Nice one UF, love a saag curry ;D
Right then, onto mine.
Rob gave me both choices of recipes in the first PM so i had to try them both of course.
The first being
from the video posted by Ali for the Viceroy.
There were two ingredients which i didnt have and have been waiting for them to be posted to me since day 1 (9th jan).
Living in Mid Wales is a struggle for curry ingredients so i tend to buy in bulk anytime i'm in an Asian area.
Over christmas in Blackburn i bought some cheap tamarind sauce. :-X revolting! Tasted powdery and sweet. Avoid Rivonia Tamarind sauce!!
I decided to do a test run with the cheap sauce while waiting for the Tamarina. Also, without knowing what the fish masala was that was used in the video i took a guess and added a few sprinkles of some mixed masalas i had.
[
I did email Ali early on and he told me there were no other ingredients in the pan before or with the gravy. What you see is what you get. He did also mention a squirt of lemon but i think that was him add libbing seeing a wedge on the plate. (he does that a lot i've noticed, Suka powder? :
) ]
Well, it was a pretty horrible sauce and tasted like i expected. gravy+tamarind sauce+mixed masala powder. No balance or blending of flavours. Maybe when i get the correct ingredients it will taste better? i thought.
2nd attempt.
Onto the ingredients.
On first opening the bottle of Tamarina, the first thing that hit me was the smell of cumin.
Finger test - very sweet and...thats about it really. Nothing special but miles better than what i had.
Next ingredient as confirmed by Ali was Rajah fish seasoning.
Finger test - ohh, its celery salt.
I made the dish tonight using langoustines, couldnt get king prawns. The tails were butterflied and given a short tandoori marinade. then grilled for a few minutes almost touching the hot electric bars.
The heads and claws were poached in the simmering gravy to try and add some more flavour to the dish.
I dont have any red colour powder but did attempt to colour the dish with liquid colouring. Doesnt work, as you can see.
But i'm afraid even with the correct brands it still tasted like doodoo's.
Sorry Ali, i think you need a better chef.
The next offering was more up my street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-hbriM4pMrE CBM Chicken Bengali Mirchi I did a test run with this recipe too.
Overall, i really liked the dish but thought it was way too sweet. No problem when its piping hot, but as soon as it cools it gets sweeter and sweeter.
A really good curry for me has to be equally as good cold for those little mouthfuls you cant resist going back to when you get your second wind ;D
2nd attempt.
Made the dish again tonight using pre-cooked lamb. Not as much meat as in the video but enough for me. Mine probably looks a little saucier because of less meat, but the dish is still quite dry.
A nice burn from the naga. Not sure what spring onions bring to the party? I wont bother with them again. I used 2 tbsp of tamarind sauce this time which is better for me on the sweetness but i could happily try 1 spoon or leave it out altogether.
I didnt have any spiced oil on the go so used some onion paste instead towards the end.
I used a Taz base for both curries but were from two different batches. One was a standard Taz and the other was a Taz meat, i.e. lamb bone thrown in the gravy from the start. (Leftover from chopping up a leg to dice and pre-cook.)
Would i make this dish again?
well...its sort of my standard type of curry anyway apart from the tamarina, so Aye. Give this one a go.
Cheers, Frank.
p.s. will somebody please tell me how to do the hyperlinks. thanks.
Topic: Secret Recipe Group Test (Read 128167 times)
