Definitely smoky taste from all the local takeways around Oxford.

Quote from: Blondie on April 20, 2005, 07:47 PM
I have noticed this taste from one takeaway near me and I wasn't sure if it was a flavour somehow transfered from the Tandoor or from Black or Brown Cardamoms which have a very smokey smell and taste to them.

Thanks Blondie. I'll have a try with cardamom seeds to see if I can get that smokey taste.

After eating a takeaway or restaurant curry, my hands always have a BBQ smokey smell. When reproducing curries at home, they never seem to have this smell.

Has anyone else managed to reproduce this smokey smell and taste in the curry? Any ideas what could be causing it, or whether it could be linked to the missing taste? I don't think it can be from the meat being cooked in the tandoor, as from what I can gather in the forum, the meat isn't usually cooked this way except for Tandoori chicken, etc. Could it be a missing ingredient such as BBQ sauce, which seems to have a smokey smell and taste?

You may very well be correct in that it is a variation from the standard BIR. To some extent, it does depend upon the restaurant you eat as to what the Korma will be like, but, yes, I don't think I've had a BIR Korma with whole spices in.

Hello,

I've had enough of lurking. Have been since the beginning of the forum. Thanks for everything everyone has provided so far.

I make a Korma similar to Ghanna's above.

Before I add anything else, I fry:

a couple of green cardamoms,
3 cloves, about an inch of Cassia bark,
about a teaspoon of whole Coriander seeds, and
1 teaspoon of white cumin seeds

then proceed as Ghanna's recipe.

I love the mixture of tastes that the whole spices (particularly the coriander seeds) add to the Korma.

Thanks,

Stephen