Topic: The other night's supper

[jb]

That madras looks lovely CH.I had a takeaway madras from the Poppadam takeaway the other night and it was quite poor...yours looks spot on to me!!

[martinvic]

The spicing wasn't sufficient for my taste, I would probably need to double the teaspoon of mix powder added to bring it up to 'spec'. And the absence of kasoori methi in a savoury curry was too noticeable.

All in all it leaned towards what I know as a madras but definitely wasn't anywhere near the type I am used to. In summary it lacked chilli heat but had the unpalatable kashmiri flavour, lacked robust spicing, had the sour flavour I hate and cried out for a bit of methi.

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I've made this for a mate, who is a Madras nut, a couple of times now and he thinks it was spot on (second time).
First time I made it though, agreed it wasn't hot enough, so the Kashmiri was halved and replaced with a hot chilli powder.
But the rest was as per the recipe, and my mate said it was as sour/bitter as he is used to round here.
I used fresh squeezed lemon quarter, and he even asked me to leave the squeezed lemon in the dish while it stood.
So A Madras round here is Hot and Sour with a relatively smooth sauce.
So I also don't think Methi belongs in the Madras too.

Martin

[fried]

The two ingredients that I hate the most are celery and blue cheese, so yesterday I decided to make a celery and blue cheese soup. I couldn't believe it, it was absolutely disgusting. It tasted of celery and blue cheese. The next time I make this recipe I'm going to sustitute the celery for carrot and the blue cheese for coriander, then it'll taste more like the kind of celery and blue cheese soup I like.

Joking aside, 'Madras' is almost meaningless as a type of curry. I prefer to call it 'curry'.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Joking aside, 'Madras' is almost meaningless as a type of curry. I prefer to call it 'curry'.

There I respectfully disagree.  For me, a Madras is an intermediate step on the heat spectrum that starts at "Curry" and passes through "Madras" and "Vindaloo" on its way to "Bangalore Phal".  All are characterised by being "simple" curries, basically sauce + meat.  It is my curry of choice whenever I want to assess a restaurant that I have not previously visited.

** Phil.

[fried]

You mean curry, hot curry and very hot curry, surely? 

[Peripatetic Phil]

You mean curry, hot curry and very hot curry, surely? 

The validity of your hypothesis cannot be understated

[Secret Santa]

The two ingredients that I hate the most are celery and blue cheese, so yesterday I decided to make a celery and blue cheese soup. I couldn't believe it, it was absolutely disgusting. It tasted of celery and blue cheese. The next time I make this recipe I'm going to sustitute the celery for carrot and the blue cheese for coriander, then it'll taste more like the kind of celery and blue cheese soup I like.

Joking aside, 'Madras' is almost meaningless as a type of curry. I prefer to call it 'curry'.

The point (for me at least) is that although I did expect it to be unpalatable based as it is on ingredients which I dislike I thought I'd give it a go in the hope that the amalgamation of said ingredients would produce some unfathomable transformation to make it palatable overall. Sadly that didn't happen and if it represents the state of the art in any locality of the UK I find it disheartening that people should ever aspire to reproduce it. It's not just that it's a different madras to that which I'm accustomed it's that it is distinctly unpleasant in flavour and unlike any madras I've ever had.

I should also point out that it's only the kashmiri chilli powder I don't like at all, the lemon juice and worcester sauce I love, just not in a madras.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Is it possible, SS, that your Kashmiri mirch is different to that which others of us are using ?  Mine is this one :



and I love it -- is that the same one that you use ?

** Philp.

[Secret Santa]

It's definitely not MDH I'm using Phil but I can't remember which brand it actually is. Do you really think a different brand will make that much difference?

Actually, thinking back a few years, I have tried more than one brand (but not MDH to my recollection) and each has had the unpleasant flavour I associate with kashmiri chilli powder. Is the MDH pure kashmiri or some blend?

[Peripatetic Phil]

It's definitely not MDH I'm using Phil but I can't remember which brand it actually is. Do you really think a different brand will make that much difference?

I think it might ...  Certainly worth a try.

Actually, thinking back a few years, I have tried more than one brand (but not MDH to my recollection) and each has had the unpleasant flavour I associate with kashmiri chilli powder. Is the MDH pure kashmiri or some blend?

I no longer have a box to check, but from memory I think it says "a specially selected blend" but I could be imagining that bit [1].  Anyhow, not expensive (albeit not always easy to find) and definitely worth trying.

** Phil.
--------
[1]

Exotic Kashmiri Chilli Powder (Mirch) is a special blend of medium quality Red Pepper that is used for Tandoori (Clay oven) preparations. When used in curry it imparts bright red colour making food more appealing and palatable. It is added to marinade for marinating and to frying onions along with chopped tomatoes while preparing curries.