Cooking Lessons with Az

[gary]

Are you frying with ghee,though?

No, it was Veg oil this time.

Gary

[ELW]

Just to update what I posted earlier, sorry I was in a bit of a hurry.
I'm firstly looking to avoid undermining all the information on bir@home prior to the Zaal gig. It was being offered up to eveyone all along, from Bruce Edwards to Chewytikka. The ambiguous nature of the taste  is difficult to convey, although I knew when i read somewhere "my curries at home don't taste like the restaurant ones", we were all looking at 1 process/technique/ingredient, "not f***in rocket science"...puts this 1 pot stir fry cooking into perspective.
I still stand by my observation that this simple technique of has been
ignored in favour of ingredients

That said, it's magic stuff to the Western palate, when done properly

Today I used the Kushi base, with the Zaal mixed powder, salkim tomato paste, (no meat/onions/peppers), Flora sunflower oil! - bog standard gas cooker on the biggest burner(can easily be done on one of the smaller rings, probably better for home use in fact as you cantake a bit more time , unless you have 30 ticket orders queing up!) -26cm ali pan

2 x tbs oil
medium heat-full heat will burn it (7secs in my case!!)
1 x tsp GINGER/garlic paste - if using a wider pan make sure its frying in the oil & keep it moving -30-40 secs & its's done, not brown but heading that way

turn gas up full

1 tsp Zaal mix powder(curry powder trs madras)& 1 tbls roughly 3-4 water  in 1 tomato paste at the same time, a hot fry & 1 x ladle hot gravy - reduce & add more gravy to make up the  portion size - result-starting to cut the sharpness of the spices, that catch the top of your mouth & say "not bir". The aroma is there, but not the taste

Another attempt at above ~ same results

3rd go,(noting the small amount of ingredients used)/ 1tsp mix powder in when ginger garlic cooks out(15-20 sec on full heat moving quickly)then tomato paste to quench it  keeping it moving, then gravy - the transformation is as magical as MSG i
s., it's BIR all over! The aroma becomes the taste! The burning risk is higher, but the further you can take it the better

4th go - off piste/experimental as i was running out of thawed base - same as 3rd go, but added methi leaves . Then added a touch of water to bulk up to nearly a portion, I then recooked it in the in the pan, fried in my last heaped TBLSP Ashoka Banjarra - result total Ashoka taste(Ashoka has a fairly unique taste due to the heavy garlic G&G /Banjarra/Base), it may not be to eveyone's taste but definite bir. The Banjarra paste really does show a chef at work here, it seemed like nothing more than a Pataks paste to me before today.

Once again thanks to Az at Zaal in Fleet for telling the handful of curry nuts what he knows & to them for sharing this, without it I would still be running bizarre theories through my head
ELW

[Whandsy]

GENTELMEN, I HAVE ARRIVED, AFTER NIGH ON 30 YEARS,
WE'RE THERE
Awaiting me tonight when i get in from a celebratory drink down the pub is a BIR curry cooked by me, aided by Az who must have been watching over my shoulder tonight.  All done on a POXY electric hob in a home kitchen.  It has the TASTE, it has the SMELL, it has the intense heat that only singed chilli powder can have considering i only used 1/2 a level chef's spoon.  My local could have cooked it  ;D ;D

Well done CH, the amount of effort and enthusiasm you put into this forum, it is most certainly deserved. I'm nearly there but can't put the effort in often enough cos the rest of the family are becoming curry widows, heh heh, keep postin and updating us cos i'm sure i'm near the winning post too

W

[ELW]

Hi CT, yes absolutely I agree, both you and other posters have mentioned this technique and to be clear I'm not claiming it as a new discovery, simply that I hadn't understood what was meant by "burn the spices" until I saw it happen in front of me and (perhaps most importantly) smelled it... I think there will be a number of forum members who, despite it having been mentioned in the past, will not have picked up on the importance of this point nor perhaps understood how to put it into practice. Maybe this is what will prove to be the most useful function served by this thread and the associated videos

Nicely put into a few sentences, a corner has been turned natterjack, now I can correct the disservice I've done on nearly every bir recipe I've attempted & do them properly  :. Only now will the talent of a skilled chef become apparent, now we have the basics down.The possibilities are endless. I've a tough task ahead trying to recreate the top bir in my city, but the sky's the limit 

I hear Az, calling it puree in the phall video. Paste is sweeter isn't it? I can't find White Tower out of the big c&c's too often. Some Tescos may have it   They have all the brands associated with asian foods, Natco/WT/East End, versions of puree's & pastes...I've been using the Italian stuff , Is this anyway different?

There is a thread and  a lot of discussion about the differences between paste, puree, pasata etc somewhere, which gets heated at one point, just for a change ;D
Az calls it puree but it is diluted concentrated paste that we were using.  I discussed this stuff at some length with him over a cigarette to see whether he did anything special in its preparaton.  In the preparation of the gravy etc we were using blended tinned tomatoes as opposed to the "puree".
It doesn't have to be the white tower brand, any will do.  I'm sure Az buys whats best priced at the time.  As for there being any difference, i'm not sure but i wouldn't think so. I've never tried anything else and have always used the paste and diluted it down.

