Topic: The Madras 100% Clone (of my local BIR)

[CurryCanuck]

Thats ok Darth , as long as you don't lose your  " urining " to make good curries - ;D

[George]

Les

With the greatest respect I think your marks out of ten are for your quite heavily modified version of these recipes rather than the Darth originals. 

Regards
George

[DARTHPHALL]

Something very important here to note with all our recipes is this.
We are trying to capture the best elements of our favorite Curry dishes,so in trying to get that particular flavor/smell we are really looking for we may inadvertently make recipes to our own personal preference as to what we individually consider the best of the best of our favorite dish we are trying to emulate etc..
These recipes here (Vindalloo/Tindalloo & Madras) are but a very small step from being my perfect Curry with only one thing missing which is a particular Smell more than flavor,some describe it as Smokey i will be completely honest here,there is no way the smell I'm looking for has any resemblance to smoke or Smokey at all i would describe it to be a very savory smell/taste giving the impression of being very tasty much like flavor enhancers & seasonings achieve.
I will point out again i use less Oil than the Take-aways here, but also many Bir's down here do seem to use less Oil than what Ive seen of members pix on this forum of up country Bir's,perhaps its because it not so popular down here & they are forced to make a better quality meal, Cornwall is not a Curry loving county i can tell you (we have a large proportion of retired folk & many who wont eat foreign muck).
But i do feel that we are all looking for something similar in our perfect dish.

[CurryCanuck]

Tend to agree with George - however experimenting with the various bases and recipes is how we develop new tastes . Changing even subtle components and methods can reflect  on the end flavor . Darths version has a distinct flavor - Les' modified version another unique flavor .

FYI - One can find both counterclockwise and clockwise flowing drains in both hemispheres - it all depends upon how the water was introduced and the geometric structure of the drain . Some people would like you to believe that the Coriolis force affects the flow of water down the drain in sinks, bathtubs, or toilet bowls. Don?t believe them! The Coriolis force is simply too weak to affect such small bodies of water.  

[CurryCanuck]

Quite so - this is a cardinal rule in most cuisines . But as you have you already know , by adjusting any of the former components we might well stumble on that elusive taste . 

Footnote - tried your tikka masala - outstanding mate - full marks !

[CurryCanuck]

Going to try a combo base with Darths ' & Terrys'  - will post results if worthy .

[DARTHPHALL]

Just got back online wow !!! all those new posts here !!!

All i can say is Plugholes to you tooooo !!!! ;D ;D

Yes i am trying to make close to a perfect dish as possible...but with the ultimate result of a dam fine tastin.smellin Curry,I do agree that the Oil makes a significant improvement as it carries all the flavor etc..& is something i will be experimenting with as i prefer the taste of what we all consider standard,its just that I'm not one to stand & accept i must question,go against the grain,i feel that a great Curry can be made from a more water based base,but the Oil does make for an even greater Curry.
I'm hoping soon to be able to be more specific with this & the Vindalloo recipe.
As for the Turbo charged Halogen Hob ...well you see it comes standard with all Deathstars & ain't upgradeable  but is ace to cook on believe me  .

[DARTHPHALL]

As to the comment From CurryCanuk on the volume changing the taste smell etc..etc... I have been cooking Curries for many years & have personally found that most small batches tend to have less flavor than the larger batches.
RayGraham made a full batch & commented on how over complex & Spicy this recipe was until he corrected the amount of water,so here we must be carefull not to deviate from the original until we have tried it otherwise we end up with a distorted view of the original if ya know what i mean.
When following recipes here i stick to them no matter what,because we all do this I'm sure .....when you look at a recipe & start to make it you think to yourself mmm that cant be right I'll put more Spice/or ingredient in it ,or less & the end result is very far from the original recipe.
I have noticed especially in my Curry cooking that the smallest change can have a dramatic effect on the end result.

Are we the craziest Curry heads in the world here @cr0 ?
I think so,
people enjoy the ride,
& give yourself to Curries from the Darkside. ;D ;D ;D

DARTHPHALL....Bard to the Darkside lol 

[George]

Les

> I agree that I made a couple of changes to DarthPhall's recipes,
>but would you really describe them as "heavily modified"?   
>Either way, what do you think the consequences of the changes
>are likely to be?

