Topic: And On Tonights Menu Is........

[Jenk]

Well my husband has just eaten the left over curry (cold) from last night and said it tasted better then last night and that he couldnt taste the vinegar at all  A major success he says.....doesnt say that about the nanns though  :

Emma

[Vindaloo-crazy]

Stick with it Emma, naans are tricky things to get right. It's never the same without a tandoori oven.

[976bar]

The butter chicken was ok but the vinegar taste was too strong for me so next time i will either try a different recipe or reduce the vinegar.  Can you tell I had lost the will with regards to presentation after spending the day cooking!!



Hmmm im not giving up, but i think i will stick to tried and tested recipes off this site from now on.

Emma

Hi Emma,

I'm not sure what recipe you are using for Butter Chicken or otherwise known as Chicken Makhani, but I would say that it should never have vinegar in it. The dish should be buttery with a hint of honey in it. So all in all a creamy sweet dish, quite mild and not a drop of vinegar in sight which would totally undo the sweet creamy taste.

Hope this helps.

This is the recipe I use for Butter Chicken and if you can't get Pataks Tandoori paste where you are then just use CA's Tandoori recipe and mix with oil and yoghurt to form a paste

Tandoori Chicken
To make this I use about 1 chicken breast person. You will need Pataks Tandoori paste, natural yoghurt and a lemon.
Cut the chicken into medium size chunks and put aside. 
Place 2-3 tablespoons of the tandoori paste into a bowl and add 3-4 tablespoons of yoghurt, mix well and add a squeeze of lemon juice.  Once this is all incorporated place the chicken in this marinade, cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Once you have the sauce cooking, remove the chicken from the marinade and preferably griddle or fry the chicken until cooked.  Once cooked add the chicken to the sauce when it states in the rest of the recipe.

Makhani Sauce
1 tablespoon whole garam masala 
400g tomato puree 
2 tablespoons honey 
1 tablespoon ginger paste 
1 tablespoon garlic paste 
1 tablespoon red chili powder 
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder 
1 cup fresh cream 
1/2 teaspoon kasoori methi 
1 teaspoon chopped green chilies 
50g butter   
salt   
4 servings Change size or US/metric   

Heat butter in a pan. Add whole garam masala. Let it crackle. Then add ginger-garlic paste and chopped green chillies. Cook for 2 minutes. Add tomato puree, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, salt and one cup of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add sugar or honey and powdered kasoori methi.
Add cooked tandoori chicken pieces.  Simmer for 5 minutes and then add fresh cream.  Serve hot with naan or parantha.       

A whole garam masala could include whole cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom (black or green), whole mace, and black peppercorns.
- Often these are fried in hot oil before other wet ingredients such as meat, onions, garlic, and/or ginger are added.

[Vindaloo-crazy]

Try these naans next time...

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3292.0

 

[Malc.]

Axe - how do you present your photos like that?  What software do you use?

Emma, I use Paint Shop Pro but if you don't have an editing suite you can do it using MS Word. It's more long winded but essentially you arrange the images on the document, hit 'Print Screen' then paste the screen capture into MS Paint.

PS The Bhaji's look very good.


 

[Peripatetic Phil]

Axe - how do you present your photos like that?  What software do you use?

I didn't (!)  know what Axe used, Emma, but Picasa can do the job and has the great benefit of being free,  Example below, using Axe's material dissected into four, then re-assembled into a new collage using Picasa.

** Phil.

[solarsplace]

Hi

The Gimp can do it too, and is also free

This is Axe's Saag Aloo that I made last night. It was delicious and very, very authentic.

[Razor]

Hi Emma, and a belated welcome to cr0

I've not been on the forum for a couple of weeks as I felt i'd hit a wall, and took a well needed break from currying.  However, this weekend I made myself a simple Chicken Madras and, if I say so myself, it was awesome ;D

So, I guess my advice to one and all would be this, take time out every now and then.  It really does make you realise how far you have come on this crazy curry journey.

Ray

[Peripatetic Phil]

Which recipe, Ray ?

Tonight I recycled left-over Madras sauce from my last Chicken Madras, thinned it down a little with two ladles of fresh chicken stock, then re-spiced as if I were using a spiceless base : 1tsp BCM, 1tsp Kashmiri Mirch, 1tsp Degghi Mirch, 1tsp salt, 1tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek, 1tbsp coriander stalks.  And despite the fact that the original sauce had had exactly the same quantity of spices, the resulting curry was in no way OTT : it was just as if there had been no spices in the left-over sauce at all.  Very odd ...

** Phil.

[Razor]

Hi Phil,

It was basically my own recipe but I did include Chewy's tip and added a dash of Worcestershire sauce.  I'm still not quite sure what it adds as of yet but I intend to make it a few more times with it included, then have a go without it and see if I notice the difference.

I have however, up the quantity of chilli powder from 1 tsp, to 1 tbs.  Interstingly, it's not a great deal hotter but it certainly adds a something that I quite like, and it gives that familiar 'madras orange' colour to the dish.

Ray