Cooking Lessons with Az

[bamble1976]

Coconut flour is the main bulk of the stuff in the asian supermarkets up here although they also have coconut milk.

Barry

[gary]

Interesting that Az opted on a well seasoned (naturally non-stick) steel pan for the Saag Bhaji, but 'sticky' Aluminium for the 'saucy' dishes.

I'm wondering if this gives a little more credence to Julian Curry2Go's ideas about Alu pans.

Did Az or his staff comment on this at all?

Gary

[ELW]

Does anyone know whether this "Coconut milk powder" is suitable for use as the coconut powder in Az's Masala sauce?

http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/coconut-milk-powder--maggi-2229-p.asp

Don't know how I missed this Chris. Coconut flour or powder is fine. Coconut milk powder is a different animal completely. Not 100% sure it would work

they are different, but both flavour with coconut & thicken a bit, like adding flour/water, as long as its not dessicated it should be fine, i've seldom seen coconut flour for sale in any or the asian c&c's here
ELW

Loads of it down this neck of the woods ELW.  Apparently coconut milk powder dissolves and melts into the dish whereas the other merge and thicken, so i've read

sounds right..if its for flavour only the milk powder does the trick & doesn't thicken too much like a flour might
ELW
Edit- I've never seen saag bhaji either, is that popular?, people on here seem familiar with it

[curryhell]

Interesting that Az opted on a well seasoned (naturally non-stick) steel pan for the Saag Bhaji, but 'sticky' Aluminium for the 'saucy' dishes.

I'm wondering if this gives a little more credence to Julian Curry2Go's ideas about Alu pans.

Did Az or his staff comment on this at all?

Gary

Funny, I was thinking about this when i got home Sunday.  We all used the aluminium pans for the curry dishes but for the saag bhaji  Az used a black iron pan.  The spinach did eventally start to catch which is why it was kept on the move. "Spinach does that though" said Az.
We had some discussion on pans and basically Az said that they opted for thin based aluminium pans, the thinner the better, because of speed.  As soon as the pan hits the stove with a high flame it was ready to go, speed being of the essence in a busy BIR kitchen.  The other reason he gave was the lightness of the pan would reduce the risk of RSI, which makes perfect sense when you're thrashing a heavy pan about in the same way using the same hand for 15 years or more 

[ELW]

Do the guys who went to Zaal, think you or Az could turn out real bir quality from the recipe's on here like ca's, kd, etc, just by using better technique?
I'd be looking to revisit alot of recipe's if I notice a difference
ELW

[curryhell]

Edit- I've never seen saag bhaji either, is that popular?, people on here seem familiar with it

That's interesting.  Has saag aloo always been available in your neck of the woods ELW?  Maybe it's a regional thing.  It is popular round here but not as popular as saag aloo in my experience from looking round at what people have on their tables.  Saag bhaji has always been available in my area since i've been eating BIR whereas brinjal bhaji didn't used to feature on every menu.  When i asked about this at one of my local BIR's years ago i was told that it does keep well and it ends up getting thrown out.  But nowadays it appears on most menus thankfully  ;D

[ELW]

Edit- I've never seen saag bhaji either, is that popular?, people on here seem familiar with it

That's interesting.  Has saag aloo always been available in your neck of the woods ELW?  Maybe it's a regional thing.  It is popular round here but not as popular as saag aloo in my experience from looking round at what people have on their tables.  Saag bhaji has always been available in my area since i've been eating BIR whereas brinjal bhaji didn't used to feature on every menu.  When i asked about this at one of my local BIR's years ago i was told that it does keep well and it ends up getting thrown out.  But nowadays it appears on most menus thankfully  ;D

Saag aloo features on every menu I've seen in Glasgow, often just called potato spinach & has done as far as I can remember. I reckon people here favour veg/chicken/mushroom pakora rather than onion bhaji, from what I can see. especially younger people with less traditional bir experience. I've seen brinjal called Bainghan/Bhangan on couple of the better menus. I ignore spelling/naming now just bring me the grub! The crossover places that do the pizzas & kebabs probably don't do aubergine & maybe onion rings instead of onion bhaji's. The Saag Bhaji is a completely new one on me, but it's all good!
ELW
ps. I'd definately soldier on with the veg ghee until it can be ruled out, those yellow buckets can be seen everywhere here

[curryhell]

Do the guys who went to Zaal, think you or Az could turn out real bir quality from the recipe's on here like ca's, kd, etc, just by using better technique?
I'd be looking to revisit alot of recipe's if I notice a difference
ELW

