Curry Recipes Online
Curry Photos & Videos => Pictures of Your Curries => Topic started by: curryhell on December 12, 2013, 10:00 PM
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Haven
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Superb as usual CH. Interesting to see you upping the cassia/bay for the base. When Chef Moike was at my house recently I had stage 1 of the base (veg boil) already made from the night before, so we could see him do the main spicing/bagar. The first think I noticed was him piling in the cassia. At the TA he didn't use any whole spices for the gravy, and instead introduced these flavours via the pre-cooks (chicken etc). Moike explained he was varying the recipe in favour of his "restaurant" method. I am not entirely sure why the two (TA vs restaurant) should differ; possibly time/cost. Another change he made (that really took us by surprise) was the addition to the base of a fair old lump of dairy butter. Moike indicated that in the "best" restaurants the chef would include at least a full block of butter (I'm guessing 250 g) to a "large" handi. These changes I felt certainly increased the depth of flavour in finished dishes, particularly after the base had been left a good while. Anyway, after seeing your madras fest I think I'll spoil myself and make one tonight, chicken or duck.
Rob :)
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Hi CH looks bloody yummy!!! I'm not that keen on butter ghee, whats your opinion on the veg ghee and what does it bring that normal oil doesn't?
Cheers
Ed
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lovely looking curry as ever CH.
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Stunning, CH.
Anyone got a link to the Zaal base?
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Anyone got a link to the Zaal base?
How about :
Curry Recipes Online
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Cheers Phil :)
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Lovely looking curry again CH
Also Im trying not to eat because im saving myself for to nights curry
Im off to the Restaurant Brilliant in Southall which has been on my must try list for awhile
Those pictures have sent my stomach rumbling ;D
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whats your opinion on the veg ghee and what does it bring that normal oil doesn't?
My personal opinion, having tried the exact same recipes side by side one with ordinary veg oil and one with veg ghee, there's absolutely nothing to recommend veg ghee and it's more expensive as well.
I honestly think some of the perceived benefits/differences of certain ingredients are down to nothing more than placebo effect, i.e. you're told they're better, do more, taste different so you are lulled into the false belief that they really do when in fact they don't.
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I decided the best dish to sense check the base was a CT madras, simple but effective when cooked correctly, and a good testbed for any base...As always the dish did not fail to disappoint. A good balance of flavours going on in the sauce, tomato present but not over-powering which combined very well with the spice, gravy and lemon, with the Lee & Perrins adding a little something but very hard to describe exactly what. Very rich tasting with a great depth of flavour. This dish was most definitely worthy of my CBM mutton. Obviously, my gravy passed muster. The heaped tbs of chilli made it a bit hotter than normal madras
I should really post this in CT's madras recipe page but as you've described your view of the dish I thought perhaps, as a comparison, I might take the opportunity to post my review to contrast yours.
I made CT's 3 hour base for the first time and I really like it. It's the lightest colour base I've ever made and I'm not entirely sure why as the ingredients aren't all that different to most other bases. But anyway I've been looking for a light coloured base as the starting point in my efforts to make the light brown to orange coloured curries I have so much difficulty in producing. CT describes the spicing as robust but it tastes relatively mild to me and very sweet too but those are both characteristics I want in a base. So yes, a good base.
The madras though?
I made it exactly to spec and followed as near as I could the technique as demonstrated by CT in the accompanying video. Now I wasn't expecting to like the curry, incorporating as it does my two pet hates for savoury curries, i.e. lemon juice and kashmiri chilli powder. Long story short it was a distinctly unpleasant curry for my taste and experience of BIR curries.
The lemon and worcester sauce in combination made the curry unpleasantly sour tasting, something I'm just not used to in a madras. The tablespoon of kashmiri chilli powder, while adding nicely to the overall colour of the curry just isn't man enough for a madras so it was distinctly low on the chilli-heat scale for a normal madras. And, as ever, the kasmiri adds what for me is a distinctly non-BIR almost bitter flavour to the curry and made it even more unpleasant tasting.
The spicing wasn't sufficient for my taste, I would probably need to double the teaspoon of mix powder added to bring it up to 'spec'. And the absence of kasoori methi in a savoury curry was too noticeable.
All in all it leaned towards what I know as a madras but definitely wasn't anywhere near the type I am used to. In summary it lacked chilli heat but had the unpalatable kashmiri flavour, lacked robust spicing, had the sour flavour I hate and cried out for a bit of methi.
I'd certainly use the base again, in fact it may become my standard, but this madras has boldly gone where no madras has gone before and I shan't be hurrying to follow it! ;D
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That madras looks lovely CH.I had a takeaway madras from the Poppadam takeaway the other night and it was quite poor...yours looks spot on to me!!
