Topic: PRE COOKED CHICKEN THE BENGAL T/A AND BIR WAY

[ifindforu]

Not being a fan of chicken from BIR, i bought some chicken breasts from the local indian wholesalers at 6 quid a kilo.  The things weigh 350 - 400g per breast with added water.  On cooking both I and the wife could taste the difference from normal butcher bought chicken with the water content stuff "tasting odd".  Not sure how else to describe it!  Did not try with tikka yet!!!  Will be interested to hear others thoughts on this, as I see it, poorer quality chicken

Barry

thats why i said cook in mixture for 30 mins so that the chicken absorbs the flavours

[Curry Barking Mad]

Ray,
I do prefer fresh always, the trick is not to overcook it when pre cooking,
The timing is then important when making the curry that you are only reheating the meat and not overcooking it.
Cheers,
Mick

[ifindforu]

Ray,
I do prefer fresh always, the trick is not to overcook it when pre cooking,
The timing is then important when making the curry that you are only reheating the meat and not overcooking it.
Cheers,
Mick

i was with my bengal boss in a market,he bought a load of fresh chicken cheap,but he give it all to me as he precooked the way ive put down,but the chicken was slightly tough.He uses murghee for chicken dishshes and Sardia for tikka being less water as he says it cooks faster less water.But having plenty of time I use murghee for all
I suppose a time limit could be set for fresh breasts,but the mix is the way I see him doing it He has shown me lots of times

[JerryM]

The timing is then important when making the curry that you are only reheating the meat and not overcooking it.

This is by far the most important factor.

for info the aldi frozen breast chicken is very good and what i use.

the fresh / frozen debate really depends on how you see curry. a local restaurant has changed over to the frozen and it's much better. yes fresh is best as a general motto but not in curry. of course as with all it's personal choice.

back to the reason for the post - i think the cooking times are too long to get the best result - i hope to try the recipe this week and find out

[Unclefrank]

I get my chicken from Makro Halal Chicken Breast Fillet 5kg 19.99 GBP and 10kg Chicken Fillets 80 percent 30.99 GBP.
I have cooked both of these packs one for a local college and one for a leading drinks company and had no complaints about the quality of the chicken. I have tried the 70 percent chicken but just cooked it for a little longer when precooking, i use turmeric and a little ginger garlic paste one star anise and small stick cinnamon then pour boiling water over the lot around 4-5 chicken breasts chopped into bite sized pieces, or i just pour the boiling water over the chopped chicken with nothing added  until it is white all over the outside of the chicken then turn heat off and leave to cool, then use when i need to.
I must say the Halal chicken breasts were huge one breast for two servings.

[PaulP]

I've had a few takeaways from a food mall chain called Shere Khan. There is one in Liverpool (St John's market) and one in the Manchester Trafford centre food mall.

They don't appear to use chicken breast and I think it it chicken thigh meat. It is extremely tender and tasty. I prefer it to breast meat and I think the reason it works so well it that it is probably cooked on the bone then stripped off into pieces. I think this cooking on the bone is the key to succulent chicken.
Just a thought and something I might try at home sometime.

Cheers,

Paul

[ifindforu]

I've had a few takeaways from a food mall chain called Shere Khan. There is one in Liverpool (St John's market) and one in the Manchester Trafford centre food mall.

They don't appear to use chicken breast and I think it it chicken thigh meat. It is extremely tender and tasty. I prefer it to breast meat and I think the reason it works so well it that it is probably cooked on the bone then stripped off into pieces. I think this cooking on the bone is the key to succulent chicken.
Just a thought and something I might try at home sometime.

Cheers,

Paul
Nice comment Paul

[JerryM]

a rare event for me - this recipe is 100% spot on - the as spec version is brill. loved the smell (aroma) whilst it was cooking.

i made a 1/2 batch using 60ml oil and 120g onion. i left out the salt which is my norm following the curry2go suggestion.

the cooking times are spot too. i can now understand the 30 min cooking as it's sort of steaming in a little depth of the sauce on a low heat.  i really gelled with the back ground or underlining taste that the pre seal in turmeric brings.

i used it in ifindforu's staff curry - simply brill.

the remnants from the dish put me in a quandry. i felt a BIR chef would not ditch them. i could not resist putting some of the sauce into the staff curry. i froze the rest i think to use in the next base (i've tried this once before with jb chicken and although added nice slant did not sit fully with my BIR taste buds. the turmeric water i ended up chucking but felt this too aught to go in base.

going forward i must not short cut making g/g paste - i left it un blended which was fine for the chicken but not for the staff curry - a few ginger lumps although nice not what you want. my own fault.

once again ifindforu - a very big thankyou - family loved it. well and truly adopted.

Prep


Finished

[JerryM]

some caution on this one.

made it a second time and was a tad to much "multi tasking" - the taste was well short.

one to clearly stick exactly to the as spec method until where it can all go wrong becomes apparent.

ps going to make the ashoka equivalent next to see if the extra effort is worth it for midweek curry. clearly if top notch is the aim then the infindforu takes some beating.

link ashoka "marinade" http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3189.msg28438#msg28438

[ELW]

I think I'll try this next time after seeing those pics.
I would cut the G&G in the Ashoka recipe if using their G&G paste , from 1.5 to 1 TBLS as its 3/2 garlic & is pretty pungent compared to say jarred Sapna. I think Ashoka use this pre marinated chicken in their pakora. It's really good when you get the G&G level right
ELW