Hi Folks,
Well here is the last of the gravies. Dish recipes will be coming over the next couple of days. Hopefully you'll find them as exciting as I found it when waiting for jb's posts, and still looking forward to more of his with much anticipation!
One of the other chefs that I spoke to regarding lessons used 3 gravies as well, but from what I could gather he made a big base onion gravy and then created the 3 gravies from that. I'm still trying to get him to come around, to see another method in action.
Cheers and happy reading,
Mark
Onion Gravy
Ingredients:
- 0.5 cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 Indian Bay Leaves (broken into bits)
- 4 big Onions, (sorry no measurement on this one, minimum tennis ball size)
- 2 big Tomatoes (sorry no measurement on this one, roughly same size as onions)
- 1 tbsp Ginger/Garlic puree (50:50)
- 2 tbsp Salt level
- 1 tsp panch phoron ( cumin, mustard, kalonji, fennel, fenugreek seeds)
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tbsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tbsp Garam Masala
- 1 tbsp Kasoori Methi
- 1 tbsp Kitchen King Masala ( or curry powder)
- 1 tbsp Deggi Mirch
Prep Work:
- Very finely chop the onions
- Very finely chop the tomatoes
- Ginger/Garlic puree is made 50/50 rough ratio with a little water to aid processing
Method:
1. Heat oil till just shimmering
2. Add the panch phoron, this should crackle a little, immediately add the bay leaves and stir
3. Add onions and mix well, then add the salt and cook until light golden brown
4. Add a little water to cool the pan ready for the spices
5. Add the powdered spices and fry for a min or so
6. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking till the tomatoes have mushed completely and the onion pieces are barely discernable. This took about 45mins, essentially all the water had to be cooked out and the oil separated, this was his indication of when done. It will be a very dark color once completed.
If it is sticking to the pan too much, add a little water to loosen off, this may happen later on in the process, remember to keep stirring from time to time.
Use:
- From this sauce, 2 1/2 heaped tablespoons of it would be used in a single serve curry
- Used in Madras, Vindaloo, Rogan Josh, Tikka Masala and non-veg Korma dishes (that was an interesting point of his)
Notes:
- Again, this was a very thick paste by the end of cooking. You could still see onion bits though, I questioned him about this and he said they disintegrate in the final dish preparation.
- It is always the same ratio of onions to tomatoes 2:1.
- Cooking to a thicker paste will store better in the fridge rather then the consistency used in the restaurant
- The Panch Phoron was his little addition to the restaurant he works in, he said others may just use cumin seeds. He told me the owners brother was doing the cooking for the first 6 months of this IR opening and apparently nearly bankrupted the owner as his dishes were so bad, he was then given a little leeway with the dishes to try and turn things around, the Panch Phoron was one of his little additions which has apparently been well received.