Quote from: Curry King on March 11, 2005, 02:50 PM
Give it a go if what you tried before was different as this comes out spot on.

What do you think of Kris Dhillon's method (using some of the green coloured boiled onion mixture as the simmering liquid?)

I've found that Kris Dhillon's method produces the best results for chicken but not for lamb.

I will give your recipe a go - it sounds as if it may produce nicely spiced chicken.

Gareth.

Quote from: Mark J on March 05, 2005, 06:53 PM
Did you precook it? I suspect meat like this would need about an hour to get tender

Tenderness wasn't a problem - it was actually very tender and only required 45 minutes of cooking. Having said that the flavour wasn't great - I should have at least marinated it over night.

I used Kris Dhillon's recipe (4 tablespoons of green onion sauce and turmeric in oil and simmered with the lid on for 40 to 45 minutes).

The problem is that the fat in the meat (big wedges of fat in each chunk) tends to break up thus breaking the chunks in to 3 or even more tiny bits.

Maybe boiling the meat in water would be a better bet.

Gareth.

Quote from: graeme on February 28, 2005, 03:58 PM
I used the same minced lamp from the same store,
cost about ?3.80 for a large own brand pack.

The Tesco diced lamb was bloody awful - I used it yesterday and I won't be buying it again. So much for simple solutions ;-)

The problem is that there's a large amount of visible fat in the cubes and when the lamb cooks the fat breaks the cubes in 3 or more bits so that you end up with tiny parcels of browned lamb. It isn't possible to remove the fat before cooking because it forms such an integral part of the cubes.

Oh well, it was worth a try.

Gareth.

Quote from: George on March 03, 2005, 12:34 AM

Quote from: Gareth on March 02, 2005, 07:34 PMSo little things - such as the tried and tested efficiency of a confident and experienced chef - can make a big difference.

I'm prepared to have my opinion modified on whether the vast majority of UK Indian resturant curries taste more-or-less the same. I would guess they're sort of made to effectively the same recipe, but the skill of the chef and the quality of the fresh ingredients can make a difference to the final result in any one place, at any one time.

I think the differences are probably quite small in terms of basic technique and, yes, I agree that the similarities are probably more apparent than the differences. But I really do believe that small differences can make the difference between a below average curry and a superb curry.

One thing I've found is that using the freshest ingredients doesn't always produce the best results - a sauce base left to stew in the fridge for a few days certainly, imvho, produces a richer tasting curry for example.

Gareth.

Quote from: George on March 02, 2005, 09:59 AM

Quote from: Curry King on March 02, 2005, 08:29 AM
What about Pat Chapman and Kris Dhillon, I wouldn't say ive made anything from their books that was "the" restaurant taste, close yes, but not right

I agree. Pat Chapman is the worst. The observations reported at this forum of actual take-away kitchen 'how it's done' activity seem very credible to me, which is why I think this forum is so good - a worthwhile cause.

So how come Pat Chapman's account(s) of 'how it's done' are so different?

I don't know but it is one of my pet hates - how Pat Chapman has managed to get away with almost misleading advice. Kris Dhillon has at least given the basics and her sauce and other recipes are a very respectable starting point for the search for the restaurant taste. Her sauce isn't at all bad as a base and it is possible to produce a passable authentic restaurant curry following her instructions.

I hear what you say about the Madhuban probably being no different to anywhere else. But little things can make a difference. Up until the middle of last year I had the pleasure of visiting, by far, the best Indian restaurant I've ever experienced: it was in Staines (believe it or not!) They obviously changed the chef (or something just as fundamental) because overnight it went from absolute excellence (seriously) to something below average and completely unacceptable.

So little things - such as the tried and tested efficiency of a confident and experienced chef - can make a big difference. I don't know how easy it is to replicate that at home. I don't know how easy it is to bottle it either.

I'm procrastinating on whether or not to buy the Madhuban sauces (minimum order for delivery of about ?14 although that does consist of 4 tubs and delivery is included).

Gareth.

Quote from: graeme on February 28, 2005, 03:58 PM
However I used the same minced lamp for a pie, and it was horrid,
with the mince sitting in a pool of fat, even after boiling the mince
and draining, I poured boiling water over it too!

But for Kabab's etc great stuff.

Yuck! That doesn't sound good at all.

The diced lamb, which I haven't yet used, does look very good though - especially so for the price. The cut isn't described in detail (leg, shoulder...) but this is at least probably honest - I suspect it's a bit of everything. It does look very nice however. The only criticism is that the cubes are a bit artificial looking as if cut by machine calibrated to cut in literal cubes.

Gareth.

Quote from: PACMAN on February 28, 2005, 05:36 PM
one to miss if you are trying to achieve a fresh restaurant taste

Well, I emailed them with a question about retailers on Sunday and I still haven't got a reply so I've delayed putting in an order - I figured, a bit unfairly in hindsight, that if they can't answer emails then they I shouldn't throw very hard earned cash after their sauces.

Still, I'm off work on "holiday" this week so it's an ideal time to accept delivery. I will probably put in an order later tonight (after another beer or 3).

I'll prepare the sauce dish according to some of the recipes here (i.e. I'll treat it like a base sauce) and then I'll report back.

I also intend to visit the Madhuban restaurant in the near future - it's striking distance of Pompey (Portsmouth for the uninitiated) and it does have a good reputation. I'll report back about that also (probably in the next 3 weeks). Is there anything anyone would like me to ask/look out for?

Gareth.

After more than just a bit of searching I realise that I missed the obvious source for cheap diced lamb: the local supermarket!

Tesco sells frozen NZ diced lamb - 500g - for about ?1.68 which is very good value for money. The odd thing about the lamb (and also the frozen diced chicken they sell) is that it can be cooked from frozen.

It's very good value for money and the 500g bag of diced lamb (or 400g bag of diced "Grade A" chicken for about ?1.98) can easily service 2 people.

I actually spent months looking at expensive butcher prices and was coming to the conclusion that it isn't possible to get good value for money lamb in the UK.

Gareth.

Well, my last post asking about the Curry Sauce Company didn't get much of a response - which may or may not say something about the sauces!

I see that Pat Chapman informally endorses the sauces made by the following company:

http://www.madhuban.co.uk/index.html

Has anyone tried sauces from this company?

I intend to order some on Monday so if anyone's interested, come Tuesday hopefully, I'll give some feedback.

Gareth.

600ml sounds like a huge amount of oil to use - has anyone tried the recipe with less oil?

Also, I wonder what a good weight of onions would be - 2lb?

Gareth.