I agree there's great mileage in trying changes, reporting back, debating, etc. Your changes are all worthwhile and interesting to hear about (brilliant photos too) but I just think it makes the end result different. It may be better or worse but the end result will probably be different to Darth's originals. And as he described them as 100%, no doubt tried, tested and tweaked to near-perfection, I reckon we should all try the original recipes first and only make changes next time round and subsequently. Hold back a test sample of the original to compare with further developments.

>Curry Base: I used half the specified quantities throughout (unlikely
>to have any significant effect).  I also used significantly more oil than
>specified  (likely to develop more flavour, better texture and  more
>sweetness). 

I share your view that quantity change (e.g. to half or quarter measures, pro-rata, throughout) will have little effect. But I may be wrong because others reckon it does! Greater oil may be popular in many BIRs but Darth says his favourite local BIR  uses less oil. So the whole recipe has been balanced to work "100%" with less oil. If you change one significant thing like oil, I think you move into the 'unknown' even if it is better. Another simple example, if you like cakes: A Victoria sponge cake has equal quantities of butter, sugar, eggs and flour. It has a characteristic texture and taste.  If you increase the flour by 50% but leave everything else pretty much the same, it turns the cake into a Madeira cake, which has a quite different texture and overall feel. I like both but they are different.

>I also simmered everything for much longer that specified (likely to
>develop more sweetness and more rounded flavour).

I know this is what many people say and you may all be right. Also, your extra fat probably meant most of the water boiled off and it turned into a gentle fry-up. Again, I feel this may produce a different result, even if it was better. Also, I just checked some recipe books for stews, soups and other dishes using onions, carrots and celery. It's a popular mix. All these vegetables cook (boil/simmer) in about 20 minutes or less. So perhaps Terry is right about half an hour being more than enough cooking. Darth says to check the vegetables are cooked after 1 hour. I see no way they won't be cooked. Who says an over-cooked mush is better than a puree of perfectly cooked onions, celery, carrots and other vegetables?  You cooked them for about 180 minutes. I'm going to try cooking for less and less time (e.g. 20 minutes) to see what the impact is. A 10 or 20 minute carrot, eaten as a vegetable, can have nice flavour. A carrot cooked for even 30 minutes will be tasteless and over-cooked, like some of the worst canteen food.  Maybe there's a lesson there.


>I used ?Rajah Medium? curry powder (likely to develop more
> flavour compared to "hot" curry powder).

I agree. I looked at Rajah hot vs mild on the Asda shelf. All the ingredients were the same apart from the addition of chilli powder to the 'hot' version. So I reckon the mild version is the one to buy even if you like red hot curries.


> I added the spices (but made into a paste with water) to the fried
>onion/garlic mix and fried for 5 minutes before adding the curry
>base and other ingredients (unlikely to have any significant effect,
>accept to ensure that spices are well cooked and not burnt and bitter). 
>I then simmered for approximately 15 minutes (likely to develop more rounded flavour).

I agree it is standard practice to fry spices for a few minutes to get rid of the 'raw' flavour. Many books says it's a vital stage. But Darth's Madras (stage 3) recipe adds a lot of raw spices without any frying and it turned out delicious for me. I have other recipes where that 'raw' approach has worked well too. So who says spices need to be fried or roasted first? Again, I guess this may have made your end result different even if it was better.

Regards
George

[Panpot]

Hi,

I just went back to the UK for a few days and loaded up with a fresh supply of spices from a well known Glasgow west end asian grocers and turned on this morning to all of the above with photographs included.

What a site you cant leave it for too long or the world moves on and for an apprentice like me you have to just accept you are going to have to go some to catch up with you all.

I used to read the Sunday papers until lunchtime now its this site while all the time itching to start cooking the meal of the week.

Thanks again for responding to me somewhere above and for the continued if red hot pace you all go at.

Bye the way if ever in Glasgow visit the Mother India cafe and enjoy tapas style indian food that you can actually see them cook as you wait for a table each mouth watering dish is cooked in minutes and the Butter Chicken is to die for.

I am back in the south of france and have an other website forum hunting down the best bir and until it is located its down to me and the leadership of you guys

Thanks Panpot