Topic: red massla paste from the Zaal,Fleet

[jb]

This is the red massala paste as demonstrated by Az(owner/chef) on our recent lesson.

In a medium cold pan put three heaped chef spoons of veg ghee together with six sliced onions.Add half desert spoon salt,one chef spoon of methi leaves,three chef spoons of blended tomatoes.bring to a medium heat and put the lid on.There is no water in the pan so be careful the mixture doesn't burn.The ghee placed on the bottom of the pan should gently cook the onions.If it does start to burn add a little water.After about twenty five minutes add two chef spoons of lemon dressing.

In a separate pan put two chef spoons tandoori paste,one and half of tikka paste,just a half of kahmiri massala paste,half of mint sauce,half tandoori massala powder.Also add a chefs spoon of coconut powder,two of almond powder and two of sugar.Then add two four ounce cups of plain yogurt.Az also added a chef spoon of tamarind sauce.This he made by soaking a a tamarind block in some hot water and taking out all the stringy bits.Add all this to the original mixture together with some red colour and then take the whole lot a blend.

Although we used our mix straight away usually it's put in the fridge overnight to become a stiff paste.

To make a tikka massala Az put a chef spoon of the paste in a cold pan,gently heated it up to melt the paste and added base sauce to get the desired thickness.He added the meat and simmered and finally added some uht carton cream.This is exactly how I witnessed it being made on my local take away lesson,and indeed the paste looked exactly the same in texture.This is the paste that is also used in the roshney chicken dish(which was lovely by the way)

[natterjak]

Here is my video of the first stage of prep of this recipe. I didn't video the later stages:

 Indian Restaurant Masala Sauce Preparation

[976bar]

Hi Les,

Many thanks for that

If I am right in remembering, a chefs spoon is 4 tbps?

[Les]

Hi Les,

Many thanks for that

If I am right in remembering, a chefs spoon is 4 tbps?

Unless your using Julians spoon at C2G then it's 2 tbs ;D (just to confuse the issue )

Les

[ELW]

Any suggestions on storage for the Zaal Masala sauce?  I've never made a separate masala sauce before. I see this one has cooked onions rather than just cold ingredients like the others I've seen. I hate throwing food away.

ELW

[Masala Mark]

Hi ELW,

We make a similar paste here in the restaurant except it is called butter gravy, no butter in it though. I often bring some home from the restaurant and put portion sized amounts in little plastic zip lock bags and put them in the freezer.

When making butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, rogan josh, it is just a matter of taking a bag of it out, along with a bag of onion gravy paste and defrosting.

Due to the lower water content, they unfreeze much quicker as well.

Cheers,
Mark

[jb]

Any suggestions on storage for the Zaal Masala sauce?  I've never made a separate masala sauce before. I see this one has cooked onions rather than just cold ingredients like the others I've seen. I hate throwing food away.

ELW

Az said it's best to leave it in the fridge overnight and then just chill it.The butter and coconut will make it go like a hard paste texture and then it's spooned out as and when you cook it.I presume the flavour will develop overnight as well.He did say you can freeze it just as you can freeze the gravy.

[curryhell]

Question for those at Zaal's re. this paste.  If i remember correctly i had the job of measuring out the ingredients from the patak jars.  I am struggling to remember using a chef's spoon for these.  I thought it was a dessertspoon.  Can somebody confirm or have we video evidence?    This has been bugging me since i read the recipe. What bugs me more is that i can't be sure now    But the other chef spoon measurements are fine
The more i think about this, the more i am convinced it was dessertspoons.  Does somebody else remember Az making us taste the kashmiri paste to explain why a lot less of this was added because of the heat?  Would be good to confimr this asap as it will have a considerable impact on the masal sauce 

[natterjak]

Hi CH. I remember tasting the kashmiri masala paste (had a good zing to it!) but can't recall the size of the spoon being used to measure ingredients. But the good thing is if we end up confused over details like this we can always ask Chriswg if he wouldn't mind asking Az next time he sees him.

[solarsplace]

Hi

I have 2 incomplete clips of the masala sauce preparation. I will post them ASAP in case they help to fill in any gaps.

Thanks