I made this (to the best of my ability :) and it was lovely. I didn't want to post about it until Chewy shared the recipe on here himself.  The video was really helpful too. Thanks again, Chewy. 

The fresh chillies were a new idea in a Saag Bhaji to me, and made for a hotter version than I'm used to. But I'll definitely be making it again, to spec.

I love the look of it sandwiched inside the pilau.

Quote from: curryhell on February 04, 2012, 03:54 PM
Decided not to hijak CT's thread any longer

Haha - actually I started that thread. I was going to post on the end of Chewy's video thread but I wanted to talk about the sag bhaji too, so I started a new one. But this is a better place to do it. 

Quote from: curryhell on February 04, 2012, 03:54 PM
I'll try the addition of a little curry gravy but i think i'll start by frying a stick of cassia bark in the oil with the onions and garlic and then adding the mix powder before the gravy.  I will also add half tsp of tomato paste prior to the spice.

Sounds good to me. Looking forward to the recipe.

Have a good holiday, and good luck with your kitchen infiltration. Thanks again for sharing your ideas.

Cheers,

Ian
--

Quote from: noble ox on February 04, 2012, 05:00 PM
HI Again Ian
The best Spinach is fresh from the garden. It can be grown in the soil or a 40Litre container  on a balcony or near the back door . I have fresh for every day if I wish ,all for a price of a packet of seeds,now that's what I call economy ;D

That'd be the way to do it, for sure!

Unfortunately I live in a one-bedroom ground floor flat. Not even a back door. I'd love a garden, though.

Quote from: Ian S. on February 04, 2012, 01:37 PM

The experimental sag bhaji is Julian's C2G sag aloo without the aloo, basically. I added some sliced garlic and more spinach, and used the cherry tomatoes I bought to do Chewy's jhal frezi with. Next time I need to fry the sliced garlic for a little longer. I think I'll add some mix powder too, and back off on the lemon juice a little. But it was quite close to what I'm looking for and well worth a punt.

D'oh! Of course, Julian's recipe has mix powder in it already. I missed that when I was scrawling down notes from his video.  :

Yes, I guess using frozen spinach doesn't help, as it's quite soggy anyway once defrosted. I have used fresh spinach before but It's a bit of a question of economics, for me. :

The curry gravy really helped with the taste. You only use a little with Julian's recipe. The first splash was reduced right down to just an oily paste before putting the spinach in. It's at this point that I'm thinking of introducing some mix powder. As I've left out the potatoes from his sag aloo to make a sag bhaji, perhaps the second splash should be left out too. The lemon juice helps the taste but once again you're adding more moisture at the end. Next time I'll try changing the order of the ingredients so that the lemon juice de-glazes the pan and the spinach goes in last.

Thanks for the info on your local's sag bhaji, CH, and I look forward to you posting the results of your experiment. It would be great if you could get into the kitchen to see the chef make it. I'm near enough to Lakeside to think that geographical differences in our tastes won't be an issue.  The quality of the restaurants might be another matter - a lot of them have gone down the pan in my neck of the woods recently!

Hi noble ox, and thanks.

Hi Curryhell

The sag bhaji I get from my local is dry and tasty, too, when it's good, but it's one of the more variable dishes on the menu. There's never any discernible curry gravy in it, which threw me off the scent when I first started trying to make it. It just leaves a coating of golden-green oil on the foil carton.

Following Julian's recipe and technique last night with six chunks of frozen spinach instead of two, I got a very similar consistency but far less oily. No discernible gravy, again. The spinach was still moist, but not pulpy. I might squeeze the excess moisture out of it next time after defrosting it.

As luck would have it, I've just finished the leftovers for lunch, so here's a pic of how it's left the bowl. No water, no gravy, and hardly any oil left.



If you're working on a sag bhaji too, I'd be very grateful for any tips or findings you could share. I started a thread in 'Recipe Requests'. It sounds like we're chasing the same thing. I know there are regional differences - I'm in Essex.

Edit: I've never found any cassia bark in my TA sag, which is not to say it's not used ...

Hi guys

This was last night's supper, along with chappatis and an experimental sag bhaji.

It was also my second go at the jhal frezi. The first time it was great, but a couple of issues came up with the ingredients and, of course, with it being my first crack at a curry other than madras or vindaloo (not counting a rather sad korma I once attempted for a chilli-intolerant friend a couple of years back - but we won't go into that :-X).

