Mango Chicken

[Peripatetic Phil]

Phil, that's a bit mind over matter if you used to enjoy something until you knew what was in it.  Reminds me of the Sunday morning my father told me what black pudding was made from.

You remind of being the occasion when we were served kaszanka at a conference in Poland, after five days of being served nothing but kielbasa *; most of my fellow delegates treated it with disdain (having asked what was in it), whereas I tore into it as if I hadn't eaten for five days (which was more or less the case) ...

** Phil.
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• Intentionally mis-spelled, because the forum software throws a wobbly ("database error") if I use the proper Polish dark/barred-L.

[Secret Santa]

Well I said I was going to give this a go and now I have. Verdict: truly gross!  ;D

I should preface this with the fact that I abhor korma and this is just a fancied-up korma so I really, really should not have made this in the first place. I followed chewytikkas malai makhoni video and as suggested added a good glug of mango pulp at the end. I assume that's all there is to it and I haven't left anything out?

It's nauseating. It's cloying. It's greasy. It's dreadful! 

I managed to down about half of it with rice purely by eating it with lime pickle to try to get some balance and by following every mouthful with a good glug of green tea to stop me heaving.

It just amazes me that not only could people eat this regularly but also have it as their favourite - and I use the word quite wrongly - curry.

I tasted a bit of the sauce after it had cooled and it really is a dessert. In my opinion it has no place on any forum that dedicates itself to curry; BIR or otherwise.

It's my own fault. I don't like kormas. But I had to give it a go to see what all the fuss was about.  Lesson learned; step away from the kormas Santa! 

And what is it with mango puree (and the Mango Rubicon that I bought) that makes them greasy, like drinking oil?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Well I said I was going to give this a go and now I have. Verdict: truly gross!  ;D

ROTFL   I shall now read on ...

And what is it with mango puree (and the Mango Rubicon that I bought) that makes them greasy, like drinking oil?

Dunno, Guv

[Secret Santa]

did you buy Rubicon Mango, Rubicon Mango Light, or Rubicon Mango Deluxe ?

It says on the box, Rubicon Mango ... now with half the sugar!

It's the only one they had in Home Bargains. I don't know what it is but both, particularly the mango pur

[Peripatetic Phil]

It says on the box, Rubicon Mango ... now with half the sugar!

That is exactly the problem.  I drank it (not seeing that text) and knew immediately that it was not Rubicon Mango as I always had always known it; finally found the text, tried adding the amount of sugar that they said they had removed, and it was still not sweet enough.  Ended up adding twice the amount of sugar that they had removed, and it was finally back to the original flavour.  Then, purely by chance, I found "Rubicon Mango Deluxe", ordered a dozen from Amazon at slightly less than list price, then found they had them for less than half price in Home Bargains, at which point I bought their entire stock. 

I can't say much for A G Barr, the new owners of the brand, though.  When I e-mailed them to tell them that one container was on the verge of exploding three months before its use-by date, they denied any responsibility, said it must have been damaged in transit, and offered vouchers to the value of

[livo]

You can't say I didn't warn you SS.  ;D. You wouldn't be the first to view this dish in that way, but it is nevertheless very popular amongst those with a sweet tooth and an aversion to spices.

I don't use a mango "drink".  I use big tin cans of mango pulp. I've used both Kesar and Alphonso but it needs to be just pulped fruit. Even fresh Kensington Pride mango pulped by myself when they're in season, does not provide the flavour of tinned imported Indian grown mango.

I just read that Rubicon has 18% mango. The pulp in the tins is 94%.

This possibly won't change your opinion of the dish though SS.  I normally now just use a very mild base gravy and very mildly spiced pre-cooked chicken.

[Secret Santa]

I don't use a mango "drink".

I didn't either livo, just the tinned, pure Kesar mango pulp. The Rubicon drink was only referenced because of the weird oiliness I experienced with both the pur

[livo]

I understand now.  I have to say that it isn't my preferred curry but I do quite enjoy it. I also enjoy korma and other milder dishes.  If you don't, I can see why you wouldn't enjoy it.  Some establishments do describe their own version as being made with Tikka and I was once told that it was used when I asked.  Out here it is a favourite for the kids on curry night and this was where it became the search for me 20 years ago.

[livo]

Romain, Almond powder, not coconut. I started using almond flour to avoid the grainy texture and there is some discussion of dissolving it. It didn't really make much difference though to be honest.  There is only the slightest hint of spices in most versions sold out here.  You can use more spiced pre-cooked chicken if you prefer but it is easily over-spiced when trying to emulate the sold versions.  They are not all exactly the same but they are very close to each other.  Each establishment has a different chef with a slightly different flavour as you'd expect but out here it is a go to dish for kids at the curry shop and I quite like it as well.  There is absolutely zero chilli heat or flavour.  I use tinned Kesar or Alphonse mango pulp from Indian grocery.

This method is the closest you'll come to making it how the Aussies are asking you. 98% is my rating of the most recent attempts and my family are happy with it.  It simply doesn't exist by doing a google on it unless by some chance google search hits this forum topic. There are hundreds of hits for mango and chicken and over the years I tried many of them. Pataks and others sell jarred pastes and sauces that are supposedly Mango Chicken but they are a huge disappointment and not many Aussies would rate them at all compared to the Restaurant / TA versions.  This is the only place I could eventually get the answer and get even close to the dish in store.

I'm going to ask my Indian Chef acquaintance for his recipe.  He isn't in the industry any more so he shouldn't mind giving it.

[romain]

I was watching with the sound turned off. Thanks for pointing that out.

I'm tempted to put together a blog post just to get one copy of the recipe out there so people can find it.

However, I have railed against tasteless korma and bland butter chicken in the past so putting up a recipe like this one isn't really in line with the style of the blog. Maybe I'll post it as a public service announcement if you are OK with it.