Topic: Chicken Madras, posted at Cory Ander's request.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Twice recently Cory Ander has asked me to post my recipe for Chicken Madras, but lack of time and a focus on Chinese cuisine has prevented me from making one until today.  What follows is a verbatim transcript of the ingredients and preparation, but I include notes to indicate where improvements or alterations might be considered.

Ingredients :

• 2 large free-range chicken breasts (skinned)
• G/G paste (I use preservative-free 50:50, YMMV)
• Patak's Kashmiri Masala (paste, in jar)
• Bassar Curry Masala
• Deggi Mirch
• Kashmiri Mirch
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Fenugreek (seeds, not leaves)
• Hot Madras Curry Powder (I used Bolsts, but Rajah is equally good)
• Chat Masala
• Sea Salt (coarse crystals)
• Tomato paste/puree, double- or triple-concentrated
• Fresh lime
• Fresh Coriander
• Base (see below)

The base is modified KD1 : 2 3/4 pints chicken stock, 2lb onions, 1 orange pepper, 2oz ginger, 2oz garlic, 1/2 oz fresh turmeric, 1 teaspoon sea salt.

• Cut onions in half, pepper in quarters,
• blend garlic, ginger and turmeric with 1/2 pint stock,
• bring to boil in pressure cooker,
• reduce heat to just maintain pressure,
• cook until onions soft (maybe 1H30). 
• Liquidise for at least two minutes,
• pass through sieve or mouli (mainly because fibrous nature of fresh turmeric).

Method (a synthesis of KD1 and CR0) :

• Put 3/4 pint of base in small saucepan on stove and heat but do not boil;
• keep hot but not boiling.
• Cut the breasts into curry-sized piece,
• put a little oil in a wok or similar,
• add
  
  • 1 teaspoon g/g paste (all measures are rounded),
  • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Masala paste
• heat gently until bubbles seen to come off. 
• Add chicken pieces,
• increase heat and stir continuously to coat the chicken pieces with the spices and g/g.
• Keep stirring and turning until the chicken pieces are white all over.
• Reduce the heat, place a lid on the pan, and leave to cook at a low heat until the chicken pieces are /just/ firm. 
• Empty contents of pan into pre-warmed container and set aside but do not keep in warm oven or the chicken will dry up.
• Place about 5 tablespoons of oil (ideally spiced oil, but not essential) in wok,
• add
  
  • one teaspoon g/g paste,
  • 1 teaspoon Bassar curry masala,
  • 1 teaspoon Degghi Mirch,
  • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Mirch,
  • 1 teaspoon Hot Madras Curry Powder,
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt. 
• Place the wok on a low heat, stir continuously, and be prepared to quench when bubbles are seen to come off (use your own judgement as to for how long to bhoon the spices). 
• When ready, quench with one tablespoon tomato paste diluted with two tablespoons boiling water.
• Increase heat to maximum and immediately add one ladle of base.
• Keep stirring. 
• As sauce thickens, add second ladle of base.
• -- Ditto -- for third ladle. 
• Add remaining base. 
• Keep stirring. 
• As soon as all is bubbling fiercely, add chicken and stir.
• Reduce heat to the point where spattering is minimised but no further. 
• Stop stirring and cook for five minutes.

At this point the curry can be tasted : it should taste good and edible, and if you like to experiment with minimal spicing, you can stop at this point and eat it.  Otherwise read/carry on ...

• Reduce the heat.
• Add
  
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons ground cumin,
  • 1 teaspoon ground fenugreek,
  • 1/4 teaspoon chat masala
  and stir well. 
• Cook for a further three minutes. 
• Add chopped coriander stalks, stir, then add 2/8 lime. 
• Turn off heat and leave to rest for two minutes.

Serve with pulao rice, chapatti, red onion and tomato salad, and if you want to liven it up further, Chinthe Burmese lime pickle.  Enjoy.

** Phil.

---------
Notes :

• With 1 teaspoon Bassar Curry Masala, 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Mirch and 1 teaspoon Deggi Mirch, there will be some afterburn on the lips.  If this is felt to be undesirable, eliminate the Deggi Mirch; if still too much afterburn, eliminate the Kashmiri Mirch
• 3/4 pints of base will give you a fairly thick sauce; if you would prefer a thinner sauce you can increase the base slightly, but I would not go beyond 1 pint otherwise the sauce will lack depth.
• I would normally follow KD and add one liquidised tin of peeled plum tomatoes, paprika and oil to the base, then cook for a further 25 minutes.  On this occasion I completely forgot (mainly because my Kenwood Major liquidiser base seized up for the first time in its very long life, and by the time I had succeeded in freeing it, I had completely forgotten what I was going to do next).  Despite this, the curry was just as good as normal.  Sometimes simpler is better (or at least as good !).
• Fresh turmeric stains everything with which it comes into contact; the best way to avoid your blender (etc) becoming yellow for life is to spray it with Dettox Mould & Mildew as soon as you have removed the pureed turmeric from it.  If the turmeric is concentrated, it wil turn red; wash well, then re-spray with mould & mildew, and repeat until no part of it turns red, then wash and rinse thoroughly.  If you get turmeric stains on your tablecloth, lift it off the table with a thick pad of kitchen paper, then spray with mould &mildew.  Obviously this last should be done only with a white tablecloth, as mould & mildew contains bleaching agents.

