Quote from: curryhell on August 26, 2025, 08:03 PM
That's got my juices flowing for my leftover Chicken Bollywood Blast.  Saag looks good Rob.  Any recipe for it?

Not an exact recipe Dave. Expect will of got most of it from on here somewhere.

Have been using fresh spinach lately. It's often on yellow sticker. The big bags, not sure on amount. Steam it. After wilting down one bag, can cram another one into the basket. I use a potato masher to force the liquid out.

A little oil in the pan with chopped fresh garlic (lots) first, followed by chopped onion and salt (lots). A little turmeric powder. Chopped fresh tomato. A squeeze of lemon.








All mixed in. Usually store at this point, as a pre-cook. Frozen.





Partial defrost and take enough out for a portion of bhaji. A little oil, or butter.  More salt (to taste). I like to add some fresh chopped green chilli. A local TA use a masala in theirs; it's fabulous. The Bangla Lounge or the Bangla Kitchen, I can't remember. Here I used Jalpur GM (1/2 tsp), which is quite a lot, given its pungency; it's heavy on black pepper too. As standard for the saag bhaji, fry hard and hot whilst bashing the living daylights out of it. It should catch. I have a small black iron frying pan for this, which is best, but I can't find it.





Next time will try a chaat masala. Julian has said that some kitchens use it like a GM. Also, Yorkshireindian has suggested recently, I think, something on the lines of chaat masala being the secret to many of the TA side dishes.

Chicken Bollywood Blast?

Rob

Basic Prawn curry. Planned to add mushrooms, but forgot to buy any. So went with spuds.










Rob

Old school madras. Amazing what a difference cooking this way makes. Many years ago I tried with the pan flat (and less oil). Lid on. Some fair results, but it was very hit or miss. Basically turn the heat up and hope for the best. Here we have much more control.

No rush either. Takes the chefs 20 mins plus, commercial burner, no lid. Takes me 40 mins plus. Low gas (lid on). Add another 20 mins (minimum) resting in the TA container (wrapped in foil) to mimic "delivery". There we have it. A 1 h curry made with base gravy. Is it worth it? Yes! With a little experience/practice the taste is, well, old school. I think it was JerryM who first mentioned something about "almost piquant".

Coming along nicely



No stirring after all the ingredients have been combined. Occasionally, "move" some of the sauce/curry (higher up the pan), carefully. Done. No scraping, or as little as possible. Takes practice. No pyrotechnics/showboating either. When happy, tip off excess oil, if you want. One final thing.This is a high temperature curry. Plastic TA container lids may creak, foil/cardboard lids will get soaked in oil. Take appropriate precautions. There may be leakage. A plastic carrier bag will come in handy.

Rob

Unpacking/sorting.

















Went with the Chicken pakora. Followed by Balti chicken and sweet rice, with the Swad mixed pickle. Epic!






.

Always pick up/learn something going here. Been playing around with some existing curry ideas for some time now. It's finally coming together. I will call it something like "The Classic CRO Old School Recipe". There is a clue in the title. It's not really new, just a different interpretation. The good news (I believe) is that if anyone fancies giving it a go, we should all be on the same page making it.

Rob

Bring it on sir! Been chasing that 1980's holy grail for decades.
Bit expensive to fly to uk just for vindaloo but tempting nonetheless

Robbo