Topic: Additional Ashoka Recipes

[Curry Barking Mad]

Thank you for your most valued input,
Bob

You're most welcome.   ;D

But just so you know, a Rogan Josh does not contain cream, does not contain nuts, and does not contain coconut. If it does it ain't a Rogan Josh!

I am fully aware of the basis of a Rogon, those that I have seen but as the Ashoka seems to use a lot of made up pastes for various dishes adding to curries in small or large amounts, who knows, I don't ,  I've never been in the Ashoka, the possibility might exist though,
or we can just tell PP he's wrong, plain and simple, : that makes it easy,

[Mikka1]

Anything that anyone brings to the table by way of inside info is always welcome in my book. It's about cooking not wars.

Jerry has been a big help I'm pretty sure that PP's offerings will only add light into a dim world. If there were no trade secrets everyone in the land would be able to create a near perfect dish which is as good a match as any restaurant. I'm not blowing my trumpet but I'd wager you'd like my food more than I do perhaps?

And this is the point I truly don't and never have understood. Why are there no restaurant owners/chefs showing anyone what the ingredients are, method and so on.

All I see is a flick of the wrist in the pan but home style cooking is nearer than you might think at first.

Anyway I want to thank PP. Pity I'm not near you, Jerry, Achmal, others too.
I feel with a few open minds many would get in real close like.  ;D

[Cory Ander]

Never  have i heard of almond powder ........cream............or creamed coconut in a rogan josh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You do have a good point BillyCat.....I think you're right to question these things. 

However, it does seem (with PP's subsequent posts) that PP's first recipe is not actually for a rogan josh main dish, but rather for a rogan josh curry base which is, thereafter, used to make a rogan josh?  If so, it probably changes the perspective a lot?  I'm sure that wasn't particularly clear from PP's first post.

It seems to me that the Ashoka restaurants are more "New Wave" (for want of a better term) restaurants focused more on South Indian dishes and cooking?  Some of the dishes that Panpot mentions (e.g. Jalandir, Chasni, Jaipuri) are totally unfamiliar to me....In fact I've never heard of them.

[Cory Ander]

Guys, I got pissed off the last time I posted stuff from The Ashoka when folks were questioning what I had reported

Please don't get p*ssed off with (what I would see as) valid questions PP.  I'm sure all of us greatly appreciate your efforts and posts 

[Cory Ander]

Posts moved from other Ashoka thread ("part 1"):

From BillyCat:

isnt deggi mirch and red chilli powder more or less one and the same thing

i really cant see a restaurant messing about with two types of chilli can you ?

From PanPot:

Billycat it does seem strange but it is what is written in the handbook I can assure you. He recommends a particular brand called MDH and the stuff comes in Little cardboard packs. I have just gone to Brick Lane in London and bought there Deggi Mirch and also there Red Chili Powder they call Kashmiri Mirch. I am prepared to trust it and will see hoe it comes out. Since he introduced me to Deggi Mirch that's all I use now.

From Mikka:

I have MDH Spices. I've mentioned these to lots of folks who scoffed at me 
Nice one again PP.

From BillyCat:

Panpot

I too use deggi merch only nowaday

i just thought it strange they use two different chilli powders when one will do

but respect to you what you do mate 

From CoryAnder:

Yes, valid observation and question Billycat...that thought immediately struck me too.

What actually is this please Panpot?  Is it a curry base?  Or is it an additional ingredient used with a curry base?

From CoryAnder:

What actually is this "Chef's Handbook" PanPot?  Who is it for?  Is it like the "standard operating procedures" for all of the Ashoka chefs?

[976bar]

Guys I have a dark secret to share, ON my last visit to The Ashoka the Chef actually gave me a copy of the Chefs Handbook. Yes the insiders guide to all the recipes, they are in real time quantities and I have them all. He did however ask me to never share it full but said I could share a few. So below I will outline two further "Essential Base Sauces" and a couple of recipes.

South Indian Garlic sauce

Water 12 litres                              Vinegar 2 litres
Garlic Puree 1.5 Kg                        Sugar 1.5kg
Red Chili Powder 150gms             Salt 1 chefs curry spoon
Deggie Mirch 100gms                    Corn flour 400gms

Method

Add all the ingredients except the vinegar and corn flour. Cook for 30 minutes for the sauce to thicken a little then add the vinegar and bring to the boil. Cook for a further 20 minutes add corn flour mixture in water add to the pot slowly to prevent lumps after 5 minutes sauce thickens. Cool and store ready to use.

