Solarspice no problems having you(or anyone) along.It would be great to have another pair of eyes with me!!!As I said the place is your bog standard takeaway you can find up an down the country,no frills but certainly big on taste with that elusive flavour.For some reason the guys are quite keen to share their secrets it's such as shame that other places are not so willing.The wife said I was grinning like a cheshire cat when I walked in last night.

chicken madras
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Next up was madras my favourite dish.I can get the chicken spot on after my home home lessons but it's still the sauce I struggle with so that's what I concentrated on.I watched the chef cook about four portions of this and he made it look so easy.Into a pan he put some plain veg oil(everytime he made a dish he made a point of stirring it around with the back of the spoon).As soon as the pan was hot the ginger/garlic paste was added and stirred.Next up was a couple of strange ones,a curry leaf and about 3 slivers of ginger.Why add ginger when you've added ginger/garlic paste I asked....to give even more flavour the chef replied.Next was tower brand tomato puree(diluted with water and I'm sure the chef said mixed with some garlic powder).He added the tinniest bit of salt I've ever seen together with a pinch of methi,chili powder and mix powder.I asked the manager what was in the mix powder and the ingredients were virtually identical to the mix powder my own chef taught me).He then put in a ladle of base sauce and stirred.Next in were precooked onion/pepper from a tub.The chef said this was done to speed up cooking times,it looked like they were cooked in some mix powder and oil,I guess a sort of onion paste.He then produced a dollop of what the manager called chili sauce.This was just various blended chill is in mixed with oil.He then added more base sauce and finished with a squeeze of KTC lemon dressing and coriander.When I return for another lesson I will delve into the onion paste and chili sauce a bit more(maybe this was the same sort of chili sauce I spotted on the East End Takeaway cam recently).One point is the lack of flames or really intense heat.The dish was cooked under a medium heat with no big flames etc.Anyway I had a go at cooking one...



I used too much oil the chef said but it still had the flavour and texture.

Got a bit carried away by then...

Wow! great stuff JB, i would love to know whats in that pre cooked chicken mixture?, hats off to you matey for your efforts.

i also use coconut block in my base, i think it adds a slihtly creamer taste but hard to notice.
atb

Quote from: jb on October 19, 2010, 08:20 PMOn the floor was a big pot of precooked chicken,in a sort of oily red/orange mixture.After the chef had taken the chicken out with a slotted spoon I asked him what he did with the sauce or mixture that is left from this,is it thrown away???  No he said that is poured into the base gravy as well!!!! Also the chicken bones they have are boiled and the result is also put into the gravy.

So now we have direct evidence that what they teach you is not exactly what they do themselves!

This has always been suspected when others have had similar demonstrations but has never been proved.

This alone has made your report worth its weight in gold jb. Well done.

Just for info jb but the Ashoka base has coconut block in it.

This is a great post jb, keep them coming!!

Great posts jb, I wish I could get into a kitchen.  It would be interesting to hear about the chilli sauce and the onion paste