Topic: Restaurant Style Khalia

[Curry King]

Right, I posted a thread about roasting spices in the request group and this is a followup.? I thought I would try something different and a friend of mine told me that he had a Khalia at a restaurant a while back and that it was the chefs special and one of the best currys he's ever had.? I found a recipe for it but seemed authentic so converted it to restaurant style:

Spice mix roasted and ground:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp small mustard seeds
? tsp fenugreek seeds
Then add 1 tsp chili powder and a little water

The Curry:
1 tsp Garlic & Ginger puree
1 Medium onion, finely chopped
Fresh chillies to taste
Chili Powder to taste
1 Tomato, quartered
Half a tbsp Tomato puree
2 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Lemon juice
Salt to taste
5 or 6 Ladles of curry Gravy
Small handful of chopped coriander (include the stalk)
Pre-cooked chicken or meat?

Fry the chopped onion in the oil until turning brown.
Add the garlic and ginger puree and fry for a few seconds.
Add the tomato puree and fry for a minute or 2.
Add the fresh chilies, chilli powder and spice paste, cook for a minute.
Add a ladle of curry gravy and cook through. Add the lemon juice and sugar, stir in.
Add the rest of the curry gravy.
Add chicken and allow to simmer.
Add salt to taste
Just before serving sprinkle in the chopped coriander and stir in.
Garnish with some more coriander and the tomato.

The spice mix made quite a bit so I only used 2tsp of it about a third of the total amount.? I also found on tasting it didn't need very much added salt unlike the vindaloo I would normally make.

The result is a really spicy full flavored curry, I'm sure down to the roasted spices and I will definitely be making it again!  If I could only find a restaurant that has it on the menu I could compare it.  Its definitely is a restaurant style curry and has a certain "taste", probably down to the method and gravy

Please try it and let me know what you think.

[ghanna]

Hi ,Curryking
It look and sound very nice .
I will try it and let you know.
I liked the idea of roasting the spices.
Thanks
ghanna

[Curry King]

Yeah please let me know my household was very impressed with it

[merrybaker]

The spice mix made quite a bit so I only used 2tsp of it about a third of the total amount.?

This sounds good, but I'm not clear on one part.? Did you mix the chilli powder & water into the whole spice mix and just use 2 tsp. of that resulting mixture, or did you mix the chili powder & water into 2 tsp. of the spice mix?? Thanks.
-Mary

[Curry King]

This sounds good, but I'm not clear on one part.  Did you mix the chilli powder & water into the whole spice mix and just use 2 tsp. of that resulting mixture, or did you mix the chili powder & water into 2 tsp. of the spice mix?  Thanks.

Your quite right I should have explained that a bit better.  I roasted and ground the spices then mixed in the chili powder and took 2 large tsps of that mixed spice and mixed it with a little water. 

[merrybaker]

Thanks for answering so quickly!? I can't wait to try it because I love the flavor of fennel seed.

-Mary

[london_lhr]

Hello Curry King,
This recipe would serve approx how many people?
Thanks,
Barry.

[Curry King]

Depends on how much precooked meat you put in it I suppose, ive never really thought about it to much.  I used about 4 chicken breasts and it did 3 of us perfectly well, you would want to add more gravy for 4 people though there was only just enough sauce for 3.

[london_lhr]

Hello all,
I made the Khalia refcipe as per curry king tonight and it was EXCELLENT.
The pre-cooked meat recipe was as per Mark J and was also EXCELLENT.
I did make one or two changes. I misread Mark's recipe and added one
tablespoon of curry powder and not one teaspoon as per recipe.
( Probably the beer!)I did not add ANY water and cooked my lamb in
the spices and it produced enough water on its own. I also added 10/12
 fresh curry leaves at the stage of frying the onions and fryed the curry
leaves with the onions.
Regarding the recipe of curry king, excellent recipe. I NEVER use chilli
powder. Any recipe I cook curry I substitute chilli powder with fresh chillies.
That was the only change to this excellent recipe. When I added the
pre-cooked meat, I added the pre-cooked meat with all the spices and
sauce from pre cooking. The flavour of this curry was out of this world.
As an accompanyment to this curry, I made ghannas onion bhaji where
the onions were slightly fried beforehand. The bhajis were flattened
after the first fry, left to cool and then browned in the hot oil for a
second time. Plain basmati rice with the curry......... Really a fantastic
meal! Thanks to all for sharing their recipes. Definitely will be on my
list of favourite curries.
While preparing the curry, did start out with some popadums and sweet
mango chutney with a nice beer or two or three or......... Don't you just
love preparing those curries........

[John]

Right, I posted a thread about roasting spices in the request group and this is a followup.  I thought I would try something different and a friend of mine told me that he had a Khalia at a restaurant a while back and that it was the chefs special and one of the best currys he's ever had.  I found a recipe for it but seemed authentic so converted it to restaurant style:

Spice mix roasted and ground:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp small mustard seeds
? tsp fenugreek seeds
Then add 1 tsp chili powder and a little water

Just a thought....... the spice mixture is very very similar to "panch pharon" which is a mixture of:
fennel, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and nigella, how about giving "panch pharon" ago instead of making your own spice mixture, they sell it in the aisan supermarkets and it's more likley to be used in a restaurant cos they can just buy it off the shelf. It could even be in one of those containers near the cooker that they have the rest of the spices in.

http://www.caterer-online.com/chef/recipedetail.asp?recipeID=301