Topic: Madras

[Naga]

Oh yeah and lunch for me was a banana slimfast milkshake [emoji22]

Spicy Butternut Squash and Carrot soup for me (with mega-extra chilli flakes in the soup bowl!) followed by a sandwich of good French bread with Dijon mustard, smoked ham and tomato. Yum!

[curryhell]

Such a tease  :
 ;D

[Naga]

So, I made the BIR version of the traditional Madras using Chewy's recipes (links at Post #9 above) as a guide.

It's a difficult path to tread, trying to walk the tightrope without falling off. I tried to remain faithful both to the traditional ingredients and to my standard Madras ingredients and technique. Here's what I did:

I added black mustard seeds to the hot oil.

When the seeds began to pop, I added "service onions" - finely chopped green pepper/onion.

When the onion started to colour, I added garlic/ginger paste (2:1) and finely chopped green chilli.

When the garlic/ginger aroma released, I added 90g of pureed tomatoes (replacing dilute puree) together with 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste (replacing the Worcestershire Sauce).

I added the Madras curry powder and salt, stirring it well in. I was worried about this stage, because the pre-roasted and ground spices, together with the ground turmeric weighed in at around 30 grams - more than 2 tablespoons of mix powder!

Anyway, I charged on, adding a good squirt of lemon juice and a tbsp of Kashmiri chilli powder. Once I was happy that the spices were properly cooked through, I added a ladle of base gravy and reduced it right down. I added a further ladle of base, together with 4 tbsp of Greek yoghurt and the pre-cooked chicken.

The second reduction was followed by a third ladle of base and a final reduction.

The resultant sauce was quite a bit lighter in colour than the traditional version, of course, given the use of base gravy and chicken, but it darkened right up as the sauce reduced, probably due to the darkness of the Madras curry powder.

It smelled bloody good anyway!


Second Reduction - Still Quite Saucy!


Getting There...






On the Plate

The verdict? Well, as I hinted earlier, it would be really unfair (and probably impossible) to compare the two Madras curries with my standard. There's just so many differences in ingredients.

But this BIR version was certainly different from the traditional dish. It was lighter, and naturally, the flavour wasn't so deeply ingrained in the chicken as it was in the marinated beef. The heat levels were different too. The traditional version had most of its heat in the meat, while the BIR version's heat was more evenly distributed throughout the dish. But the pre-cooked chicken certainly did absorb much of the spice and the heat came across with each bite.

The texture was slightly different too. The onions had cooked right down in the trad version, but there was still a welcome bite to the service onions/peppers in the BIR dish.

Also, the afterglow of the chilli lasted longer with the BIR version. While the traditional version's heat levels were very mature - no doubt due to the longer cooking time - the BIR version was fresher, more present, and left a brilliant mouth-heat for half-an-hour or so. Mmmm! Really nice!

I learned a few things over the past couple of days. The first thing was that there is no "better", just "different". The traditional version was full-on, the BIR version was nuanced, and my standard Madras is flavoursome and fresh. All the recipes are delicious in their own right.

The second thing I learned was that traditional Indian dishes aren't really that much more bother then BIR. Most of the ingredients can be pre-prepared and it's really only the cooking time that makes a difference. A BIR meal can be thrown together in 10-15 minutes at a push and it'll be consistent and (hopefully!) delicious. If you pre-prepare mix powders and marinated meats for traditional food, then it's only the cooking time that's going to cause a problem.

The third thing I learned was that I need to pay more attention to replicating dishes from brief menu descriptions and realise that particular mix (curry) powders create vastly different tastes in the final dish. I realise that my current mix powder and base gravy are good enough to deliver a range of decent BIR curries, but if I want something extra special, Abdul's 8-Spice probably isn't going to cut the mustard, and I'm going to have to put in a bit of effort for a result.

The last thing I learned was that three Madras curries over the space of a single weekend ain't a bad thing at all, and that each curry - trad, BIR/trad and BIR - each bring that bead of sweat to the forehead. Oh yes! You'd better believe it!

[Naga]

Such a tease  :
 ;D

You know me so well!

[Gav Iscon]

Looks very nice Naga. I had to settle for Chinese tonight 

[Naga]

Looks very nice Naga. I had to settle for Chinese tonight 

Nothing wrong with Chinese, Gav. I'm quite partial to Chinese food myself. So much good food, so little time to try it out!

[JerryM]

Naga,

The mix Pwdr learning is on my radar. I'm still puzzling on it.

I thought Abdul's was good. My current thinking is that a poorly constructed mix makes for very poor curry. When in the right "BIR" ballpark margins are small.

Before switching to IFFU mix id tried a fair few mix mostly almosts and had settled on mouchak. It took side by side to compare the 2 - very close yet discernable difference only just. Since then had opportunity to taste madras by member who I'm big fan. The key was I felt the IFFU was top notch for cream dishes but down when it comes to hard curry like madras. I now feel I need to stock 2 mixes.

For added injury on my last make I switched IFFU for haldi without telling - no one spotted any difference. This for me was not a downer in fact far from it.

The other probably not so useful is I only use 0.5 tsp mix per portion (came from BE). I have tried upping.

In short my current thinking mix Pwdr if ballpark is not that critical. Base having a greater effect and yet to decide perhaps chef garam.

[curryhell]

More great looking  food  Good bit of work there Keith. Added advantage being you got to eat three decent curries and all in the name of progress  ;D  Some interesting and thought provoking comments in some of your conclusions.  I'm a firm believer that given a decent base with a recognised mix powder, which some will argue must be matched to the base, with the right technique and suitable ingredients, you'll end up close to a BIR dish.  How close depends on what YOU are looking for  : I also agree that for that extra special touch Abdhuls mix powder won't cut it, nor will any other for that matter.  For that extra special something you are now getting into the realms of true chefs.  For us though a good starting point would be the array of "condiments" so to speak that we have on hand.  This could also extend to ones own garam masala, used sparingly and only for certain dishes when you want to add that little bit of " je ne sais quois"  ;D

[Garp]

Stunning pictures, Naga, but what happened to the sauce?

[Naga]

Grateful for your thoughts, Jerry.

I'll still continue to use Abdul's 8-Spice as my standard mix powder for my usual selection of BIR curries, dhals and sides etc. But the freshly roasted Madras curry powder has now got me thinking that, perhaps, I could be doing with a choice of mix powders for specific curries. There's a bit of trial, error and experimentation needed here as I don't have sufficient knowledge or experience of particular spice mixes. I'm not talking about making loads of different mixes here - that would just be daft as I couldn't possibly make use of them all - but maybe 4 or 5 for different curries. I'll have to think about it.

What I do know is that marinating the meat using the mix powder made such a difference to the taste experience that I want to do it again and again. It was that good.

And the freshness of the mix powder also made a big difference to the BIR variation too.

Its all about getting better at whatever you want to do, isn't it? Every day really is a school day!