Topic: Just had a demonstration by the chef at my local restaurant

[stephen west]

Stephen - do you mean your korma had the same type of flavour as a BIR korma, or was it just as good as, or better in a different sort of way? I have made good kormas in the past. My friends would say they are "as good as restaurant meals" (or better). But they are not the same!

Regards
George

Hello George,

I've been thinking about the taste. I had quite a lot left over, some saved some for a couple of days to have a clean palate, and to avoid being "spiced out" by all the testing whilst cooking? . On retasting today, I believe the creaminess was nearly there that you get with a restaurant korma, and also, I believe, the depth of flavour. I attribute this partly to using the chicken cooking sauce, and also to Ghanna's suggestion to use evaporated milk.

One thing I think was wrong, was the thickness of the sauce. I do think it was too thick. Next time, I shall probably add more evaporated milk. I added three baked bean sized tins to the entire korma mix. I think if I were to add more, it would thin the sauce, and make it richer.

Well done Stephen, this is good work, but might I also add:

>> was told they were both as good as restaurant meals>>
Comments like this from friends are nice, but absolutely meaningless - I've been told that for 20 years, and it's not true.

Hello Joe2,

Thanks. I totally appreciate your point. I always take what people say with a pinch of salt because I know perfectly well when I taste it myself the next day that it isn't as good as a restaurant meal. This one was better than last year's, though. There's always room for improvement, so next time, I'll try the improvements above.

Thanks Stephen

[Yellow Fingers]

I like the way that the pre-fried onions seem to disappear into the base sauce

So there are no noticable onion pieces in the finished curry?

Is this because the onions are so well cooked that they are very soft?

[Curry King]

So there are no noticable onion pieces in the finished curry?

Is this because the onions are so well cooked that they are very soft?

I think it varies ive had vindaloos with onion pieces in and some without.  Ive been adding some to mine recently and if they are cooked to browning they do dissapear.

[steve e]

HI Mark,
Fantastic recipe after many many attempts the acid test for every recipe was my 13 year lad,
even when the wife and I were moderately pleased with the result of my endeavours the
reaction from the lad was" this curry is minging!" However using a Bruce Edwards Base and following your pathia recipe I was amazed as was the wife to hear him announce "This curry
Rocks" and he proceded to eat an entire dish full.Great work and thanks.
Steve E ;D

[thomashenry]

Hello forum

I've been away from the forum for a few months, as after a solid month of home-BIRing I took some time off to go back to some traditional Indian cooking. Anyway, I've had another spell of nightyl BIRing kicked off another month of BIRing, and am happy to have done three spot-on dishes in as manynights - something I've not before done. It's all based on the info MarkJ posted at the top of this thread, big respect to him. Anyway, my observations.

I've tried 3 bases - and concluded this is definataly, definaatly, DEFINATELY not where we are missing out. I tried with Dhillion, BruceEdwards, and my own adaptation of Dhillion - and the sauce used had NO bearing on whethere or not I acheived the taste - I acheived  'the taste' with all three, and failed to achieve it with all three. ANY OF THE COMMONLY USED BASES IN THIS FORUM WILL DO.

The difference between success stories and failiures for me I think is due to cooking technique - the AMOUNT and TEMPERATURE of oil used. Too much much or too little oil can prevent you getting the dish right. Not heating the oil enough can have the same effect.

The pre-fried onions are very important to the texture of the dish. Furthermore, I've never got the taste without them either. I'm not convinced they are needed for the taste, but I like my sauces to have them anyway. Chop them finely, and fry them in plent oil on a medium/low temp with 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric per onion. Fry them gently, for a long time - 30 mins at least. You need them soft, and gently browning. DO NOT let them go dark brown/black - do not let them burn under any circumstances. You don't want that 'hot dog stand onion' flavour at all.

Meat - I've been frying in oil with a shake of chilli and turnmeric and a few bits of casia bark, until they are just done. They then get another 5 or so mins of  blast in the curry, so don't worry too much about under doing them. 10 mins is all they need. I just fry them gently in the pan - all the other methods have added nothing for me, and the taste has been achievable whatever method I use to cook chicken.

As soon as I get my digital camera sorted, I'm going to post a picture of my chef's spoon, pan, and teaspoon, as the shape and size of these three things are important for quantities - the chefs spoon in particualr for the oil and base sauce adding.

When I've got these pics, I'll post recipe/method/pics.

[Mark J]

The difference between success stories and failiures for me I think is due to cooking technique - the AMOUNT and TEMPERATURE of oil used. Too much much or too little oil can prevent you getting the dish right. Not heating the oil enough can have the same effect.

Hi Mate,

Good to hear a success story, what final dish recipes have you used?

I agree on the oil, I recently had success with Pete's simple madras recipe, I really fried the tomato/spice tarka on top heat for a while and I noticed after a while it developed that smell, Im sure the curry base oil is key now. Did you skim oil off the top of the base?

cheers

Mark

[thomashenry]

Nope, it was plain veg oil. I believe its the quantity and temperature of this oil that is so vital. Correct and amount, and BLAZINGLY hot.

The recipie I used was a slight adapatiaion of those you posted, but with less spice basically. I'm gonna wait till I've got photos before I do a more detailed recipie/method. Amout of oil, heat, and adherernce to method are all so important.

[blade1212]

Do you use any garamasala in the final dishes  - if so does it make a difference to you ?

Can you tell us what curry powder/mix you use ?

[thomashenry]

No garam masala. The spices I used in the dish stage were a modest teaspoon of Rajah Curry Powder, some chilli powder, 1/2 each of sugar and salt, and one of Fenugreek leaves.

The specifics of the curry powder are of no importance. Any sensilbe 'curry powder' mix will get you the right results. This is not a concern. I've stuck with Rajah Madras powder as the local shop sells it. Any other brand would give the same reults, as I'm sure, would any home blend of cumin/coriander/turmeric etc.

[blade1212]

That's the same brand of curry powder I use and I've had mixed results in the past. If this is "the taste" that I'm looking for then the majority of this must be related to technique. I wonder if the hot oil draws out the taste from the curry powder.