Topic: Making Abdul Mohed's Madras

[Les]

Oops........I meant to give the credit to Hotstuff09, not Hotspice!  Apologies, Hotstuff.
al.

No worries mate. 

I was just reading through the posts about the base being too thick, and come to the obvious conclusion that it is  the potatoes in the base that's doing it, Why not try leaving them out next time. this should give you a thinner base, (just my 2pence worth), Glad every thing went well. I too find Abduls Curry's a bit lacking of spice and flavour. (would not go as far to say bland).

HS

[Les]

Doesn't the recipe call for frying the spices in the oil for 2-3 minutes (with the onions) then adding the base?

Not in the Madras recipe Ramirez,
I suppose it could be a typo error
 

[natterjak]

Great effort natterjack. Really interesting read. I've not tried Abdul recipes yet, except the pre-cooked chicken.

However this means the spices are effectively being boiled in the base sauce rather than being fried.  Doesn't seem right?  The thickness of the base sauce also meant this stage of the cook was fairly brief before more base sauce was required.

Doesn't the recipe call for frying the spices in the oil for 2-3 minutes (with the onions) then adding the base?

The recipe doesn't call for this (I've quoted the recipe in full below) but that misses the point a bit because it's impossible to do so anyway because the pan is so dry at the point the spices get added that there's nothing there to fry them in.  The basic tarka is made with 1 TBS of oil and there's no extra oil called for in the recipe, so at the stage you add the spices the pan has some fairly dry fried onions in.  The spices will form a dry paste with the onions and nothing's going to fry - it would burn if you didn't add the base sauce straight away.

The obvious answer is to add more oil at the start of the recipe.  Others such as CA start with 5 or 6 TBS.  I assume that Abdul cooks with more oil but has simply underestimated the measure in writing down the recipe.


Abdul Mohed's Madras Recipe:
Ingredients

Pre cooked chicken  16 portions (est. 152 to 180grams)
Basic tarka
Chilli powder  1 tbsp
8 spice  1 tbsp
Tomato puree paste  1 tbsp
Small lemon  quarter cut
Gravy

Garnish
Coriander


Method

1.   In a cooking pot make a basic tarka.
2.   Add 8 spice, chilli powder, tomato puree and squeeze the juice from the lemon.
3.   Then add 1 ladlespoon of gravy; stir well for 2 to 3 minutes to ensure the masala is well cooked.
4.   Add the chicken portions, stir well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. 
5.   Finally add 1 pint of gravy and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.
6.   Garnish with coriander.?

[chewytikka]

The obvious answer is to add more oil at the start of the recipe.  Others such as CA start with 5 or 6 TBS.  I assume that Abdul cooks with more oil but has simply underestimated the measure in writing down the recipe.

Hi NJ
I think your spot on there.

Abdul's recipe is quite close to mine.
Just to add my thoughts - as I've cooked this Thousands of times.
There's a knack to a Good Madras
Which is what I call singeing the Tarka.

In other words you need to slightly burn the spices "Singe"
and then once you add the gravy, that too has to be cooked on high heat.

This goes against your normal cooking methods (or logic) but I think it is an essential
method to produce restaurant style dishes like Madras at home.
Watch my Madras video recipe and you will get the idea.

Not dissing Abdul's base recipe in any way, as there are as many gravy recipes as there are cooks.
But like I've said before a good base gravy should be 90% Onion and the finished
consistency should pour off your ladle, leaving it almost clean.
Again watch the end of my video, 3 hr base recipe for this.

If any base is too thick. Just treat it as a concentrate and freeze it as normal, then when you come to use it, just add water to thin it down. 
cheers Chewy

[abdulmohed2002]

Hi Natterjak,

Thank you for trying the recipe, it does look appetising, well done . The gravy looks nice and thick as it should do and it does not look oily at all as when you prepare a dish afterwards you can adjust the oil in your tarka and also add a little water to make the sauce thinner according to the dish. So well done!

From reading your report, I understand that it was to do with the confusion over measurments e.g. onions, capsicums and chillis as they come in different sizes and I have not mentioned the exact measurments and in the future I will try to do so. I have also spotted a few printing errors such as cooking the spices and capsicums and I will address them also. I do apologise for the errors 
 
Please post the exact questions as it would help me to answer them much more clearly to the best of my knowlegde.

