Topic: Viceroy Brasserie Abbots Langley: Chef Imram

[Salvador Dhali]

I love Mr. Naga and i also love and prefer the flavour of scotch bonnets, (in fact, next time i go to london, the guy down the trinidadian place is going to sell me a large coke bottles worth of his hot sauce for a tenner  ;D Pure SB flavour!)
but to sell dishes as "Naga" when theyre actually scotch bonnets. ...hmmmm, i would feel duped.

A bit like passing off Pollack as Cod?
or supermarkets selling 2" long chillies and calling them birds eye chillies

Good point, but I don't think they make that claim on any of their dishes (certainly, having just browsed their menu on their website, I can find no reference to a dish with naga in it).

From watching the videos that Ali puts up, they add some of their 'naga'/scotch bonnet sauce to hotter dishes such as Madras and Vindaloo to add extra heat and another layer of flavour. As you'll see from the recipe, there's a goodly amount of panch poran and garlic in that sauce, which along with the chillies will give a lift to just about anything.

As it turns out, there does seem to be a chillie called the African naga: http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=da&u=http://billiggro.dk/chili/211-african-naga-chili.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522african%2Bnaga%2522%2Bchilli%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3De2D%26tbo%3Dd%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26biw%3D1760%26bih%3D855&sa=X&ei=XYa7UNWpCOWb1AW364DwDQ&ved=0CEgQ7gEwAQ:

Anyway, I'm not going to get too bogged down in semantics. Looking forward to trying it out in my next vindaloo!

[natterjak]

I'm loving Ali's videos, he seems very generous with his knowledge and I hope there will be many more to come. Has anyone got the link to the blog he keeps mentioning? I can't see the link anywhere. Thanks

[Peripatetic Phil]

I'm loving Ali's videos, he seems very generous with his knowledge and I hope there will be many more to come. Has anyone got the link to the blog he keeps mentioning? I can't see the link anywhere. Thanks

I think it could be here.
** Phil.

[curryhell]

It just gets better and better.  Saag bhaji uploaded along with chapatis 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENx_bN9mJAQ&feature=bf_next&list=ULUKfbzju4cVI

[Kashmiri Bob]

OMG!  Lamb Saag this weekend for sure.  Had a go several times in the past.  Fresh spinach or frozen block.  Just chucked it in the pan; never worked out.  This is totally new info for me.  Ali is the man!

Rob 

[Peripatetic Phil]

I've just watched the base sauce series (7 or 8 parts), and then the Chicken Madras (2 parts); my impression is that the base sauce added to the Chicken Madras was considerably more fluid than that which we saw at the end of the base sauce series.  What do others think ?  I was very surprised that Chef Imran added only just over a pint of water to 1kg onions; for the same amount of onions, Kris Dhillon adds 2 3/4 pints, as do I.

** Phil.

[natterjak]

Phil, I think this is one of the perils of restaurant chefs trying to adapt their recipes to be suitable for home users. Instead of just showing how they normally cook a batch of base in the restaurant they've filmed a small "home size" batch of base. You can be sure they have never cooked such a small quantity of base in the restaurant and chances are they've got the ratios of some of the ingredients a bit wrong.

I was pretty disappointed when i saw that video because I'd much prefer to see a full size base being cooked so we know that we are seeing how they actually cook their base, not a one-off attempt to scale things down where we are reliant on their maths being right (judging from the outcome it wasn't.)

[Salvador Dhali]

I've just watched the base sauce series (7 or 8 parts), and then the Chicken Madras (2 parts); my impression is that the base sauce added to the Chicken Madras was considerably more fluid than that which we saw at the end of the base sauce series.  What do others think ?  I was very surprised that Chef Imran added only just over a pint of water to 1kg onions; for the same amount of onions, Kris Dhillon adds 2 3/4 pints, as do I.

** Phil.

As Natterjack points out, it's no doubt partly down to the problems associated with scaling down recipes - and partly to do with the limitations of the YouTube 10-minutes per clip max. (And I think Ali will be the first to admit that he's only just starting to get to grips with all this. Not a bad start though!)

But we must also consider that each chef has their own approach to preparing a base. Some prefer to use plenty of water and get a good rolling boil going, others prefer little to no water and a gentle tickover. Either way, all of them will adjust to the consistency they like by adding extra water at the blending stage (and indeed after, as bases tend to thicken when left overnight).

Although they may have a few shortcomings in terms of quantities/methods, etc., I must say I'm enjoying these regular video exposes from the Viceroy. They're refreshingly 'real' and honest (or at least they come across that way).

[Salvador Dhali]

OMG!  Lamb Saag this weekend for sure.  Had a go several times in the past.  Fresh spinach or frozen block.  Just chucked it in the pan; never worked out.  This is totally new info for me.  Ali is the man!

Rob 

Rob, if you're into your saag do have a good read of this thread: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7892.0 

I'm not mentioning it because I started it, but because of the subsequent development work from other forum contributors. For instance, although the Viceroy prepares their saag with no spicing (fine for adding to other dishes, such as saag aloo, lamb saag, etc), if you're wanting a saag bhaji as a standalone side dish, then it really does benefit from the addition of some subtle spices. Even just a touch of turmeric gives it a lovely lift into BIR heaven, but as CH and others have found, a little mix powder takes it a stage further.

[Kashmiri Bob]

OMG!  Lamb Saag this weekend for sure.  Had a go several times in the past.  Fresh spinach or frozen block.  Just chucked it in the pan; never worked out.  This is totally new info for me.  Ali is the man!

Rob 

Rob, if you're into your saag do have a good read of this thread: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7892.0 

I'm not mentioning it because I started it, but because of the subsequent development work from other forum contributors. For instance, although the Viceroy prepares their saag with no spicing (fine for adding to other dishes, such as saag aloo, lamb saag, etc), if you're wanting a saag bhaji as a standalone side dish, then it really does benefit from the addition of some subtle spices. Even just a touch of turmeric gives it a lovely lift into BIR heaven, but as CH and others have found, a little mix powder takes it a stage further.

Thanks Salvador.  Great reading.  I havent had proper saag in years.  It seems to have disappeared from many TA menus here, and where available served as a watery gloop.  I will be squeezing my defrosted blocks like a good un later on today. Also slicing lots of garlic in readiness for UBs naan recipe.

Rob