[Tommy Timebomb]

No matter what I could say about this post Phil would be an understatement.
You certainly have delivered the goods.

[curryhell]

Obviously one for an up market establishment Phil  .  Before the comments start maybe the critics should try it first eh?? :

[colin grigson]

Thanks Phil !!

I can't wait for the first person to give this a go ( I'm dieting otherwise I would !  ) and reporting back , It looks different to the 'norm' recipe on here for sure and I can imagine it tasting great cooked to spec ... you couldn't tease us with a few pics Phil 

[Tommy Timebomb]

Obviously one for an up market establishment Phil  .  Before the comments start maybe the critics should try it first eh?? :

I was actually referring to what a concise and well put together posting.
Unfortunately this is out of my league at the minute but like many of the recipes on here it is one that I would like to get around to at some point.
I'm sure some of the more experienced people will be able to give criticism to the recipe constructive or not!

[curryhell]

Obviously one for an up market establishment Phil  .  Before the comments start maybe the critics should try it first eh?? :

I was actually referring to what a concise and well put together posting.
Unfortunately this is out of my league at the minute but like many of the recipes on here it is one that I would like to get around to at some point.
I'm sure some of the more experienced people will be able to give criticism to the recipe constructive or not!

No criticism of your reply meant TT.  My comment was aimed at any who may be tempted to pull  Phil's recipe apart before they've even tried it, as does sometimes happen  .

[Tommy Timebomb]

My apologies for jumping the gun CH. 

[curryhell]

My apologies for jumping the gun CH. 

Not your fault.  Maybe my post could have been a little clearer :

[Secret Santa]

Obviously one for an up market establishment Phil  .  Before the comments start maybe the critics should try it first eh?? :

I don't need to try it to know it isn't a madras as I understand madras. I can tell from the ingredients that it'll be a good BIR curry but the lime, chat masala and Patak's paste ( ) drag it kicking and screaming from old style madras. It'll probably fit in well with the modern interpretation of madras though.

[Peripatetic Phil]

My thanks to all for their comments so far.  A friend came over today to join me at the local (Horsmonden) Gypsy Horse Fair and then help in the garden; in exchange for his help I offered him dinner, for which we had Aloo Tikki, made to Mrs Athwal's recipe, vegetable pakoras (made by Mrs Athwal herself), microwave-cooked pulao rice, and the second half of yesterday's Chicken Madras.  He spontaneously said how good the pulao rice was, so I took the opportunity to ask him for his honest opinion on the other dishes, explaining that I had published the Aloo Tikki and Chicken Madras recipes on this forum; he said that he preferred the Aloo Tikki to the vegetable pakora, and that the Chicken Madras was on a par with that served in his son's favourite Indian restaurant in Tunbridge Wells (Masala, in the Pantiles).  Needless to say I was very pleased at this positive feedback, although I now know that the Chicken Madras recipe was not as intended. 

It is now, unfortunately, too late to amend the initial posting, so I append a couple of pertinent comments below.  Incidentally, the ajwain in the Aloo Tikki has to be tasted to be believed; it really does add a whole new flavour to the Indian arsenal (at least, for those such as myself who do not use ajwain on a regular basis).

You couldn't tease us with a few pics Phil 

Sorry, can't oblige Colin : took none yesterday, and it is now all gone   When I make it again (won't be long, lots of base left !) I will do my best to oblige, although I don't normally photograph my curries as I'm too keen to start eating them once they are ready ...

** Phil.
--------
Additional notes to supplement original posting :

1) The orange pepper was accidentally omitted from the base; I found it in the 'fridge today.
2) The unexpected thickness of the sauce can probably be attributed to two factors : the accidental omission of the liquidised peeled plum tomatoes from the base (see note 3 in original message), and the fact that I failed to maintain the depth of the base constant throughout its cooking, as I have done on previous occasions when using this recipe.

I would strongly recommend that if anyone is tempted to try this recipe, they should ensure that the base levels are as near as possible identical at the beginning and end of the cooking period.  Whether the peeled plum tomatoes are an essential ingredient is moot : KD does not use tomato puree in her Chicken Madras, and I do, so I am already adding tomato that she omits; on the other hand, Secret Santa has argued in a recent message that traditional BIR Chicken Madras was "more tomato-ey than a Vindaloo", so perhaps the addition of the peeled plum tomatoes could help move the flavour in that direction.  For those wishing to try the base with peeled plum tomatoes, I append the modified version below.

The base is modified KD1 : 2 3/4 pints chicken stock, 2lb onions, 1 orange pepper, 2oz ginger, 2oz garlic, 1/2 oz fresh turmeric, 1 teaspoon sea salt.

•     Cut onions in half, pepper in quarters,
•     blend garlic, ginger and turmeric with 1/2 pint stock,
•     bring to boil in pressure cooker,
•     reduce heat to just maintain pressure,
•     cook until onions soft (maybe 1H30).
•     Liquidise for at least two minutes

Added :

• Liquidise one can of peeled plum tomatoes for at least two minutes
• Put four tablespoons of oil into a saucepan
• Add one teaspoon of paprika
• Heat gently until bubbles can be seen coming off
• Add the liquidised peeled plum tomatoes and the onion/garlic/ginger/pepper base
• Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for about half an hour
• Pass through sieve or mouli (mainly because fibrous nature of fresh turmeric).