Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: mickdabass on April 21, 2010, 10:34 AM
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Recently I have been gradually reducing the spice mix of late to try and reproduce that more subtle Balti taste I get from my local bir.
I was making a curry last night using CA?s Base and BE?s spice mix and mistakenly added the ingredients in the wrong order to usual.
Normally I will add tomato puree and g&g paste to the hot oil but for some reason I added the spice mix first!
At first I didn?t realise the error of my ways...but thought that something didn?t quite smell right!
The spice mix foamed up in the oil, but in no time at all (15-20 secs) the foaming was reducing (see http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2815.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2815.0)).
I suddenly realised my mistake and quickly added the tom puree and g&g.
I quickly stirred them in - worrying about burning the spices, I immediately added a good ladle of base.
After that I continued to cook the curry as normal.
The finished dish was much more golden in colour (probably due to the reduction in spices) and the taste was by far the closest I have ever got to reproducing a balti at home
I am not sure why this is but I will be definitely be trying this method next time.
Has anyone else had a lucky result from getting things wrong?
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Mistakes often create the best results. The challenge is to remember what you did to recreate it. Fortunately you seem to have this noted down.
Out of interest, when would the spice mix be added normally. I'm certainly no expert, but adding the spice mix later would perhaps result in not cooking them through properly.
One of the things you notice in the Dipurajah balti video, is when he makes a point to say that the spices must be cooked. I think he actually says 'burn the spices' but you get the point.
Good result though. :)
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My usual technique is to fry tom puree and g&g paste first for a minute or two depending on the oil temp - mainly to cook out the rawness of the garlic. I then add the spices usually chilie powder first, quickly followed by the mixed spice. As soon as I think that is cooked enough to release the essential oils etc, I then add some base to stop the spices from burning. Pretty standard practice as far as I can gather from reading loads of stuff on this forum over the last few years. What about you? Which bases/spice mixes do you recommend?
Havent really checked out Dipuraja. Wheres their restuarant? Have any members checked out their cuisine?
Regards
Mick
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Mick, is wasn't a criticism my apologies if you thought it was. :)
Naturally, I would recommend the IG Spice Mix and the IG base but i'm going back for that shortly, so will have that up as soon as I can. I can't vouch for dipurajah's food but some members are enjoying it.
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Havent really checked out Dipuraja. Wheres their restuarant? Have any members checked out their cuisine?
Hi Mick
It's one of those imponderables to me as to why no one ever tries out the various BIRs that get mentioned on this forum. There are after all several thousand members (supposedly) so just by chance there should be a handful of people within easy reach of any of them. ???
I know that if one were by me I'd be round there sharpish!
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No problems Axe. I didnt think for a minute you were being too critical. If you dont ask-you dont find out!
But at the end of the day we are all critics - thats what this forum is all about ;D
And yes SS i cant understand why anyone hasn't been round one of these birs either! Im sure Jerry or someone else could work out
from the stats exactly how many people on average live within say ten miles radius of any of these restaurants!
Anyhow I digress. If I can replicate that Balti "Style" Dish again; I will consider it a major breakthrough for me. I will post my results as and when :)
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I know that if one were by me I'd be round there sharpish!
Me too! I can't understand why nobody has reported visits to the place(s) with webcams or the BIR of the chap now posting lots of videos on youtube.
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SS/George,
If you cast you minds back, I did report on 'East' in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester. Do you remember, it was the one with the webcam? And as I reported then, it was crap :-X
As for the Dipuraja, maybe it's the location of that one 'Penrith' that's making it difficult to report on?
Ray :)
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i think it's crucial to make a few mistakes in order to learn.
adding green chilli to base in place of chilli powder (and vice versa) is a recent one for me.
as for the web cams. i have it on my mind to try maliks - i just don't seem to be able to time being there late on or evening. penrith is a place i know too but work don't take me there now and it's a 100 mile stint near enough.
the thing for me is to learn from them - not what quality they produce - my local TA produces all the quality i need and is what i'm aiming for. only by trying various ideas do i feel i have a chance of getting there.
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Mick, what's funny about this is that I had the same thing happen last night. With a small amount of base thawing I decided to use it in a dish. Having had a crack at Dopiaza the other night, I thought i'd do it again but see if I could better it for me somehow.
So anyway, started to pre-cook the lamb by adding ghee then frying G&G Paste then spicemix and curry powder, added my lamb and topped with water to simmer away for an hour.
I was also on the forum at this time and kept going backwards and forwards from kitchen to PC. I must have got engrossed at one point because I managed to miss that the water had all but boiled from the pan. What was left was 'dry' curry in oil with chunks of lamb in it. It smelt great, looked great and even better, it tasted great. If it wasn't for all prepared onion and spices I had done for the Dopiaza, I would have eaten the lot there and then.
As for visiting some of these restaurants, given what I have seen on Webcam's and Video, they don't compare to my local which is far superior, in my opinion. Funny that Malilk's should be mentioned. I was watching this last night and almost posted a new topic in amazement. I watched as dirty pans were used over and over to create dishes. It might be the pans were stored dish specific, so a korma gets cooked in the korma pan, but where is the food hygiene in that! Granted though, that dishes that required hot frying, were done in clean pans.
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Interesting point Axe about the "slowboat" cooking technique.
