Topic: Cooking Lessons with Az

[Ian S.]

Hi Haldi

I haven't tried the recipes yet, as there are some ingredients I need to get for the curry base and garam masala for the spice mix. But I'll be making the base in a 4-5 litre pot too, so can I ask you the rough amounts you used for the spice water in terms of the size of the pieces of cassia bark and the amount, and the amount of water you boiled the whole spices in?
 
Thanks
Ian
--

[haldi]

I boiled about one and a half litres of water with a 3 inch long piece of cinammon, 2 bay leaves and four white cardamon pods
I kept the lid on
After ten minutes I strained this int
It smelt really good
Nothing like Pat Chapman's Akhni
That stuff dominated everything, it went into
I added it to the boiled onions after blending
I used the spices again, for the precooking chicken

There didn't seem enough ghee to really fry the ground spices
It sort of globbed together (smelt amazing though)
I added a lttle water a couple of times, to stop burning
Anyone else found this?

[Ian S.]

That's great, Haldi. Thanks.

[curryhell]

I boiled about one and a half litres of water with a 3 inch long piece of cinammon, 2 bay leaves and four white cardamon pods
I kept the lid on
After ten minutes I strained this int
It smelt really good
Nothing like Pat Chapman's Akhni
That stuff dominated everything, it went into
I added it to the boiled onions after blending
I used the spices again, for the precooking chicken

There didn't seem enough ghee to really fry the ground spices
It sort of globbed together (smelt amazing though)
I added a lttle water a couple of times, to stop burning
Anyone else found this?

I believe the recipe says i hpd chef's spoon.  Believe me, it does mean heaped.  Listen to what Az says as we're getting the ghee out of the tub for the masala mix ;D.
That hpd chef's spoon probably equates three chef's spoons when actually melted :
Hope this helps

[gary]

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

What I did:

Heat oil in small alu fry pan

In with G&G paste

Quick stir

Pan so hot it starts to brown in a few secs

Pan off heat, add mix powder and stir

Offer pan back up to flame, keep stirring

Couple of stirs and mix powder starts catching on bottom of pan and browning

Pan off heat and in with watered down tomato puree, offer pan back upto flame and deglaze 'singed' bits off bottom of pan.

Stir, oil starts to separate, masala (i.e. everything you've added to pan so far) starts to catch.

In with spoonful of gravy/base.

..proceed with rest of recipe

Gary

[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

I'm having major success with this now also. I'd recommend using the ashoka kit altogether(base not so  crucial), the banjarra onion paste really comes to life when the spices are cooked correctly. It really is the work of a chef. I never knew which tree to bark up next until the Zaal report. It gets more interesting now, & the experiments will continue, but I know now  the 'taste' is hot fused spices.
Kushi base
Zaal Mix Pwdr
Ashoka Banjarra
Ashoka GARLIC/ginger
ELW

[natterjak]

I'm having major success with this now also. I'd recommend using the ashoka kit altogether(base not so  crucial), the banjarra onion paste really comes to life when the spices are cooked correctly. It really is the work of a chef. I never knew which tree to bark up next until the Zaal report. It gets more interesting now, & the experiments will continue, but I know now  the 'taste' is hot fused spices.
Kushi base
Zaal Mix Pwdr
Ashoka Banjarra
Ashoka GARLIC/ginger
ELW

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.

[jb]

I'm having major success with this now also. I'd recommend using the ashoka kit altogether(base not so  crucial), the banjarra onion paste really comes to life when the spices are cooked correctly. It really is the work of a chef. I never knew which tree to bark up next until the Zaal report. It gets more interesting now, & the experiments will continue, but I know now  the 'taste' is hot fused spices.
Kushi base
Zaal Mix Pwdr
Ashoka Banjarra
Ashoka GARLIC/ginger
ELW

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.

Just trying to catch up with all the posts,I agree shame Cory A isn't about at the moment,would be good to get his take on this.

[haldi]

I must have got something wrong
The curries were good, but not exceptionally good
Maybe I disagree with Az
This is Rocket Science
The base smelt great, the spice had an incredible aroma, the chicken was just right,the curries texture were perfect
I just don't get it

In most of the curries I buy, there is an underlying flavour
And it's not in tonight's home cooked curries

[Peripatetic Phil]

In most of the curries I buy, there is an underlying flavour
And it's not in tonight's home cooked curries

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear : very sorry to hear that, Haldi.  I've tried the Az method twice now, once two nights ago and once tonight.  On the first occasion, the chicken went tough on me, which I put down to cooking it at too high a temperature, and the flavour was not up to par, but when I re-heated it last night it was a definite winner.  The chicken had had time to rest, the spices had blended perfectly, and the result was 100% BIR.  Tonight I attempted the same dish (slight modification to quantities), but I deliberately rested the chicken after its first spiced-oil & tumeric pre-cook, re-introducing it back into the main curry after the first ladle of base.  This gave far better results, and I shall certainly use that method in future.  Spicing (in case anyone is interested) was (all units are teaspoons) 1 Turmeric (for pre-cooking the chicken), 1 Rajah Hot Madras Curry Power, 1 Kashmiri Mirch, 1 Degghi Mirch, 1 Cumin, 1 Salt, 1/2 Fenugreek (powder) and 2 g/g paste.  Tomato puree wasn't measured, but probably 2 teaspoons, diluted 1:2.  G/G paste is 50:50 in oil.

** Phil.