I've been dying to try a curry with sweet potato ever since (don't laugh) trying ASDA's Sweet Potato Dhansak. Tonight afforded me my first attempt with the wife choosing to munch on a sandwich before I got home from work. "you don't mind then?", "me?, oh no, i'll have another curry!"  ;D

So I Pre fried Onions and Green Peppers in a little oil then added about half a teaspoon of mix powder before setting aside.

I fried some onoin and Garlic & Ginger with some Cassia Bark and Asian Bay. Then added some Panch Phoran and a heaped teaspoon of tomato puree. Added the chicken and coated then covered with boiling water to simmer for 10 mins. I cubed some sweet potato and then added in this for a further 10 mins and then drained and set aside.

Dopiaza was simply oil and half an onion chopped, to soften. Added heaped teaspoon of chilli, about 1 table spoon of mix powder, half tablespoon of tomato puree and methi leaves and a good pinch of salt. A Ladle of Taz base was added and reduced using the Taz reduction method. Chicken was added with another ladle of base and the pre-fried onion and pepper. After a couple of minutes the sweet potato added and a little more base as well as fresh tomato.

The result ended with the wife coming in and saying it smelt gorgeous. I then realised that her puppy dog expression and the fact she was lingering, meant my portion size was about to reduce! :

Happy with the dish, you bet.

Oh and Phil, homemade bread.

Pre-fried Onions & Pepper


Pre-cooked Chicken and Sweet Potato


Chicken & Sweet Potato Dopiaza

Looks really nice Axe.

I love sweet potato too - occasionally use a tbsp of mashed sweet potato in a curry for sweetness. 

Will prob be adding some sweet potato to a CTM tonight to make the chicken go further.

Looks good Axe,
And I like the way you leave your onions and peppers nice and chunky. can't beat it, the TA near me dices up theirs, not so good, in my opinion, can't tell what is what,

HS

Thanks guys.

I'm really pleased that the Sweet Potato worked. I think next time, i'll reduce the par-boil on them to 5 minutes as although it kept its shape, it was very soft. I'm really looking for to trying it with a dhansak too. It is at least some way to creating a healthy option curry.

You can't beat chunks of onion in ya dopiaza. I've tried rings in the past in an attempt to copy the dish the IG serves up. But I just don't seem to be able get the same effect, though the taste is always good.

Once again Malc, a very handsome dish mate, well done.

Ray

Thanks Ray....

....and I think I might have just convinced the wife to try a Sweet Potato & Red Pepper Dhansak tonight, with the remaining base. So there might be even more pics to follow. ;D

I had in mind to go along similar lines to Mark J's Dhansak, any last minute tips? I've not done a Dhansak before.

Having talked my good lady wife into yet another curry this week, I created the following Sweet Potato Dhansak (principally based on Mark J's). I have listed the recipe and method as I was really impressed with the results. I will be honest and say that I have never had a Dhansak in a restaurant so I am not going to say this compares as I do not know. However, it is slightly hot, sweet and sour. Note: that I purposely didn't cook the lentils too long to avoid them breaking down, some of you may wish to. Just add the sweet potato in 10 mins towards the end of cooking time.

As always, happy for any critique should you wish to try it.

Ingredients

(serves 2)

Lentils & Sweet Potato Pre-cook
2-3 tbs Oil
2 Med Sweet Potatoes cut into bitesize pieces
3oz Red Lentils
1 Asian Bay
1 tsp Panch Phoran
1 tsp Mix powder
1 tsp Tomato Puree
1 tsp Garlic & Ginger Paste

Dhansak Sauce
300ml Base (I used Taz here)
3 tbl Oil
3 tbl Ghee
1 Red Pepper cut into 1" pieces
0.5 Onion Finely Chopped
4 tbl Tomato Puree watered down
2 Garlic Cloves crushed
1 tsp Garlic & Ginger Paste
1 tbl Mix Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
0.5 tsp Salt
2 tsp Methi leaves
3 Wedges of lemon
1 dsp Chilli Jam

Method

Cook the lentil and sweet potato as follows: Add oil a gently fry the bay, phanch phoran and garlic & ginger. Add the tomato paste and mix powder and stir through. Add the lentils and cover with boiling water and continue to boil for 10 mins adding more water if required. Add the sweet potato and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins. Drain and layout on a plate to cool. The potato should be just soft and the lentil should retain just a small amount of bite.

