Topic: Great success with Cory Ander's Madras Curry

[carpetfilter]

I last posted quite a long time ago, saying that I was having trouble getting that restaurant-like quality to my home-made curries. As it turns out, the quality I was lacking was the BIR style, and over the weekend I tried out Cory Ander's base sauce and masala and made a curry heavily based on his Madras curry recipe.

It turned out extremely well! Possibly one of the tastiest things I've ever cooked.



I did a few things differently than Cory Ander - I didn't make the spicy oil, and just used canola. There was also a bit of confusion about what he meant by "chilli powder", as in North America we've got many things that people call chilli/chili/chile powder, and they are all very different. So I used 1/2 tsp of cayenne powder and 1/2 tsp of some home-made garam masala in place of the 1 tsp of chilli powder.

I also tried it (last night) without the garam masala. It definately makes the dish taste a bit sweeter and smokier. It's a good addition.

I also tenderized the chicken according to a method in a Chinese cookbook I have (Easy Chinese Recipes by Bee Yinn Low). This involves dry-rubbing raw cut-up chicken breast with 1 tsp of baking soda, setting it aside in the fridge for 15 minutes, then thoroughly washing the baking soda out with cold water in a colander. Then cook with it as normal. It doesn't leave any baking soda taste on the chicken and makes it amazing succulent. I highly recommend this technique.

The rice is pretty plain - just basmati with a bit of chicken stock, peas, and tumeric. But it tastes very nice when it soaks up all that sauce

I hope to try a chicken korma and a vindaloo soon - I'll post my results when I do!

[natterjak]

Nice one cf - looks very tasty indeed.

Chilli powder here would be finely ground whole chillies - normally a very hot variety so that just half a tsp can give you a dish with a noticeable chilli kick to it. Not sure if you achieved the same with your cayenne?

[Secret Santa]

The rice is pretty plain - just basmati with a bit of chicken stock, peas, and tumeric. But it tastes very nice when it soaks up all that sauce

This will give a flavoured rice but nowhere near the pilau style of the restaurants. Try a pilau rice from this forum as it impacts on the overall flavour of the dish.

[curryhell]

Well, that's got my juices going.  That would slip down nicely for tea   Re. the chilli powder, in any recipes on the site this means ground chilli and only ground chilli. Not a mixture of cumin, salt, paprika with some chilli powder thrown in.  Apparently, such mixtures are quite common in supermarkets and are labelled as chili powder, with only one "l".  Check the label As Natterjak said just under a teaspoon will certainly add a bit of kick for those not used to the real stuff.  Look forward to your vindaloo and korma  ;D

[carpetfilter]

Yeah, that chilli powder sounds exactly like what we have here (Canada) as "cayenne" powder. That is the powdered up dried fruit of of specific kind of chilli called a cayenne pepper. Aside from being more specific, I suspect that supermakets call it cayenne powder to avoid confusion with the commonly sold "chile" powder, which is a blend of mild spices used frequently in Latin American-inspired cuisine. I've not seen anything around here called "chilli" powder (with two l's), although I have seen both chili powder and chile powder. It's a big mess and I'm sure plenty of people get interesting surprises at home when following recipes are aren't perfectly clear.

Cayenne is reasonably powerful, and I can imagine that using a full tsp would make for a very fiery curry. Plus, I reduce the sauce down to a nice thick consistency, which would concentrate the flavor (I get a single, generous serving from Cory Ander's recipe).

I noticed CA's recipe also called for (optional) fresh chilies in addition to the chilli powder. Wow. I thought I liked spicy food, but apparently I'm completely outclassed by many folks on this forum

Yes, the rice needs work. I've been so focused on getting the curry sauce just right that I've neglected the rice. I'll have to hunt down a nice rice pilau recipe and give it a go.

I have a pretty tasty Mango Lassi recipe already, and you can get decent papadums at the local market, so one of these days I'll have to go all out and make myself a feast!

[Peripatetic Phil]

Yeah, that chilli powder sounds exactly like what we have here (Canada) as "cayenne" powder. That is the powdered up dried fruit of spicy chili peppers. I think supermakets call in cayenne powder to avoid confusion with the commonly sold "chile" powder, which is a blend of mild spices used frequently in Latin American-inspired cuisine.

The recipe I have for chicken piri-piri calls for both ground chillies /and/ cayenne pepper (as well as ground ginger and ground black pepper) and when I make it the cayenne is distinctly more orange than the ground chillies (i.e., the latter are more red).

** Phil.

[carpetfilter]

Phil,

Yeah - there are lots of chili varieties, and we seem to have a pretty limited selection in my backwoods town. I'd have better luck getting specific cultivars in Vancouver, for instance, as they have much larger population to support such things as culturally themed grocery stores.

Perhaps the difference in color you're seeing, though, is that powdered chilies also may include the seeds, which are pale in color.

Here, I'm stuck with fresh Thai ("dragon") chilies and cayenne powder. Both are roughly the same spiciness level, although the fresh chilies (unless diced) diffuse less readily into the sauce, so they often result in a mild flavor until you bite into a piece, at which point you're suddenly sweating.

Unfortunately, our fresh chilies are useless when it comes to contributing color to much of anything. They are often sold not quite ripe, so can range anywhere from green to red. I once tried making something called Parsee red chicken curry. You add about 10 chilies to it, and the idea is that they make the meal a bright red. Mine was pastel orange... the problem is, the recipe called for Kashmiri chilies, which are both very mild and very red. Thai chilies look red enough, but aren't quite the natural food coloring that Kashmiri chillies are, and also are apparently much more powerful. Needless to say, my pastel-orange Parsee chicken curry was extremely spicy.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Understood.  Please post your Mango Lassi recipe -- my favourite accompaniment to an Indian meal !
** Phil.

[carpetfilter]

The mango lassi I make is very simple, and modified from a recipe I found on the internet long ago. I no longer remember where, but I suspect it came from allrecipes.com. I've only made it twice, but I like it.

Here it is.

• 1 ripe ataulfo mango, flesh removed and diced (other mangos should work but will have a different amount of fruit)
• 1 cup plain yogurt (4% milk fat)
• 1/4 cup sugar (or equivalent sweeter - I use a sucralose sweetener meant for baking, so the volumes are equivalent)
• 1 cup ice (substitute cold water if using a hand blender)

Blend smooth. Serves 1. Scale up as desired.