Topic: How to Make Spicy Oil ? The Secret to Truly Replicating BIR curries?

[PaulP]

That oil looks good CA. Are you planning to make a base with it, use it for final cooking or both?

From what I've read regarding garlic in oil it should be ok refrigerated for about 3 weeks or in a freezer for a few months. I don't know whether the oil would actually freeze solid or not.

Looking forward to your feedback on using this oil.

[Cory Ander]

Try doubled-up coffee filters in a funnel.

Sheesh, SS, I used one and that took forever! I need a CENTRIFUGE! 

[Cory Ander]

That oil looks good CA. Are you planning to make a base with it, use it for final cooking or both?

From what I've read regarding garlic in oil it should be ok refrigerated for about 3 weeks or in a freezer for a few months. I don't know whether the oil would actually freeze solid or not.

Hi PaulP,

Initially I intend to use it to make main curries.  Thereafter, I will use it to in my curry base.  It certainly smells the part and seems to impart that BIR taste too.

Regarding garlic, maybe I should leave it out (given the mooted health implications) together with some of (or all) the other vegetables?

I haven't tried freezing the spiced oil yet. 

Hmmmm, come to think of it, I've never met anyone who's suffered from botulism either!    Perhaps I haven't lived (or died!).....

I don't present this as the final say on synthesising spiced oil though! 

I'd be very happy to hear of others' suggestions on how to do it better!  I'm sure the topic has great merit!   

[Cory Ander]

Hmmm, interesting, regarding "botulism", according to Wikipedia, it has this to say:

"is a rare but serious paralytic illness"

"the most common form in Western countries is infant botulism"

"...for this reason honey should not be fed to infants less than one year of age. It is now sufficiently well known not to feed honey to babies. Due to the success of this public health message, fewer than 5% of recent infant botulism cases have been exposed to honey"

"the only known prevention measure for infant botulism is to avoid feeding honey to infants less than 12 months of age"

"while commercially canned goods are required to undergo a "botulinum cook" at 121 ?C (250 ?F) for 3 minutes, and so rarely cause botulism, there have been notable exceptions such as the 1978 Alaskan salmon outbreak and the 2007 Castleberry's Food Company outbreak. Foodborne botulism has more frequently been from home-canned foods with low acid content, such as carrot juice, asparagus, green beans, beets, and corn"

"oils infused with garlic or herbs should be refrigerated"

Ha! Perhaps I'm worrying unnecessarily then!  :

[Derek Dansak]

I read that garlic and oil should be good for a week in the fridge at most. it depends if the garlic had the botulism on it in the first place. most garlic wont, but some will on the rare occasion. the botulism is from the soil, which then gets on the garlic. this is rare, but you are fxxcked if you do get it, very nasty. i no longer store my garlic paste or oil with garlic for more than a week in the fridge. maybe freezing the oil is better??

[Mikka1]

Having nearly done everything and having come in after a few hours to smell my house, think its on the nail, only to find I have to wait three days for it to taste anything like the restaurant version I'm sold on this and will have a go a.s.a.p.

Some of the images here look just about right on the oil. I've suspected something like this might be responsible for some time but never really looked into it. 

It makes complete 100% sense to me, even if you do reclaim it but I won't be doing that.
As regards straining the contents a muslin cloth or an old cotton T-Towel should do the trick. I've used this method many times when straining chicken stock.

Thanks very much for an open forum folks.
 ;D

[Mikka1]

I thought you might find this interesting?
http://www.yelp.com/topic/chicago-ayurvedic-or-relatively-healthy-indian-food-in-chicago

"(believe me if you find it oily here, you'd have no words for how oily it can be in India)"

&

"Also the pool of oil can also be due to the fact that they add heated oil with spices in at the end of the cooked dish as a garnish(kind of). So for example, "Dal Tadka" - the 'tadka' is that pool of heated oil with spices like cumin, mustard seeds, red chillies, bay leaves, etc in it."

I've just got my pan out with oil in it. Just looking for the various recipes now.

[Mikka1]

Just made mine....

500 mls veg oil (Will use ghee next time)
1 tsp Cumin seed.
3 green Cardamom
1 Black Cardamom
1 small onion large chunks (I used this to gauge the temp).
2 Dried red chillies
1 1/2 inch piece cinamon.
1 1/2 tsp Panch Phoran

I placed the whole lot in cold oil and warmed it until I could see the edges of the onion turning light brown and allowed to cool.

The result is pretty much what I see here frankly but one thing I will say is that it smelled wonderful while it was at a brisk heat, no different to my bahjis at all in fact.

I forgot to add whole coriander seeds

I'm sure it will make a huge difference frankly to the final dish and another point that I found quite by mistake is that what I smell in my Spinach dishes is in fact.

Asofotida (Phew!)

Anyway I think it will work provided there is enough of a marriage with stronger spicing at the start.   

[Bobby Bhuna]

I have been attempting to make spiced oil and decided to try making it as follows:

Hi CA,

I thought I'd give this a shot with a few changes. I didn't see that onion or capsicum would contribute a great deal , so I omitted them. The same can be said for the panch phoran and sugar.  I decided to add some fresh green chillies since I'm always trying to impart more of a chili flavour into my curries.

I also did not filter my oil as I don't imagine oil reclaimed from a base (if this is what we're suggesting BIRs do, which I believe it is) would be particularly refined.

I also got about a 400ml yield. That last thin layer just makes you end up getting the watery leftovers when skimming with your spoon.

I will try this out tonight. It smells good - quite strong and super aromatic. Hopefully this will that extra something I've been looking for.

Cheers

BB.

[Mikka1]

I used my version this afternoon. It did make a difference initially but after everything else went in anything from that was totally smothered, I couldn't really tell it was there to be completely honest.

Yesterday I didn't use it but used 'Whole' Garam Masala and fresh chilis along with my tom paste which was also missing today. That was a much better dish all round to be honest. (yesterday). After all I've said I don't think it will do much in a heavily spiced curry so along with the health factor in reusing oil I won't be doing this again unless someone or I can verify that it makes any intense difference at all?

Yesterday very hot oil and whole spices really did prove to win out. Not seen this however in any curry video I've seen that was 'supposed' to be a BIR. Odd innit.  :

The Indian Lady I know told me to boil the onions then blend them before adding them to my Spinach. I'll try this next time.