Well, I made this Madras last night for me and the wife. I put fresh chicken in around the 2 minute mark. Unfortunately, it was a desaster but this is down to my own incompetence. First I made chewytikka's 3hr base (and mixed powder) and the wife gave me a helping hand. It was pretty easy to do but took longer than 3hrs of cooking. I guess I also put in too much fresh coriander because the base has a quite strong coriander flavour which I'm not too fond of, really. I also used a red capsicum instead of a green one but that shouldn't pose a problem
I then proceeded to make the curry itself. Unfortunately, I can't get get Kashmiri chili powder anywhere so I proceeded with one tablespoon og the stuff I bought instead, which happened to be extra hot chili powder ..
Well, the results was ... breath-taking, so to say. I immediately had to pour in about 150ml of cream thinking the wife would kill me otherwise. It was still VERY hot afterwards, but edible.
So, I serve this meal to my wife (with some sloppily made rice, need to work in this), who had unfortunately developed a tooth ache by this time, and that was the end of a nice evening. From there on, well, you can guess.
Did *I* like the curry? Well, yes, but it was much too hot because I used the wrong chili powder. But I only tasted the non-diluted version once so I can't really say much.
A lesson to learned for all newbies like me: Go easy on the chili powder, no matter what the recipe says, if you don't have the exact same ingredients. Always ask your partners how hot they can handle, preferably while making the curry. And never serve hot food to people who are in pain!
I'm quite sad about this because I had my wife excited about Indian food for a while and I may have seriously damaged her trust in my minimal skills at the same time, too.

BTW: Thanks for all the extra-info about lemon dressing. I just used some lemon juice from half a lemon. Oh, and I didn't take any pictures because I ahd to put cream in. It simply wouldn't do it justice. The curry looked great before.

Wow, thanks for the extra info. So about 4.5% sugar should do.

Hhhm, wonder what the "flavouring" is, apart from that it seems like any old lemon juice would do.

Thanks, Paul. Have never seen anything like it. Just concentrated lemon juice instead but this appears to be something different. Will need to go to a specialty shop and see what I can find.

I fear this has been mentioned before but what exactly is this "lemon dressing" that you use ? I've never heard of it. Where do i find it ? Is it like a salad dressing or something?

Hey Mick, I noticed the "Red Masala Paste" in your book is different from this one. Are you planning to release another volume with all the other recipes that are not in your book yet at some point? I'd buy it

Alternatively, it'd be great if someone could grab the ingredients and instructions off the new videos. I can't even figure out which videos show recipes that are already in the book and which ones are new. Very cumbersome.

Looking fantasttic. I'm hungry now!

Actually looking at the list only chicken/lamb madras and dopiaza seem to be duplicates. I had a look at both the lamb madras and chicken madras and they are indeed different recipes!

Sorry, I know this is an old thread but I feel that this matter wasn't touched deeply upon enough, considering other discussions here.

Anyway, you can't just compare any yeast with baking soda or baking powder. There are different types of yeast to start with: actice dry yeast, instant dry yeast (mixed with flour it will make cheap "instant raise flour") and fresh yeast. Then there are even subcategories such as champagne yeast, bread yeast, beer yeast and so on. And, indeed, each tastes different and has slightly different properties.

When making pizza, for example, I personally prefer active dry yeast. Active yeast (dry or fresh) requires a little sugar of some sort and lukewarm water to get it going. When the liquid foams, it's ready - don't wait too long, about 5 minutes or so. If it won't create froth after ten minutes toss it away. Basically, active yeast is an actual living organism that munches sugar and gives off carbon dioxide in the progress. It's those farts that we want to make the dough puff up. The same goes for fresh yeast, which my wife prefers in pizza, but it tastes different: somewhat more "yeasty" - a further description of which would involve the smell of a female infection that includes the same keyword. Anyway, I find the taste can be pretty overpowering depending on your preparation technique or personal preference. If you don't like your pizza too crispy or dark, for example, then the fresh yeast will come through more than the active dry yeast in my experience. Again, my wife considers this to be a basic property of pizza and loves it but she also likes her pizza darker which changes the taste again. I do prefer fresh yeast when making bread. I haven't had a chance to try any specialized yeast although the champagne yeast would be great for some lemonade/drink projects I've planned.

As for the instant dry yeast - I've only used it a few times when making cookies or such. I wasn't too impressed with it because it tasted a bit strange or unfamiliar, I guess.

This brings us to baking soda and baking powder. Whereas active yeast required sugary water to get going, baking soda needs some sort of acid with which it chemically reacts and creates carbon dioxide in return, effectively creating the same effect. Obvious acids would be lemon or lime juce but you can create wonderfulmthings with the acid in buttermilk, too ... Theoretically, baking soda doesn't have any taste whatsoever but in reality you could describe it as only slightly "bitter" (is this really a taste or a feeling?). Baking *powder* is sort of an instant baking soda since it's a premix of baking soda and an acid (such as cream of tartar, which is apparently common in the UK?). Sometimes there's also corn starch in it. Funny fact: In Germany, where I live, most people aren't even aware that you can bake with baking soda (it has no such obvious name in German). We use it to treat gas (dissolve a big tablespoon in a small glass of water and chug it down) or to make bretzeln at home (that's not the pro way, though). Over here, baking powder is THE standard for any type of sweet bakery or similar that needs a leavener. You probably won't find any german baked cake recipe with yeast in it. I believe baking powder also has slightly different properties than yeast. It makes your baked goods "fluffier" but necessarily "doughier" which might be an explanation why some recipes call for both.

The point of me saying all this is that all different types of leaveners are useful. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve and what your personal preferences are like. Staying within the scope of this forum I would guess that most BIR kitchens probably use baking powder or baking soda for their naans and so on simply because it's very stable and doesn't change properties with age. It's also fairly taste-neutral, the bit of taste it gives off can be covered up with a bit more acid (lemon juice) and some more sugar of some type. Most pizza places will probably use active yeast (dry or fresh), on the other hand

He says that most restaurants include pineapple in their dhansak - he doesn't like it but his daughter does, so he made them optional (juice and fruit).