10,000 views  in 6 months
Not bad, but i had hoped for a lot more by now.
Anyway, If it has brought any new members to this forum then it was all worth it. 

Cheers, Frank. 

Thats the smell right there!

TEJ PATTA and PANCH PORAN ......The  Legendary Indian Mexican curry bandits  ;D                                                                                                                          (If only i was a cartoonist    Such great character names.)

Quote from: DalPuri on April 20, 2012, 10:52 AM

Quote from: Razor on April 20, 2012, 09:53 AM


My usuall method is to start off with way too much oil, and then spoon off what I don't want at the end.  I filter this and store in the fridge, then use it to start off my next curry.  For me, it seems to add a little depth and sweetness but, it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't have it.  Maybe you guy's would like to adopt that method to produce a more realistic and practical way of getting your seasoned oil?

Ray

The best bir aroma ive had to date,( and taste i might add after turning into a Bombay aloo) is from pre-cooking potatoes. Without doubt, its a Homer Simpson drooling smell and flavour you just have to swear out loud to yourself, "thats f*****g beautiful!"

The recipe is from one of Mick's (CBM) quotes

Quote
For 2 lb of potatoes,
150 ml of veg oil
1 tennis ball sized finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon of garlic/ginger paste
Cassia bark 2" x 1" piece
1 bay leaf (Asian)
1 tablespoon of panch phoran
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of tomato puree watered down 50/50
2 teaspoons of turmeric powder
1 tablespoon of mix powder
Water to cover

I now use this, with the addition of a BIG pinch of methi leaves and 1 litre or more of veg oil to make my spiced oil.
I just make sure i stop the cooking before the potatoes break down, then strain off the oil.

A similar method to you Ray, as in overcompensate and strain off.

Frank 

P.s.  I tasted my bhaji oil after a good few batches and it was barely flavoured at all, bordering on just old veg oil. In fact, Old chip fat tasted better  ;D

Quote from: DalPuri on May 07, 2012, 11:55 AM
Haldi and Jerry, have you ever made the recipe quoted from CBM for pre-cooked potatoes?

This is the ONLY recipe i've made that has a truly BIR aroma when cooked.
I've mentioned on a couple of occasions how good this is and is now what i use to make extra seasoned oil.
The only difference is i add 1 tbsp of methi and maybe 1 litre of oil.
the reason i started adding methi was because its a good enough recipe on its own let alone only being used for pre-cooking.
(Sometimes i've added base gravy too out of sheer laziness if not using for seasoned oil  )

The oil can have a slight sourness in smell after a week or so as it hits the pan which is no bad thing. I think it just matures in smell and taste and adds BIR to each dish thats cooked with it.
(Mick, i was really surprised not to see this in your book as its MILES better than the included pre-cooked recipe, a real gem.  )

That additional special BIR flavour definitely comes from oil and its created from whole spices and recycling.

I always add plenty of this oil to each curry which gets spooned off and saved for the next.


Frank. 

The Curry Guys

Just an observation CA of how I saw one Indian family treat  their spices.
They called it "making a masala" .
When i say one family, i dont just mean one household.
I checked them out on facebook recently, Man they've been busy! there's 100's of em now.
I would imagine that all the grandchildren and even great grandchildren are all cooking curries following their grandmothers recipes and tecniques.
It could well have been confined to that family only, but i can say without doubt that their curries were fantastic! 

KP?

When i lived with an anglo indian family, they would always add their spices to a glass with either water or vinegar (depending on the curry) and then add this to the frying onions.
Consistency was runny and not a thick paste.
I never saw them add spices direct into the oil.

Cheers, Frank. 

p.s. I dont do this myself now although i may have done 25 years ago when learning their recipes.

Maybe Nat can stick a portion of gravy in his tumbler for a few hours  ;D

Hi CH, day 1 was the first post of this thread.
I made a big batch of gravy monday night. Half was frozen and half was taken with me to Scotland. I froze the remainder of the gravy i travelled home with after making a curry and all except tonights curry were cooked with butter ghee and mustard oil as stated in the first post.

Frank. 

Right then, 
4 days 4 curries.
The only difference between day 1 and the rest was i used a yellow pepper day 1 and a red pepper for the other 3 days.

2nd day.
Same curry same ingredients but with fresh frozen gravy.(same batch)  Result = not as good

3rd day.
Same curry same ingredients but with mature frozen gravy. Result = as good as day 1.

4th day.
Same curry but with veg oil and mature frozen gravy. Result = as good as day 1.

It Definately made a difference!

Maybe the difference was that this gravy hadn't been kept in the fridge and was stored above room temp for 2-3 days. (it Was a hot few days)
How hot does a BIR kitchen get with the gravy left out all day and possibly all night, even 2 days?

So from now on my gravy will be sitting on the worktop for as long as i dare before freezing. ;D

Cheers, Frank. 

p.s. there are two other possibilities. yellow pepper (doubt it) and the sloshing about for 500 miles. But I still think mature gravy sounds the most likely conclusion to me. 

Hi Ajoy and welcome to the forum.
I first posted two of your videos and a link to your site back in february which i think was overlooked by many on here.
Sadly for many members the words "traditional indian" reads like "the Germans" episode of Faulty Towers, whispers "dont mention the war"  :

Hopefully you can remove some of these blinkers and teach (like i've always said) A good curry is a good curry, Regardless.

Cheers, Frank. 

I came back from a wee camping trip up in Scotland yesterdee and made a great friday night curry.
But what made it so good?

Was it because i used the leftover gravy that i cooked monday night,(i took 8 portions with me) travelled up with very early wed morning in a cool box then came back down uncooled? (smelt and tasted fine so i thought why not.)

Was it because the G/G was also uncooled for 3 days? dont think so.

Or was it because the only oil i have was still wedged somewhere in the boot of the half unpacked car and so i used butter ghee and mustard oil instead? ( i couldn't detect any flavour of the ghee/mustard oil in the final dish)

I'll make it again with a fresh frozen portion of gravy next time to see if it was the combination of ghee/mustard oil. If not, It'll be old gravy for the second experiment 

Frank.