Topic: Ex hot lamb vindaloo

[Kashmiri Bob]

Ex hot lamb vinders





Cooked this effort in an electric wok.  Short on base gravy so loaded it up with spiced oil/stock from the pre-cook. Not too bad considering.  Just 1 rounded cs of ex-hot chilli powder. Very tasty curry.

Rob 

[Stephen Lindsay]

It even looks hot!

[rshome123]

Looks superb.  Have you any tips for cooking out the chilli powder, to avoid that powdery taste in the final dish?

[Kashmiri Bob]

Looks superb.  Have you any tips for cooking out the chilli powder, to avoid that powdery taste in the final dish?

It's just down to the way the curry is started.  Hot oil, followed by mix powder, methi, and all the chilli powder, almost simultaneously.  It'll ball up into a paste when moved.  Flatten it down and hack into it with the edge of your chef's spoon, then ball it up again, and repeat.  Takes a bit of practice, particularly controlling the heat, which should be high. Everything needs to kept moving at this stage. Take your time, there's no rush at home. If it's near to burning, add some more oil (I find spiced oil from a veg pre-cook is best).  The excess oil can be skimmed/chased off later. A skilled chef may not need to add any extra oil.  If some powder gets stuck on your spoon don't lust leave it there. Scrape it off with something and back into the pan. Don't be tempted to add tomato puree, lemon juice, and definitely not base gravy, until you are happy the spices have been taken far enough.  This is how I have been shown to make most curry dishes.  The ones with heaps of chilli powder just take me longer to make. Silky smooth chilli flavour(s) are what you are looking for, irrespective of the amount of chilli powder added.   

Rob     

[rshome123]

Looks superb.  Have you any tips for cooking out the chilli powder, to avoid that powdery taste in the final dish?

It's just down to the way the curry is started.  Hot oil, followed by mix powder, methi, and all the chilli powder, almost simultaneously.  It'll ball up into a paste when moved.  Flatten it down and hack into it with the edge of your chef's spoon, then ball it up again, and repeat.  Takes a bit of practice, particularly controlling the heat, which should be high. Everything needs to kept moving at this stage. Take your time, there's no rush at home. If it's near to burning, add some more oil (I find spiced oil from a veg pre-cook is best).  The excess oil can be skimmed/chased off later. A skilled chef may not need to add any extra oil.  If some powder gets stuck on your spoon don't lust leave it there. Scrape it off with something and back into the pan. Don't be tempted to add tomato puree, lemon juice, and definitely not base gravy, until you are happy the spices have been taken far enough.  This is how I have been shown to make most curry dishes.  The ones with heaps of chilli powder just take me longer to make. Silky smooth chilli flavour(s) are what you are looking for, irrespective of the amount of chilli powder added.   

Rob     

Thanks Rob. I have had concerns about the spice fry, particularly residue on the spoon.  I guess it's a case of having a teaspoon to hand to make sure  stuck spice powde gets scraped off.

[Peripatetic Phil]

It's just down to the way the curry is started ...

Thank you for this, Rob.  I increasingly feel that technique is everything, and until that is mastered, no recipe, no matter how good, will yield the results desired.

** Phil.

[Les]

Young Rob,
I don't do pre-cooked veg at all, (er indoors don't like her veg pre-cooked) and I always start with frying the onions first, then adding the spices,
So am I doing this all wrong?, How should it be done? any tip's would be welcome.

Les

[Kashmiri Bob]

So am I doing this all wrong?

Les

No idea Les.  I haven't seen you cooking mate.    I start lots of curries off with chopped onions and green pepper (after frying the garlic paste).  Shouldn't be any problems cooking the powders after this for say, a madras, providing the oil is hot enough. Can cook/singe/burn the spices quite happily. If the oil isn't hot enough the onions tend to soak it up, and that can be bad news.  There are generally none in my ex-hot efforts, too much powder, and not really a requirement for the dish.  I just think, as many have said previously, it is essential to cook the spices "properly".  Otherwise the curry will be lacking in terms of flavour and, worse case scenario, some of the chilli powder remains raw. As we all know, even 2 tsp of uncooked chilli powder can be a nightmare. My view is that the main cooking of the spices should be done at the start of making the curry, in the oil, with as little added liquid(s) as possible. Others may have differing opinions on this, but when large amounts of chilli powder are involved there can be no debate, I think.

I find spiced oil/stock from veg pre-cooks handy as the flavours won't take over lamb (or chicken) dishes. The base gravy I use doesn't include cassia, cardamom, asian bay, etc. I rely on the pre-cooks for introducing these flavours/aromas, which I believe are essential for many BIR dishes.  This arrangement seems to work quite well for me, enabling control of how much whole spice yummyness goes into any particular dish.  So, for example, the pre-cooked lamb includes black cardamom. The spiced oil/stock from this is heady stuff, have to be careful with it, which is why if I think a bit more "oil" is needed for a curry, oil from the veg pre-cook is a better option, sometimes.

Anyway, what's with all these questions?  I consider myself very much a novice.

Rob 

   

[Les]

Anyway, what's with all these questions?  I consider myself very much a novice.

Rob 

 

As I do Rob, as I do,
Where you have the advantage is that you have been behind the scenes sort of speak,
My self, as far as the counter to order,   ;D I think it's better to see how its done, rather than read it out of a book
Thanks for your reply,

Les

[Kashmiri Bob]

Anyway, what's with all these questions?  I consider myself very much a novice.

Rob 

 

As I do Rob, as I do,
Where you have the advantage is that you have been behind the scenes sort of speak,
My self, as far as the counter to order,   ;D I think it's better to see how its done, rather than read it out of a book
Thanks for your reply,

Les

Yes Les there is that. My efforts have improved a bundle since gaining access to a few kitchens.  Most of my home dishes now turn out better than the vast majority of TAs near me, and there are a lot of TAs.  I wouldn't be bothered making them otherwise.  But, and it's a big but, outright quality and consistency continues to elude me. I also struggle with delicate spicing and my range is still very limited.  I can make a mean madras.  No doubt about it. Chewy's recipe is/can be as good as I've had from anywhere.  But there's also that blasted last 3-5 % for many other dishes.  I fear this may be out of reach.  Definitely not an ingredient.  It's technique and years of experience.  There is no substitute.  And don't even mention the Birmingham balti! 

All good fun trying/learning though.  Agree hands on is ideally the way forward, where possible.  However when I get my new hob I'll try to contribute a bit more on the forum where I can.  Not so much on recipes, there's plenty of those already.  More method/technique. I'm hoping to be able to video a chef doing the "bagar".  It's a poorly understood technique (in terms of BIR cooking). I should also be able to post the recipe/technique for the base gravy I use.  No big deal. There are as good already available. I have found however that oil separation can be tricky with some bases.  Not with the one I use; and there's also that "intra-base" flecked look, if anyone likes that sort of thing. One aspect of BIR cooking that has dawned on me fairly recently, is that there is actually no such thing as, for example, a 2-stage base gravy. It's 3-stage, the last being proper separation. I don't think this is emphasised enough.  Won't be news to some, but others may find it useful.

Rob