Topic: I got the secret!

[extrahotchillie]

It looks the part

[Madrasandy]

so is there any chance we could see this recipe please! :

[MathematicalPhysicist]

The recipe:
The reason I held back from giving it was that he told me ingredients and procedure, not quantities, so I wanted to give it a trial run to let me guage what to give as the quantities.

BASE SAUCE
10 large onions, roughly chopped.
3 large tablespoons of cumin seeds very lightly toasted
about 1 litre of water.

Bring it all to the boil and then simmer for about 45 mins. Then, puree to a very fine soupy texture. Add 0.5 liters of sunflower oil and return to a low heat for about an hour until the onion particles have lost most of their water content and have browned slightly in the frying process. TURN OFF THE HEAT and immediately add 2 teaspoons of turmeric and 1.5 teaspoons of salt and 0.5 teaspoons of chilli powder. Then leave to cool.

THE CURRY (for 2 - 3 people)

Get some sunflower oil hot in a pan and add 2 tablespoons of homemade (grind in a pestle and mortar) ginger and garlic paste made in a 1:1 ratio by volume. Stir this constantly until it lightly browns - nothing extreme. Now add 2 - 3 tablespoons of tomato puree (the typical double concentrate one) and 2 teaspoons more of ground cumin this time. Stir for about 1 minute. Put in 1/2 a green pepper chopped quite small and half and onion chopped quite small.  Then laddle in about 0.3 litres of the base sauce after stirring it to incorporate the oil. Once this reaches a good rolling boil/fry chuck in 3 chichen breasts previously grilled tikka stylie (as per some other reliable recipe from here). Turn the heat to medium and give it a further 5 minutes and you're done. With the heat off chuck in a good helping of chopped fresh coriander and there you go.

[Yousef]

MathematicalPhysicist,

Thanks for posting this and i suppose until i have tried it i can't comment but surely a curry that consists of only Turmeric and Cumin will have no taste at all?   

Maybe i am wrong but no restaurant spice mix in the base or final curry does not add upto me.

Stew
 

[snowdog]

I have to say there's nothing much different there as far as the base is concerned. And I agree there seems to be something missing.

I made the Bruce Edwards base at the weekend and tried another experimental curry yesterday.

4 tbsp sunflower oil heated and then fry off a medium Spanish onion finely chopped until golden (not crispy). Add a few slices of chopped red and green pepper, then add 1 tbsp of garlic/ginger paste (50:50 like yours) and fry off until it begins to catch (a minute or two). Then add one large chicken breast cut into suitable pieces.

Fry with stirring until the chicken is picking up colour, then add 1 tbsp of the Bruce Edwards spice mix (modified with mustard seeds also included), 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp chilli, 2 tsp ground Methi leaves (I like Methi) and fry some more (I added about another 1-2 tbsp oil at this stage as it got a bit too dry (it was an experiment, remember, and I also misread/didn't read my notes and it should have been 1 tsp of the spice mix).

Then add one portion (200g) of the curry base. Cook on low heat until chicken done, then add another tbsp garlic/ginger and plenty of coriander.

I swear that the house smelled just like a curry shop - and I mean JUST like it - and the curry tasted perfect. The gravy gave it a full flavour (miles better than the Khris Dillon one which just has onions in it). I'm sure the fried garlic/ginger is key to the smell, and the quality of the gravy gives the depth I was always missing (plus it definitely improves the smell - I have a thing about that smell ).

As far as I'm concerned that's it (just about). You get a curry that easily falls within the range of those I've tasted from may various takeaways

Need to experiment with pre-cooking the chicken next - I've never been convinced about that as it is juicier when it is cooked from scratch.

[Panpot]

Hi Snowdog,

Inspirational stuff for a new guy like me. This site is actuallty the best on the whole of the web. It is in severe danger of becoming an obsession in its own right. I am stealing time to check it out and of course every spare thought goes into how to catch up with having a go with the recipies.

Tandoori Chicken with Butter Sauce tonight indeed the chicken is marinading as I type.

I wonder if it is too much for us beginners to ask you guys for a glosary of terms to help us catch up. You see I dont have a clue who Bruce Edwards is and how I would go about trying out his various basics. I even found myself spending half an hour in a big suppermarket in Nice looking for garlic and ginger paste before the penny dropped today that you actuallymake it yourself.

It must make all you regulars wonder but I am sure you will have more and more mebers caught out this wayand given limited time to brouse where do you begin when this site is so wonderful.

There is nothing better than the anticipation of a curry and the smell as you approach your chosen eatery now this site is doing that to me too.

Help

Panpot

[Panpot]

Doh,

I just found frequently asked questions by Curry King, sorry it ionly proves how mad I am with the excitement of the site.

Panpot

[extrahotchillie]

Try this Panpot

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,516.0.html

[Panpot]

Hi again,

I wondered if this little point can help in the 'quest' Last year I watched Rick Stein on his Food Heroes show cook a lamb and spinach curry after visiting an Indian cafe somewhere in England. You probably all seen it too and it is insignificant but the thing that stood out and indeed Stein drew attention to it was that the chef didnt brown the lamb he just added it to cook in the sauce.

I had a go and it was very good but have since lost the recipy maybe this will add something or someone can give a comment on it.

The marinade is calling

Panpot

[snowdog]

panpot, I'm new here, too. I got the Bruce Edwards stuff from the link you have also found.

If it helps, in simplified form:

Spice Mix

Coriander   8 parts
Turmeric   7 parts
Cumin   5 parts
Curry Powder   4 parts
Paprika   4 parts

I used Rajah Hot Madras curry powder when I did it.

Curry Base

A
sunflower oil   150ml
garlic/ginger puree   2tbsp
Spanish Onions   5 very large (6-8 medium)
carrots   4 large
celery sticks   2 large
radishes   6 large
lemon   1/4 whole
tomato   1 large
green pepper   1/2 medium
red pepper   1/2 medium
green chillies   4
salt   4tsp
Ajowan seeds   1tsp
Vegetable ghee   120g
Coriander leaves   1/4 whole bunch

B
tinned tomato   1
tomato puree   2 tsp
Yoghurt   1 tbsp
Spice Mix from above   3 tbsp
Turmeric   2tsp

C
sunflower oil   550mls
tomato puree   1tbsp

Heat the oil and fry the garlic/ginger until light golden. Add a handful of chopped onions and then 1L of water (this stops it spitting). Add everything listed under A, bring to the boil, and simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours covered.

Add everything under B and simmer for another 20 minutes covered.

Blend to a smooth paste and pass through a sieve (I added any unsieved material back to the blender until I got to the last blender-full).

Clean out the pot and heat the oil from C. Add the tomato puree from C and fry gently until it is all broken up and cooked - about 5 minutes.

Add the sieved material back in along with up to 1L of hot water, stir, and simmer until oil rises to the surface and it darkens a little.

Cool the pan in water and then freeze in portions of 200g.

This is just about what Bruce Edwards says - he's a little vague in places - and I found that the consistency of the gravy was spot on without watering it down (something Bruce Edwards talks about doing).

My plan was to make this in exactly these quantities and this method and then experiment next time to see what happens.