G'day Phil,

Did that give it away, sorry mate, 'A' for Australian, which I've denoted as it's a very different practice to how curries are made in the UK.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi CA,

There is a subtle smokeyness to the normal Butter Chicken, which I think actually comes from the fried onions.

As BB mentioned, they are fried/cooked in oil until very dark brown and caramelized, probably further than caramelized and then the other things go in at various stages. BTW, thanks BB for the explanation in your post, I couldn't have said it better myself.

However, as the people you have talked to have mentioned, the smokeyness also comes from the chicken tikka. But it doesn't necessarily have to come from the tandoor. The Butter Chicken is normally made from pre-cooked chicken and most times so too is the CTM. However in the last class that we did, we did CTM with the chicken cooked in the oven. The dish had a great smokeyness to it and it was just done in the oven, 200C for 20 mins, then chopped into small pieces. I remember being quite surprised at how good it came out from the oven compared with the tandoor chicken.

Also, we don't use any pastes at all, so no Pataks/Pascos or anything like that in the marinades.

The butter gravy is similar to the ones where I had a chef come out and teach me at home, it was his version of the same thing. This is by far superior and from what I still consider the best tasting Indian food in Brisbane, I was just lucky to meet the Chef in my quest to learn how it is done.

I've got a bit of footage that I have to edit together of some tandoori chicken being cooked as well.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi NJ,

Oil, whole spices, onions, methi, ginger, garlic, powdered spices, tomato paste, water, sugar, red color, almond powder, salt. I think that's about it.

I can't give the exact recipe on the forum as this is how the chef makes his living in the restaurant and cooking classes.

Cheers,
MM

Hi Guys,

Here is a short clip making a Butter Chicken, it's all done without high heat and we don't use mixed powder or the such.

We'll be making this in our cooking classes this weekend all done in frypans and the taste will be exactly the same as what is made in the restaurant.

Due to serving customers and doing other things I didn't capture from start to finish with the garnishing but it will give you a good idea of how it is done different to BIR.

Regards,
MM

Indian Restaurant - Butter Chicken

Hi Guys,

Maybe a different approach could be used for the next lot of group cooking classes with Az.

Why not see how much it would cost to get Az to come to one of your houses instead of the restaurant and get him to make the base and some curries there. That way you could definitely say one way or another whether the result can be done at home or not?

Get a good video camera and video the whole lot for future reference too.

I've recently recorded some videos in the restaurant, we don't use hot oil to fry spices in the making of dishes, well with the exception of popping some mustard seeds or the like, and the taste is great.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi Folks,

When I come home from working in the restaurant, or even at the cooking classes we run which is a good 6-7 hours of prep and cooking. I reek of curry, now I can't even smell it, but my wife can.

The next morning though, I can smell it in my clothes or even in my backpack that I take.

In fact, I could even smell it in the plastic bag that I had the extension cord packed in!

The aroma gets everywhere and it is just due to those things being in the kitchen where things are being fried, boiled, and the subsequent particles being absorbed into whatever is around. So yes, brown paper bags that have been in the restaurant will absorb some of those particles and will smell.

People walking in to the restaurant will smell it, but those who have been in the cooking classes all day won't as they have been in there all day. But they will smell it the next day on things.

Cheers,
Mark

Thanks SP, have just watched and a great view.

At the end he adds it to a pot and puts it on the flame, not sure if this was without the onion mix that was cooked, or with the onions and how long cooked for before blending.

Hopefully this will help trigger people's memories from when there for those last bits of it.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi SP,

Great, looking forward to viewing.

I noticed watching the short half one that is already on line for the Red Masala, you see 1 chef spooon of Methi leaves go in, someone taking notes a little later reads out a list and says either a tablespoon or dessert spoon of Methi leaves.

The visual will definitely help it all come together.

Thanks again for viewing it and working through it.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi George,

Yes, it's very interesting in there. I'm out of the kitchen at the moment waiting for the new restaurant setup to be finished.

I've actually found it the other way round though, in that what I thought would make big inconsistencies haven't. For example some days the spice delivery might not have come through. We use whole spices in the gravies, in the onion gravy for example there's cloves, big/brown cardamom, cinnamon sticks and curry leaves. The base gravy missing 2 or three of these items would have tasted quite different I thought, but to me it didn't and still produced great dishes.

That being said though, the chef always tastes and adjusts if the flavor is not quite right. I mentioned that as being one of the big secrets, ie tasting, but I don't think I fully conveyed what I meant. The chef will taste it and if it is not quite right he knows what needs to be added to correct it. I can taste the gravy and know that it is not quite right, but have no idea as to what/how to fix, I can try things but it would probably go around in a big circle whereas he will say add this or that etc and get it right.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi Ray,

The chicken wings were marinated in yogurt, ginger, garlic and vinegar for a day, and then in the tandoori marinade for another 8 hours.

They were then thrown into the deep fryer with skin on. He got a big bag of them from the supplier, probably isn't a big demand for chicken wings around the place.

I was a bit skeptical at first as to how they would taste but they were incredible. Kind of KFC meets India, was lucky that there was any left to go into the biryani to be honest they were that good.

The biriyani was served with 3 wings per serve.

Cheers,
Mark