chicken livers today, and never one to turn down a bargain, I bought two packs. I had no preconceived idea of what I might make with them (chicken liver parfait ? Jewish chopped liver ?) but then I remembered I had once eaten chicken livers in a Nepalese restaurant in Swanley, and that gave me an idea : bhuna chicken livers. So, I got out a 3/4 pint tub of chilled base, some g/g paste, some Bassar curry masala, ajwain and black salt, and fried the g/g paste until it was starting to change colour. Then in with the Bassar, cook until the smell changes, in with the chicken livers, ajwain and black salt, then a good stir and turn, and keep in motion as they start to cook. When the livers and spices started to stick to the base of the pan, I reached for the base and then stopped myself : "No", I thought, "this is bhuna -- no base needed". So, instead of base I added more oil. And when they started to stick again, more oil. In with sliced peppers (green and orange), later some chopped coriander, plenty of sea salt, and then left to cook in their own juices with the lid on. Finally garnished with some chopped coriander leaves and served, with no side dish at all (no rice, paratha or chapatti). And it was very nice indeed. This has given me the confidence to try an old-style (baseless) chicken bhuna as my next experiment : report to follow.
** Phil.
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Mridula Baljekar in her book Real Fast Indian Food does an excellent Masala Chicken Livers recipe, it's well worth trying. Quick and easy and very tasty.
Your bhuna recipe here is interesting though.
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Splashes of water is a better idea to stop things sticking than oil. Ken Hom told me that 8)
Here's a couple of liver recipes Phil.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,7910.msg69700.html#msg69700 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,7910.msg69700.html#msg69700)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11500.msg88352.html#msg88352 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11500.msg88352.html#msg88352)
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It looks ofally good Phil :P
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Mridula Baljekar in her book Real Fast Indian Food does an excellent Masala Chicken Livers recipe, it's well worth trying. Quick and easy and very tasty.
Ah, don't have that book. Any chance of a few hints at what she proposes ?
** Phil.
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Splashes of water is a better idea to stop things sticking than oil. Ken Hom told me that 8)
But is that bhuna ?
Here's a couple of liver recipes Phil.
Thank you : to be investigated.
** Phil.
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It looks ofally good Phil :P
Fraf'ly sweet of you to say so, old chap :)
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Here's an interesting link Phil, I might give it a go myself: http://www.colorandspices.com/2012/07/bhuna-gosht.html (http://www.colorandspices.com/2012/07/bhuna-gosht.html)
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She mixes spices with flour, 4 or 5 tsps, namely salt, cumin, garam masala, chilli powder about a tsp of each, dredges the chicken livers in the flour with a little water. Fries a sliced onion in oil and removes it, then fries a couple of tsps of garlic puree in the same oil, adds the chicken livers about a pound, stir fries them, adds the remaining flour with a little water and fries it in then, adds chopped tomatoes and coriander. Serve with the fried onions.
Given that's my interpretation of her recipe I don't think it's subject to copyright :)
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She mixes spices with flour, 4 or 5 tsps, namely salt, cumin, garam masala, chilli powder about a tsp of each, dredges the chicken livers in the flour with a little water. Fries a sliced onion in oil and removes it, then fries a couple of tsps of garlic puree in the same oil, adds the chicken livers about 1/2 a pound, stir fries them, adds the remaining flour with a little water and fries it in then, adds chopped tomatoes and coriander. Serve with the fried onions.
Given that's my interpretation of her recipe I don't think it's subject to copyright :)
Excellent, many thanks. I have now ordered a 99p copy of the book, so I will be able to try some other of her dishes as well. I flour kidneys as a matter of course, but never liver(s); I wonder why ?
** Phil.
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Splashes of water is a better idea to stop things sticking than oil. Ken Hom told me that 8)
But is that bhuna ?
Yeah of course. Its only a splash of water to stop things sticking and once evaporated things continue to fry.
Adding more oil to compensate is usually down to inexperience and i know you are more than competent as a cook Phil. :)
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Splashes of water is a better idea to stop things sticking than oil. Ken Hom told me that 8)
OK, so tonight's version is "almost baseless bhuna" : two red onions, halved and sliced, 1/4 orange pepper thinly sliced (all I had left), g/g paste, oil, two tablespoonsful base, Bolsts curry powder, methi leaves, hing, turmeric, black salt, sea salt. By far the most important was the methi leaves : as soon as they started frying in the hot oil and onion mixture, I was transported back 40 years in time to the New Delhi restaurant in the Finchley Road (West Hampstead, just up from Swiss Cottage) where I first ate Chicken Bhuna. The methi leaves are without doubt a vital part of an authentic bhuna.
** Phil.
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I love methi, fresh or dried.! :P
A mate came with me to an Indian grocers recently. He asked me to choose 2 items for him. (damn! cant remember what the 2nd item was :o i say recently, it was last summer) Anyway, I told him to buy some dried methi.
He couldn't take his nose out of the box for 2 days! ;D He Loved it!
Phil, i was wondering if you've tried Mr Lal's (baseless) Bhuna yet?
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Phil, i was wondering if you've tried Mr Lal's (baseless) Bhuna yet?
No, I was saving that for when I next defrost some chicken breasts; the chicken livers were so cheap that I can afford to make mistakes with them (I'll still eat them, of course, but won't be heartbroken if a dish isn't up to par) whereas the free-range breasts were quite expensive (
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Mridula Baljekar in her book Real Fast Indian Food does an excellent Masala Chicken Livers recipe, it's well worth trying. Quick and easy and very tasty.
Ah, don't have that book. Any chance of a few hints at what she proposes ?
** Phil.
I have it now. At only GBP 0-99 + p&p, and in excellent used condition ("as new"), it represented excellent value. Sadly my confidence in the contents were badly shaken when I read on page 20 "Aniseed (ajowan or carum)". If Ms Baljekar doesn't know the difference between aniseed and ajowan, her recipes may lack a certain je ne sais quoi ... (the entry is actually about ajowan : why/how she confused it with aniseed I cannot imagine).
** Phil.
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I don't know why she's getting Ajowan and Aniseed confused either, they're clearly two quite different spices with two different flavours.
However, there's nothing wrong with her taste buds as I've found her recipes on the whole to be pretty darned good. The simple Chicken Masala on page 75 is a particular favourite of mine and the dry fried minced lamb on page 106 also pretty good.
They're well worth trying.
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and the dry fried minced lamb on page 106 also pretty good.
well worth trying.
Another recipe i used to love from my ex-Anglo-Indian family was Mince Fry.
The dish on the whole was very dry and with an overall flavour of ginger. One of my favourites at the time.
You start by deep frying 1/2" cubes of potato and set aside.
And this is where you need to experiment because i cant remember any of their recipes.
They were all very simple dishes and i dont remember any other spices used aside from the usual suspects. (cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli)
Definitely nothing wet added like tomato and they would've used ginger powder. (It was only me at the time cooking their dishes that fresh ginger was ever used.)
The crispy potatoes are stirred in at the end when the mince is cooked and it's served with plain boiled white rice and some pickle or chutney.
Delicious!! ;D
Cheers, Frank. :)