Abdul

p.s Just to clarify, every dish has been tasted before posting onto Cr0; some are on my menu.

However, thank you for your report which has helped me to understand how to improve writing the recipes clearly 

[natterjak]

Hi Abdul,

Thanks for your reply and I think the points you acknowledged probably cover most of my queries, ie. needing more oil at the start of the dish, thinning the base, quantity of chicken, etc.  Probably the only remaining question then is whether the spoon measurements you call for in the recipes should be level or heaped?

I've achieved better results with your base than with any I've tried before and I think Razor, Solarspace and some other members have made similar comments (not wishing to misquote anyone!) so I hope you can draw satisfaction from that.  Certainly I'm not aiming to critique your recipes, just learn how to adjust them to suit my preferred tastes so I will persevere with a few more dishes and see how I get on. 

Having a BIR chef on the forum who is willing to answer questions should be a valuable resource for all of us I think. 

[abdulmohed2002]

Hi Abdul,

Thanks for your reply and I think the points you acknowledged probably cover most of my queries, ie. needing more oil at the start of the dish, thinning the base, quantity of chicken, etc.  Probably the only remaining question then is whether the spoon measurements you call for in the recipes should be level or heaped?

I've achieved better results with your base than with any I've tried before and I think Razor, Solarspace and some other members have made similar comments (not wishing to misquote anyone!) so I hope you can draw satisfaction from that.  Certainly I'm not aiming to critique your recipes, just learn how to adjust them to suit my preferred tastes so I will persevere with a few more dishes and see how I get on. 

Having a BIR chef on the forum who is willing to answer questions should be a valuable resource for all of us I think.

Hi Natterjak,

The spoon measurements are in heaps. All the recipes I post are in heaps also.

I have reviewed the madras recipe and what the printing error was: Add 8 spice, chilli powder, tomato puree and squeeze the juice from the lemon; stir well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

&
precooked chicken  16 pieces not portions

If you feel the sauce is too thick, then add half a cup of water to the madras recipe.

Once again thank you very much for highlighting the errors and I hope it has not deterred you to attempt any of the other recipes I have posted. If you need any help then you can send a post with your questions.

Abdul



 
 

[natterjak]

Hi Abdul

Thanks for posting back to the thread again.  Tonight I was hungry early and at home, so I cooked your Madras curry again, incorporating some of the changes we have been discussing.  I used 4 TBS of oil in the tarka and thinned the base with water in a 1:1 ratio water to base sauce.  It meant cooking the curry for longer but I was comfortable with this as I'm not under time pressure in the way you might be in a restaurant and it gave me a bit more control of the final consistency.  I cooked it until oil started to show through at the top of the curry.

There's a pic below with pilau rice from forum user CurryHell's recipe (here: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=6070.msg61971#top)

I used your base, your pre-cooked chicken and your Madras recipe.  The result - really very good indeed.  The only way I would fault it was I felt it was lacking a little sweetness.  It was quite a sour flavour, but spicy and hot as I like it.  I was wondering your opinion of including a little sugar in a recipe for a Madras?  Forum user Cory Ander uses 2 tsp of sugar in his Madras recipe here: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3830.0

I haven't yet tried adding sugar to a Madras but may give it a go next time.  Meanwhile, thanks again for your recipes and your contribution to the forum.

[alarmist10]

hi Abdul

As my experience with this recipe was identical to natterjack's, I'd also like to thank you for your clarification regarding quantities of oil, solving the quantities of spices question, and clarification of when & how long to fry the spices etc.

One more question, if I may.  It still seems to me that 1 pint of gravy is a lot.  Did you mean half a pint, by any chance??
Cheers
al

[abdulmohed2002]

hi Abdul

As my experience with this recipe was identical to natterjack's, I'd also like to thank you for your clarification regarding quantities of oil, solving the quantities of spices question, and clarification of when & how long to fry the spices etc.

One more question, if I may.  It still seems to me that 1 pint of gravy is a lot.  Did you mean half a pint, by any chance??
Cheers
al

Hi Alarmist10,

Nope, it is 1 pint if you use 16 medium cut pieces. However, if you wish you can use less gravy and add water for the consistency that you want. You should increase the cooking time for the sauce to become nice and thick.

My cooker has a high power so the cooking time between a restaurant and home cooker will vary so it is exactly what I do when I cook at home, I leave it for longer.

Abdul