Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => BIR Main Dishes Chat => Topic started by: curryhell on February 16, 2012, 12:43 AM
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I think i'm the first person to have a go at putting into practice what we learned from Sunday past. How i wish the master had been at my side. Like learning to drive, it's so easy when the teacher is there to tell you what to do just at the right time :)
In all the years i have been cooking curries i have never felt so bloody nervous. It was like my first day at school.
Got all the ingredients together and measured them. Very little prep to do. Turned up the hob to high and let it be for 15 mins. It was pumping heat alright ???. Scarey :-\
Anyway, in went the chef's spoon of veg ghee and left it for a bit. It started smoking :o so moved it off the heat for a minute. Back on the heat. I was using pre-cooked chicken and lamb so it was in with the garlic puree to start.
In it went (freshly made as i didn't want any of that spitting lark from the shop bought stuff) and it proceeded to foam. Gave it a stir and all went quiet. So far so good :). Went for the mix powder and chilli and in it went. A good stir round the pan followed by a lot of coughing and choking, just like Sunday. Quickly quenched it with a ladel of gravy which errupted as soon as it hit the pan. Shite, quickly added another ladle to give me some breathing space. and time for thought. I wish Az was here now :'(. Looked at the pan and things didn't look too bad so added the final ladle of gravy, gave it a stir and added two tsps of Mr Naga.
Has anybody noticed something yet???
Then came the realisation :o. You numpty, you forgot to add the tomato paste ::) ********* a few expletives followed as i added a chef's spoon of the stuff and stirred it in. Maybe i'll get away with this :). No you won't :( Feeling a little p****d off i added the meat and continued to cook. Then added a cup of water. Left it to bubble away and once it had reached my desired consistancy i added the coriander, gave it a stir and tipped it into the container. Mmm, time for reflection ???
Not beaten, i had another curry to cook. A simple medium curry with no complications thankfully. So we started again.
Turned the hob down a couple of notches. On went the pan with the veg ghee for minute. Added the garlic puree and swirled round the pan. All good so far. Removed from heat, in went the mix powder and half tsp of chilli and a dsp of tomato paste :). Didn't forget it this time ;). Back on the heat, couple of stirs round the pan and straight in with a ladle of gravy. Phew, no choking or coughing. Down with the heat. Added the meat at this stage, stirred and added the remainder of the gravy and left to bubble away for a bit. Good consistancy reached so chopped coriander added stirred and tipped into container.
Glad that is now over :D
Time to sample the results.
The phall, as you can guess was not up to the standard i'd cooked on Sunday. I don't think i need to explain why ;) However, it was certainly edible, not burnt and better than some of the s***e i've had dished up in some restaurants. I definitely need to practice this a lot more. Having done it on Sunday, i know i can achieve an excellent result. Doesn't help not following the recipe though, does it? >:(
Then came the sampling of the medium curry. ;D ;D ::) Now this is a different animal. Went exactly according to plan and tasted exactly how i would expect a medium curry to taste vs sampling i'd done on others in the past. Not very exciting, boring by my standards, very little heat but no different to any medium curry i have sampled in a restaurant. Success ;D ;D.
Some pics
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/9a900f294dabe1777ceed90322355704.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#9a900f294dabe1777ceed90322355704.jpg)
The "phall"
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/daea57d500bc3703e9fe19dd4c4eba67.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#daea57d500bc3703e9fe19dd4c4eba67.jpg)
Ready to eat
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/1795c81ee59c52545fc57315b8e6463c.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#1795c81ee59c52545fc57315b8e6463c.jpg)
The boring but successful curry :D
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/a3a89ac6004ab3ae860c34a971f9d3d7.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#a3a89ac6004ab3ae860c34a971f9d3d7.jpg)
I got back home tonight and i thought i'd walked into an Indian restaurant :D. The aroma is often present in this happy house :). Two hours later and i can still smell it ::). Now that is unusual. I've normally become conditioned / acclimatised to it by now :o. But no, the smell is still there, as strong as ever. I wonder why ::)
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Well done for being the first to try.It all looked so simple with Az looking over you shoulder didn't it?? They both certainly look the part.A couple of points,Which spice mix did you use and did you use 60/40 ginger garlic??
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Well done CH, please keep us posted on any tips or tricks you make to achieve sundays phall results, I'm following you guys' lead tonight and making me and the missus a curry so will be cranking the hob up, fingers crossed for great results, however am using C2G's base as i have a freezer drawer full :)
Did you make all your ingredients to zaal spec?
W
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Hi CurryHell
Great report there! the curry in the pictures really looks the real deal!
Sorry if I missed it - I know you were doing a lot of prep yesterday - did you use / make up some Zaal base and spice mix for these experiments?
