I always love the look of your curries. Fantasic colour, but there always looks like so much oil.
I'm really interested in the reasons for this. Are you adding spiced oil at the end? are you filtering off the oil? Or do you just like oil?
Absolutely no criticism, I just happened to be looking at the photos on the front page and mine always come out looking exactly like Garp's Garlic chilli chicken with a few flecks of oil.
Which base do you use?
I think it's more down to technique as opposed to amount of oil, fried. The quantity of base (and how thick/thin it is) also plays a part. To be fair I am usually quite liberal with spiced oil/stock from pre-cooks, but I'm looking for restaurant depth of flavour. Generally restaurant quality dishes don't come swimming in oil (sometimes they do) but neither do mine, when they are plated. OK I do like a good slick occasionally ;D. These two efforts are a bit different though, with the kesar mango, and really new to me. Fresh chicken. All is not quite as it seems in terms of oil.
Keep meaning to post the base recipe I use, but it's nothing overly special. 2-2.25 kg onions, 1 red and 1 green pepper, a couple of carrots, about 25 g coconut block, 2 cans of plum tomatoes, 120 ml sunflower oil/15 ml veg ghee. 3 stages. Boil, G/G bagar, separation. About 6 l of base diluted to 8 l. Quite light. But technique is the key. TA vs restaurant? I don't know to be honest, but these chefs are a clever lot.
Here's a similar madras I made tonight. A bit more mango, a bit less oil, not much. Made in half the time, but with over twice the amount of base gravy.
As it might look in the TA
Same dish. 20 mins after being covered with the cardboard lid. As it might look on delivery.
Very nice. A fine curry. But if a chef makes a "special" from my experience it will look (and taste) more like the madras pic posted earlier. I'm still working on it.
Rob
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