Topic: Singe and Quench - Anyone got it perfected

[mickdabass]

I use rajah minced garlic and ginger and also fry until they stop spitting. I then add the tomato puree undiluted straight out of the tube and fry the mixture for a while to cook off the puree a bit before I add the spices.

My theory being that there is a lot of sugar in the tomato puree and I want to caramelise it a bit to enhance the sweetness.
I realise that all the above ingredients will be cooked further at the spice frying stage etc, but sometimes my curries have a slight aftertaste that I dont like, and this occurs less often if I give the tom puree a bit of a frying first.

I dont cook at a very high heat, but I dont slowboat either. Its somewhere between the two

Regards
Mick

[fried]

I've been simply using finely chopped g and g which I give a good pounding with a mortar/ pestle and a little bit of water. I've never tried adding oil but I suppose as it cold it would help stop the mixture burning. I've also added it before the oil was really hot (no sizzle) with no noticable difference in the finished result, just cook it longer. I notice a stickyness when it's ready.

[JerryM]

many thanks all.

just to be clear i'm not questioning the Zaal result. the video although excellent is not as good as having the pan in hand and being told when.

i am now confident given the feedback that i know the when. if i was asked the same question i would say that the line is difficult to judge and the ability to spot the "when" becomes easier with practise. for cream dishes the "when" can be early or safe side. it's only the hot fry dishes that the lines critical ie madras. as soon as little craters appear around the rim it's the when ie water (either 1 chef base or added to the puree) has gone.

one observation on the tom puree (that i'd forgotten) is to add a little salt. this increases the sweetness of the cooked puree/spice. for a good while now i have been putting all the salt into the base (0.5 tsp per portion) and not adding at dish frying. i realised the shortfall using the ifindforu base.

on the chopped garlic and garlic/ginger paste (ashoka). i use both depending on the moment. i also find the chopped garlic paste from homebargains to be spot on. for me on this part of the frying it's much better to undercook. i actually add whilst the oil is warming up. pan is off heat as soon as i smell the garlic - i don't look for colour. i think for paste the sizzle would work equally well. the thing for me during the garlic frying is to continually stir. i think this gets the flavour into the oil better.

many thanks for responses - i can now focus on revisiting reclaimed oil.

ps for emin-j. it was this idea of slow cooking the spice that was on my mind. given the responses the more i think about it the more i realise it just does not fit with the hot method. i have tried both and would not trudge the 30 plus steps round to the garage without good reason. i cooked 2 off identical dish last week by accident - turned the flame down and forgot to turn up before starting 2nd dish - result stark - even my good lady cottened on to which dish to empty first.

[slick]

Watching when the G/G paste starts to turn brown is fine with a fresh clean pan but when you are making a few curries one after the other I tend to use the same pan having scraped out as much as I can from the previous curry.

This has never tainted my 'next' curry taste wise but it has left remnants of Tumeric and other spices in the pan which discolours the fresh white G/G paste when you initially add it to the heated pan, resulting with it being impossible to judge how cooked the garlic is.

I have discovered though and this has now become my rule of thumb with excellent results, on a medium heat add the G/G paste to the oil and as soon as the G/G paste begins to stick to the pan (I'm using an alumunium omelette pan as seen in BIR's and recommended on this forum) ,  add the tomato puree and other spices.
Whack up the burner to full then stir quickly for around 30 secs then add half a ladle of base and mix in.
Once the base is mixed in you can leave the mixture on full for a couple of mins stirring every now and again without fear of burning the spices, this stage produces some lovely aromas.

Once this mixture has reduced enough to resemble a paste , I then add the cooked meat of my choice then stir for around 30 secs before adding the rest of my base.
I then give it a stir for a couple of mins on full heat all the time scraping down the curry from the sides of the pan to get that lovely smokey caramalised taste.

Then I reduce the heat  and let the curry simmer to the right consistancy for a few mins or if it is too thick (depending on the thickness of the base) add water then let it simmer down for 3 or 4 mins.

I've discovered this method results in the best curries I have ever made.

[JerryM]

Slick,

can see you know what you're doing.

the sticky garlic point works too as the end point. i use it as a final back stop if i miss the smell/aroma point.

i too use same pan. i don't scrap out. i scrap it into the next dish oil but do the real clean when the 0.5 ladle (for me 1 chef or 4 tbsp) goes in - i clean all around the pan rim at this point before returning to the heat. i also repeat as the rest of the base is going in. doing this i rarely get any black debris and well chuffed.

on the rest of the method i pretty much do same. differences being i don't do the 30sec with the puree and spice preferring to add the 0.5 ladle (1 chef) at the same time. i also keep the heat on full all the way through. for the spice dishes i only add the main base gradually (1 chef at time) to keep the heat up.

sounds like we can all pretty much put a tick in the box for singe and quench.

 

Once this mixture has reduced enough to resemble a paste

- for info i call this emulsified

[ELW]

Still struggling to find consistency with regards to producing one dish after another correctly. The Zaal 'novices', (novices at what ??  producing bir tasting dishes at home  ), only tried to observe what was different to their home versions, ending up with high heat cooking being singled out. Trying to emulate this technique at home is the only way I've been able to produce results, albeit without consistency. Impossible to tell when /if spice is cooked properly, but I do look to get a certain aroma after adding the 1st gravy. If it's not there, the curry's a duffer...guaranteed!

I can't say what for sure , but the flavour of something in the pan changes dramatically at the frying stage & helps flavour the gravy thereafter. I've tried cooking out the tomato paste for various lenghts of time, without conclusion. Julianc2g states 1Tblsp MP & stated less spice is more ....chewytikka....cbm & a whole lot of others say 1 tsp MP. It would follow that c2g would require a different / longer / hotter cooking time at home  & would carry more risk of producing an acidic, powdery curry...not mentioned in the book.

Lot's of reports on cr0 about great tasting recipe's, but not so much on how they achieved those results. Does anyone produce those deep flavoured bir dishes, at home, on a low, long fry, as seen in the videos?
My curries are still too hit & miss, but I suspect I'm not the only one

Regards
ELW

[mr.mojorisin]

ELW...in the same boat here my friend

sometimes my curries are stunning...but other times they are just OK

inconsistency is eating away at my confidence cooking curries

was thinking about giving up for a month or two then maybe coming back to it

[ELW]

ELW...in the same boat here my friend

sometimes my curries are stunning...but other times they are just OK

inconsistency is eating away at my confidence cooking curries

was thinking about giving up for a month or two then maybe coming back to it

MMR, My efforts get worse the less I cook, but agreed it can feel like a waste of time & food sometimes.
I've just made the Kushi base & 1 duff madras. Once this lot of base is finished, i'm sticking to the Ashoka kit until I can do it one after another.

[Whandsy]

My beef is that lovely smell  you get from a t/a and restaurant, I could smell it all day long! I happily sit in a restaurant for a couple of hours and leave still enjoying the smell. Give me 15 mins at home trying to cook with it though and I'm fed up of spices (and no, it's not the same smell )
Everyone you go near smells like that, WHY !! I have NEVER had that smell whilst cooking curries. I'm enjoying good curries at home at the moment which I know is more important but truth be told, when I've finished cooking it my olfactory senses are shouting have something boring like sausage and mash 

W

[Stephen Lindsay]

Once this lot of base is finished, i'm sticking to the Ashoka kit until I can do it one after another.
[/quote]

ELW I would be very interested in hearing how you get on with the Ashoka approach, I have high regards for panpots posts and am keen to develop my knowledge and ability in the Ashoka method.

Steve