Topic: Roshney Practice

[natterjak]

Tonight I cooked a Roshney-style curry using pork (left overs from roast) and with the intention of following Az's recipe, although it turns out I wandered from it somewhat due to incompetence.  I did use genuine Az recipe red masala sauce frozen into two ice cube chunks and defrosted, hence the odd shapes but in other regards I didn't stick to the recipe because I made some schoolboy errors:

- omitting green peppers entirely
- forgot to add the green chillies at the frying stage, I threw them in after the base sauce was added which didn't work out too well
- added too much base sauce and swamped the dish a bit, leading to an extended simmer to get the consistency right

Still, the flavour was good and it was only ever going to be a work-in-progress as I develop this recipe and work on implementing what I learned at Zaal.  I don't post this as a recipe to be followed by others and I don't set out my stall as an expert chef at all - I'm a beginner and happy to admit it, so tips and advice are welcome 

Note, the frying of the spices and tomato puree was brief, but the pan was very hot and the characteristic grab-the-back-of-your-throat-and-make-you-cough fumes were almost instantly apparent, hence my rapid application of base sauce.

In particular I'm struggling a bit with getting the onion to have the right texture.  Despite only having the briefest of fry before the spices then base sauce were added the onions still came out soft and floppy in the final dish, whereas every BIR dish I'm been served in restaurants with chunks of onion in has firm onions. 


Roshney Curry

[ELW]

I can't play the video natterjack = error has occured

ELW

EDIT-OK now  ;D

[DalPuri]

I'd say you was a bit rushed there  natterjack, especially with the onions.
They were big pieces and need a lot longer cooking.
Overall, it looks a job well done. 
I'd be interested in your masala paste recipe as i havent had any answers to my questions yet in the paste thread 

And the mess! I hate it, and so i decided for my last dozen or so curries to use my big saucepan/pressure cooker base. Yes shock horror
I've been wanting to say for a while now for all of us that are stuck with cooking on electric.
If your intent Isn't to flame the pan, then Dont bother with a silly little frying pan. 
I can make the exact same tasting curry in my aluminium pressure cooker base as a 24cm omlette pan!
What seems the important factor to me is the diameter of the pan.
The small curry pan is great for gas but pointless in my opinion for electric.
Save yourself the mess and use a big saucepan  ;D

Frank.

[Masala Mark]

Hi Natterjak,

In regards to the onions, here at the restaurant in Australia, when serving in house, the onion chunks and green pepper chunks are flash fried, all this means is that for a dish with the large pieces in it, they are quickly deep fried and added to the dish near the end of the process rather then at the start.

This is done for two reasons, firstly as you mention they remain a little crunchy and secondly they maintain(the peppers) a nice color as well.

[EDIT] Sorry, seen this has been answered in the masala paste thread, thanks guys!
I too am hoping for some more info on the masala paste as well, hopefully over the weekend someone will be able to answer a few questions, and perhaps even a video of the last stage too would be great. Same too with the base and how the bagaar part is done.

Cheers,
Mark

[Stephen Lindsay]

Nice one natterjack - good to see another member posting a video - respect to chewy for leading the way also!

[Whandsy]

Good effort NJ, looking forward to recreating your finalised version of this dish. As mentioned its good to watch a video of someones efforts

W

[natterjak]

I'd say you was a bit rushed there  natterjack, especially with the onions.
They were big pieces and need a lot longer cooking.
Overall, it looks a job well done. 
I'd be interested in your masala paste recipe as i havent had any answers to my questions yet in the paste thread 

And the mess! I hate it, and so i decided for my last dozen or so curries to use my big saucepan/pressure cooker base. Yes shock horror
I've been wanting to say for a while now for all of us that are stuck with cooking on electric.
If your intent Isn't to flame the pan, then Dont bother with a silly little frying pan. 
I can make the exact same tasting curry in my aluminium pressure cooker base as a 24cm omlette pan!
What seems the important factor to me is the diameter of the pan.
The small curry pan is great for gas but pointless in my opinion for electric.
Save yourself the mess and use a big saucepan  ;D

Frank.

Thanks for that reply frank, you make some interesting points.  The onions are a conundrum right now , perhaps the way to go is to cook them longer (as you suggest) but then remove from the pan and re-add later (as masala mark suggests). In any case my current approach doesn't work as even with only a brief initial fry they are still limp and soggy by the end of the dish.

Cooking in a pot is an excellent idea to prevent mess and splattering onto the hob and surroundings, but I'm not sure I have any aluminium saucepans, they're all stainless or Teflon coated. The importance of aluminium cookware for BIR cooking has been discussed elsewhere so maybe it's time to invest in an Ali pressure cooker which will also let me try chewy's 1 hr base. What size pressure cooker is it which has the same diameter as your curry frying pan? I see they are available in anything from 3.5l up to 12litres.

[natterjak]

Hi Natterjak,

In regards to the onions, here at the restaurant in Australia, when serving in house, the onion chunks and green pepper chunks are flash fried, all this means is that for a dish with the large pieces in it, they are quickly deep fried and added to the dish near the end of the process rather then at the start.

This is done for two reasons, firstly as you mention they remain a little crunchy and secondly they maintain(the peppers) a nice color as well.

[EDIT] Sorry, seen this has been answered in the masala paste thread, thanks guys!
I too am hoping for some more info on the masala paste as well, hopefully over the weekend someone will be able to answer a few questions, and perhaps even a video of the last stage too would be great. Same too with the base and how the bagaar part is done.

Cheers,
Mark

Thanks for the tip re pre cooking and adding the onions and peppers towards the end, I'll try this. I think JB has footage of the 2nd stages of both masala paste and base sauce recipes.

[ELW]

Hi Natterjak,

In regards to the onions, here at the restaurant in Australia, when serving in house, the onion chunks and green pepper chunks are flash fried, all this means is that for a dish with the large pieces in it, they are quickly deep fried and added to the dish near the end of the process rather then at the start.

This is done for two reasons, firstly as you mention they remain a little crunchy and secondly they maintain(the peppers) a nice color as well.

[EDIT] Sorry, seen this has been answered in the masala paste thread, thanks guys!
I too am hoping for some more info on the masala paste as well, hopefully over the weekend someone will be able to answer a few questions, and perhaps even a video of the last stage too would be great. Same too with the base and how the bagaar part is done.

Cheers,
Mark

I'm also interested in seeing or hearing how the bagaar part is done. Was it done on high heat, like the 1st stage of cooking a dish?
I used this method as called for while making the Kushi base & in theory, going on the amount of spice going in, should impart something of the taste in the gravy. I never noticed any difference in mine though...surprise surprise  ;D
ELW

[curryhell]

Good work Natterjak.  Alas, i won't be providing any videos of my cooking due to lack of equipment .  Obviously you feel you've a bit of work to do on this one still .  Funny how we get hung up on small details in search of perfect reproduction of dishes ;D.  Can you remember what the onions were like after you cooked the dish  at Zaal's?
 
@ELW, when referring to bagaar, i take it you are referring to the cooking of the spices and tomato mixture that went into the base sauce.  If this is the case, i can confirm it was cooked on a high heat.  There was no singeing involved if i remember rightly, being in charge of the pan at the time under Az's supervison of course.  There were a few flames though ;D ;D.  Hopefully Solarsplace will be able to upload the last few video clips soon to clear up unanswered questions.