Topic: Last Night's Dinner: PanPot's Ashoka Jaipuri

[Naga]

Having set RubyDoo the challenge of making PanPot's Ashoka Jaipuri in the recent Secret Recipe Group Test, I was spurred into action to make it for myself as it's one of my favourite dishes and one of the first I tried from this site.



I didn't have all of the authentic Ashoka ingredients to hand, so I substituted CA's base (leftovers from the Group Test), IFFU's pre-cooked chicken and my own garlic/ginger paste. I DID have the real deal bunjara (my last from the freezer!) and I decided that I would also chuck in a couple of tablespoon's worth of Zaal red masala sauce for good measure.

Guess what? It was lovely! Nicely balanced as always - and the Zaal sauce added that touch of je ne sais quoi which just finished the dish off perfectly. This was the second half of a curry I made on Saturday night and it's one which I will make again and again.

Recently, I've been so busy trying out new dishes from the forum that I completely forget about all the great dishes I've made and enjoyed in the past! I'm glad I revisited this one, and I won't leave it so long to make again next time.

[curryhell]

That has got "EAT ME" written all over it, even at this time of the morning

[RubyDoo]

Looks good. V. Good.
What rice 'method' do you use?

[h4ppy-chris]

That looks a full on curry mate, lovely.

[Malc.]

I much prefer my curry dishes with a thick sauce and that looks spot on to me. Nice to see plain rice too, I much prefer it to flavoured rice.

[Naga]

Looks good. V. Good.
What rice 'method' do you use?

Hi RD. I've used the absorption method for nearly 40 years and it was only when I made CA's Perfect Pilau Rice that I realised I'd been wasting my time and energy on an inferior technique! Well, his method for plain, boiled basmati rice works for me, anyway, and I also use the full method for my pilau rice.

With apologies to CA for tinkering with his words, this is the boiled-down (ouch!) version of his method which I use. It makes 2/3 generous servings.

Ingredients

1 half-pint/240ml mug of basmati rice
1 tsp salt
Approx. 2 litres of water

Method

1. Put the rice in a sieve and thoroughly rinse in cold running water.
2. Leave rice, for at least five minutes, to drain and for the grains to elongate.
3. Bring the water to boil in a large saucepan.
3. Add the rice, cover the pan, and bring back to the boil.
4. Remove the lid and stir to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
5. Cook the rice on a rolling boil for 5 minutes or so (exactly 5 minutes works for me).
6. Drain the rice well in a sieve and serve.

Gives perfect fluffy rice every time and freezes and microwaves well.

[Naga]

Thanks for your positive comments, lads. As I said, it's a recipe that I really enjoy, and the absence of additional chilli makes it a favourite with my good lady wife too. That's not to say that I DIDN'T add a generous helping of chilli jam towards the end of the cooking time as my other half was having something else for dinner both nights.

I think it worked very well considering that it might have been unbalanced by the use of some non-Ashoka ingredients, and the additional of the Zaal red masala sauce definitely lifted what was already a good recipe to another level.

Re the thick sauce, Axe: I do like a thicker sauce myself, and it took a bit of cooking down on my puny standard gas stove between the 450ml base gravy, the bunjarra and the Zaal red sauce! Still, I managed 2 mega-curries out of the pan, so it was well worth it to reduce the gravy.

[RubyDoo]

Looks good. V. Good.
What rice 'method' do you use?

Hi RD. I've used the absorption method for nearly 40 years and it was only when I made CA's Perfect Pilau Rice that I realised I'd been wasting my time and energy on an inferior technique! Well, his method for plain, boiled basmati rice works for me, anyway, and I also use the full method for my pilau rice.

With apologies to CA for tinkering with his words, this is the boiled-down (ouch!) version of his method which I use. It makes 2/3 generous servings.

Ingredients

1 half-pint/240ml mug of basmati rice
1 tsp salt
Approx. 2 litres of water

Method

1. Put the rice in a sieve and thoroughly rinse in cold running water.
2. Leave rice, for at least five minutes, to drain and for the grains to elongate.
3. Bring the water to boil in a large saucepan.
3. Add the rice, cover the pan, and bring back to the boil.
4. Remove the lid and stir to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
5. Cook the rice on a rolling boil for 5 minutes or so (exactly 5 minutes works for me).
6. Drain the rice well in a sieve and serve.

Gives perfect fluffy rice every time and freezes and microwaves well.

Thanks for that. However, just spotted in the link etc that he uses ( optional ) sugar in the rice and not just a little bit either!!!!  Never heard of this one. Sweet rice?    and 6 tbs ghee is not exactly minimal either 

[Malc.]

[size=78%]Re the thick sauce, Axe: I do like a thicker sauce myself, and it took a bit of cooking down on my puny standard gas stove between the 450ml base gravy, the bunjarra and the Zaal red sauce! Still, I managed 2 mega-curries out of the pan, so it was well worth it to reduce the gravy.[/size]

All I can say is that if you had placed that infront of me, I would have been a very happy chap indeed! Actually the dish looks very similar to a dish that the Shanaz do for me which is a variation on their Karahi Chicken. They reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency and add some of the 'chef's masala', which in the Shanaz is a very thick paste that is also served as a coconut chutney with poppadoms as well as being used for the Tikka Masala of course.

[Naga]

...Thanks for that. However, just spotted in the link etc that he uses ( optional ) sugar in the rice and not just a little bit either!!!!  Never heard of this one. Sweet rice?    and 6 tbs ghee is not exactly minimal either 

The link leads to his full method for pilau rice. I was just quoting the parts pertinent to making plain boiled basmati rice.

As I said, I DO make his pilau rice too, but I roll back on the sugar. If you look at CA's recipes, you'll see from the ingredients lists that he has a bit of a sweet tooth. I'm sure he wouldn't be offended by that inference as it's been mentioned previously, but I prefer to reduce, if not completely eliminate, the sugar from his otherwise excellent recipes.