Topic: Tonight's Dinner: Curryhell's Elaichi NIS

[Naga]

OK, so I haven't made it just yet!

But in order to make it according to spec, I have to make Chewy's Red Masala Sauce, and in order to make that, I need some Kashmiri Masala paste.

I haven't had a jar of Patak's Kashmiri paste in the house for a good while, and I didn't fancy a 30-mile round trip just to pick one up at a West End Asian grocer's. So I was going to have to make this paste myself if I wanted to pay proper respect to CH's Elaichi NIS.

I remembered that a former member had posted up a video recipe of this paste, so I thought I would have a go at it. I shouldn't have bothered - I didn't fancy it. Maybe I went wrong somewhere, but, in any case, it was back to the drawing board.

After an extended internet search, I came across a Kashmiri Masala Paste recipe that looked as if it might do the job - it was on a curry blog written by a guy called Chris Chedgzoy.

So I made this up (and it was out with the cutting attachment of the stick blender, the mortar and pestle, and the sieve for the second time today!) and followed the written recipe. I used three tablespoons of vegetable oil and only a miserly 70ml water as no amounts for these liquid ingredients were noted in the recipe. I also added a half-teaspoon of natural liquid red colouring to lift the brownness of the resulting paste a bit and covered the paste with a little fresh oil before refrigerating. What do you know? I think it's pretty good!

Having nothing handy to directly compare it against, I can't say if it's in any way a clone of the Patak's product, and my memory fails me as to the exact flavours of the commercial paste. I do remember it was hot, hot, hot though!



Roll on dinner-time!

[Naga]

Well due to my laptop going tits-up earlier tonight, I'm reduced to typing this out on my tablet. No curry porn until the hard disk decides to complete chkdsk and let me in again, I'm afraid!

Anyway, I reckon CH has the copyright on the best photos of the NIS, but I'll get the latest stuff up when I can.

The most important point I want to make was that this dish was brilliant! Not false praise either. I last made this dish in August last year and I know that I enjoyed it because I said so in my post at the time. How I managed to forget about it in the intervening period, I have no idea. It is a 5-star curry and it will become a regular for me from now on.

If I recall rightly, I didn't make it exactly to spec last time, using the Zaal Red Masala Sauce and a commercial tandoori masala among other substitutions. Also, i reckon my curry making has come on leaps and bounds since last year, even if i say so myself! This time, I made it exactly to spec, only omitting the fresh chillies at the end out of respect for my good lady's delicate thrapple!

I might also add that this was the first time my good lady had experienced the Elaichi NIS and she fully endorsed the dish by clearing her plate and mopping up the remaining gravy with a home-made Taftoon Naan.

There can be no higher praise!

If you haven't made CH's Elaichi NIS yet, then I urge you to get on it. Its right up there with the best!

[Naga]

Just a couple of photos of the NIS and my taftoon naan.









Delicious!

[curryhell]

Now that's what i call dedication Naga, making your own kashmiri masala    That curry pic has got my mouth watering already and I'm hardly surprised the good lady cleared her plate. Tonight i'm going to have to make do with a bowl of jellied eels for supper    Maybe curry tomorrow as i've got a pot of Zaal bases on the go as i type.
I'm very surprised that the first recipe you mentioned for kashmiri masala failed to deliver a good result  Shame really.  I was beginning to think we'd soon have all three standard pastes, tikka, kashmiri and tandoori, created and tested by CR0 members.  We have a tikka massala paste developed by 976 bar. I believe we had the kashmiri and it was only the tandoori we were lacking. Ah well, can't do away with my Pataks just yet then 
I'm glad you're liking the dish though.  If it hadn't have been for the manager of my local BIR though, i'd never have tried it.  Due to his insistance i'm now converted to it   I still like to slip in the occasional phall though and something new and different to give my tastebuds a little variety  ;D That naan looks like good dipping material too  ;D
I may just rustle up an NIS tomorrow for supper 

[livo]

Naga: I know this is an old thread but would you still have the recipe for the Kashmiri Masala Paste? The link is broken as the guys blog is no longer there.

I have found and looked at H4ppyLeader's (Chris) paste (the one we're not supposed to know about) and I was just wondering how different they are. All I've read about it today says that it is heavy on garlic and chilli but Chris' recipe has no fresh garlic but some dried garlic granules.  There isn't much else out there that I can find in a paste.

[Onions]

The curry looks great- interesting idea having cheese on toast with it. 

[Peripatetic Phil]

Naga: I know this is an old thread but would you still have the recipe for the Kashmiri Masala Paste? The link is broken as the guys blog is no longer there.

There's /a/ recipe here, Livo.  No idea how similar or different it is to the defunct Blogspot one, but I think it is the same author -- Naga wrote "by Chris Chedgzoy", the author of the one I cited calls himself "Chedders".

** Phil.

[Gav Iscon]

Thats him Phil. He started another site and his recipe is on it along with a few others.

http://just-curry.com/showrecipe/2/Kashmiri-Masala-Paste

[Naga]

Job done, Livo, and I didn't even have to type a word!

[livo]

Funny how Google over here didn't find them. Plus it's in the thread anyway posted by Dal Puri, but thanks to both of you anyhoo. This one and H4ppychris' are very similar.  I'll work something out and go back to read over the previous finds about the origins of the paste re garlic content.

The ver / veri / var / vari Kashmiri Masala cakes also look interesting.

This is a link to the SIMTOM Brand specification which refers to the high chilli and garlic content. 16 % and 7% respectively. 2.5 kg - 200 servings and 5/5 for heat.
http://www.simtom.co.uk/kashmiri-masala