Found it's not really practical for me to defrost pre-cooked chicken, just to obtain spiced oil for tikka dishes, so I have made a special potion.




This is loaded with Tej Patta and other nice smells.  So far, so good.  More later, if it works out.


Rob 

Yeah...fine... I'll have some of that.  ;D

Looks are excellent Bob. Jalfrezi is definitely my favorite BIR dish and yours is a very obvious thumbs up! I wouldn't generally use naga as I am not a huge fan of its flavour. How would you rate this recipe? I don't know how I missed it til today...

Quote from: goncalo on July 06, 2013, 01:34 PM
Yeah...fine... I'll have some of that.  ;D

Looks are excellent Bob. Jalfrezi is definitely my favorite BIR dish and yours is a very obvious thumbs up! I wouldn't generally use naga as I am not a huge fan of its flavour. How would you rate this recipe? I don't know how I missed it til today...

One of my faves too. I think a jalfrezi is probably the easiest of the standard BIR dishes to make and get right, taste wise.  Here, I pan fried the onions first, just to practice singeing red colour (via a paste) onto their edges; not needed for this dish, but can be visually effective for some shashlik presentations.  Normally I just deep fry the onions, peppers, etc., briefly.  Naga pickle (Naga Raja) went in early; similar to Julian's Chicken Jafflon recipe/video. Found this way you get a much smoother flavour and better results.  If the naga pickle goes in later (after the first addition of base gravy) it can take over in the final dish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJXFvnVsIXs

Rob 

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I think a jalfrezi is probably the easiest of the standard BIR dishes to make and get right, taste wise.

In my case though I haven't gotten to the standard I want too... but this is not surprising, dishes that are relatively easy to me (i.e korma, passanda, ctm) seem to be a struggle for more experienced members, like CA, so that obviously doesn't surprise me...

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Here, I pan fried the onions first, just to practice singeing red colour (via a paste) onto their edges;

What paste?

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If the naga pickle goes in later (after the first addition of base gravy) it can take over in the final dish.

Very good tip, although you used raja naga, I was thinking of Mr. Naga, which is the only one of this kind that I have tried. Your tip resonates well with the tip of "frying off chillies" early on (before baghar even). I learned some ways of getting the flavour from less milder chillies without the hiccups and stomach and mouth ulcers which the green chillies provide.

The colour paste is a restaurant method.  A blend of mustard oil, kashmiri paste, yoghurt, and lots of red food colour powder. A tiny amount can be used to singe colour into the edges of sliced onions.  Very effective if done right; very tricky to do.  The paste can also be used to intensify the colour of a curry late on, if wanted. It's a better option than using tomato paste with/without additional food colour, as adding this late can taint the flavours of the final dish.

I have also seen a mix of mustard oil/kashmiri paste used for tikka starters.  Some TAs (I expect many) pre-cook chicken and lamb tikka.  No real problem when used to make a curry.  But when re-heating a tikka starter in the microwave, as many of already know, there is a risk of overdoing it, and it ending up dry and chewy.  Addition of a little of the paste before the micro gets around this, producing lovely juicy tikka.  As it's been too hot to do much cooking lately I have been getting chicken/lamb tikka from my local TA.  I bring it home cold (no micro) and use it to make a curry. Will get some more later today and post a pic showing the paste exactly how it is before re-heating.

Rob 

The tikka s first cooked in the tandoor as large fillets, and chunks are sliced off as needed.  Just like as shown in CBM vol 1.  This also reduces the chances of it drying out.