Topic: Cooking Lessons with Az

[jb]

Hi JB
Yes Az's, Red Masala Paste has what I call "The Sweet paste" = i.e. Coconut, Almond and Sugar included.
This is great if your making plenty of CTM's.

But I find that unusual in my experience, because the Red Masala Sauce is the "souring" ingredients and is usually separate
(and is virtually a runny Tandoori marinade).

Just makes for more versatile cooking, i.e. there are lots of dishes that a Chef will use a splash of
Red Masala Sauce in, but he won't want the Coconut, Almond and Sugar in it as well.

Like any Jhal Dishes, for instance i.e. Jhal Frezi, or Jhal Zool, there's no sweet paste ingredients in these. but there might be in Az's Restaurant
nothing wrong in that, his customers might love it.

My Jhal mix and Red Masala sauce are virtually the same
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5699.msg56567#msg56567

Here's an old clip of the 2 paste and sauce being combined to make a CTM
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5988.msg59309#msg59309
http://www.southtyneside.com/sizzler/ctm.html

I still think AZ will have a Red Masala Sauce lurking about.

cheers Chewy, Who's Singe-ed there nostril hair then.

Thanks CT.Makes sense now,sorry couldn't work out what you meant.I guess it makes sense,having another non-sweet masala for certain dishes.That's a great CTM clip too,I wondered what the second runny thing was.Incidentally the two red items on the side in Az's kitchen were definitely blended tomatoes and watered tomato puree.I didn't see any other red masala sauces lurking about(even in his fridge) but it's something I'll hopefully quiz him on next time.

[JerryM]

natterjack,

i've never been able to pin down what causes the taste other than it's related to smoke (and of course heat). i think there is more happening that singeing. i can singe and burn in my kitchen but i cook in the garage.

with the collective effort of the fleet 5 i am totally confident it's now just of matter of time & practise before a complete understanding is achieved.

To my knowledge no one except CA has wanted to talk technique before. Solarspaces thoughts would help as he has had a burner for a good while too.

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1283.0

[haldi]

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)

I have been writing about dry spice frying for years on this site
Check this quote
Stir-fry for a couple of minutes
At this point the fumes got absolutely choking and the extractor went on
I?m not sure if that was the chilli powder, but it was a point of great amusement
That's from this thread
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2296.0

Noone twigged how important it was (including me)
It's all in my bengal cuisine posts too
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=118.0

But what is so good about the Zaal posts is the videos
You can check things again and again
In all my posts I am sure I missed details
It's also marvelous having the obsevations and opinions of several people at the demo
I'm in stages of making the gravy and precooked chicken
Both have a real authenticity about them
All set for a curry tonight and I will post the results
The only thing I would say is that all places are different
And it's very important to use a "set" of recipes

By the way, I have also seen chefs cook spices at a wet stage
They don't make nice curries using that method
Really powdery and lacking flavour

[Jeera]

yes you're right Haldi it has been mentioned numerous times before ....I've had some garlic burn disasters in the past that put me off doing this at all...I assumed it wasn' important enough and that there was still a missing ingredient. I've lucked on it once in while over the past xx years but could never re-create again.

4 in a row now, shooting for #5 tommorrow. I would love to hear how you and others get on with various bases/mix powders etc.

cheers

[natterjak]

yes you're right Haldi it has been mentioned numerous times before ....

This is, of course, true. As recently as December Razor posted : "I'm just saying that, if I singe my spices on the bottom of my pan, I know that it will get me better results than if I don't. " but many of us I guess hadn't tried this as I'm sure we've all read warnings about how easy it is to burn spices and ruin a dish (I think I first read this in Kris Dhillon's book).

Also a quote from Chriswg in his original chicken Roshney recipe thread: "Another interesting point he made was that you SHOULD burn the spices at the start". So maybe our visit to Zaal has brought this to the forefront but it's not new knowledge and I'm sure that those who were already in the know have shared a wry smile at the enthusiasm of the newly converted 

And looking back over the original CR0 BBQ thread I see myself and Solar in particular have no reason to be surprised. Talking about our first meeting with Az I posted this: "Az was quizzed mercilessly on his methods and I was interested to learn he subscribes to the school of thought that says it's best to burn the spices a little when you fry them" and solar space posted the following: "Az - Vindaloo - No vinegar, no lemon. Nothing. Just lots of chilli powder. In fact probably a generous 1/2 chef spoon of chilli powder. It is all in the frying of the chilli powder technique." but it seems we promptly forgot it all! 

[Whandsy]

Hi Jeera (or anybody succeesfully singeing) glad to hear your success stories with this method

What do you feel is best practice for the "singeing", as a lot of us have found out, if the oil is too hot the garlic/ginger blackens almost instantly, are you cranking the heat up after the G/G's in and then adding spices and tom puree or are you melting the pan from the start and then deftly adding the other ingredients??

W

[ELW]

Hi Jeera (or anybody succeesfully singeing) glad to hear your success stories with this method

What do you feel is best practice for the "singeing", as a lot of us have found out, if the oil is too hot the garlic/ginger blackens almost instantly, are you cranking the heat up after the G/G's in and then adding spices and tom puree or are you melting the pan from the start and then deftly adding the other ingredients??

W

Do the chefs taste as they go?, to the amateur it seems like there is a small margin for error, surely they must botch a few here & there when their working at full pelt. I've had watery/too much oil/a bit bland/ too hot/not hot enough, but never bitter or powdery. How often do they bin & start over?


edit- is it tomato paste or puree? & would the supermarket brands give a different flavour to the brands suppling the trade?
ELW

[Jeera]

Hi Jeera (or anybody succeesfully singeing) glad to hear your success stories with this method

What do you feel is best practice for the "singeing", as a lot of us have found out, if the oil is too hot the garlic/ginger blackens almost instantly, are you cranking the heat up after the G/G's in and then adding spices and tom puree or are you melting the pan from the start and then deftly adding the other ingredients??

W

I heated the pan, added 2 tbl oil, let that heat up then added the powder, methi and tomato paste and cook for 30 secs. No G&G pates in any of mine so far... I may try that in the next one.  cheers.

btw, now that this part is cracked, I plan to mess around with different mix powder and garamasala (homemade) to seek out specific restaurant variations. I'll post any successes.

[emin-j]

Making a new batch of base today and this will include whole spices as AZ's spiced water,also making my own garam masala and will be trying the 'singe method  ' ,I am expecting big things from tonight's madras 

[curryhell]

Hi Jeera (or anybody succeesfully singeing) glad to hear your success stories with this method

What do you feel is best practice for the "singeing", as a lot of us have found out, if the oil is too hot the garlic/ginger blackens almost instantly, are you cranking the heat up after the G/G's in and then adding spices and tom puree or are you melting the pan from the start and then deftly adding the other ingredients??

W

I heated the pan, added 2 tbl oil, let that heat up then added the powder, methi and tomato paste and cook for 30 secs. No G&G pates in any of mine so far... I may try that in the next one.  cheers.

btw, now that this part is cracked, I plan to mess around with different mix powder and garamasala (homemade) to seek out specific restaurant variations. I'll post any successes.

Glad you've cracked it Jeera.  I suppose  I use the garlic paste like a thermometer to test the temp of the pan before i add the spice. Dread to think of some of the results i could of have had without doing this ;D