Topic: 'Frying' by the seat of my pants!

[Malc.]

Thanks Jerry,

I'll try and work out the recipe as it is and will post it later today. I'll also post up the intended changes for the next time I make it too. Perhaps some may wish to try the latter instead.

I added only enough yoghurt to make the thick paste loose. Having had a chat with Chris about Az's masala I have some ideas I want to try next time round with the paste not having yoghurt at all.

Here is a pick of the paste prior to the yoghurt and colouring:

[JerryM]

Axe,

i have no base so happy to wait till you feel ready. certainly your changes will be of interest (for the grey cells).

much appreciate the pic of the paste. sort of bound up in my interest in the yogurt. whilst i like and do use yogurt i've stuck to cream in the masala but ended up using milk to thin. i'm not sure if the yogurt works to well or it's easy to use too much - it's an area i intend to work on (this "tarty" taste that i've experienced - i want to find out what's causing it - so far i've put the blame with pataks but it could be some kind of effect from several ingredients - yogurt being a contender).

ps the single cream does work very well and is only a need for a more healthy option

[Malc.]

Jerry, i've sent a more detailed pm to you but suffice to say I will be trying to emulate the additional onion base but through the Masala Sauce.

Funnily enough, my daughter has a Food Tech assessment tomorrow and has to create bitesize canap

[parker21]

 i'm not sure if the yogurt works to well or it's easy to use too much - it's an area i intend to work on (this "tarty" taste that i've experienced - i want to find out what's causing it - so far i've put the blame with pataks but it could be some kind of effect from several ingredients - yogurt being a contender).[/quote]
 hi jerry add more salt and lemon juice to combat the tartyness you are getting from the yoghurt.
lastnight i made a balti garlic chilli chicken tikka masala using my left over tikka marinade and it was very close to the one i having been craving for a long time. it was so lovely my youngest daughter and wife nearly eat it all for me
 and said could i do that for them! is n't it always the way LOL

regards
gary

[chriswg]

Sorry, not been online for a few days and just catching up.

Axe the paste looks excellent. The one Az made must have had food colouring in it as it was a vibrant red colour (probably half way between your two pics). It was also not as thick but that would be down to the onions and plum tomatoes he cooked off as the first stage of the base.

I'm hoping he is playing football with us on Wednesday so I'll try and extract some more info from him them.

[Malc.]

It was also not as thick

Chris just to clarify, I assume you mean to the second pic I posted?

I don't mind waiting to see if Az can share any further info. I will have to use the remaining masala sauce I have by then. So perhaps I could give it a bash in a CTM.

Incidentally, Jerry, the masala sauce smells like a stronger version of a CTM.

[JerryM]

balti garlic chilli chicken tikka masala

parker21,

you're now an official mukka - description takes me home to the dilshad in the west mids. my kind of dish for sure. quite inspirational too. the boss is quite sold on your tikka masala and grudgingly (garlic chilli fan) i am too. this extra slant is something i'd not thought of and a must do.

appreciate idea of the salt and lemon - i've so far countered it by reducing the patak proportion but i'm acutely aware if you do that too much the zing is gone. will give it a try as i think it would just enlarge the envelop a little to stay safe on the taste ie consistency.

[JerryM]

Axe,

many thanks for taking time to put recipe down. will defo make it on next base. really looking fwd to it.

initial thoughts are that it sits very well for me. i think the onion base is for me bunjarra. the garlic tarka addition late on is something i've not tried and will be interesting. the chilli jam is also something new on the home cooking front. i think my fav restaurant in the midlands has been using it for a while as they now call a few of their curries "fussion" which they define as more spice. i'm convinced these have different chutneys in them.

i'm on old style base and will need to use 300ml but makes no difference to the intent of the dish.

given parker21 comment on the tarty taste i'd really like to give your masala a go "as is" to compare with the single cream version.

only small point is i'm convinced that BIR only use 1 off level chef spoon of the masala which would be 60ml for me and in the future would wish to aim for a concentration that works with this volume.

[Malc.]

I will look forward to your reports Jerry.

Please bare in mind that the Onion Base was my attempt to add an emergency bulk to the 150ml of Kushi base. This was because I only had 150 ml of Kushi base left and new I would need more. I am sure Bunjarra will work but my emergency onion base was not caramelised like bunjarra. If you intend to use 300ml of base I would advise you leave out the onion base. Please also bare in mind that the ingredients list, is for two skinny servings.

On the Masala front, I made a CTM tonight to test it. Taking note of your trials with CTM recently I made some educated measurements and got very close to a perfect CTM using my masala as it is. I have noted some changes I need to make such as I used for two portions 2 tbls of coconut and feel it only needs 1 (baring in mind I added no sugar) and also feel that I could cut back on the amount of Masala used which was 1.5 tbls, probably 1 only. I only had 100ml of cream and no evaporated milk in the cupboard but I will double this next time for the same 2 servings. The question I know you will want an answer to is was it tart? No it wasn't. How close is it, well it's far better than the t/a round the corner but not up to IG standard. I made it using my last portion of Taz base, which means i'm also out of base! Small price to pay for a fairly big step forward I would say.

[Malc.]

Quick pic of tonight's CTM:

Top Left: Garlic & Ginger, Tomato Puree, IG Spice Mix, Coconut, Almond and Taz base, prior to the Masala being added. Taste at this point Korma.

Top Right: Masala Sauce and Rajah Tandoori Masala added. Taste at this point an unrefined (no cream added) Masala.

Bottom: The finished dish with cream added.