Topic: Shish Mahal Restaurant - Home Cooking Method

[NairB]

OK as promised I took photo's of a few pages from the Shish Mahal cook book. This recipe was derived from the original restaurant vindaloo and condensed to make it easier to cook at home.

As I said....i took photos(sorry for the crudeness) as I don't have a scanner.

I took a few photos of the introduction, a summary of spices and ghee preperation then the last links are the recipe for chicken vindaloo itself.

The purpose here is to see if any of you guys/girls can spot something in this recipe that will make the sought after "taste" and or "smell"

Hope one of you spots something  :

Here it is....(If these picts are to much for some PC's to load, let me know and I will change them to links instead).....

[George]

Nair

Thank you for posting these extracts. I found the garam masala and vindaloo pages of most interest but I fear they have done us a dis-service by reverse-engineering their restaurarnt recipes, which would almost certainly use the base sauce approach, to a recipe which starts with raw onions. Or it could be an entirely different recipe to what they actually use. Is there any recipe in the book for base sauce, please?

If we ordered chicken vindaloo isn their restaurant, would we expect to wait 40-50 minutes whilst the chicken cooks through, as this recipe requires? So I fear it looks like they've left out their recipe for pre-cooked chicken, as well.

Regards
George

[NairB]

Hi George,

Unfortunately there is no base sauce....that was the first thing I was looking for in the book 

I understand that the recipe is not what they would use BUT.....Since the book recipe strives to recreate the "restaurant taste" at home, I was hoping that the ingredients they use might create "the taste" and/or "the smell"

I haven't had the chance to try it yet myself and was hoping that since most of you guys have made a decent base sauce......you might see something new or different to add to your base sauces from this recipe that might just solve the quest :

I was interested in the mustard oil and tamarind water parts of the recipe.....what about the fenugreek is it not that that gives the dish that typical indian smell. Like you the garam masala intrigued me too.

[Curry King]

Cheers for these NairB.

I agree with George in that it looks like they have created new "home" versions rather than just downscaling what they would use in the restaurant.  The Shish massala sounds interesting though I might well give that a go instead of my usual spice mix.

cK

[Chilli Prawn]

I was suprised to see Mustard Oil there as it is banned as a foodstuff in Europe, it can be used for external use, e.g. as a hair oil but that is all.  The bottles should be clearly marked as external use only.  If you get one that isn't there has been a fiddle, e.g. imported from outside Europe. 

As I wanted to use Mustard oil in my business foods I spoke to the chief scientist of KTC who produce the stuff and he says that the ban was introduced by the EC because  Mustard oil contains a noxious/toxic/carcionagenic acid (erucic acid) in minute quantities which if drunk in quantities might just possibly cause some health problems.  But we all know the EC!  see this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_oil

So as usual, without wishing to stir up the usual reactions, you use it at your own risk; afterall the Asians and Caribs have for a very long time.  I use it for personal consumtion in my Madras/Vindaloo recipes and I use it for my pickling, as it creates a lovely background flavour.  I don't use it as hair oil as I have very little left worth bothering about

CP

[laynebritton]

Hats off to the mighty prawn very interesting and informative as always ;D
Layne.

[NairB]

Hmm, Interesting Chilli Prawn, maybe its because the recipe dates back to 1964, so I imagine they are using the original ingredients from then. MAYBE THAT'S THE SECRET, because its banned no one uses it and is never talked about.....hence remained a restaurant secret  :

Gosh, we better keep Darth away from this thread in that case.....we don't want to give him any ideas now do we lol  ;D

Darth and mustard oil =  :-X

[Chilli Prawn]

He already knows  :  I told him about sometime back, and it is used in one of my recipes I gave him.  Perhaps thats why he is quiet now - he can't get out of the loo ;D ;D ;D

CP

[NairB]

He already knows  :  I told him about sometime back, and it is used in one of my recipes I gave him.  Perhaps thats why he is quiet now - he can't get out of the loo ;D ;D ;D

CP

Darth in the loo + Mustard oil = Mustard Gas

[George]

I understand that the recipe is not what they would use BUT.....Since the book recipe strives to recreate the "restaurant taste" at home, I was hoping that the ingredients they use might create "the taste" and/or "the smell"

Nair

Thank you again. Any recipes are of interest. The very fact that this book exists is of interest. But I fear it's like several other books which have been disappointing. If I saw the preface to that book, I would almost certainly buy it because it promises to reproduce the taste of the restaurant. I forget their exact words but the promise is clear. So hopefully, we might be able to use their spice mixes and other elements/clues and link these with base sauce to get a great result. I hope so. But I fear these are just 'any old' recipes (however good) and nothing like the taste of the recipes used in the restaurant. If so, it's another con, like Pat Chapman's books.

Regards
George