Topic: First Base and a Dopiaza

[Malc.]

Couldn't decide what to eat for dinner tonight so at the drop of the hat, we decided on Lamb Dopiza. Now i'm sure CR0 has a recipe how do we make it. Hmm gonna need some Base damn and some pre-cooked lamb doh. Ok don't panic Mr Mannering, Pike (the wife, no I don't really call her that lol) go get some Lamb from supermarket while I whip up a base.

Base, base hmmm ok. Dipurajah does it in 40 mins but lets use a recipe that others like. Haven't got time to find it out I need to get the onion on, lets wing it. 2 Onions sliced g/g paste in oil (hot) frying with pinch of mustard seeds and shahi jeera, starting to turn add onions to soften. Chop half pepper, handful of coriander and add left over red chilli from the other night with 1 small carrot sliced. Throw in the pan and cover with water, simmer lid on for 30 mins. Blend, add salt and 1 heaped tsp of mix powder, 1 tsp curry powder and cook 20 mins. Add water done. What a marathon that was lol.

I had also decided to pre-cook the lamb using Ray's Kushi recipe using fresh tomato though and the Dopiza was made following Domi's recipe without the onion paste. (minus the chicken of course).

The Dopiza was absolutely divine, so my thanks to both Ray and Domi for the recipes. This dish has become a staple in one sitting.

[Secret Santa]

Axe that looks great. It's a Dopiaza, I wanna see onions, I see onions, nice!

[Malc.]

Thanks SS, we were really happy with the way it finished up. I did mix and match the recipes used a little. I was going to add pieces of Tomato to the Dopiaza but as the Kushi pre-cooked lamb used tinned tomato I substituted this for fresh tomato.

Unfortunately and in true supermarket style, the Lamb contained alot of water which meant that by the time I had cooked out the extra liquid the fresh tomato had all but collapsed into the sauce. Still, the flavour was there and it leant itself to not needing alot of base. I used two chefs spoons which served 2 hungry mouths out of 450g of lamb.

I know some might think there is not enough sauce but to me a Dopiaza should be a dryer dish compared to other curry dishes. If i'd had more time I would have cooked two different onions as the dish by name suggests, but I didn't. This demonstrated to me how Bunjara can be used to great effect.

Thanks for the comment.

[Razor]

Axe,

Looking good to me mukka

I don't believe that a final dish should require that much base either.  I usually go 200ml max and reduce.  I much prefer the sauce to cling to the meat rather than swimming in it!

Well done,

ay

[Malc.]

Thanks Ray,

Just out of interest, what cut of meat do you normally use for Lamb dishes?

I used what ASDA now brands as Shoulder Fillet which looks identical to what they used to brand as Neck Fillet. :

Anyway, I mention this as I extended the cooking time to both reduce the liquid that the meat gave and also to help break the connective tissue down. I think doing so gave some of the natural gelatine to the residual cooking liquor, which in turn thickend it up as you would expect in a casserole or hot pot.

This wasn't a bad thing by no means as it was added to the final dish. But I think I will have to adjust the recipe to cater for it.

[chriswg]

Hi Axe

Looks great. The nice thing I think about this style of cooking is that once you know the basics you can mess around a bit with the ingredients to match your taste. I always like extra garlic and green chilli in my Madras so I just add it in.

The Dipuraja base is fine for me but some of the purists will argue it doesn't have the subtleties of some of the 3 - 4 hour bases. For me it's an academic point once I've added a couple of tbsps of hot chilli powder.

Chris

[Domi]

Glad you liked it Axe I never use that recipe for dopiaza anymore, I've given up using base in it at all <waits for the jeers of derision! lol> as I get a better curry using the "from scratch" method...better than any I've had from any BIR too

[Malc.]

Thanks guys.

Domi, I fully uderstand and appreciate your comments regarding cooking from fresh and without base. This was the eureka moment I had last night that I commented on here: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4566.msg42265#msg42265

If I had added the relevant spices to this process and then the caramelised onion and onion rings, it would have been the perfect dish there and then.

As much as the quest drives us towards learning BIR methodology, if we can get better results from employing different methods, only a fool would ignore them.

I would interested to see the recipe you use now.

[Domi]

Here's a link to the recipe Axe

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3470.0

[Malc.]

Thanks Domi, I shall be trying this very soon, like tonight. ;D

Ooooo I didn't know Asda did fresh Methi and frozen too. Hmmm, i'll bet my local stores don't have it in.

Any suggestions to replacing the Methi leaves with something else?