Cook the Dhansak as follows: Heat the oil and ghee and gently fry the onion and pepper until soft. Add the crushed garlic and garlic & ginger paste and stir through well. Add the lemon wedges and tomato puree and stir through. Add the spices and stir through. Add half the base and allow to cook for several minutes. Add the lentils and sweet potato with the methi Leaves and the remaining base and stir through. Cook to the required consistency. Add the chilli jam before serving and stir through. Serve and garnish with coriander.


Lentil & Sweet Potato


Sweet Potato & Red Pepper Dhansak

Axe, you are doing sterling work on the creative curry front.  I confess that I am far far less experimental than you; my normal efforts are restricted to simply re-creating an infinite number of variations on Chicken Madras, but I think I am now going to add Bombay Aloo to my armoury as (a) I very much enjoyed the results of the group test, and (b) it will make one chicken last twice as long ! 

When it comes to dhansak, I invariably order lamb, and I know from experience that cooking a lamb curry takes considerably longer than cooking a chicken one, so I am far less inclined to prepare a lamb dish in the evening.  I suppose what I ought to do is to experiment with the pre-cooking of lamb, to see if I can get an end product that is sufficiently soft and tasty to be added to the sauce with only (say) ten more minutes needed for perfection, but I have not yet got around to this.

I am also staggered at the number of people who have time to pre-cook chicken tikka, for subsequent integration into chicken tikka whatever; I am retired, and don't have time for such luxuries; how on earth can those of you who are still doing a full-time job have time to pre-cook chicken tikka !

** Phil.

Quote from: Phil (Chaa006) on March 17, 2011, 10:15 AM

..snip

I am also staggered at the number of people who have time to pre-cook chicken tikka, for subsequent integration into chicken tikka whatever; I am retired, and don't have time for such luxuries; how on earth can those of you who are still doing a full-time job have time to pre-cook chicken tikka !

** Phil.

Phil

Easy! - just make lots of chicken tikka, that way you can have chicken tikka for tea one night and the next there is some ready to plop into a tikka masala or tikka jalfrezi etc.

Chicken tikka really is food of the gods and well worth a little extra effort, plus you can freeze the left over marinade and re-use it one extra time

All the best.

Quote from: Phil (Chaa006) on March 17, 2011, 10:15 AM
Axe, you are doing sterling work on the creative curry front.

Thanks Phil, i've quite enjoyed the past few weeks. Experimenting with various recipes, base, spice mix, pre-cook, etc. It has been alot of work but the results, for me at least, have been very educational as well as delicious.

Quote"I know from experience that cooking a lamb curry takes considerably longer"... " I suppose what I ought to do is to experiment with the pre-cooking of lamb"

This is a very good point. I have a hunger to do some lamb dishes, one of my favourites being the Dopiaza. But as you say, cooking lamb can be a perilous journey if not cooked properly. It's certainly an area I am keen to look at. If you want to trade notes I am happy to do so. I have found in the past that Neck Fillet can work magic, I have used it alot in slow cooks but also on the BBQ with great results. I will experiment to see if my quick pre-cook oven method can be applied to the neck fillet.

QuoteI am also staggered at the number of people who have time to pre-cook chicken tikka

I must admit, I tend not to do Tikka for similar reasons choosing to use thigh which lends itself to not needing to be marinaded so long. I have in the past cooked straight from marinade without any marinading time at all and the results are always good. But as I say, thigh does seem to be more forgiving.