I personally think that the use of high output gas burners in birs is to speed up the final reduction process and all these photos you see of flaming pans is just showmanship. Its just a hunch tho :-\
It was Bobby Bhuna who once pointed out that the lower the hygiene scores were on the scores on the doors website http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/ (http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/) the better the bir :o
I cook in a cast iron wok and have tried the "grubby approach" by not using any soap or detergent to clean the wok (hoping to build up a layer of debris? in the wok), but concluded that it didnt make a big difference to the final product. What I have noticed though, is that if I cook several curries consecutively, the last curry always seems better than the first. The inevitable re-frying of the former currys remains imo seems to enhance the flavour of its successor!
Perhaps thats why it was once said that it would be impossible to reproduce a bir curry at home?
I dont know ::)
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Havent really checked out Dipuraja. Wheres their restuarant? Have any members checked out their cuisine?
Hi Mick
It's one of those imponderables to me as to why no one ever tries out the various BIRs that get mentioned on this forum. There are after all several thousand members (supposedly) so just by chance there should be a handful of people within easy reach of any of them. ???
I know that if one were by me I'd be round there sharpish!
Oh yeah congrats SS on reaching your 1000th posting (probably 1001 by now) 8)
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Oh yeah congrats SS on reaching your 1000th posting (probably 1001 by now) 8)
Thanks Mick, although it's pretty slow going by some posters' standards!
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I watched as dirty pans were used over and over to create dishes. It might be the pans were stored dish specific, so a korma gets cooked in the korma pan, but where is the food hygiene in that!
I don't see any problem with this approach in a busy BIR Axe. It's as you say, the pans get reused for similar curries and they aren't on the shelf that long, so no big deal I think as far as hygiene goes.
It may even, as has been suggested, be a small part in improving the taste as the residue from the previous curry will (possibly) get a bit caramelised at the start of the next one.
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Thanks Mick, although it's pretty slow going by some posters' standards!
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;D
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The jury is still out on that one for me, I guess it happens though. I sat back and watched and it seemed only the creamy dishes were cooked like this as the hot fried dishes seem to always get a clean pan. In fairness, they also seemed to look for specific pans which suggested that as I said, each type of dish got its own pan.
You could also see them scraping back the edges of the pan continually as well. So that lends to your comment about imparting to the next dish.
1000 posts and you've gone all violet! Don't worry we had a guy join up on another forum i'm on and in 3 months had amassed way over 2500 posts! He was making on average 30 replies a day, top that. :o
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SS/George,
If you cast you minds back, I did report on 'East' in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester. Do you remember, it was the one with the webcam? And as I reported then, it was crap :-X
I do remember, now that you say Ray! I'm still surprised that we don't get more first hand reports though.
What was it about the curry that you thought made it 'crap'?
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1000 posts and you've gone all violet!
Blimey you're right! I hadn't noticed.
Suits me though, goes nicely with me purple rinse. :P
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1000 posts and you've gone all violet!
Blimey you're right! I hadn't noticed.
Suits me though, goes nicely with me purple rinse. :P
you forgot to mention your "boozer's blush" and mustard coloured teeth, Satan :P Ya can take being a colourful character too far, luv :P
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BTW mickdabass, an awful lot of recipes come about from kitchen mistakes....sometimes it can go completely wrong but sometimes you can hit on a real gem...it's alchemy! ;D
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...it's alchemy! ;D
Alchemy. You hit the nail on the head I couldn't agree with you more
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Well I tried the same method last night and it was complete rubbish.
I did use too much oil though. Should have measured it instead of just pouring in a decent "glug" (technical term).
I have noticed that the amount of oil used drastically changes the overall taste of the final dish.
The thing was, I decided to make some keema http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1525.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1525.0) to slap on the barby today. So I shallow fried some of it to make a kofta balti.
Bit of a strange combination I know but I was keen to see if my initial Lucky Result could be repeated.
I expected the keema balls to absorb some of the oil - but they didnt.
In fact they probably added to the oil content from the fat in the lamb.
I then used that oil to cook the final curry.
With hindsight I should have removed some of it first.
The final dish also had a bit of a funny aftertaste to it which has always been a recurring problem which I have put down to under cooking either the tomato or g&g pastes Im not sure which.
My summary is that if I use probably half the amount of oil i.e half a "glug" (or approx one to one and a half tbs) to fry the spices I might be able to reproduce the amazing balti I created the other night.
The main advantage of frying the spices first is that it is far easier to judge when the spices are properly cooked.
The spices really foam up in the hot oil and it is easier to see when the foaming begins to diminish which as Bruce Edwards says is the time to stop the spices cooking otherwise you'll end up with a lovely smelling kitchen but a very bland curry. http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2815.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2815.0)
Makes me realise that I have still got a hell of a lot to learn and although I am disappointed with last nights effort, I am now more determined than ever to crack it.
I will give this technique one more try tho before I revert back to the "standard procedure".
I do now consider that the ratio of oil to spice is vital but the crux of the biscuit imo is the timing of the frying of the spices.
But we all probably knew that anyway? ::)
I hope this all makes some sense to someone, or am I just stating the obvious?
I must also add that CA's keema recipe is excellent. The only change I made was to use a handful of fresh mint out of the garden because I didnt have any mint jelly
Oh well.......back to the drawing board :-\
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I have noticed that the amount of oil used drastically changes the overall taste of the final dish.
I suppose that depends on whether you are recovering/removing the excess at the end. Did you remove the excess, or just make an oilier curry?
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to be honest I never thought to remove it at the end. I added some coriander just prior to serving and stirred in the excess oil. It was'nt until after I dished it up that the oil began to separate. Supose I should have drained it off then but at that stage my kitchen already resembled a post nuclear wasteland