Hi guy's,

Yes, I live in Ashton-under-Lyne.  I'm afraid that I have had a take away delivered from East, and it wasn't the best!  Never ordered anything online from them so I didn't see them making my dish.

I did, however, watch the webcam earlier this evening at around 6:00-6:30 when they was making their base.  The usual, onions (lots), tomatoes, red & green peppers.  The really strange thing was they started this off with just oil and really giving it a good stir.  This went on for a good 15mins.  Then they added various spices which was hard to identify because of the webcam quality.  Continued to stir, added tomatoe paste, stirred some more.  Again, this went on for about 10 mins.  Then they added the water.  Dunno how long they boiled it for because my internet went down but Im guessing it was until everything went soft. 

It would have been interesting to see if they added anything more before blending!

Watching them making their curries didn't reveal any revelations.  All pretty standard techniques.  Oil, garlic, spices, meat, base, more base and more base, all in that order.  No reclaimed oil, no onion paste (bunjara) no "secret" ingrdients!  All cooked on very high heat.  Maybe that's the secret ingredient???

It's definately worth a watch, albeit that the food is nothing more than standard.  My problem is, we have got some great curry houses in Manchester especially in Rusholme on the famous curry mile

Ray

Thanks Jerry, 

That's give me a bit to think about and work on.  Ill keep giving it a go.  Like you, I definately think that adding it at the spice frying stage would be best and that's what I'll try in the future.

Thanks for your help Jerry,

Ray

Hi Jerry,

Yeah, I will give the Tandoori masala version a go next time.  When describing the colour, perhaps it would have been more accurate to say Dark red/brown rather than the other way around.  Certainly the oil is red.  I when I said that I would leave out the tomatoe paste, I meant I'd leave it out of the Bhuna and not the Onion paste.

Just a question, how best would you describe the taste that I should be aiming for?  I am quite happy with the taste as it is now, but not ever having tasted a genuine one before, Im not quite sure what to aim for!

As always, thanks,

Ray

Hi Guys,

Right done the curry settled on the Ashoka Bhuna Karahi. Couldn't take photos because my oldest lad has it at his house.

As for the Onion paste, it turned out quite nice, slightly salty but with a sweet note too. heres how I did it:

3 medium onions, roughly chopped.
1 1/2 tsp Garam Masala (I used Rajah)
1 1/2 tsp Cumin (Rajah)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (Swartz because thats all I had in)
1 Chefs spoonAshoka Garlic & ginger paste
1 tsp Deggi Mirch
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch of sugar
1 tbls tomatoe paste
2 chef's spoons of Passata or blended tinned tom

- Heat the oil on a low light
- add the onions and fry for 15 mins turning frequently
- add the cumin, garam masala and cinnamon powder and continue to stir
- keep stirring frequently until the onions are almost caramelised
- add the garlic and ginger paste and continue to stir for a further 5 mins
- add the deggi mirch, salt and tomatoe paste and stir for a further 3 mins
- add the passata, sugar and stir. Continue to cook for a further 10 mins

Cool and cover with oil.

What I have ended up with is something that resembles a very dark brown/red, oily madras.  Quite salty, but sweet if that makes any sense

The final dish was really really good, almost there in my opinion.  The one thing I will change next time is, I will not add tomato paste in the final dish.  Half way through, this became the dominant taste.

Now I'm not going to call this onion paste a Bunjara as I feel that would be an insult to PanPot, but I will say that it is a usuable paste that took me a step closer to what I'm aiming to achieve.

When I get my camera back, I WILL post the photo's on here, and hopefully, you guys can have a look and provide me with some feedback

Thanks as always,

Ray

Hi Jerry,

Yeah, the ingredients for the Ashoka Bhuna Karahi, are almost identical to my local BIR Jal Frezi with out the Toms and Chillis.  I also think it was Bruce Edwards that suggested that the Jal Frezi was indeed, just a dish developed from the Bhuna.  The peppers and onions are quite chunky though, with the peppers being quite soft and the onions just having a slight bite to them!

Just a quicky though, in the instructions that you give, it say's " 1 tbsp of Bunjara, and then a further 2 tsp's of Bunjara, with no mention of Garlic/ginger paste. is this correct?

Quoteinterpreted ashoka recipe: oil 3 to 4 tbsp, 1 chef medium fine chopped onion, 1 chef fine chopped green pepper, east end garam or kushi 1 tsp, tom puree 1 tbsp, bunjarra 1 tbsp, base 300ml, fresh coriander, 2 tsp bunjarra.

Thanks as always,

Ray

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the link.  Well, I have made my paste now, and will try it tonight.  I will take some photo's and try to post them with explanations of how I did it (if it all goes well)  The reason I used the garam masala is basically just because the Ashoka does call for it once the onions are caramelized.  Also, i omitted the cinnamon stick and bay leafs (because I think I burnt them right from the off) and used ground cinnamon instead, Just 1/2 teaspoon.  It does smell, look and taste pretty good, so fingers crossed, I may have stumbled on to something, albeit, it would be born out of mt total incompetence to replicate Panpots recipe

Anyway, ill give it a go, and let you all know,

As ever, thankyou for the advice,

Ray

Hi CA,

Yes, you are correct, perhaps I should have really directed my questions towards panpot.  However,  I have done as you suggested and gone to a really low heat, reduced the oil to about 150ml.  I have also omitted whole cumin seeds in favour of ground cumin and garam masala, 1 1/2 tsp of each.  I added the odd tbls of oil along the way.

What I have ended up with is a reddish brown, loose paste.  Very savioury to the taste but not too salty and not burnt one bit ;D  Also, there is a nice layer of oil floating on top which I will use to start of the main dish

I will follow panpots recipe for the Ashoka Bhuna, using this paste in place of the Ashoka Bunjara, and if you don't mind, I will let you know how I got on.

As always, thanks again,

Ray

Hi CA,

Tried making this tonight, what a disaster

Everything was going great, right up until the point of the onions caramelising.  Then in an instant, everything burnt.  I've got no clue as to what I did wrong as I followed the recipe to the letter.  I'm assuming that 1 cup = 300ml?  This seemed quite a lot of oil to try to caramelize the onions in.  I think I probably cooked it on too high of a heat but I did this because it would have took an age to get the onions to caramelise.  I also think that the cumin seeds was burnt early on but I proceeded none the less.

Have you made this CA, if so, how long did it take to caramelise the onions?  what kind of heat did you apply?

I'm absolutely gutted that this went wrong, I was really looking forward to using some of the oil from this to start the main dish off.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Ray

Hi CA,

The marinated chicken that you mention, are you suggesting that it goes in the final dish un-cooked or pre-cooked as in the link that you provide?  I guess you could do it both ways but I suspect the taste will differ somewhat between both methods!

Also, would you agree, that with the addition of some fresh green chillis and some tomato quaters, this dish could easily become a Jal Frezi?

Thanks as always,

Ray

Hi Peter,

Yeah, I was reading your post before, looks like a good recipe.  I was wondering if Tandoori chop's call for a different marinade than for chicken.  My local TA does both Tandoori chicken and Lamb chop's but they are completely different in taste and colour.  I will give it a go though and post the results!

Thanks again,
Ray