First time around, I think I overcooked the pre-cooked vegetables. They ended up a bit soggy in the final dish, and made it taste a little watery. When it came to the pastes, Tesco were doing a special offer on a big bag of green chillies, so I bought them to make up the minced chilli and coriander paste. They were very mild, as it turned out, and the paste didn't have much kick to it at all. I also don't have any mustard oil, which probably didn't help.

With the red masala, I didn't have any cochineal. I tried to guestimate an amount of powder but once again, I think I overdid it. the dish ended up phall-red in colour, and this was probably contributed to by the colour bleed of the chicken tikka I used.

Also, having been frozen and then reheated, Chewy's base has gone from golden to a toffee-brown colour, which contributed to the final dish being quite dark. I'm not sure what to do about that. I did add plenty of water during the second simmer phase when I was making it. The taste isn't affected at all.

The finger chillies I bought for the dish were very small too, although nice and hot. Two got a bit lost in the dish.

So second time around, I added two teaspoons of the minced chilli and a little chilli powder to make up for the lack of kick of the Tesco chillies. As I already had the taste and colour from the chicken tikka meat, I added only 1 teaspoon of the red masala paste to balance it. I also used five of the little finger chillies.

It's still Chewy's recipe. I just adjusted the amounts to make up for inferior ingredients, I hope. It was lovely.

The experimental sag bhaji is Julian's C2G sag aloo without the aloo, basically. I added some sliced garlic and more spinach, and used the cherry tomatoes I bought to do Chewy's jhal frezi with. Next time I need to fry the sliced garlic for a little longer. I think I'll add some mix powder too, and back off on the lemon juice a little. But it was quite close to what I'm looking for and well worth a punt.

Chewy's recipe including green minced chilli paste and red masala mix here:
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5699.0

And my pics (I'm working on the presentation ;D)

Thanks, guys. Chewy's base is indeed great and I seem to have made gallons of it, so I'm sorted for weeks now. I'm going to have a crack at the jalfrezi next.

No tablecloth or napkin here, I'm afraid. No table, come to think of it! ;D

I made this again tonight, using Chewy's base. This recipe really does tick all the boxes for me. Thanks, Chewy. I used chicken tikka, and standard chilli powder as I don't have any Kashmiri Mirch.

I backed off on the chilli a bit because of this, but man, was it still hot! I think Chewy's technique in the video not only gives a rich, caramelised onion taste but also seems to make the chilli heat more of an instant hit in the mouth, just like I get from good TA curries.

I do use the reduction technique but I've had cold feet in the past when it comes to worrying about burning and ruining spices. As a result my hot curries have tended to be 'slow burning', with the heat building up as you eat them. But this was an instant hit on the lips and the tongue from the first mouthful, and I think it's the first time I've had that without using fresh chillies in the dish.

Anyhoo, here are some poor-quality pics, suffering from the Jekyll and Hyde colour contrast between the pan and the plate. I guess it would be better if I took them by daylight, but I like to eat late.

Everything lined up and ready to go, in order to diminish the panic when cooking commences:


Bubbling away in my beloved 20-year-old curry pan. Like a flat-bottomed wok, but made from ally and about 3mm thick. Holds the heat brilliantly and evenly. Was once non-stick, but most of that has come away as a result of using metal spoons (and probably ended up in my stomach). I'm sure my curries have improved since the pan's become more or less bare aluminium. I'll probably take some wet-and-dry to it to get rid of the rest of the Teflon.


Chewy's lunchtime madras becomes Ian's supper-time feast. Not as dark as it looks here. Chappati? Yes, I had a great time. ;D


(Edited long, rambling sentence in the middle of the post. It was late, and I was rather 'over refreshed' when I wrote it.  )

I've just finished making this. 

I haven't made a large quantity of base for ages now. These days I just make a couple of litres at a time, with the usual suspects as ingredients. But I made Chewy's full quantity of base last year, and thought it was great. I want to try some of Chewy's dishes - that's me branching out at last after 10 years of just cooking vindaloo and madras - so I decided to make up his full base again to use with them.

Here's my effort, resting after the final simmer with the scum spooned off. The pan is from a pressure cooker, but unfortunately I don't have the top part, as this was given to me after the rest of it fell to bits. 



Now I'm off to cook Chewy's madras. I need to build myself up for taking the plunge with his Jalfrezi, which I'll try later in the week. 

What a spread! Lucky girl, your sister. 

Which recipes did you use, Geez?