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Messages - stephen west

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British Indian Restaurant Recipe Requests / Re: Chicken Jalfrezi Recipe Using the KD Sauce?

« on: August 17, 2007, 10:57 PM »

Quote from: stubiethenoobie on August 17, 2007, 08:23 PM

may seem like a daft question, but for the spice mix u mentioned, is gara masala suitable? or am i to go buy some more spices... if so, could u make some suggestions??

I don't think garam masala would work well, I find this one does http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1546.0. For the curry powder, I use TRS mild madras powder, which can be bought from Indian supermarkets, but I'm sure others have their favourites which work too.

Lets Talk Curry / Re: Just got my Kushi Balti Book!

« on: November 23, 2005, 08:32 AM »

Intersting that lots of the recipes contain mustard oil. Perhaps it is used even though marked 'not for human consumption'.

Lets Talk Curry / Re: Smoky taste

« on: November 02, 2005, 09:05 PM »

Sorry, a belated thank you for your replies.

Thanks,

Stephen

Lets Talk Curry / Smoky taste

« on: October 23, 2005, 08:12 PM »

Hello everyone,

I've just had another one of my "curry parties", where I cook for about 20 people. This time, I cooked Kris Dhillon's sauce, and used the recipe by Mark J (I think) for a chicken madras. I was quite pleased with the result.

Whilst I was cooking, I noticed that I'd produced that smoky smell that always comes from restaurants. I realised it was coming from the karahi. I didn't have time to clean it out between each dish that I cooked yesterday, and eventually, there developed a burnt, crusty deposit around the rim of the karahi where the sauce had burned in the flame. It occurred to me that in a restaurant that they probably wouldn't wash the karahi out between each dish, either, and that during an evening, and perhaps longer if it was particularly engrained, a substantial layer of "burn" could develop, especially with a much stronger flame. If it smelled the same, could it be that that is what is producing the smoky taste?

I didn't notice it affecting the taste of the 20 or so that I cooked, but with a more engrained karahi, perhaps it would?

Has anyone else noticed this?

Thanks,

Stephen

Lets Talk Curry / Re: pat chapman has a new curry book out

« on: May 13, 2005, 05:50 PM »

Quote from: merrybaker on May 13, 2005, 05:39 PM

What about Pete's 600-ml-oil sauce? Have you tried that?

That's tomorrow night's plan, all going to plan. Lamb madras using Mark J's techniques, and a batch of Pete's 600ml sauce from the freezer

I'm sure the result will be similar to using Kris Dhillon's sauce. I'll try to post the result soon.

Thanks,

Stephen

Lets Talk Curry / Re: pat chapman has a new curry book out

« on: May 13, 2005, 11:20 AM »

Quote from: thomashenry on May 13, 2005, 09:32 AM

If you want BIR curries at home, then I suggest Dhillon sauce, followed by the techniques Mark J observed in his curry house. It will take a few goes before you learn to get the ratio's of spice/sauce right; its very easy to over spice, but you learn to do it intuitively.

I used Kris Dhillon's sauce and Mark J's techniques, and the restaurant curry I made was spot on. It had the depth, and, I'm sure, "the taste". I don't like Kris Dhillon's recipes, but the sauce worked fine for me.

I haven't had time to experiment to see if it was the technique, or using the pre-bought madras curry powder (East End) that did it. If it turns out to be the madras powder, I'll experiment to see if I can produce the curry powder myself.

Thanks,

Stephen

Lets Talk Curry / Re: Just had a demonstration by the chef at my local restaurant

« on: May 02, 2005, 08:18 PM »

Quote from: George on May 02, 2005, 10:29 AM

Stephen - do you mean your korma had the same type of flavour as a BIR korma, or was it just as good as, or better in a different sort of way? I have made good kormas in the past. My friends would say they are "as good as restaurant meals" (or better). But they are not the same!

Regards
George

Hello George,

I've been thinking about the taste. I had quite a lot left over, some saved some for a couple of days to have a clean palate, and to avoid being "spiced out" by all the testing whilst cooking?

. On retasting today, I believe the creaminess was nearly there that you get with a restaurant korma, and also, I believe, the depth of flavour. I attribute this partly to using the chicken cooking sauce, and also to Ghanna's suggestion to use evaporated milk.

One thing I think was wrong, was the thickness of the sauce. I do think it was too thick. Next time, I shall probably add more evaporated milk. I added three baked bean sized tins to the entire korma mix. I think if I were to add more, it would thin the sauce, and make it richer.

Quote from: joe2 on May 02, 2005, 01:14 PM

Well done Stephen, this is good work, but might I also add:

>> was told they were both as good as restaurant meals>>
Comments like this from friends are nice, but absolutely meaningless - I've been told that for 20 years, and it's not true.

Hello Joe2,

Thanks. I totally appreciate your point. I always take what people say with a pinch of salt because I know perfectly well when I taste it myself the next day that it isn't as good as a restaurant meal. This one was better than last year's, though. There's always room for improvement, so next time, I'll try the improvements above.

Thanks Stephen

Lets Talk Curry / Re: Just had a demonstration by the chef at my local restaurant

« on: May 01, 2005, 08:31 PM »

Thanks. I did the same bulk cook last year, but last year I didn't add sauce the chicken was cooked in to the final kormas. I half-precooked them in boiling water. Now, it might be my imagination, but, this time it did taste much better (in my opinion). It might be because I changed the recipe slightly, but I've noticed before that by adding the sauce that the chicken breasts are pre-cooked in to the final dish, the taste does seem to improve. I would agree with the assertion that adding chicken stock/jelly to the base sauce improves the flavour.

Lets Talk Curry / Re: Just had a demonstration by the chef at my local restaurant

« on: May 01, 2005, 04:47 PM »

I made the mistake of offering to. I reckon, overall, it must have taken about 12 hours -including a minor incident where the liquidiser nearly went up in flames! I'd do it again, though. It's only by cooking in largish proportions that I learn.

Thanks again,

Stephen

Lets Talk Curry / Re: Just had a demonstration by the chef at my local restaurant

« on: April 30, 2005, 10:13 PM »

Thanks. The recipe above was spot on!

Just made a batch of Kris Dhillon's sauce with 10kg of onions, 500g of garlic, and 500g of ginger, for 25 people.
I made about 8 kg of korma using Ghanna's recipe with the whole spices added, and two portions of the above recipe and was told they were both as good as restaurant meals, so am very pleased.

Making a largish batch of sauce didn't appear to affect the flavour of the curry sauce. I used Kris Dhillon's method of pre-cooking the chicken in the base sauce with turmeric added, but instead of straining out the chicken and throwing away the chicken cooking sauce, I added it to the korma, and I do think it added an extra taste.

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