Well actually, it started before my mince and potato curry. I've watched 100's of videos, maybe 1000's, but recently i've been noticing fennel powder going into a lot of recipes.
It's not a spice i use regularly as a main flavouring in curries, but its always there hiding in the background somewhere.
In the Bombay Aloo/pre-cooked potatoes its there as part of the Panch Phoron.
Its there in most of the Madras curry powders too.
it makes me wonder whether or not to include fennel in my mixed powder? hmmmmm.
After the few days of RJ chat and recipes, i decided to try Harpal Singhs version. I liked the look of it straight away with the whole GM at the beginning and only 3 powdered spices later on.
Kashmiri powder
Fennel powder
Ginger powder
I used a portion of gravy instead of water as i had already defrosted it for something else, then thought "why not?"
The curry was Fabulous! All the cinnamon flavours coming through from the leaves and bark and a wonderful smokiness from the black cardamoms. A perfect balance.
Happy with the recipe, i tried again, but this time with pre-cooked lamb, keeping closer to the original (meat and onion) but with gravy instead of water.
I wanted to add some heat and used the Naga masala i bought a few weeks back. tut tut tut. Wrong.
The curry was overspiced and rough!
I hadn't used this mix before and realised afterwards, it needed a harder fry to tone it down and blend with the other flavours.
Oh well, I know how to use it now.
I had purposely added extra oil to this curry to spoon off for the next but as it was overspiced, i was 50/50 on keeping or binning it. I saved it as i dont like waste. (the only curry thats seen the bin in the last few years was the viceroy suka)
Right, next curry.
Knowing that this oil was overspiced and that i was going to be using BB1's pre-cooked chicken as well, i thought i would cook this curry in the style of a BB1 curry. (i.e. no added powders)
2 red onions cooked down for 20 mins with the overspiced oil.
1 tbs g/g
1 tbs methi
1 tbs tom puree
6 tbs lamb/aknhi stock (frozen in shot moulds, 3tbs volume)
pinch of salt/portion of gravy/portion pre-cooked chicken with a fair amount of oil and sediment and a very good squirt of lemon dressing.
It was one of the best meat curries i've ever made! It tasted like a Pathia. (a real one
)
But where was that sweetness coming from??
The red onions? the lamb/aknhi stock?
Ok, so lets try again with a different gravy. Nope, no sweetness this time.
So was it from the gravy i wondered? Everything was the same except for no overspiced oil or added powders.
Next curry, back to original gravy. Nope, no sweetness again. So it cant be the gravy and must be that overspiced oil which includes ground fennel.. . .
to be continued . ..
Frank.
edit: just to be clear, the first RJ
Was the mince and potato curry, but with the same spicing + gravy cooked down dry similar to the Shahee Mossala video posted by HappyChris.
Topic: It Started with Mince n Totties... (Read 6083 times)
