Topic: Tikka Korma

[goncalo]

I felt the need for something sweet today!

[Kashmiri Bob]

Good stuff Goncalo.  Looks great; smooth and saucy.  I'm not big on kormas as the BIR versions I've tried invariably seem bland to my taste.  Which recipe are you using?

Rob 

[goncalo]

Good stuff Goncalo.  Looks great; smooth and saucy.  I'm not big on kormas as the BIR versions I've tried invariably seem bland to my taste.  Which recipe are you using?

Thanks bob! It was very smooth indeed. The smoothest I've done to date! It's only a pitty the coloring from tikka tainted the color of the korma which was light yellow/creme colour before the chicken.

I'm using my own recipe, my most recent version of it that is and also using my new base recipe, in 4 dishes, none of them disappointed, 2 of them took me to nirvana! Here are the guidelines.

N.B: I generally taste this one as I go along, so sugar content is balanced to perfection. I like mine sweet but not overly sweet.

heat a pan, add 1 chef spoon of ground almond and mix the contents around with chef spoon for about 20 seconds. Add 1.5 ladles of base gravy and stir to pick up all the almond into the sauce. When it starts boiling, Add approx. 100 mil of coconut milk and 15-20 grams of coconut block and stir to help the coconut block melt and 1 level chef spoon of demerara once the heat starts boiling, add chicken and then lower the heat and just stir in the chicken. Once all the watery content of the milk has evaporated but the sauce is still runny, add 2-4 tsp of Carnation Milk, stir it in. If more sauce is required, add an extra ladle just before adding the carnation milk and let it come to boil.

Notes:
- I generally add cream, but I was short of, so I added the coconut milk and I am likely not going back. I only use cream for kormas and as my girlfriend is the person who gets to eat and she can't stand more than 2 meals every now and then, it's always a waste of cream.
- level chef spoon of demerara because I'm short of sugar, but I think this gets me closer to the korma I got from a few restaurants.

[Garp]

No offence, but it looks disgusting  -  sorry

[goncalo]

No offence, but it looks disgusting  -  sorry

Not offended, as I do enjoy my food (well, the ones I post anyway.)

What specific about it disgusted you?

[StoneCut]

Goncalo, I think this is just a presentation issue. Many curries look like canned cat food if not presented right. Mine, too. I go to extra lenghts to make the curries look nicer so my wife will eat them For presentation it also helps if you only use a little sauce and maybe put it on the rice and place the meat on there, too. Put a little fresh coriander on top and Bob's your uncle.

On a curry site I would expect people to see the real dish without needing that much dress-up, though.

[goncalo]

Goncalo, I think this is just a presentation issue. Many curries look like canned cat food if not presented right. Mine, too. I go to extra lenghts to make the curries look nicer so my wife will eat them For presentation it also helps if you only use a little sauce and maybe put it on the rice and place the meat on there, too. Put a little fresh coriander on top and Bob's your uncle.

On a curry site I would expect people to see the real dish without needing that much dress-up, though.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts and tips StoneCut! That is really helpful and tackles an obvious mistake I keep making -- oversauce my plate (It's not because I want the food right, but simply because it's not needed to overflow in the first place.)

I personally don't even dwell on the looks much because when I'm making a curry, I don't really care what it looks like as long as it tastes right. I've been to a few (not a lot) up street curry houses in Ireland and UK with all the cheffing skills to plate a beautiful dish, only to be disappointed with the curry (starters are most always fine, though). I'm a bit more left brain oriented, so I don't really mind the looks as priority but that isn't to say I'd love to plate dishes like Bengali Bob or 976bar (just 2 prominent examples, I'm sure others do a fairly good job too) who appear to nail the plating/food photography techniques very well. I am more concerned with taste. I don't think taste is directly related to visuals, although aesthetics may release feel good endorphins that cause us to enjoy the food better. Does that really matter? Maybe. Does that prevent me from enjoying the curry? Not in the slight.

Thanks again StoneCut!

[Kashmiri Bob]

I think messing about with the presentation is just fun to do.  We do I suppose also eat with our eyes to some extent.  Echo Goncalo though in that taste is paramount, and a nice layout does not always mean a great tasting curry. 

I think a saucy curry like a korma is also trickier to present on a plate than say, a bhuna, which can be piled up without it going all over the place. As already mentioned, here I'd also go with less sauce on the plate. Chicken chunks together, placed a little off-center; some of the sauce drizzled down a stack of rice. The dish would also look nice sitting within an outer circle of rice.  Garnish wise I'd go for a cream swirl when the korma is first served an oval/balti dish.  Perhaps a sprig of fresh coriander, poked into the rice waiting on the plate. Just personal preference really.  I can see you've got a lovely looking smooth textured korma there.

Plating the rice etc. however can be done whilst the main dish is left to cool/rest a little. I never go straight from pan to plate. Too hot. A rice stack is easy to to with a food ring. Lightly oil the inside of the ring and pack the rice into it with the back of a spoon.  When the ring is removed the stack should be intact.  Usually I don't bother with the oil and just let the rice fall.  Always the same amount of rice dish-to-dish this way, and still nicely presented.   

Another benefit I suppose of practising food layout is that if I ever invite friends around for a (non-buffet) curry it would be nice to have a go at serving restaurant style.  I am currently working on a tomato rose.  Dead easy, not!  Need a sharper knife I think.  Anyway I think Curryhell's dishes always look awesome, and I just try to copy him most of the time. For the pics a half decent camera with a macro setting helps, good overhead lighting, and do not under any circumstances forget the flash.  Also, always select the best pics for the forum; that what I do! All good fun.

Rob 
       

[chewytikka]

Gongalo

Most BIR curries don't get served on a plate anyhoo!

This is a phone snap of a curry knocked up at home and is factual
and what you would expect if you used dyed tikka in a korma.

So the photo is a real account of Gongalos dish. Not sure why the tikka is lined up, but hey!

Unfortunatly, it's human nature to form an opinion on what we see in a photograph.

It's a bit like when I questioned SL's recipes, which didn't match his photos.
As they showed pieces of Tikka placed into a bowl of sauce for Photo effect,
which wasn't a real account of the curry, if you followed his recipe.

I've been doing BIR curry photography for years and have trained Chefs in presentation,
especially for competitions and it can be a very hard slog making "curry" look good on camera.

One of my award winning Chef's, which I nicknamed "ESSO" for the amount of oil he uses in his cooking LOL. ;D ;D

The oil leak, which is a big problem when your trying to get that perfect image.
The best solution I"ve come up with and has been adopted in the restaurant as normal,
was to bowl and let the dish settle for a few minutes, then use a plastic syringe to remove
the excess oil bleed, then transfer the dish for final presentation. Works a treat.

The bowl of reclaimed "spiced oil" would be well sought after by some cR0 members,
fresh oil, one time cooked, from a 100+ curries "BIR Nectar". But sadly in reality its just binned.

Anyhoo, at least you didn't add Coriander to your Korma, good man.

Curry On!
cheers Chewy

[Kashmiri Bob]

Good heavens Chewy! I'm shocked. The oil slick is a vital component of BIR presentation.  A wondrous thing of great beauty, if done correctly.  If I was judging your competitions points would be lost for inadequate slickage, suggesting poor separation and indeed chef skill.  I'd be looking closely at slick width/uniformity, viscosity, transparency, and also colour intensity.   For example.  Too much/too little = points docked.  Misuse of ready-made spiced oil = automatic disqualification.  All dish dependent you see. The exception would be a Phal, which is acceptable sat in a puddle of oil, providing that the sauce flocculation is outstanding of course.  I thought you'd know all this already?   

Rob