Rogan Josh

Plum Tomato 2.55gms @2tins          Almond Powder 1 c 650 plastic container full
Coconut Cream 198gms @2 Pkts     Garlic/Ginger Paste 2 chef curry spoons
Single cream I litre @4 Cartons        4 English Onions Sliced
Whole Zeera 50 gms                        Salt 60 gms
Vegetable Ghee 1Kg                         Red Chili Powder 15gms
Haldi 40gms                                      Garam Masala  15 gms

Hi Panpot,

You don't have anything in your handbook that would point us all in the right direction of a Bhuna by any chance do you please?

Regards,

Bob

[Panpot]

Guys I realise I have caused a lot of confusion here but only because of the issue with the typing panel not allowing me to see what I was typing in what would have been a fairly long post. It would have had a logic to it and all would have been much clearer before I got sucked into justifying myself and therefor breaking up the flow.

Perhaps CC you could help by listing my recipe posting as one single post otherwise it will continue to cause confusion. I understand why you would want to split them up into the appropriate sections of the site but in this case I feel they deserve to be together. I may be wrong but I am sure we have never had a base sauce for Rogan Josh before but that is in effect what I have posted followed by the recipe for Rogan Josh itself.

The handbook is the actual one used by the chefs to maintain standards across the many restaurants in the chain. The ingredients and the amounts are as they use them for batches in the kitchen. We clearly have a challenge to guesstimate proportions to downsize to realistic portions for ourselves.

Its less than encouraging though to be replied to as if I am some kind of fool or indeed liar. I don't know why folks seem to so easily jump to such stances and I am sure they will discourage new contributors from adding value to something as special as this site. I realise too that its probably not meant just an expression of the passions we all have for this great hobby but could clearly be misunderstood. I have thick skin and wont be put off from enjoying my involvement here.

What has come out of this whole exercise for me is the wide degree of variation across the UK never mind those from other countries doing all they can to remember tastes and other characteristics of dishes. I have said repeatedly that if you travel extensively like I do not only in the UK but around the world then you will know that a great deal is different in different locations. Names of dishes change, spelling too and the actual meals can have little or no resemblance to similarly named dish elsewhere. Over and above this in the case of The Ashoka restaurants in the Glasgow area (most if not all curry loving Glaswegians would rate them highly ) throw up a wider variation that of the owner and chefs cultural origin.

In Glasgow and I am sure elsewhere in the beginning of the Indian food explosion Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others were involved in carving out their own niche and in addition they would have been influenced by their geographical roots and clearly as CC alludes to the South and the North of the subcontinent alone would through up considersable differences. I know in Glasgow alone that BIrs run by Indians vary to those run by Pakistanis and knowing religious persuasions of some this has an influence too and personally thank "God " since this is what makes the adventure and it is for me so appealing. I never really know what to expect when I sit down in a BIR new to me but hey I love it.

In Brick Lane yesterday there were countless BIRs all along that street and much of what was on the menus looked familiar to anything available  in my home town but likewise much was unfamiliar and that's how it seems to me it should be. We all probably think we come from the Curry Capital of Britain and I can assure you Glasgow could rightly make acclaim just like your town and of us would be right and all would be different.

There is however enough commonality on this site for us all to enjoy what we contribute and make use of. Lets try and be more accommodating of where we are each coming from, please.

Can I suggest that when in future we post a recipe we have actually cooked and have eaten that we give it a score on 1-10 scale for comparison with Local Birs. Hope as ever this helps Panpot

[Panpot]

976bar, the recipes from my original Ahoka posts are all the same in the actual handbook and if you take a closer look you will see an excellent Bhuna recipe there and I would score it 9.5 but of course that is based on my local BIRs and is still not the same as I remember from yesteryear.PP

[CurryOnRegardless]

To refer back to the O/P, the South Indian Garlic Sauce looks very interesting to me. The two best T/As local to me are both Indian rather than Pakistani or Bangladeshi run and they both definitely use flour to thicken their sauces. They are both open plan kitchens yet I could never spot them adding the flour to the dish, it never occurred to me that it was in the base, must investigate further.

Regards
CoR.   

[billycat]

Panpot

i never for one minute tried to imply foolishment or indeed lying

sorry if i have upset you