Topic: Cooking Lessons with Az

[curryhell]

And for the guys there today - Bengali darchini is cassia bark, as we suspected

[emin-j]

CH, I see the whole spices came into play then  I also made my own garam masala yesterday, powerful stuff 

[Stephen Lindsay]

You guys deserve a medal for pulling off what sounds like a really informative day.

[curryhell]

CH, I see the whole spices came into play then  I also made my own garam masala yesterday, powerful stuff 

they most certainly did emin-j and not just in the garam but in the base too as was suspected, but with a little twist ;D ;D.  They were boilded hard in water for some time, strained and the liquor then added to the base.  Clever way of doing it but as Az said, you can add powder but that'll darken the gravy or add them whole but then the punters wouldn't be too happy chomping on them ;D

[curryhell]

You guys deserve a medal for pulling off what sounds like a really informative day.

Put it this way SL,  we can only be likened to a plague of locusts after information ;D ;D and As, ever obliging, gave willingly and did not hold back.  "It's not rocket science" he said and "there is no secret ingredient".  Oops, i just let the secret out.  Now someone will have to shoot me

[natterjak]

I still have the sweet, aromatic toffee smell of singed spices on my fingers. This could be the most important piece of info I gathered today - be super brave in that initial frying stage and take them way past the point which seems sensible.

[Curry Barking Mad]

CH, I see the whole spices came into play then  I also made my own garam masala yesterday, powerful stuff 

not just in the garam but in the base too as was suspected, but with a little twist ;D ;D.  They were boilded hard in water for some time, strained and the liquor then added to the base.  Clever way of doing it

It's good to see the use of 'spiced water'  or 'akhni' being used, you don't tend to hear of it much these days.
Mick

[curryhell]

Nothing special or exotic in terms of ingredients, spice mix or base sauce. The big revelation to me was the extent to which Az singes his spices,

Not as much as Russ did ;D.  Oops, that was a bit below the belt - sorry

The roshney chicken and CH's phall were quite stunning though. I didn't personally love Az's tikka, I'll stick with Blade's mix. The vindaloo was, umm.. smokey! 

YOUR roshney chicken was lovely and tasty and i will definitely be making it.  Chriswg's was more up my street in terms of heat but had the same lovely taste.  As for my phall, it was virtually the same as that which i get from my local, tasty and hot hot and was oh so simple to make.  "it's all in  the singeing" as i learnt today.  And i only used one chef's spoon ( controversial i know but when in the kitchen  ;D) of chilli powder, in fact only 3/4  and not heaped either

[Whandsy]

Do you feel this "singeing" of spices should happen in all the curries or just some of the ones you made today?

W

[DalPuri]

I'm happy for all who went today, really chuffed for ya  ;D

I've always used my nose when frying spices rather than a set amount of time. you will know when its time to add the next ingredient. 
And interesting about the water. This is also where knowledge and experience of individual spices will come into play.
Which spices are water soluble and which are oil. E.G. How many of the spices used in the spiced water today were extracted in the water?
Maybe all, but do you know for certain? 

Frank.