Topic: My chicken vindaloo journey ????

[curryhell]

This seems to be the best place to start posting info relating to my journey to achieving something close my local BIR's interpretation of "chicken vindaloo".  It certainly may not please the purists in terms of what the dish should be or what it should contain, but it's what i enjoy and am happy to eat day in day out.  I can see the shaking of some heads already  ;D but i don't really care what others think, as long as i achieve my aim.  If i haven't raised the bar high enough for some people, I ain't gonna lose any sleep over it.  My idea of the best BIR food will be different from many others on the site.  It certainly does not extend to large plates with a meagre portion placed in the centre surrounded by carefully placed meaningless garnish    Give me a good full plate of tasty BIR food any day.  I can easily forgive the lack of fancy superfluous presentation frills  ;D
Anyway, the journey begins in true CR0 style, with the thread getting derailed almost immediately, this time by its starter, rather than somebody else  :
Last Saturday, having been celebrating my birthday (for most of the week), my fellow revellers and I ended up in our usual BIR south of the river.  To cut a long story short, i order my normal dish, yes you've guessed it, with fresh green chillis of course.  Very enjoyable and totally different to that supplied by my normal local BIR.  The meal was coming to a close when i made the fateful mistake of sampling a spoonful from a dish i'd heard of and was on my radar (CR0 influenced of course).  A friend had ordered chicken rezalla and i thought i'd just see how it tasted.
Based on the raptures my tongue and mouth went into when the first spoonful of this hit the tastebuds, the vindaloo journey immediately stalled    I was blown away by a curry which had no heat, just loads of well balanced tandoori flavours combined with chicken tikka and mince meat in a thickish red tandoori sauce.  I know some of you are thinking "he must be unwell" or "he's been away from the kitchen too long" or "he's lost it completely".  Yes, I actually had found a dish, totally devoid of heat that rang my bells and pushed all my curry buttons  ;D
Subsequently, I've read all there is to read on rezalla on here, from the 80's dish recounted by CT to a dish which could well include CTM ingredients and a few more.  I have some ideas already about how to start to recreate it but am keen to hear of others experiences and descriptions of rezalla dishes they have eaten in BIR's.  I will need to obtain a control sample of the dish against which I can compare my efforts which will require me to venture once again south of the river.  This will obviously be a long term project with much more complexity than the vindaloo journey I feel.  Hopefully I'll get close to both 
All on topic contributions are now most welcome 

[jb]

Curryhell,have you tried the Rezalla,or even better the balti rezalla from Spices??  I normally have this and I have to say it's one of the tastiest dishes I've had in a long time.I have no idea how they make it(although I have asked of course!).I've tried it at other places and it's nothing like the Spices' version,usually milder with mango pulp.If I could replicate that I would be more than happy.

[Naga]

No heat, eh? Who'd have thunk it?

It'll be really interesting to see where you end up in this quest, Dave. My only experience of Rezalla is via Chewy's excellent post and it has now become a firm favourite with everyone in my household. I can't ever recall seeing the dish on any of the local menus.

I did a similar exercise with Jalandhari, but unfortunately didn't get much further forward than filling in the blanks left by PanPot on the Ashoka dish. Still, if your enquiries get any further forward with the Rezalla than mine did with the Jalandhari, it'll definitely be worth doing.

Good luck, mate!

PS: I should have added that there is a decent amount of heat in Chewy's Rezalla between the mix powder, chilli powder and black pepper. Plenty scope to further tickle those tastebuds with fresh chillies too!

[curryhell]

Not a dish i'd ever tried jb until Saturday last.  Next trip to spices i'll give it a go.  Not easy to replicate their dishes though, is it, especially as you don't get much if any info out of them 
Rezalla is not uncommon down this end Keith.  I really need to get back over to the restaurant where i tasted it to eat it again and get a control sample to bring home.  Not as if it delivers to my area due to the Thames separating Essex from Kent.  Will be an interesting journey though and quite prolonged i feel.  Hopefully i'll be well down the vindaloo path by then  ;D  Plan to get started on this real soon after this weekend is over.

[Garp]

Never had this one, Dave, but it sounds nice (are you going over to the dark side - curry without heat!!!!)?

Sounds like a nice dish though - tandoori flavours and some mince are right up my boulevard. I'm sure my local does a dish with mince - will check it out.

Anyway, nice to have you back and posting some great stuff. A wee aside - I got the necessary Pataks pastes this week for Chewy's Masala paste for use in the NIS. How much paste does the quoted recipe make and can I freeze it for future use?

[curryhell]

Never had this one, Dave, but it sounds nice (are you going over to the dark side - curry without heat!!!!)?

What me ?  Never.  A pure momentary lapse.  Next minute, you'll be suggesting i start eating kormas  Garp :  ;D

Off the top of my head i don't know but i'm sure when portioned up in required recipe quantities (using the little plastic pots that the onion salad comes in with a TA)  I think i had enough for between 8 -  10 NISs.  Last time i made up the red masala i bought a large tub of yoghurt and doubled the quantity  ;D  Keeps perfectly fine in the freezer mate for future use.  That'll give you plenty of opportunity to try the "magic sauce" in other dishes or just stick to making North Indian Specials  ;D
I've a feeling it's gonna find its way into my rezalla attemps for sure to enhance the tandoori element 

[Garp]

Thanks, Dave. I'm looking forward to trying the NIS as it looks superb.

Might give Chewy's CTM a go too as haven't made a decent one......ever

Anyway - back on topic - Rezalla. I look forward to your further posts on the matter.

[JerryM]

Well pleased on the "lower" heat BIR - can be absolutely brilliant.

Don't know rezzela - and stopped going to place that I came across it. Have chewytikka recipe and looked at many times yet felt there is something missing and not been able to pin

Looking forward to both journey's

[Onions]

Might give Chewy's CTM a go too as haven't made a decent one......ever

Do you think a decent CTM could be done without coconut in it? Re: an allergy. I wouldn't have thought so, but

[Garp]

I have never made a decent one but I'm sure it's possible