Thanks
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Well done for being the first to try.It all looked so simple with Az looking over you shoulder didn't it?? They both certainly look the part.A couple of points,Which spice mix did you use and did you use 60/40 ginger garlic??
I used Abdul's enhanced base and ifindforu's spice mix. At this point i am more interested in getting the technique right. Other than subtle differences of flavour that the base and mix powder will add, i think the biggest impact will be from the technique or lack of it >:(. As soon as i get this right i will recognise the taste for sure ;D. This can then be tweaked then via the base / mix powder if felt necessary.
It was just garlc paste in the phall from the little pot. Thankfully someone queried this yesterday. When i backtracked through the video i was able to find the answer. Had i not done this i'd have added the ginger / garlic paste :o.
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Well done CH, please keep us posted on any tips or tricks you make to achieve sundays phall results, I'm following you guys' lead tonight and making me and the missus a curry so will be cranking the hob up, fingers crossed for great results, however am using C2G's base as i have a freezer drawer full :)
Did you make all your ingredients to zaal spec?
W
I think any good base and spice mix will do Wayne. Not had chance to do Az's base or spice mix yet. More interested in perfecting the technique. Watch the phall video a few times and look at the timings to get an idea of how quick it all happens. That first minute is vital to the success of the dish. It does help also if you add things in the correct sequence too :( ::)
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Well done CH, please keep us posted on any tips or tricks you make to achieve sundays phall results, I'm following you guys' lead tonight and making me and the missus a curry so will be cranking the hob up, fingers crossed for great results, however am using C2G's base as i have a freezer drawer full :)
Did you make all your ingredients to zaal spec?
W
I think any good base and spice mix will do Wayne. Not had chance to do Az's base or spice mix yet. More interested in perfecting the technique. Watch the phall video a few times and look at the timings to get an idea of how quick it all happens. That first minute is vital to the success of the dish. It does help also if you add things in the correct sequence too :( ::)
Me too
Great report CH, what would the difference in Az's Bhuna, & your basic curry up until to the 1st gravy?
ELW
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Great report CH, what would the difference in Az's Bhuna, & your basic curry up until to the 1st gravy?
ELW
Sorry ELW, i'm no help on this one. JB is the bhuna man. I wasn't in the vacinity at time. SP may even have a vid of it unless he was "singeing" his vindaloo at the time ;D
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The house has that smell again :P :P ;D
Couldn't resist the tempation to try it yet again. This time ifindforu's tikka in the phall made with kashmiri chilli, hence the red colour. Needed to singe a bit more, maybe another 4 to 6 seconds to just burn that chilli a tad :D. Not enough choking going on >:(. But it is good and with loads of practice it can only get better ;). But the lips are tingling rather than the mouth burning. Always a good sign for a phall lover 8)
Chicken tikka phall for supper later, if there's any left that is ::)
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/ccd7e96ccf8d95c471d4929d14b2c506.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#ccd7e96ccf8d95c471d4929d14b2c506.jpg)
Come on lads, get singeing. I'm dying to hear other's results 8)
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Hi CH so do u thInk u can replicate at home then 100%???
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Hi CH so do u thInk u can replicate at home then 100%???
With a lot more practice Gazman and once the technique becomes second nature, rather than having to work on it, i'd say we're going to be at least 95%+ there. I always like to leave room for improvement ;). As Az said, "you can do it home, it just takes longer" unless you happen to have a stove like his in your kitchen, which i don't :(
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The house has that smell again :P :P ;D
<snip>
Come on lads, get singeing. I'm dying to hear other's results 8)
Hi CH. I've been tinkering away with a couple of attempts at a pseudo-Roshney but I could probably be sued for using the name Roshney for the dishes I've cooked as they have had significant variances from Az's recipe due to lack of various ingredients (eg, I used ketchup instead of masala sauce!). Still it's been an exercise in proof of concept mainly, specifically seeing how the flavour of the dish is with singed spices / tomato paste and browned garlic added later. So far results are inconclusive but tonight's attempt had a deeply delicious underlying flavour which I'm fairly well convinced is down to the tomato paste caramelising, the spices being fully cooked out and the first quench of the pan with 1 chef's spoon of base sauce caramelising some of the base.
Well, these are my imaginings anyway and many further attempts and side by side comparisons would be required to prove anything. All I can say is my curries are already twice as good as they were before I visited Zaal and all this has apparently come from the simple expedient of being brave at the spice-frying stage. It's pointless getting too carried away but I'm already confident I've made solid progress using this change in technique and there's more to come, I can feel it in my spice-infused water...! ;)
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Nice one NJ. That sounds about right. Caramelisation and cooking out the spices fully then killing the process with a spoonful of gravy. Then it's good old reduction as usual. I'm sure once you have all the necessary roshney ingredients and you put them together you'll be pleasantly surprised. Things are on the up and the food can only get better with more practice. We're not over the finishing line but at least we can now see the bloody thing ;D
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Great report CH, what would the difference in Az's Bhuna, & your basic curry up until to the 1st gravy?
