My Ajwain seeds said Lovage seeds in brackets - This is the East End brand so it seems quite an oversight for a large company if Ajwain is actually different from Lovage in reality.

Never the less for the purposes of this recipe. No other Lovage seeds were available except the ones labeled as Ajwain in the asian food store so I would just use these.

You need to delve into the "Buckfast Triangle" to sample it. Which the capital is Monklands (Airdrie & Coatbridge). Me being from Airdrie I have of course tried it. Need to try make it - I make a nice curry with a splash of red wine, so it should just be a case of a splash of that and reducing it a little. 

If you have never tried Buckfast curry you should give it a try 

Yeah. Because each spice takes a different amount of time to release "just" the right amount of essential oil. To get the best flavour you want to give the effort to each spice rather than bung them all on the hot pan at once.

It is a well known fact that dry curry leaves contain very little flavour through - most native indians would scowl back home at the thought of dried leaves. Again adding them in the oil very early is the only good way to get the flavour out of them.. unless your curry is swimming in oil at the end which I dont like.

I have gave up with recipe requests. I have learned too well now that recipe names in a restaurant means absolutely nothing. Most just name things as they want.

There was a quote once about chicken tikka masalas, and that from hundreds tested up and down the country the common factor in them was chicken.

I have gave up trying to recreate individual dishes by name, but more rather try to recreate a dish, by taste, smell and visible ingredients.

I have long gave up experimenting with bases, as I dont think the secret is in the base. As long as the base has the right amount of oil, right consistancy and is cooked long enough it will work fine.

I more enjoy experimenting with main dishes.

Fry some garlic and ginger. Throw in some pine nuts and onion, put in spices, throw in a little beetroot, add a little red wine, add chicken, add some base sauce.



My home gas cooker is more powerful than any I have owned in the past and with it being a new house the gas supply seems brilliant compared to my last place which was very weak and my currys are substantially different than in my old house using the same methods.

Going off topic again now though lol.

I roast each spice individually and then grind. This is so so much
better than any commercial masala which is never roasted.

I dont use exact quantities as such when making up my masalas,
I just get some coriander seeds, some cumin seeds, some lovage seeds
etc to the proportion that feels right.

As long as the quantities are roughly right in proportion to the other
spices the taste will come out the same. A clove more or less isnt going
to make a difference imho.

A local round my way sells a Chicken Tawa as the Chef's Special. Very hot, with spinage, quite dry.

The dish is served on a roasting hot iron sizzle platter, which is where I can only assume they have injected the "Tawa" name onto it.

Same Mix... I forgot some of the ingredients out there.  ;D

Recipe for Pat Chapman's Balti Masala Mix moved to here by CA https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2454.0.html