I think Asda sell stuff depending on the local population. The Asda stores near me in north Liverpool don't seem to sell any of the good stuff I read about like frozen garlic and ginger and the spiced oils.

I'll take a special trip to Asda at Aintree soon to search for the frozen garlic and ginger as that stuff sounds great.

Cheers,

Paul

Quote from: Hilly on March 15, 2012, 01:54 PM
Is it best to maranade fresh chicken and then freeze it in the maranade, or can you maranade the chicken, cook it, freeze it then just pull the frozen chicken out (defrost) then throw them in the sauce.

You could do either but I don't know which way would be best. I imagine it might be fresher and juicier if you marinade (say for 24 hours) then freeze it and defrost and cook on the day you need to use it.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Hilly,

IMHO you can't substitute fenugreek seeds for methi leaves. Methi means fenugreek so they are both from the same plant but I guess you can't substitute corriander seeds for leaves either.

I would leave out the methi if you don't have the leaves rather than trying to use the fenugreek seeds.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Hilly,

There are a few really good tikka recipes on this site. Check out the group tests:

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5055.0

The recipe from blade is very good but the one by CA (Cory Ander) is unusual in that you don't need any paste jars (Pataks) and it is also good.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Glen,

Regarding the colour of your madras curries: If you use about 1 Tbs of bright red chilli powder e.g. kashmiri or deggi mirch and only use about 1 tsp of mix powder your madras should look a lot more red than brown.
Also overcooking a base sauce after blending seems to make them go browner.

I wouldn't worry too much about the colour, a lot of tasty food is brown. 

Cheers,

Paul

I'm about 35 mins away but need an excuse to drag the missus to Chorley one Saturday. I don't think he opens in the evenings.

Just watched the karahi video. The dish I refer to is sometimes spelled korai but normally has some green peppers when I buy it. I've never had one without chunky peppers.

Cheers,

Paul

Thanks Whandsy, lamb karahi is one of my all time favourites. Can't seem to play the video at the moment but I think I'm having some internet problems.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Michael,

Here is a reference to what you were saying:

http://finedining-indian.blogspot.com/2011/06/umami-great-influence-in-indian.html

Cheers,

Paul

Totally agree about the sieving of your base. It makes a big difference IMHO and is worth the messing about. I would say it improves the taste as well as the silky smoothness.

I think whole spices are probably used by my fave local TA but can't tell which ones and whether they are in the base or added to my karahi lamb at cooking time.

Cheers,

Paul

I had another go at high speed high heat cooking in my ally pan last night. I made a curry with 2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder, 2 tsp ifindforu spice mix and about 500 ml of ifindforu base sauce. I also used 1 tbs tom puree diluted x3 and a teaspoon of hand chopped garlic and some salt and methi.

This technique definitely changes the flavours for the better. Last night I ate half the curry and found the heat of the chilli a bit too much. Previously when not cooked properly I've eaten curries with 3 tsp of same chilli powder and it never seemed very hot.

Also I often wondered how some people were using 1tsp of spice mix when I used to need 1 tbs. I still need to work at this but at least the garlic wasn't destroyed like the first time I tried this last week.

It seems like the way I've been cooking slow boat in my wok for the last 2.5 years I was way off the mark and would never have gotten very close to BIR.

So big thanks to the Fleet 5 and also chewytikka for his useful videos. 
Right now I just need to get my quantities back on track i.e. amount of mix powder per curry and total amount of base required. Oh and I've run out of base sauce again. 

Cheers,

Paul