ELW
Sorry ELW, i'm no help on this one. JB is the bhuna man. I wasn't in the vacinity at time. SP may even have a vid of it unless he was "singeing" his vindaloo at the time ;D
Guys,I may be good at skewering chicken for the tandoori oven but uploading footage onto computers I am not.I am sending my disc to Solarspice who has kindly offered to upload it for me(topman ;D).You can see me cooking the bhuna,as well as Natterjack blending the gravy with the industrial size blender!!
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hi guys try this but up the chilli powder to 2 rnd tbsp! http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2369.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2369.0)
regards
gary
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Great report CH, what would the difference in Az's Bhuna, & your basic curry up until to the 1st gravy?
ELW
Sorry ELW, i'm no help on this one. JB is the bhuna man. I wasn't in the vacinity at time. SP may even have a vid of it unless he was "singeing" his vindaloo at the time ;D
Guys,I may be good at skewering chicken for the tandoori oven but uploading footage onto computers I am not.I am sending my disc to Solarspice who has kindly offered to upload it for me(topman ;D).You can see me cooking the bhuna,as well as Natterjack blending the gravy with the industrial size blender!!
Hi jb, I'm looking to find out if bir bhuna is technique or ingredients, looking forward to the vid
ELW
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Nice one NJ. That sounds about right. Caramelisation and cooking out the spices fully then killing the process with a spoonful of gravy. Then it's good old reduction as usual. I'm sure once you have all the necessary roshney ingredients and you put them together you'll be pleasantly surprised. Things are on the up and the food can only get better with more practice. We're not over the finishing line but at least we can now see the bloody thing ;D
CH,really enjoying every thread from all the guys who attended AZ's teach in and keep it coming ;)
Can you give any more detail on how far to cook the spices ? what to look for or what aroma to look out for when it's ready to quench with the first ladle of base ? I have at times fried spices for longer than my normal amount of time but have found the spices turn quite dark in colour and the resultant curry's taste awful :P just a burnt bitter taste.
Also well done for attempting to recreate your curry from the weekend but without using identical ingredients to AZ I think you might struggle to match the taste you had on Sunday, also I don't see a mention of you using any whole spices as per AZ's spiced water and what with the results I've had lately using whole spices I think you are missing out on a lot of savoury flavour. ;)
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CH,really enjoying every thread from all the guys who attended AZ's teach in and keep it coming ;)
Can you give any more detail on how far to cook the spices ? what to look for or what aroma to look out for when it's ready to quench with the first ladle of base ? I have at times fried spices for longer than my normal amount of time but have found the spices turn quite dark in colour and the resultant curry's taste awful :P just a burnt bitter taste.
Hi emin-j. How do i answer this one? If i knew the answers to this i'd be as happy as Larry ;D. I'm still working on what i need to achieve given my own cooking environment. Everybody's is different. I could say X,Y & Z but they would not necessarily work for you nor many other CR0 members. As soon as i think i have something to share that will benefit other members, rest assured i will share it. At the moment, i'm only 4 days into practice sessions after Sunday ;D I am working as fast as i can though mate ;)
Also well done for attempting to recreate your curry from the weekend but without using identical ingredients to AZ I think you might struggle to match the taste you had on Sunday, also I don't see a mention of you using any whole spices as per AZ's spiced water and what with the results I've had lately using whole spices I think you are missing out on a lot of savoury flavour. ;)
This is key for me which is why i'm not bothered about the other ingredients. On Sunday, i managed to create under Az's instruction my favourite dish. This dish tasted so very close to what my local produce. The following night, i ate a house speciality, which included the naga chilli. The dish created on Sunday was even closer to this than my regular dish. This tells me that irrespective of gravy / mixed spice, techniques will produce very similar results with the same spices used. The effect of the base and spice mix will be neglible. If this wasn't the case then what i cooked on Sunday would be worlds apart from my local's dish and the one i ate on Monday eve. My experience on Sunday tells me it's about technique. Everything else is secondary and will only have a subtle influence providing you get the first bit right of course ;D. I hope this makes sense. So sorry i cannot provide more definitive answers at this point it time ??? Hopefully i will be able to, but they'll only be any good for some poor sod that is cooking on an electric hob like me ;)
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This is key for me which is why i'm not bothered about the other ingredients. On Sunday, i managed to create under Az's instruction my favourite dish. This dish tasted so very close to what my local produce. The following night, i ate a house speciality, which included the naga chilli. The dish created on Sunday was even closer to this than my regular dish. This tells me that irrespective of gravy / mixed spice, techniques will produce very similar results with the same spices used. The effect of the base and spice mix will be neglible. If this wasn't the case then what i cooked on Sunday would be worlds apart from my local's dish and the one i ate on Monday eve. My experience on Sunday tells me it's about technique. Everything else is secondary and will only have a subtle influence providing you get the first bit right of course ;D. I hope this makes sense. So sorry i cannot provide more definitive answers at this point it time ??? Hopefully i will be able to, but they'll only be any good for some poor sod that is cooking on an electric hob like me ;)
..makes perfect sense
I will consider myself at square 1, once I can merge the oil g&g tom pur & spices in a pan into that 1 unique flavour, that we are all on about. Only then will I say I can reproduce bir @ home. Once I've got this down, it will open up all the other recipe's to me from Kris Dhillon(we may not liked her recipe's initially, but I'm sure if she or a chef cooked them for us,we'd go away with our tails between our legs :) ) to CA's, Kushi & Ashoka. I could give more time to the pre-cooking of meats etc, & maybe fine tune a few recipe's, but as of now, I've no business tinkering with anything but the basics ::) All other ingredients, including base gravy are purely chefs touches, which may or may not set the dish apart from the other guy down the road.