Unfortunately, one cooking session with Az aint going to turn us into BIR chefs, if only .  We now have to put what he taught us into practice and just with any other skill it is all about practice, practice and more practice before you get anywhere near to  producing consistent results.  A BIR chef cooks loads of dishes every night of the week.  Us wanna be BIR chefs cook maybe a couple of dishes 2 or 3 times a week if that.  That said it may take us a little longer to get there but at least now we know where we're heading
Being  a BIR chef Az's recipes aren't written down, as you could see from the vids ;D He just programs in the dish required, then switches to auto pilot and out comes the ingredients required which is then translated to the chef's spoon. 
You may have picked up on the comment he made when we quizzed him about the lack of mix powder in the saag bhaji video -"no, vegetable isn't it", the implication being he rarely used mix powder in a vegetable dish only turmeric, which coincides with my experience of my brinjal bhaji at my local. 
Incidentally, the pots of spices in use were the normal culprits: turmeric, meethi leaves, salt, mix powder, chill powder, coconut powder/flour and ground almond and a container of tomato paste mixed one part paste to two parts water, gleaned from a chat over a cigarette
As for turning out BIR results from recipes on the forum, why wouldn't he, he's a BIR chef  ;D.  He may raise an eyebrow at the ingredients in some recipes but that would probably be because that's not exactly what he would use to cook the dish.  I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about what goes into most dishes, it's more the interpretation that each chef will put on it.  For certain dishes there probably is a concensus about what needs to go into to it, whereas other dishes there will probably be a lot more latitude and scope.  The one thing that does crop up though is technique.  Look how simple the phall was.  It tasted superb.  Would we have got the same results using a slow boat method of cooking, most definitely not.  I've tried it and it comes nowhere near to what i cooked with Az's guidance on Sunday

[curryhell]

Saag aloo features on every menu I've seen in Glasgow, often just called potato spinach & has done as far as I can remember. I reckon people here favour veg/chicken/mushroom pakora rather than onion bhaji, from what I can see. especially younger people with less traditional bir experience.

So it's not that saag isn't available but regional tastes and preferences therefore explain why it's not on the menu.

I've seen brinjal called Bainghan/Bhangan on couple of the better menus. I ignore spelling/naming now just bring me the grub!

Those menus are written by either pakistani or indians then - a give away   It is truly amazing how differently many of the items on a menu are spelt by different BIR and TA establishments ;D

The Saag Bhaji is a completely new one on me, but it's all good!

give it a go mate, you see how easy it was ;D

ps. I'd definately soldier on with the veg ghee until it can be ruled out, those yellow buckets can be seen everywhere here

Having brought a bucket of the stuff i certainly intend to.  I will make two dishes, one with oil and one with veg ghee for direct comparison purposes.  Will be interesting to see if there's a step change as a result.  Before doing this though, i'll work on my singeing technique first.  Attempt one starts this afternoon ;D . Chicken Phall a la Az take one

[ELW]

Do the guys who went to Zaal, think you or Az could turn out real bir quality from the recipe's on here like ca's, kd, etc, just by using better technique?
I'd be looking to revisit alot of recipe's if I notice a difference
ELW

Unfortunately, one cooking session with Az aint going to turn us into BIR chefs, if only .  We now have to put what he taught us into practice and just with any other skill it is all about practice, practice and more practice before you get anywhere near to  producing consistent results.  A BIR chef cooks loads of dishes every night of the week.  Us wanna be BIR chefs cook maybe a couple of dishes 2 or 3 times a week if that.  That said it may take us a little longer to get there but at least now we know where we're heading
Being  a BIR chef Az's recipes aren't written down, as you could see from the vids ;D He just programs in the dish required, then switches to auto pilot and out comes the ingredients required which is then translated to the chef's spoon. 
You may have picked up on the comment he made when we quizzed him about the lack of mix powder in the saag bhaji video -"no, vegetable isn't it", the implication being he rarely used mix powder in a vegetable dish only turmeric, which coincides with my experience of my brinjal bhaji at my local. 
Incidentally, the pots of spices in use were the normal culprits: turmeric, meethi leaves, salt, mix powder, chill powder, coconut powder/flour and ground almond and a container of tomato paste mixed one part paste to two parts water, gleaned from a chat over a cigarette
As for turning out BIR results from recipes on the forum, why wouldn't he, he's a BIR chef  ;D.  He may raise an eyebrow at the ingredients in some recipes but that would probably be because that's not exactly what he would use to cook the dish.  I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about what goes into most dishes, it's more the interpretation that each chef will put on it.  For certain dishes there probably is a concensus about what needs to go into to it, whereas other dishes there will probably be a lot more latitude and scope.  The one thing that does crop up though is technique.  Look how simple the phall was.  It tasted superb.  Would we have got the same results using a slow boat method of cooking, most definitely not.  I've tried it and it comes nowhere near to what i cooked with Az's guidance on Sunday

This probably explains why most of us get the bir aroma seemingly coming out of nowhere from time to time. I'm glad to find out there are no brick walls for most of us now!
ELW