Topic: Help me find a curry (recipe)

[Dajoca]

Warning: Vague and unclear descriptions ahead...

Years ago (1998) I lived near Arbroath for my sins.
There was an Indian  takeaway in Fisheracre that sold a rich and creamy madras hot dish. It was a vivid, bright red and would cause me to break out in a sweat as soon as I took the lid off.
I think they called it a Punjabi Massala, though that could be utterly wrong and I believe the names to be a bit arbitrary anyway.

Years later I was in Exmouth and the Indian Ocean curry takeaway there sold a similar style of rich creamy and hot dish, without the vivid colour.

The closest I can come to it now is from the Curry Express in Yelverton (Dartmoor) with their Chicken Razalla, though this is yoghurt rather than cream according to their menu.
These 3 dishes are not at all similar to Tikka massala in their flavour, but they are in consistency, all being very rich, creamy and Madras hot, but not tomatoey or coconutty.

I've not found this type of dish in most other takeaways / restaraunts, so if anyone can suggest a similar recipe to experiment with, I would love to try it.

Thanks in advance

[976bar]

Hi Dajoca,

I wouldn't worry about the colour, afterall that is just food colouring, but have you tried making a madras and just adding some cream or carnation milk?

We all know that back in the 80's carnation milk was used quite a lot in BIR style cooking, maybe this is what you are looking for?

[Stephen Lindsay]

Dajoca

Welcome to the forum - living in Dundee I know the dish you are referring to, the Punjabi Masala as they do it in most Dundee takeaways. It's usually described as being made with Tandoori Masala though I don't recall it being made with cream. How about starting with a Madras hot and replacing the spice mix with some Tandoori Masala and taking it from there?

regards Steve (50% Red Lichtie)

[chewytikka]

Warning: Vague and unclear descriptions ahead...

Could be absolutley anything Dajoca, we'll just never know    Welcome to the forum...

The obvious approach is to add cream to a spicy hot dish. Have fun experimenting

Chewytikka

[976bar]

Warning: Vague and unclear descriptions ahead...

Could be absolutley anything Dajoca, we'll just never know    Welcome to the forum...

The obvious approach is to add cream to a spicy hot dish. Have fun experimenting

Chewytikka

Not obvious at all Mike, but due to the vague description given, it was just a suggestion....

Sorry if we can't all be as big as you in the curry world,  as you are the obvious master of the universe when it comes to curries up there in Tyneside, but we do try to help people here.....

[Les]

Not obvious at all Mike, but due to the vague description given, it was just a suggestion....

Sorry if we can't all be as big as you in the curry world,  as you are the obvious master of the universe when it comes to curries up there in Tyneside, but we do try to help people here.....

OUCH!
Bet that hurt, Handbags at dawn folk's

Les

[chewytikka]

LOL  ;D ;D ;D Strange regional outburst Bob and very odd.

My advice is quite "obvious" and helpful to Dajoca's vague description of a rich creamy and hot dish.

It's not really my problem if my knowledge of BIR makes you feel inadequate Bob, but thanks for the compliment. ;D ;D ;D

Must admit, I am feeling at bit big in Tyneside at the moment, after scoffing an Akni Biryani, Vindaloo Veg and
a Garlic and Rosemary Naan.

Luvly Jubbly

[Dajoca]

Thanks all. I will have a look at the Carnation milk and Tandoori massala methods.

I have tried adding cream and or Yoghurt to madras dishes, but with my limited experience, it was at best a bit "unusual".

Edible, but certainly not a finished dish, though if I actually knew what I was doing it would help.

I knew before I asked, that the essential details were severely lacking and expected to have that pointed out in very specific terms , but also hoped that with all the combined curry experience on here, that it may just ring a bell, as it did with Stephen and Bob, so thank you all again. I've now got a few idea's to try out on the unsuspecting family.

[Stephen Lindsay]

Dajoca

The other thing I seem to recall with the Punjabi Masala was that there was tomato quarters and small chunks of green pepper. I don't think this will be critical in terms of recipe development but it may help with the appearance.

I've also added some notes I made a couple of years ago when I was trying to develop my own Chicken Punjabi Masala recipe, however I left it as I was having better results with my Pathia and Chasni recipes. I don't know if this will help you but you may be interested in them. I've pasted them below. You'll note that the base gravy is not quabtified - I would use about 300-400ml for a one portion dish.

In Search of Chicken Punjabi Masala

The Punjabi Masala is not a dish you see on a lot of Indian restaurant menus. Indeed whilst searching for recipes on the internet with this title I came up blank. It may also be known as a Tandoori Masala but of course searching on that title produces results for the spice mixture and not the dish. So this is an attempt to create

[curryhell]

Ingredients not too dissimilar to those of the North Indian Special.  Your notes could be a good starting point for further work Steve. Just wondering if some masala sauce might bring a lot more to the party to get colour and "that flavour" into the dish   Good luck with your search Dajoca