@curryhell , the great thing about those Asian guys, is that they won't let you leave empty handed  ;D...."White Tower sir., it's very good brand..but we don't have any..come in on Tuesday & I'll have some for you". If I'd asked him for Bob Marley quilt & pillow covers, they'd be there on Tuesday too, along with my tomato paste 
ELW

[natterjak]

Hi CT, yes absolutely I agree, both you and other posters have mentioned this technique and to be clear I'm not claiming it as a new discovery, simply that I hadn't understood what was meant by "burn the spices" until I saw it happen in front of me and (perhaps most importantly) smelled it... I think there will be a number of forum members who, despite it having been mentioned in the past, will not have picked up on the importance of this point nor perhaps understood how to put it into practice. Maybe this is what will prove to be the most useful function served by this thread and the associated videos

Nicely put into a few sentences, a corner has been turned natterjack, now I can correct the disservice I've done on nearly every bir recipe I've attempted & do them properly  :. Only now will the talent of a skilled chef become apparent, now we have the basics down.The possibilities are endless. I've a tough task ahead trying to recreate the top bir in my city, but the sky's the limit

Hi ELW, burning the midnight oil? (as well as the spice mix?)

Actually I feel the same way, i think many of the curry recipes which have left me underwhelmed in the past year should be given a second chance now I have this new variable to play with. I've tended to go from one base to another to yet another hoping to correct deficiencies in the taste of my curries by somehow chancing on a "magic" base but now I'm quite sure the larger part of the answer lies in what happens in the pan before the base is added. I even cooked my last batch of base for hours hoping to be able to rid myself of the undercooked undertones I could taste in my finished dishes, undertones which have disappeared since I've started singeing the spices & tomato puree.

When Chriswg proposed lessons with Az I was eager to sign up to them and happy to pay the asking price but never expected to get quite so much from the day. I'm especially delighted that it's not just those of us who were in the kitchen and who experienced that distinctive throat-grabbing smell who have been able to turn it to their advantage at home but other guys like yourself are also onboard and understanding this key point now.

[emin-j]

ELW, Just to clarify, your best BIR effort was to fry G/G then add spice mix and fry on high heat then add thinned tomato paste then base,is this correct ? Or did you add spice mix and tomato at the same time ?

[curryhell]

Morning all.  OUCH is really all i can say at the moment  : ;D.  Maybe a little more restraint should have been exercised whilst in the pub last night .  Anyway, a week today, almost to the hour, I set off for fleet not realising that curry heaven was so soon to be round the corner .  Here are a few pics of the results of the eureka moment.  Had i been able, I would have framed the curry.  It's been such a long while in the making and never quite there, but just occasionally there'd be a glimmer of impending success which would soon disappear off again  into the distance .  I'll let you heat lovers salivate over the phall while i rehydrate, catch up on some posts and others' successes and gather my thoughts.  Then I'll attempt to walk through the events of early yesterday evening and how it all finally came together.

BIR dish DIY'd




The real deal



And again



And a close up

[Currymonster3194]

Looks great mate, looking forward to seeing how it was done
Looks like a need to locate an old Eurofighter jet engine to cook it on

[JerryM]

In a way it's a shame that Cory, who was always asking folks to define what they meant by "technique", has chosen this moment to absent himself.  I'm sure he would love all this.

sorry to re quote this. CA must be laughing his socks off. got mine off too.


ps just got to the end of the post and seen curryhell's photo's - they are brill. they certainly put part of my mind to rest as the colour is v.good and has not darkened by taking the singeing too far.

[ELW]

Hi CT, yes absolutely I agree, both you and other posters have mentioned this technique and to be clear I'm not claiming it as a new discovery, simply that I hadn't understood what was meant by "burn the spices" until I saw it happen in front of me and (perhaps most importantly) smelled it... I think there will be a number of forum members who, despite it having been mentioned in the past, will not have picked up on the importance of this point nor perhaps understood how to put it into practice. Maybe this is what will prove to be the most useful function served by this thread and the associated videos

Nicely put into a few sentences, a corner has been turned natterjack, now I can correct the disservice I've done on nearly every bir recipe I've attempted & do them properly  :. Only now will the talent of a skilled chef become apparent, now we have the basics down.The possibilities are endless. I've a tough task ahead trying to recreate the top bir in my city, but the sky's the limit

Hi ELW, burning the midnight oil? (as well as the spice mix?)

Actually I feel the same way, i think many of the curry recipes which have left me underwhelmed in the past year should be given a second chance now I have this new variable to play with. I've tended to go from one base to another to yet another hoping to correct deficiencies in the taste of my curries by somehow chancing on a "magic" base but now I'm quite sure the larger part of the answer lies in what happens in the pan before the base is added. I even cooked my last batch of base for hours hoping to be able to rid myself of the undercooked undertones I could taste in my finished dishes, undertones which have disappeared since I've started singeing the spices & tomato puree.

When Chriswg proposed lessons with Az I was eager to sign up to them and happy to pay the asking price but never expected to get quite so much from the day. I'm especially delighted that it's not just those of us who were in the kitchen and who experienced that distinctive throat-grabbing smell who have been able to turn it to their advantage at home but other guys like yourself are also onboard and understanding this key point now.

Yes NJ, up late last night, I reckon CA's ceylon, could be good shout. Not something I've ever ordered, but it tasted great even though I never hit the bir version.

@emin-j, yes the the spices in the hot pan with the garlic got me the best results by far....then fried in the tomato...all done very quickly!!. There's more risk in doing this, but it's not difficult. In the pan with the tomato at the same time still does it. This may be down to the heat of my pan compared to Az, but even on lower heat it could still be done, just not 'in a flash'. I would suggest not making too much of a paste with the spices & tomato, too quickly, if you think you may have heat issues. The spices definately benefited from hitting the pan on their own
Once I was running out of base, I stepped up a finished basic curry by putting it back into the pan & adding Ashoka Onion paste, the results of this were fantastic, wiping the bowl clean fantastic if you know what I mean.

I also cooked the Moroccan spice blend ras el hanout the same way later on, with similar magical properties!

Sunflower oil was all I had left, but veg oil/ghee/ groundnut will smoke less
ELW