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The spicing wasn't sufficient for my taste, I would probably need to double the teaspoon of mix powder added to bring it up to 'spec'. And the absence of kasoori methi in a savoury curry was too noticeable.
All in all it leaned towards what I know as a madras but definitely wasn't anywhere near the type I am used to. In summary it lacked chilli heat but had the unpalatable kashmiri flavour, lacked robust spicing, had the sour flavour I hate and cried out for a bit of methi.
Maybe it's a regional thing, but I've made this for a mate, who is a Madras nut, a couple of times now and he thinks it was spot on (second time).
First time I made it though, agreed it wasn't hot enough, so the Kashmiri was halved and replaced with a hot chilli powder.
But the rest was as per the recipe, and my mate said it was as sour/bitter as he is used to round here.
I used fresh squeezed lemon quarter, and he even asked me to leave the squeezed lemon in the dish while it stood.
So A Madras round here is Hot and Sour with a relatively smooth sauce.
So I also don't think Methi belongs in the Madras too.
Martin
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The two ingredients that I hate the most are celery and blue cheese, so yesterday I decided to make a celery and blue cheese soup. I couldn't believe it, it was absolutely disgusting. It tasted of celery and blue cheese. The next time I make this recipe I'm going to sustitute the celery for carrot and the blue cheese for coriander, then it'll taste more like the kind of celery and blue cheese soup I like. ;)
Joking aside, 'Madras' is almost meaningless as a type of curry. I prefer to call it 'curry'.
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Joking aside, 'Madras' is almost meaningless as a type of curry. I prefer to call it 'curry'.
There I respectfully disagree. For me, a Madras is an intermediate step on the heat spectrum that starts at "Curry" and passes through "Madras" and "Vindaloo" on its way to "Bangalore Phal". All are characterised by being "simple" curries, basically sauce + meat. It is my curry of choice whenever I want to assess a restaurant that I have not previously visited.
** Phil.
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You mean curry, hot curry and very hot curry, surely? ;)
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You mean curry, hot curry and very hot curry, surely? ;)
The validity of your hypothesis cannot be understated :)
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The two ingredients that I hate the most are celery and blue cheese, so yesterday I decided to make a celery and blue cheese soup. I couldn't believe it, it was absolutely disgusting. It tasted of celery and blue cheese. The next time I make this recipe I'm going to sustitute the celery for carrot and the blue cheese for coriander, then it'll taste more like the kind of celery and blue cheese soup I like. ;)
Joking aside, 'Madras' is almost meaningless as a type of curry. I prefer to call it 'curry'.
The point (for me at least) is that although I did expect it to be unpalatable based as it is on ingredients which I dislike I thought I'd give it a go in the hope that the amalgamation of said ingredients would produce some unfathomable transformation to make it palatable overall. Sadly that didn't happen and if it represents the state of the art in any locality of the UK I find it disheartening that people should ever aspire to reproduce it. It's not just that it's a different madras to that which I'm accustomed it's that it is distinctly unpleasant in flavour and unlike any madras I've ever had.
I should also point out that it's only the kashmiri chilli powder I don't like at all, the lemon juice and worcester sauce I love, just not in a madras.
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Is it possible, SS, that your Kashmiri mirch is different to that which others of us are using ? Mine is this one :
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQCnzoxYPvFtBgMQSXg8HpFr-otjvCMglahLaNjpoYiklVpAWKlBA)
and I love it -- is that the same one that you use ?
** Philp.
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It's definitely not MDH I'm using Phil but I can't remember which brand it actually is. Do you really think a different brand will make that much difference?
Actually, thinking back a few years, I have tried more than one brand (but not MDH to my recollection) and each has had the unpleasant flavour I associate with kashmiri chilli powder. Is the MDH pure kashmiri or some blend?
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It's definitely not MDH I'm using Phil but I can't remember which brand it actually is. Do you really think a different brand will make that much difference?
I think it might ... Certainly worth a try.
Actually, thinking back a few years, I have tried more than one brand (but not MDH to my recollection) and each has had the unpleasant flavour I associate with kashmiri chilli powder. Is the MDH pure kashmiri or some blend?
I no longer have a box to check, but from memory I think it says "a specially selected blend" but I could be imagining that bit [1]. Anyhow, not expensive (albeit not always easy to find) and definitely worth trying.
** Phil.
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[1] Exotic Kashmiri Chilli Powder (Mirch) is a special blend of medium quality Red Pepper that is used for Tandoori (Clay oven) preparations. When used in curry it imparts bright red colour making food more appealing and palatable. It is added to marinade for marinating and to frying onions along with chopped tomatoes while preparing curries.