Topic: Cooked up the Zaal base

[steevee00]

Hi all
I had a go at Zaals base at the weekend

2kg onions
1/4 white cabbage instead of potato ,  Used Chewy tikka,s  recipe using cabbage in the base,
same spices as Zaals recipe ,adjust to suit quantity ,easy on the chili,
spices cooked in oil,instead of veg ghee. 2 chefs spoons worth (think a bit more ,next tine)
Akhni stock



sieved out the rough stuff



It left this fiborous material.



Added the spices (couple of bits of garlic sticking out there !!!



consistency of base



nearly done



I did like the fragrance of the Akhni stock in the base ,may be a little less cinnamon next time in the Akhni stock for me .

This made approx 2.5 litres of base sauce

cheers
 

[Salvador Dhali]

That looks spot on. Just a quick question though. You mention that you may use less cinnamon next time, which made me wonder if it was actually pukka stick cinnamon you used and not cassia, which is much more common in Indian cookery and is what usually goes into akhni stock.

See: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=newtip&dbid=31 for the differences.

Certainly, if it was stick cinnamon then its distinctive flavour would come through much more strongly in the base than cassia.

 

[steevee00]

Nice one Salvador

I used Cinnamon stick (bark) from Supreme .

does the cassia have a less distinct aroma / flavour

cheers

[Salvador Dhali]

Nice one Salvador

I used Cinnamon stick (bark) from Supreme .

does the cassia have a less distinct aroma / flavour

cheers

Yes, cassia bark (which is sometimes referred to as 'bastard cinnamon') definitely has a less distinct aroma / flavour, and lends itself more to spicy dishes, whereas proper stick cinnamon is more suited to sweet dishes.

[Malc.]

I would say that Cassia has a unique flavour just as cinnamon does. Though the two are similar I would say that cassia is less refined and has a muffled taste which I find quite overpowering even when used sparingly in a base. Cinnamon I find has a much more refined flavour but can be very intense.

My experience has lead me to use less cassia than stated in recipes. Could it be due to the brand of cassia, possibly.

[spiceyokooko]

I find cassia has a slightly more earthy flavour to it and cinnamon a much sweeter more fragrant flavour.

I don't use cinnamon in any BIR Cookery it's too sweet and overpowering, I only only cassia bark.

You also need to be careful when using cassia bark and Indian tej pata bay leaves together as the Indian bay leaf (which is the leaf of the cinnamon/cassia related tree) has a cassia flavour to it which European laurel bay leaves don't have.