Hi CoR,

It was always my understanding that Deggi Mirch was Chilli powder, and infact it is Kashmiri Mirch that is Paprika ?

Ray

CoR,

many thanks. i have deggi (use it for tikka) and it is much finer than normal paprika. i'll give it a try. i don't think it's what's giving the taste i'm after but it could be a factor in the colour. my fav store has just started to keep kashmiri mirch and i intend to get on my next purchase.

both are expensive in comparison to normal paprika and i see BIR only using if small amount will go a long way.

Hello Ray
It was deffo the deggi referred to as paprika although there isn't too much difference between the deggi and kashmiri mirch IME but of the two I find the deggi has better taste/colour, only my preference of course, as they say YMMV.

JerryM
Deggi Mirch costs about ?1 for a 100g packet. Assuming 1tsp is 3g that equals 3 pence/tsp. 1tsp/portion is usually all you need for a great golden reddish/brown curry, so it 'ain't going to break the bank, LOL.

Cheers
CoR

Quote from: CurryOnRegardless on November 02, 2009, 11:35 AM
deggi....deffo....IME....YMMV.....LOL

WTF!!!!!!!!! I'm confused!   

Floury tasting curries is the LEAST of my problems it seems!  LMFAO!

Any chance we could speak English please? 

i've had the chance to talk to the chef at my local TA (boss was working elsewhere - i think sign of economic times). it's quite clear that there is difficulty for him and BIR's i guess in general - a keenness to help (to share the passion of cooking curry) but at the same time an understanding that it's their income.

i asked about curry sauce. the chef was very clear - no paprika in it.

he also said lemon juice - i will change to using it although i was well surprised - u can't taste it in the sauce.

the big surprise was chilli sauce. he was clear that he does not buy out but makes his own from chilli powder.

i asked if his tom puree was plain - he said "straight" out of the tin.

i'd pushed him as far as i could.

i intend to look out for some bought chilli sauce (i will know the bottle i used some yrs ago) on my next shopping trip and will also try out the Ashoka South Indian paste as i feel this could be very close.

Very interesting stuff Jerry thank you.
That's what I heard too, no Paprika.

Check on the Lemon juice. These can be confused at least over here. Lime is used too.

I'm not surprised at the restaurant/store made Chilli sauce at all. This had been my thinking for a great deal of time as you know from our subsequent conversations.

I could almost tell you what was in my sauce from my place but it doesn't really matter frankly. It's the combo hence my erratic post this morning. If its store bought and not made from scratch then it could be as simple as..... If not then we'll never know.

I'm going to try a few things since I have some chicken precooked as per PP tomorrow.

Also............
Check out Amchoor and/or Citric acid.
Never used Amchoor but I have used Citric acid.

Quote from: JerryM on November 16, 2009, 06:45 PM
i've had the chance to talk to the chef at my local TA (boss was working elsewhere - i think sign of economic times). it's quite clear that there is difficulty for him and BIR's i guess in general - a keenness to help (to share the passion of cooking curry) but at the same time an understanding that it's their income.

i asked about curry sauce. the chef was very clear - no paprika in it.

he also said lemon juice - i will change to using it although i was well surprised - u can't taste it in the sauce.

the big surprise was chilli sauce. he was clear that he does not buy out but makes his own from chilli powder.

i asked if his tom puree was plain - he said "straight" out of the tin.

i'd pushed him as far as i could.

i intend to look out for some bought chilli sauce (i will know the bottle i used some yrs ago) on my next shopping trip and will also try out the Ashoka South Indian paste as i feel this could be very close.

Mikka,

i have bought amchoor (mango powder) in the past but never really found it any good and have now chucked it.

citric acid is something that keeps catching my eye in the Asian stores. i've never been too sure how it would be used. i guess u're suggesting in the chilli sauce making.

ps i love lime juice and mostly use it in place of lemon for non curry cooking. i've never tried lime in curry and have never in the past really gelled with using lemon. i have recently started using lemon in butter chicken and it works well. so who knows on the curry sauce front.

Guys I don't know if this will help and please excuse me for referring back to my Ashoka experience ( I suspect any one of you who had got back stage in one of your local BIRs would find it substantially influencing your cooking from that point on too). What stood out for me was the use of the freshly made green chili paste which was used to add heat and clearly doesn't burn easily and there is no powder thing going on. I have made it as per the recipe in the Ashoka post and have frozen it into single postion sizes and it works a treat. The tomato Puree they used was White Tower Brand which I found in Brick Lane in Catering sized cans. I will break it down too into portions and probably freeze too for future use. Hope as ever this does help PP