Cooking Lessons with Az

[Jeera]

I made 2 chicken tikka bhunas last night

Ashoka base
1tsp AZ mix powder (homemade garamasama)
2 tbl tomato puree/water mixture
1tsp methi

pinch garamasala and fresh coriander at the end.

I used reclaimed oil in the first and plain veg oil in the second.  I also added hot water after the base since the AZ version was very watery.

Result?

Curry #1 - stunning
Curry #2- same as #1

I smelled the frying pan before I washed it this morning,  smelled phenomenal.

This is definitely it ladies and gents. I can't thank you enough guys.
2

[curryhell]

  .........wait for me.  I haven't got there yet .  I'm off to the kichen.

Nice one Jeera.  It's great to hear some positive results coming through and feedback.  All round yours for supper then? 

[Les]

Hi George
I'm not on anybody's side here, But I do think these guy's deserve a bit of credit for doing what they have done to bring new life into this forum, And stop it disappearing up it's own A**hole which is where it was going,
So well done guy's, and thanks for sharing,
Now where is that Bhuna video gone, ;D

Les

[ELW]

I made 2 chicken tikka bhunas last night

Ashoka base
1tsp AZ mix powder (homemade garamasama)
2 tbl tomato puree/water mixture
1tsp methi

pinch garamasala and fresh coriander at the end.

I used reclaimed oil in the first and plain veg oil in the second.  I also added hot water after the base since the AZ version was very watery.

Result?

Curry #1 - stunning
Curry #2- same as #1

I smelled the frying pan before I washed it this morning,  smelled phenomenal.

This is definitely it ladies and gents. I can't thank you enough guys.
2

Nice one Jeera, did you use the spice mix in place of the onion paste? I think thats supposed to be the job of the paste. I don't find it (the paste)strong enough. What about the G&G?

ELW

[Jeera]

Hi ELW, I ran out of the onion paste. I added the oil (scorchio), tomato paste, methi and mix powder... Blasted this for 30 secs pulling off the heat whenever I lost my bottle. No g&g paste in these curries because I only had the shop bought jar... I thought this might taint it.

[coffee]

 Thanks guys for great posts.
looks like the knack is singeing the spice mix.
Can you confirm  for all curries you made  that this is done with the tomato paste mixture added   or is it done just with the spice mix in the pan

Keep up the good work.

[curryhell]

Thanks guys for great posts.
looks like the knack is singeing the spice mix.
Can you confirm  for all curries you made  that this is done with the tomato paste mixture added   or is it done just with the spice mix in the pan

Keep up the good work.

That's exactly it Coffee.  And yes, the diluted tomato paste goes in with the mix powder before being returned to the stove for a singeing but not in the case of the vindaloo;D.  See the vid of this one

[natterjak]

Tonight I made a lamb madras with special attention paid to the frying of the spices to get that characteristic "grab at the back of your throat and make you splutter" aroma before the base sauce was added.  Result?  About twice as nice as any madras I've cooked before!  Really, I'm delighted.

But I also started to ponder this question of why, if this is an important fundamental component of the "correct" flavour has this been so under reported?  My conclusion has to be that it *isn't* essential - it can't be or the very many first hand reports and videos we've had from BIR kitchens would have been shouting about it.  In fact it's easy to find examples where experienced chefs clearly do not singe their spices, this is the first one I looked for on youtube with Dipu apparently adding his spices to a cold pan and not leaving them there long enough to singe before the base sauce is added:

How to make lamb madras

So maybe this isn't the panacea that we assume, although my early results suggest it really does work for me.  It would be great to get some input on this point from more BIR chefs, maybe Abdul has a view?

[Jeera]

natterjack, it is down to this spice frying mate....i'm a believer...my kitchen smells like a BIR ( curry #3  was as good as #1 & #2.... can't believe it)

[jb]

Tonight I made a lamb madras with special attention paid to the frying of the spices to get that characteristic "grab at the back of your throat and make you splutter" aroma before the base sauce was added.  Result?  About twice as nice as any madras I've cooked before!  Really, I'm delighted.

But I also started to ponder this question of why, if this is an important fundamental component of the "correct" flavour has this been so under reported?  My conclusion has to be that it *isn't* essential - it can't be or the very many first hand reports and videos we've had from BIR kitchens would have been shouting about it.  In fact it's easy to find examples where experienced chefs clearly do not singe their spices, this is the first one I looked for on youtube with Dipu apparently adding his spices to a cold pan and not leaving them there long enough to singe before the base sauce is added:

How to make lamb madras

So maybe this isn't the panacea that we assume, although my early results suggest it really does work for me.  It would be great to get some input on this point from more BIR chefs, maybe Abdul has a view?

I've never been fully convinced that Dipuraja actually really cooks his curries that way,I may be wrong but I've always felt he was showing us a simplified or slowed down version of what he does,he doesn't even brown his ginger/garlic paste.I can't imagine during a busy order he starts with cold pans everytime.Shame he's not around anymore actually.Incidentally I'm in the process of trying to get back into the kitchen of one of my local takeaways,if I do,armed with the knowledge from the lesson I will keep a close eye on their cooking methods and whether they 'singe' their spices.