Goncalo has done some remarkable camera work. It's almost like your're looking down the chef's spoon into the pan on some of them.

I've watched the pathia vid a couple of times and made my best one to date.
A word of caution on the bagar (in the context of frying spices in G/G paste). It is very easy to get wrong. Too little heat/or for not long enough, and the flavours/aromatic oils from the spices wont be released. Too much heat/or for too long, and things will start burning. I messed it up several times to start with. Indeed on one occasion where the oil was too hot, the G/G burned, instantly (as soon as it hit the oil). Check the Viceroy vid where Chef Imran lifts the pan off the heat briefly, as it's getting too hot. In the end I resorted to adding the G/G paste to cold oil, and then heating it up, so at least I could get an idea of what was happening.
Got the hang of it eventually. But do remember what you are actually doing here. Adding things to HOT oil. Particular the G/G paste and tomato (puree or blended plum). These are aqueous and will spit like mad when added to the hot oil. Advice wearing a glove for protection, and keep your face well away form the pan. When chef does this on a commercial scale he often adds things at arms length, with a long chef's spoon (as in the vids) and has a lid in his other hand to stick on the pan, quickly. Basically, take precautions, and be careful.
If anything does burn you obviously need to start again. Don't be tempted to use the "bagar" if there is any doubt, e.g. you think, OK, maybe I just caught it before it burned? You will end up trashing your chicken or, if the bagar is destined for base gravy, the entire batch will be ruined. I have managed to do this. I think the easiest way around this is to start with pre-cooked potato. Not such an issue if a few spuds end up in the bin.
I've got some pics somewhere of me prepping pre-cooked potatoes and will at some point put together a recipe for this, and my take on Bombay aloo. It's not my recipe really. Based around Moike's pre-cook and Mick's (CBM) Bombay recipe (the lemon juice in Mick's recipe is a winner; sometimes I chuck a couple of curry leaves in. Pictured here; this thread also includes a few pics of, I think, my first attempt at Moike's pre-cooks, chicken, lamb, and potato, for anyone interested.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11955.0.htmlHere are some phone pics I took in the TA:
Chicken




Lamb

Potato

I should add that there is not really anything new here pre-cook wise. Chewy has posted somewhere some pics of pre-cooked chicken that look very similar. There are also plenty other ways/approaches on the forum (with proper recipes). Also, the "bagar" will probably not change your life.

It's just where I'm up to at the moment, but I am liking it, and it is very BIR. To chuck a spanner in the works, I've been trying out some dishes using fresh chicken recently. Hmm. Counter-intuitively, perhaps, it seems fresh chicken is actually the short-cut? I'll be sticking with pre-cooked, whenever possible.
Rob
