Curryheads "Madras 2011"

[Stephen Lindsay]

What mix is everyone using for their Madras?

I used Bruce Edwards' spice mix as it is similar to Taz spice mix.

[CurryCrazy]

Great job - thanks very much 

[Peripatetic Phil]

I think maybe that puts you in the "pleasantly surprised" category Phil?

Well, definitely surprised    It was much better than I expected while I was cooking it, yet didn't give me a "wow !" moment, which was disappointing because I had expected so much after Ray's rave review.  But it could well be that Ray likes a tomato-y Madras, and he probably made a better job of pre-thinning the base so that he could then have the flexibility to reduce it in the final dish back to his preferred consistency.  I have lots of base left, so I shall continue to experiment (and occasionally report back).

Not too much ginger then Phil 

Not too much in terms of flavour, but given the fibrous nature of ginger, it could well explain why the texture of the final dish was fuller than I would have wished.

[Later] So today I will sieve the base, in the hopes of removing the excess fibre from the (nearly 4oz of) ginger, and see if that makes an improvement : the base itself doesn't seem excessively thick, I have to say, but if it contains excessive fibre that could explain why I could not achieve the desired end consistency.

** Phil.

[gazman1976]

Hello everyone i made the base - spice mix and a madras - it was ok but no break through moment - i now made the same tonight but added a few squirts of hp barbeque sauce few mins before the end and what a difference - amazing flavour - after taste and little burn after first mouthful - going to experiment more with this - i know its not the answer alot of you are looking for but if it achieves that taste then it cant be that bad

Garry

[Razor]

Hi Phil,

as my wife very accurately put it, "just like a restaurant Madras". 

Sounds like a result to me.

As I've said previously, this recipe is so easy to tweak to suit your own taste, as every ingredient is so easy to pick out.

it could well be that Ray likes a tomato-y Madras

Not really Phil, as I said on my review (below), I altered the amount of tom puree that I put in, I also reduced the amount of spice mix too.  These two little tweaks, give me a madras that was almost identical to that of my local TA.

So, tonight, just to confirm it was no fluke, I give it another go.  I did however, make a couple of small changes. I reduced the quantity of mix powder from 1 tbsp, to 2 tsp.  I also reduced the tom puree from 2 tbsp to 1 tbsp.   I replaced the 2 cloves of chopped garlic with 1.5 tsp of my homemade garlic and ginger paste (60:40).  I mixed this with the tom puree along with 3 tbsp of water.  And finally, I didn't heat up the base as suggested, purely because it's in a massive pot and I didn't fancy heating the whole lot up, just to make 1 curry.  Yes, I could have ladled out what I need but I'm a lazy bleeder at times, and didn't want to mess up another pan!

Hope that clears that one up?

Ray

[Stephen Lindsay]

Here is my attempt at a Madras made with Taz Base. 3rd time lucky for me as this was the best Madras I have ever made. Made largely with AchMal's recipe but for the sake of completeness I have included it below.

My own take on this recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

1 portion of precooked chicken
400 ml Taz curry base gravy
BE spice mixture, 1 tsp.
2 teaspoons of chilli powder

[CurryCrazy]

Stephen - that looks fantastic. Did you only use 1 teaspoon of spice mix?

I cooked the madras last night, and to be honest I wasn't overly impressed by my effort!

The curry ended up looking nothing like yours. It was dark brown in colour and tasted a little overly spiced (too much cumin I think).

I'm guessing during the first reduction I managed to burn the spices somehow

Plenty of base left so will try again soon.

Phil

[Stephen Lindsay]

Yes CC only 1 teaspoon of spice mix. I normally make my Madras curries brown as this is how they are generally served up in my area (NE Scotland). However as I made this for my friend who is up from England, I added a little red colour because that's how they do them where she lives apparently.

[Razor]

Hi Stephen

I normally make my Madras curries brown as this is how they are generally served up in my area (NE Scotland). However as I made this for my friend who is up from England, I added a little red colour because that's how they do them where she lives apparently.

That's in interesting! Most madrases that I've eaten are orange, never had a brown one.  This makes me wonder if there are some major differences in the ingredients between your NE Scottish Madras and my NW English Madras?  I wouldn't think that they add food colouring down here to get the orangey colour. 

Any thought's?

Ray

[Stephen Lindsay]

Ray I think the differences are regional for sure but changing the colour might be simply a food colouring thing. From what I've seen of the exchange of recipes on here I think there are more similarities than differences but then you get the occasional twist, like a Chasni, which is distinctively Scottish Indian.