I'll admit to not yet having achieved this 1 aspect, the rest is straight forward.
Glad to see the hair splitting details of measurements being dismissed also, after seeing a chef working maybe 3 x pans, adding ingredients with a large spoon, whilst talking to someone & hardly even watching the pans. ;D
I've had some poor curries, but even the worst have never tasted of raw powdered or burned spices, the smell of the raw mix powder should I think be completely gone from a properly cooked bir curry.
The hands experience the Fleet5 got at Zaal & Panpots Ashoka experience)http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3189.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3189.0), Bruce Edwards also saw it done(2 great bir reports), has shown me that the single most important thing is lost in print. ???
Julian from c2g may reveal a bit more in his forthcoming ebook regarding technique, but I ask myself why its never emphasized in print.Maybe Abdul or Ifindforuhas some input on this?But they have never cracked a light. It may be second nature to an Asian chef, but with hindsight I think B.E should have spotted this glaring omission :(
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@ emin-j
I made the Kushi instead of Zaal base last night as I only had 1kg of onion & no veg ghee.(I'll make to spec next time round) I've never had any muslin net for the whole spices which are supposed to be boiled with the onions,so just boil them separately & add the water. I'm not sure if you've made this base, but it tastes great & I could easily eat it on it's own. I don't think it provides the taste of a final dish, but does give it great flavour. I've got whole spices down as a chefs touch rather than critical. That said, I will now add it to every base. as it's very simple to do.
The frying of the oil/tomatoes /GG & spice mix to add to it, I took way down further than usual in a pot, before adding water. Didn't really notice what that did...not down far enough I suppose
ELW
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I will consider myself at square 1, once I can merge the oil g&g tom pur & spices in a pan into that 1 unique flavour, that we are all on about. Only then will I say I can reproduce bir @ home. Once I've got this down, it will open up all the other recipe's to me from Kris Dhillon(we may not liked her recipe's initially, but I'm sure if she or a chef cooked them for us,we'd go away with our tails between our legs :) ) to CA's, Kushi & Ashoka. I could give more time to the pre-cooking of meats etc, & maybe fine tune a few recipe's, but as of now, I've no business tinkering with anything but the basics ::) All other ingredients, including base gravy are purely chefs touches, which may or may not set the dish apart from the other guy down the road.
I'll admit to not yet having achieved this 1 aspect, the rest is straight forward.
I'm right there with you ELW, square one. It's chicken phall, chicken phall and more chicken phall until i get this one right, there's little point in trying to move on.
It may be second nature to an Asian chef
And that's just it. It probably is and is taken for granted as being no big thing since they will have learnt it from the start and is now just second nature and the norm. And as you say, it's lost in the writing.
Obviously for the rest of us, this is not the case.
Ah well, best get the base out the freezer for yet another singeing session. I may just have to slip a brinjal bhaji in there as well tonight, as it's Friday ;)
Happy singeing all ;D
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I may just have to slip a brinjal bhaji in there as well tonight, as it's Friday ;)
You've converted me to that one CH.
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I may just have to slip a brinjal bhaji in there as well tonight, as it's Friday ;)
You've converted me to that one CH.
That's my milestone for the year so far SL. And just think how much better it'll taste when the spices get singed ;D. Come to think of it, i was probably doing this while i was waiting for the little blighters to release the oil back into the pan though :). This would explain why sometimes it's good and others it's superb ::) Glad you're enjoying it mate.