A very nice dish from the newly acquired Balti Book. Page 18. But is it a Balti dish? This preparation raised more questions than it answered for me.  I'll put a new thread to discuss this in the general discussion area.

edit: Link 4 posts down.

Quote from: JerryM on November 02, 2014, 10:08 AM
its why i make each dish many times without any meat - the taste needs to stack up on its own (the spice, the base, the recipe ingredients). its the rest of the dish ingredients that are not right if reliant on pre cook.

A very good point J.  I see where you are wit this, and it's much cheaper to do this as well.  I can see a lot of sauce only dishes coming up.

PM's anybody?

I just came across a recipe, which for all intents and purposes seems to be a Base Gravy. Interestingly it uses a pinch of Asafoetida.

Also very interesting is this little snippet from the accompanying notes.
After the sauce is complete and the oil has separated the notes say:

"For a more professional taste, add a tsp of water and stir fry again until oil separates from the mass. Repeat once more."

This is a recipe for a home based Curry Sauce with only 2 onions so the tsp of water would obviously be increased for larger quantity but the extra procedures given and the reasoning backs up something written recently here about a double cook being essential.

On mix powders: I've been struggling a bit with the whole "cooking whole spices" thing.  Again there are conflicting opinions. Cook : Don't Cook. Cook Together : Cook Separately, Cook Powders as well : Don't cook powders, Grind in M&P : Use Coffee Grinder.

One thing I've troubled with is how long to cook spices, whole, big and small.  There is a big difference between a Cumin Seed and a Black Cardamom or a huge chunk of Cassia Bark.

Looking at something else, I came across a recipe for an authentic "North Indian Curry Powder Mix", which looks pretty good too by the way.  What struck me as "Wow, look at that!" is the instruction of cooking the whole spices.

"1. Place all ingredients, except last three, in a karahi or wok or griddle and dry roast for 10-12 minutes. 
2. Cool. 
3. Grind to a powder." 

This includes Cumin Seed, Black and Green Cardamoms, Bay Leaf and Cinnamon Sticks among other things. The "last three" mentioned by the way, are powders, so at least that is answered for me.
Here was me worried about it.  10 - 12 minutes.  I think I'd have a bush fire by then.

Other noteworthy things from the same source are that the basic Garam Masala spices are not roasted at all in order to preserve the essential oils and aromatics, where as the Kashmiri GM is roasted but only for 6-8 minutes.

I would have to both agree and disagree.  In small amounts, one powder over another is going to make very little difference to the finished dish unless they are vastly different products.  If they are similar then you'd be right.  If they are vastly different in form then there has to be a difference.

I totally agree with method being a big factor and my experiment with 2 CTM's made with identical ingredients but different method bore that fact out explicitly.

Well that would include me then ;D For today at least, but probably not tomorrow.  At the moment I'm batting only 1-2% shortfall.  Goodbye 5%.

Seriously though, I'd be a fool to think my cooking is elite Phil, but I do understand where your coming from.  There are, no doubt, people who have cracked it, if nowhere else than for themselves.  The whole 5% thing and "my curries are just missing something" is a feeling I totally relate to as well though. I've felt it for a long time. Many years actually. The fact that so many of us have and still do express this common experience means that it is not a figment of imagination.  Whether it's actually 5% is not the question but there is this common perception among many that perfection is just out of grasp.  For me it's why I'm here on this forum.

Quote from: Bengali Bob on November 01, 2014, 10:37 PM
  I'd go as far as saying (for me) the pre-cooks are in fact more important than the base gravy.

Rob     

After my most recent results I'd have to join you in that.

If your trying to replicate a recipe that uses a specific spice mix powder, then you first need to replicate the mix, or at least analyse it so you know what individual spices to use, and their relative quantities, instead.

"GM" and "Curry Powder" are nothing more or less than a mix powder, and this is one thing that can be very annoying when an ingredient in a Spice Mix Powder is listed as being another mix.  How do you replicate a Mix Powder which incorporates GM if you don't have the recipe for that GM.  As we all know, they can be very different.

Some Base Gravy recipes are provided using a Spice Mix. If you have a different mix you'll get a different base.

Quote from: Bengali Bob on November 01, 2014, 10:11 PM
According to the spice guru I know in Sparkhill you have to go easy with whole hing, as it causes your teeth to rot, and fall out.  The compound powder is OK, particularly in dal dishes as it reduces flatulence.

Rob 

One of it's other mystical powers is that it supposedly enhances your singing voice.  As my teeth are already beyond help, you can look forward to seeing me on the television talent shows doing my best Susan Boyle impersonation soon.

The old Stink Finger is amazing stuff.  What an act? The toothless Tenor who can't pass wind.