Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: emin-j on May 13, 2009, 10:35 PM
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Hi All ,I reckon we all have what we consider to be our favourite Curry taste and we probably have different idea's on what our favourite BIR Curry should taste like ,so I think it really is a personal thing and although my two favourite T/A are good they taste slightly different.
I have put a lot of time in over the last few months cooking and researching to achieve ' my ' perfect Madras and my Wife and I both agree that the Madras I make is superior to the T/A ;D We were away from home last weekend at our caravan and couldn't wait to order our Madras from our favourite T/A , what a disappointment ! ??? compared to my Madras it was tasteless !The Chicken tasted just like well Chicken :-\ no marinade flavours of Garlic & Ginger just plain Chicken ??? cant wait til Saturday to make a 'proper' Curry ;D
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emin-j,
what madras are u making - would appreciate u listing it.
how's your consistency. i ask as on a good dish your words sit pretty good for me
i still love my local TA though - there are are some v.good about but often not easy to find and we have to rely mainly on word of mouth to find them. i also find they are reliant on the chef and if he moves the magic does the same.
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Its strange but love love my local t/a and sometimes not my own curry's but all my friends and family prefer mine :-\ i think some of us are our own worst critics.
Andy the debate go's on.
;D
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hi peeps
i visited Mouchak my new local and spoke to them about ths forum, they seemed quite taken aback by what i was saying, so i said i would cook them a some food next time. as i left i ask which dish was their favourite the guy that carried the bag to the door said chicken madras. for a week i panicked and thought what am i doing? :o but i trusted my ability to do it. so last tuesday i began my preparation, my take on chicken tikka so marinated 1.5 kg that done i could relax for at least 24 hours or more. and to decide what recipe i would use to cook the madras...... ;D?
i will post the rest of the story as soon as i can sorry to leave you in suspense
regards
gary
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Chilli head,
agree a lot with what u say on the preference and our own worst critic's. i put it down to most "friends" not having been sort of brought up on curry and for some reason the v.good TA/Restaurant magic for some reason is lost on them.
parker21, "star - what a man"
try CK's madras i'm sold on it (made 3 portions last night). i can't help putting 1/4 tsp paprika and 1 chef passata in for me although my wife prefers the CK org.
ps of course it's the rajver base that's doing the magic.
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Its strange but love love my local t/a and sometimes not my own curry's but all my friends and family prefer mine :-\ i think some of us are our own worst critics.
Andy the debate go's on.
;D
Hi Jerry M,
I'll just refer you to an earlier post - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1851.msg30956#msg30956
But I do make small changes most weeks to see what the taste difference is ( if any )
Recently I bought some dried red Chillies and in my last Madras used these instead of the fresh Green Chillies I had been using ( 1 per portion )but with my usual amount of Chili Powder, it was damn hot !! :o I now also fry some chopped Onions prior to the Garlic/Ginger/Tom Puree,Just gonna start tonight's Madras but will cut down on the Chili Powder ,also going to try some Paprika to for it's colouring properties. Whatever changes I do make the flavour of the Curry is delicious. :)
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emin-j,
thanks for clarification on the madras recipe (SnS's). i understand now how i'd not picked it up in the other post.
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Its like the old phal dish we called it phal for fallacy your hotest meal is down to your hotest chili and i to am thinking of trying these dryed chili's in one or two meals.
Andy
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Just as a follow up to this thread , the wife and me had a Madras from our most favourite T/A on Saturday and I asked her to note any obvious flavours or anything out of the ordinary in her curry , Nothing ??? I did though in mine , I had a Cardamom Pod and a piece of Cassia Bark about 1 1/2" long x 1/2" wide , the Curry was good . ;D
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Hi Emin-J,
Using Paprika will not only give it a good colour but should add depth to the flavour as Paprika is towards the milder end of the pepper/chilli family so it may also make it a little sweeter too.....
Remember, Birds eyes/scotch bonnets etc for heat Paprika/bell peppers etc for depth of flavour. A combination of the two works really well :)
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emin-j,
not disbelieving what u say are u sure it was cassia.
the reason i ask is when i started curry cooking i first used cinnamon (KD1 book Garam Masala). i then became aware of cassia and felt i preferred it's taste more than cinnamon and dropped the cinnamon. recently i started making onion paste and ended up using cinnamon and liking it.
given what u say i feel i might just have to give the cassia another go in curry cooking.
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Hi JerryM, yes definitely Cassia Bark , it still had enough flavour to compare with the Cassia Bark I have at home.The only thing was when I broke the cooked Cassia Bark open it was a Pinky/Red colour inside but I would think that could happen during the cooking process.
Changing the subject slightly ,watching some of the Restaurant Video's I noticed when the Chef adds the spices he uses the Chef's spoon to 'scoop' the Spices out of the container ,comparing my 'teaspoon' measurements they must be putting a lot more than a teaspoon of each Spice in for a single serving. :o
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emin-j,
many thanks, will give the cassia ago as soon as i can (doing an as spec base next).
interesting thoughts on the chef spoon amounts of spice. there has been an earlier post on how much the "side" of chef spoon equals - will try and find it. i don't think there is anything on the "tip". i'll have a go at measuring if search finds nothing.
i too use teaspoon measurements - using pretty much a standard 2 tsp per 200ml finished portion. i 'm starting to think though that less might be more in terms of getting closer to BIR. this being down to making CK's madras recently and liking it more than my own madras. i don't know yet if it was down to the base that i used (rajver) which is sort of heavy spiced and therefore made up the difference in CK's but over spiced my madras. i also had TA last week which pretty much suggested real BIR to be lightly spiced.
the only difficulty i have is a while ago i made Bruce Edwards curry which requires 1/2 tsp spice mix per portion. at the time i remember upping the amount and feeling it tasted much better.
it's certainly something to work on a bit.
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Had a Madras from our local T/A last night , can be a bit hit and miss tho ,and it was a miss :( Almost flavourless other than being very Tomatoey :-\ Cant wait til Saturday to make a 'proper' Curry. :D
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emin-j,
nice to know others are having a bit of hit and miss. was it the same chef. my fav TA has a stand-in chef. curry's are very good from both but u can tell the difference.
i have a habit myself of using too much tomato in madras (adding both puree and passata). when it's right it works but as u've pointed out it can go downhill if not careful.
have attached link to info on chef spoon (sorry forgot)
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3071.msg27433#msg27433 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3071.msg27433#msg27433)
my measurement suggested 1/4 chef spoon to be 3 tsp. the post by parker21 lower down suggests tip is chef's pinch. i believe although not totally sure a chef pinch to equal 1/3 tsp. i know for a fact my chef spoon level is 4 tbsp.
i use 1/4 tsp of salt per 200ml portion and would therefore tend to agree that the tip is sort of ~ 1/3 tsp.