Topic: Anyone heard about Hari Ghotra?

[harighotra]

Hi Hari,

To be honest you base sauce looks more like a pasta sauce, most base sauces on here use a lot more onions and are blended to a soup like consistency. Having said that I made your keema which was very nice and last night we had peoples round and your spiced tomato chutney was enjoyed by everyone.

Regards,
London.

Hi London Really glad the keema and chutney went down well. By all means you can blend the masala sauce to get the soup consistency you like. A basic masala is very much an Indian tomato sauce and I just wanted to show that richness of the sauce base rather then a blended soup. As you said with the keema you have to to try it first. Hope you get to try some more of the recipes and enjoy them.

[harighotra]

Question: before grinding whole spices, I have always dry-roasted them. I notice that you don't in the videos I have watched. Any reason why?

Cheers,

Garp

Hi Garp
Great to hear that your cooking has taken you full circle - I think that cooking is about experiences, trying new things and new cooking methods but above all it's about having fun.
In terms of roasting spices it really depends on the dish I am cooking. By dry roasting spices you are intensifying the aromatics of the spices and I tend to do this is I am making a dry marinade for fish or cooking a dish that requires an intense spice powder like a bhuna.
But for other dishes by just grinding the spices the aromatics are released.
There is no real right or wrong so if you prefer to roast them first then that's fine. I find that with everyday dishes you don't always need to.
Hope that helps
Hari

[Garp]

Thanks Hari. Maybe I need to invest in a grinder

[Peripatetic Phil]

Use a mortar-and-pestle, laddie; millenia-old technology that works as well today as it did when it was first invented
** Phil.

[Garp]

I always have done in the past, Phil, but it's a pain in the butt, especially with things like cassia bark. I'd imagine that raw spices could be troublesome too.

[Ghoulie]

mortar & pestle way too time consuming & inefficient compared to a good grinder - bought my Revel 280 watt grinder from Lakeland for @?35  - fantastic bit of  kit wet or dry blending / grinding

[livo]

It has been claimed that using a powered grinder actually generates heat which partially roasts the spices as well, while M&P is a slower and less heating process.  Some cooks advise against using grinders for this reason but I'm not convinced there is a problem at all. 

I have 2 M&Ps. A little one, about cup size, which is great for pepper, salt, small amounts of seed etc, and a larger one that weighs about 15kg and gives me a real workout to use.  Cinnamon / Cassia Bark and Cardamom husks are a lot of work manually but the worst is dried ginger which is close to a rock.

I have to admit I've become lazy since purchasing a $20 grinder / blender kit.

[Garp]

It has been claimed that using a powered grinder actually generates heat which partially roasts the spices as well

I was wondering about that very point, Livo.

Cinnamon / Cassia Bark and Cardamom husks are a lot of work manually

Do you actually grind the cardamom husk too? I only ever use the seeds, but I'm willing to be converted

[livo]

If a recipe calls for cardamom pods I usually just chuck it in.  I've wondered about husks as well. Hasn't seemed to hurt anything but not nice when you get a whole one in your mouth.

[Garp]

I'll put whole pods in a dish (cracked open), to flavour, the remove them before serving.

I was really asking about grinding