This is a recipe to make oil infused with curry flavours which can then be used whenever you cook a curry main dish - just use in place of your normal oil. I'll say up front the real credit for this recipe belongs to forum member IFindForu, as it has been developed from the recipe he already posted for pre-cooked chicken (here:
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7611.0)
You may wonder if it's worth going to the trouble of making a spiced oil such as this, given you could easily just use plain veg oil or used bhaji oil as some do. It has to be left to you to decide, but IMHO using this oil has lifted my curries to a new level and gives a fantastic BIR-like aroma and flavour to the dish. I'm not going to claim it's "the taste" because I never quite know what people mean by that, but it's good enough to make this an essential part of my curry routine.
Ingredients (yield is around 4litres of oil but of course you could scale down if you wish)
- 3 large onions finely sliced
- 3 salad tomatoes (normal tomatoes) cut into eight pieces each
- 4.5 litres vegetable or sunflower oil
- 6 asian bay leaves torn into pieces
- 4 pieces of cassia bark about 2 inches long
- 10 green cardamons crushed with the back of a spoon to open them a little
- Three quarters of a chef's spoon garlic and ginger paste (50/50)
- 1 rounded chef's spoon mix powder (your favourite blend)
- 1 rounded tablespoon tomato puree
- 2 rounded teaspoon salt
- optional: 6 cloves of garlic peeled and lightly crushed
Some pics....
3 large onions finely sliced and 3 tomatoes cut pirate-style (pieces of eight!)
Whole spicesMethodFirst heat 1 cup (150ml) of oil in a large high sided stockpot (I used a 6 litre pot) on a high hob heat (max on my electric halogen hob) and when hot add the whole spices to fry for around three mins. The cassia should have tiny bubbles coming from it and the asian bay leaves should have a hint of brown about them before you move onto the next stage.
Frying the whole spicesAdd the garlic and ginger paste and fry till the water evaporates from it and the colour starts to change. You're not looking for browning as such but at least some slight darkening to signal the raw flavours have gone. Now add the onions and tomatoes and keep the heat up on full unless your hob is making the ingredients catch on the base of the pan. Add the salt at this stage (it helps break down the onions)
Someone ordered noodles? (starting to fry the onions and toms)Fry very well.... on my electric hob this takes 15 mins during which time you'll see the onions go through the various stages of softening and then going translucent, then starting to brown and finally becoming a kind of mush where much of the water is gone... The tomatoes should have melted away so only the odd bit of tomato skin hints at their presence.... see pics:
Frying, but not ready yet
more or less there, just a bit moreNow add the tomato puree and mixed powder and keep frying for a further two mins... it should look like this:
Well fried onions with mixed powder and tom puree addedAs this will start to stick after a couple of mins, add half a cup (70 or 80ml) water and then reduce down again for a further few mins. At this stage you want to get everything as well fried as you can without burning.
Now... either add the remaining oil with the garlic and bring up to a low simmer on the hob OR transfer the spices / onion mix to a slow cooker and add the rest of the oil and garlic then bring up to a boil on High heat setting then simmer on low. Tip: preheat the slow cooker on HIGH for 20 mins while you're frying the onions, etc..
I have only ever cooked the final stage of this recipe using a slow cooker and find that although it will take around 90 mins on high to get the oil to the boil, the nice very low controllable simmer you get when you switch down to low is ideal for a long cook to fully infuse the spices into the oil without burning the onions. I would imagine when cooking on the hob it will be hard to get the simmer low enough to ensure nothing burns, as you are essentially deep frying for a long time.
The oil frying at a low simmer in the slow cooker on LOW with garlic floatingIn the slow cooker once simmering, stir every hour and after three hours when the onion residue at the bottom of the pan is dark brown and the oil is a rich ruby red, the oil is done. Squash the garlic cloves after 90 to 120 mins and the soft innards should come out into the oil. On the hob you would have to observe and adjust timings according to your judgement.
Filtering will take a while, be patientWhen cooked, allow to settle and cool then filter through a funnel lined with a coffee filter paper. The first time I made this I used muslin cloth but it didn't filter finely enough and the oil was cloudy. It's important to get it clear and I filter twice (use a new filter paper on the second time) to get the oil fully clear.
slow cooker residue, discard once you separate all the oil
The end product, rich savory and delicious oil - totally BIR!There is some wastage along the way so the yield will be around 3.9 litres of oil from 4.5l to start with. That's a lot of spiced oil so I keep it in lock'n'lock tubs in the freezer (1.3l and 2.6l) and just scoop some into a beaker in the fridge, enough to last me a couple of weeks at a time. The oil when frozen has a jelly-like consistency and will melt quickly:
Easy to scoop the oil, ice cream style, from a frozen tub fullI hope a few of you will try this, I think it's a reliable method and the results are excellent, but interested in feedback as always!
