Topic: Best Madras I have ever made with that "Toffee Aroma"

[976bar]

Hi 976bar,

If you are worried about oil consumption here is my take on things for what it is worth:

Don't use vegetable ghee - full of transfats and hydrogenated fats.
Don't use cheap margarine - same as above.

For butter ghee the jury is still out on that one.

I use rice bran oil to make my curries. Check it out on Google but they say it is as healthy as olive oil and can take high temperatures without degrading.
Sainsburys have started selling this stuff - about ?2 for 500 ml.

I have also started using virgin coconut oil for some of my final stage curries. This is very expensive at 25p a tablespoon but it tastes great. Some people say you should avoid this as it is 93% saturated but it is a unique oil and world populations that consume loads of pure coconut oil have little heart problems. Once again it is worth googling this stuff. Note that this coco oil is unprocessed. The cheap coconut oil and bars you can buy are full of the hydrogenated fats due to processing.

If you eat the right oils you then only have to worry about the high calories. I reckon if you are planning a blow-out curry you can eat a bit less during the day to compensate.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

many thanks for the info, I'll look into that oil. Currently I only ever use rapeseed oil which is very very low on the saturated front, and I never use ghee. I know it's a trade off between flavour and health, but this way I am hoping to still be eatings curries into my 90's

[JerryM]

976bar,

i too keep a check on the cholesterol.

i've put my curry cooking in the moderation bracket.

for info though i used olive oil for the 1st time the other night - i had no other in the house - i could not tell any difference from fresh veg oil. i buy the olive oil in 5 litre containers so always have plenty.

[976bar]

976bar,

i too keep a check on the cholesterol.

i've put my curry cooking in the moderation bracket.

for info though i used olive oil for the 1st time the other night - i had no other in the house - i could not tell any difference from fresh veg oil. i buy the olive oil in 5 litre containers so always have plenty.

Hi Jerry,

Do you buy Olive Oil or Virgin Olive Oil? The reason I ask is that when I did my Indian cookery course earlier in the year, one of the subjects we covered was indeed oil. She told us that olive oil was good to use but not virgin olive oil. This is because it cannot tolerate high heat and tends to break down into a more saturated fat than just plain olive oil.

Just something to watch out for thats all.....

[JerryM]

976bar,

the wallet would not stand the expensive stuff (the virgin oil). i tend to buy what's on offer at the Asian Store i get to now and again. it's always blended (around ?8-10 per 5L).

i use it for all my cooking except curry when i normally use reclaimed veg from the base. i've been using a little marg in the base for a while now (since ashoka) but it reduces the fridge shelf life of the reclaimed oil. consequently i sometimes find myself having to use fresh veg oil. i thought the olive oil might just be better even than the fresh veg oil and intend to use it from now on if i have no reclaimed. i might even try it in base.

[976bar]

976bar,

the wallet would not stand the expensive stuff (the virgin oil). i tend to buy what's on offer at the Asian Store i get to now and again. it's always blended (around ?8-10 per 5L).

i use it for all my cooking except curry when i normally use reclaimed veg from the base. i've been using a little marg in the base for a while now (since ashoka) but it reduces the fridge shelf life of the reclaimed oil. consequently i sometimes find myself having to use fresh veg oil. i thought the olive oil might just be better even than the fresh veg oil and intend to use it from now on if i have no reclaimed. i might even try it in base.

Hi Jerry,

I'm not sure whats in Margarine as I never use it, but it doesn't sound very healthy. Sainsburys and Tesco sell Rapeseed oil which is quite cheap and has a very low saturated fat content.

[Hargiwald]

Margarine is disgusting and quite probably pretty unhealthy, nasty stuff. Here in Sweden it was once promoted as a much healthier alternative to butter, poppycock.

I myself live in a family of LCHF:ers and do myself try to not eat too many carbs, but I'm not going to go preaching about it and I sure don't want to debate about it, but living by that philosophy the problem is usually that I can't have my rice or nan's with them, so I guess a really good BIR dish with all the good stuff included isn't really healthy by anyone's diet.

About oil though, I always use canola oil for my curries, which according to many is one of the healthier alternatives of oil, and wiki says this,

Canola oil has been claimed to promote good health due to its very low saturated fat and high monounsaturated fat content, and beneficial omega-3 fatty acid profile. The Canola Council of Canada states that it is completely safe and is the "healthiest" of all commonly used cooking oils.[18] It has well established heart health benefits[19] and is recognized by many health professional organizations including the American Dietetic Association, and American Heart Association, among others

Still, it's oil so if you're concerned about eating too much fat use less.

As for ghee, I think butter along with the canola oil and the olive oil are actually among the better fats you can eat so as long as it's actually real butter ghee I won't stay away from it, but other kinds I would. But to each his own.

So, now to the dish, I find the technique with the onion and the blender very interesting, because I have too been a bit concerned with getting some fried onion taste into the dish without it being visible, both for madras and for the vindaloo (I've never got any pieces of onion in that either, but I still feel it would benefit from the taste). JerryM's technique sounds good but difficult so I might start out trying your idea for my vindaloo to see how it works out, and maybe also your madras some time next week. It looks surprisingly brown but definitely good!

[976bar]

Margarine is disgusting and quite probably pretty unhealthy, nasty stuff. Here in Sweden it was once promoted as a much healthier alternative to butter, poppycock.

I myself live in a family of LCHF:ers and do myself try to not eat too many carbs, but I'm not going to go preaching about it and I sure don't want to debate about it, but living by that philosophy the problem is usually that I can't have my rice or nan's with them, so I guess a really good BIR dish with all the good stuff included isn't really healthy by anyone's diet.

About oil though, I always use canola oil for my curries, which according to many is one of the healthier alternatives of oil, and wiki says this,

Canola oil has been claimed to promote good health due to its very low saturated fat and high monounsaturated fat content, and beneficial omega-3 fatty acid profile. The Canola Council of Canada states that it is completely safe and is the "healthiest" of all commonly used cooking oils.[18] It has well established heart health benefits[19] and is recognized by many health professional organizations including the American Dietetic Association, and American Heart Association, among others

Still, it's oil so if you're concerned about eating too much fat use less.

As for ghee, I think butter along with the canola oil and the olive oil are actually among the better fats you can eat so as long as it's actually real butter ghee I won't stay away from it, but other kinds I would. But to each his own.

So, now to the dish, I find the technique with the onion and the blender very interesting, because I have too been a bit concerned with getting some fried onion taste into the dish without it being visible, both for madras and for the vindaloo (I've never got any pieces of onion in that either, but I still feel it would benefit from the taste). JerryM's technique sounds good but difficult so I might start out trying your idea for my vindaloo to see how it works out, and maybe also your madras some time next week. It looks surprisingly brown but definitely good!

Hi Hargiwald,

Thanks for the info on the Canoli Oil, I'll have to take a look at that.

With reference to the Madras and the colour, it was much more red before I pureed it in the blender, the colour definitely darkened after that. I think you have to appreciate that the oil had separated from the dish before blending which would have given it that reddish translucent colour, but of course after having been in the blender it all got mixed back into the dish again, but I wouldn't let colour bother you, you can always adjust that with food colouring like all BIR's do, it's the taste I am more interested, so I wouldn't even care if it was green