Quote from: Razor on July 25, 2010, 09:58 PM
Has anyone emailed the author for clarification of what type of hing is required in the recipes? if indeed he can be contacted.

Ray

Dave has emailed back today saying it is the powdered variety with the additives, ie turmeric that is used,

Mick

Quote from: Razor on July 25, 2010, 09:58 PM
Has anyone emailed the author for clarification of what type of hing is required in the recipes? if indeed he can be contacted.

Ray

Hi Razor,
I have emailed him today, as soon as I get a response I will let you know,
I did email him before I bought the book and the response was the next day,
So hopefully he will get back to me,
Mick

Quote from: Secret Santa on July 08, 2010, 11:22 AM

Quote from: AchMal on July 07, 2010, 10:31 PM
I mentioned the use of used bhaji frying oil over a year ago and do this regularly,

Mick, I've been using reclaimed oil since before this forum existed and it's been mentioned on this forum not long after it started some six years ago, so it's not a new idea.

SS,
Thanks for this,
I only said I mentioned it on here a year ago, I didn't say that was the length of time I had been using it,
I also know its not a new idea having seen it used in a couple of kitchens years ago, not so much recently though,
SS, when you say "reclaimed oil" are you referring to reclaimed oil from base making or what i would call "burned bhaji oil"?
Mick

Quote from: joshallen2k on July 08, 2010, 12:27 AM

QuoteI mentioned the use of used bhaji frying oil over a year ago and do this regularly,
I get the oil from my local restaurant after they have fried over 100 bhajis in it, 5 or 6 at a time,

Mick - do you think this spiced oil could be replicated at home? I'd figure a scaled down oil pot (few litres) and cook say 25 bhajis would infuse the oil similarly to cooking 100 bhajis in a commercial sized fryer?

I've tried a few spiced oil concoctions, skimmed curry oil, bunjarra oil, etc. but never anything as simple as "bhaji oil".

-- Josh

Hi Josh,
I have tried replicating it at home simply by putting some gram flour, mix powder and chopped onions into a litre of oil and frying it gently for some time until the oil darkens considerably, which is the ingredients burning, this is done over a relatively low heat, it does produce a flavoured oil which I have filtered and use in the base,
It is a bit of work and doesn't give the same flavour as oil from my local restaurant,
But I think it is an improvement over new veg oil,
However, as I say, I can get some of the bhaji oil locally, they do not use commercial fryers to cook their bhajis but a wok holding a couple of litres of oil, they will cook off over a hundred bhajis in this by which time the oil is quite dark and the last bhajis take longer to cook than the first ones in, as the oil looses its effectiveness,
Cheers,
Mick

Quote from: emin-j on July 07, 2010, 09:55 PM
plus the use of reclaimed oil being important to the flavour of the Base , this has been mentioned previously on the Forum but how many follow it up

I mentioned the use of used bhaji frying oil over a year ago and do this regularly,
I get the oil from my local restaurant after they have fried over 100 bhajis in it, 5 or 6 at a time,

Mick

This is from my local restaurant if anybody is interested,

Chicken Tikka

Ingredients

1 kg of chicken breast,
Cut each breast once lengthways.

Marinade

1 teaspoon of Mix Powder,
1/2 teaspoon of Garam Masala powder,
1/4 teaspoon of Salt,
2 tablespoons of Pataks Tikka Paste,
1 tablespoon of Pataks Tandoori Paste,
1 teaspoon of Coleman's Mint Sauce (in jars),
1 tablespoon of Vegetable Oil,
1 tablespoon of fine chopped fresh Coriander,
1/2 teaspoon of Orange food colouring powder,
1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice,
50 ml of plain Yoghurt, (Sainsbury's basics is ok)
50 ml of water

Method

Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl
Add chicken and stir in marinade, ensure all chicken is completely coated, to ensure even distribution of flavours.
Cover with Clingfilm and refrigerate for 24 hours,


To Cook

Lay out on a baking tray or similar, cook under a hot grill until chicken is cooked through.
Once cooked then cut the chicken into chunks across the grain.

Cheers,
Mick

Quote from: George on June 30, 2010, 09:32 AM

Quote from: solarsplace on June 29, 2010, 11:05 AM
I agree with you all totally that fresh spices absolutely key to producing the best curries!

I agree. Fresh spices make a huge difference. Even if a pack has been open for just a week, and carefully closed with an elastic band or something, you should bin the remaining contents (even if you used only 1%) and get a new vacuum packed pack.

Fresh spices, absolutely,
But bin them after one week, thats a little OTT for me,
But each to their own,

For me, using jaggery goor and mango chutney in a pathia works far better than granulated sugar,
Not tried honey yet though...
Mick

Marching On Together
Going Up Up Up

Quote from: Secret Santa on May 08, 2010, 03:39 PM

Quote from: canicant on May 08, 2010, 11:06 AM
...the other is cheap and serves the biggest naans i've ever seen (they are like a table cloth) they are cooked similar to how Dipuraja's does them in a large oven...

You know I'd always wondered how those huge table naans or family naans could be cooked in a tandoor, I just couldn't imagine how they would get them in and out. So you reckon they use pizza type ovens...interesting!

SS,
This is what I have seen, note the two types of tandoor, the one on the right is gas powered and generally found in Balti house type restaurants, these are the type used for the big naans, this restaurant uses this tandoor for all it's bread cooking, it is steel lined.
The one on the left is charcoal powered and is used in this particular restaurant just for tikka/tandoori meats etc,
This naan was a family naan and the pad used was the size of a bed pillow,
Cheers,
Mick