I must say I've never eaten genuine lovage fruit (it's a fruit not a seed) but one thing is certain, lovage and ajwain are from different plants and they are not interchangeable. If your "lovage" smells and tastes like thyme then it is in fact ajwain. The genuine lovage fruit apparently gets mixed in and sold as celery seed so that's the flavour I would expect it to have. You have to wonder if the author of the recipe was actually using ajowain and not lovage, as the genuine lovage fruit(seed) is hard to obtain.

It's not helped by the major spice manufacturers labelling it incorrectly: http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Indian-Food-TRS-Lovage-Seeds-Ajwain.html

Quote from: adriandavidb on February 22, 2008, 12:22 PM
I tend to grind up my dried methi leaf

Me too, and I think this helps distribute its effect throughout the curry better. I used to add it to the other spices like you but of late I have fallen into not grinding it and adding when there is some liquid in the pan. It struck me when I read your post that my curries seem to lack a certain punch recently an it may well be this. I'm going to go back to grinding and adding at the spice stage to see if things improve.

Quotethe curry leaves were added to very hot oil, before anthing else

Yes that the correct way to add FRESH (i.e. not dried) curry leaves.

QuoteYet fresh corriander is added just before serving

Yes I would alway do that to retain the fragrant freshness of the herb.

Hi haldi, you're right there is a tava but, this is a different thing. The tawa is specifically made for cooking curries on, it's bigger and thicker than the tava we use for making chappatis on, if you look carefully at the picture I posted you can see the thickness is greater. Tavas are usually only a few millimetres thick and almost flat and that's what was bugging me because I couldn't envisage how you would cook a curry on one.

The only way I've seen coconut added is in powder form. Also have you tried jaggery, perhaps its toffeish flavour is what's missing?

You're a brave person kjf. Personally I'd do a few practise dishes before trying to wow your friends. Good luck though, and let us know how it goes.

I've been to a restaurant that gave me their spice mix (it's called mix powder in the trade) and I've seen mix powder both mentioned and used in about three other TV programmes that featured BIRs. There's no doubt in my mind that most, if not all BIRs, use a mix powder and then add extras such as coriander and cumin etc. to make the different curries.

QuoteCan we use our desired spice mix in place of the spice list in a given recipe and if so how?

Almost certainly not. Or at least not if you want to make the same curry as the author.

QuoteWhat are sensible ratios of the common spices used?

not sure what the best would be as it would vary depending on the type of base sauce used. I would guess in general though that in order of decreasing quantities it would be paprika,turmeric,curry powder, coriander, cumin.

Either way the two have different flavours but are close enough to be interchangable.

Quote from: Domi on February 18, 2008, 05:54 PM
Like I've said before SS, you can't knock it 'til you've tried it luv

I was only joking, I've got nothing against eggs in curry. I was deadly serious about eggs not being in a jalfrezi though. Can't you ask them to rename it to a jalfreggsi or something so as not to offend us purists?

I bet you just "must" have pineapple chunks in your Dhansak too, eh?

Mango chutney in pathia, no problem with that at all. Me I use white wine vinegar, sugar and pineapple juice, but as far as I'm concerned any sweet and sour igredient combination is "authentic" BIR.

Hi gary, If you read the first post in this thread CQ explains that it is a modified version of the BE vindaloo, unless CQ says otherwise of course.

Quote from: Domi on February 16, 2008, 02:36 PM
Jalfrezis as I know them have to be cooked using peas and beaten egg

Holy ****!

Is nothing sacred?

Why not just bung a couple of bangers and some fried bread into it as well and call it the "all day curry".

Seriously, whatever that monstrosity is, it ain't no jalfrezi.