This was one of the the curries I prepared this weekend. The use of ajwain and ground cardamom seed gave it a different twist. Didn't look anything like the picture inTimes of India but there are other versions that I will look at and attempt a hybrid of the various ingredients.

T63

I knocked this up over the weekend and must admit it needs more work. Final taste was ok but I made some errors, too wide a pan, not enough coconut oil, over crushed the whole spices.
I used half a cup of dedicated coconut but there was very little coconut flavour to the final result.
Whilst it was very edible it is a work in progress and requires tinkering with.

T63

Shahi chicken masala
or chicken cooked with spices - Mughal Style

In 1961 the "first grand dame" of Indian Cookery, Mrs Balbir Singh, penned her book Indian Cookery. Born in Punjab in 1912 Mrs Blabir Singh has been described as the Julia Child of Indian food and as the the indian cooking Guru of the sixties and seventies.

Her English language cookbook was used widely by expatriate Indians yearning to create the flavours that they were missing from home and it was a treasure box of recipes that quickly became a culinary bible to newlyweds and families both at home in India and abroad.

Although many of her recipes were award-winning, a particular recipe of Mrs Singhs has been claimed to be the foundation of the now world famous chicken tikka masala. Ethnic food historians and authors Peter and Colleen Grove research and discuss various origin claims of Chicken Tikka Masala in their Flavours of History, in which one of their key conclusions suggests that "The shape of things to come may have been a recipe for Shahi Chicken Masala in Mrs. Balbir Singh

Rafi Fernandez Madras meat curry

4 tbsp veg oil
1 large onion, sliced finely
3 cloves
4 green cardamoms, bruised
4 green chillies, de seeded and chopped finely
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, crushed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 large dry red chillies coarse you broken and deseeded if wished.
500g boneless lamb, neck fillet or leg cut into bite sizes pieces
A little hot water
4 tablespoons tamarind juice
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Method

Heat oil in heavy pan and fry onion, cloves and cardamom until the onions are golden brown.

Reduce heat and add the green chillies, ginger, garlic, coriander, turmeric and dry chillies. Stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add meat and saut

Ravi Fernandez Kerala meat curry
Ingredients

500g boneless lamb from leg or shoulder in bite sizes pieces
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
350ml water
12 - 14 peppercorns
2 inch stick cinnamon
25g creamed coconut
4 tbsp veg oil
1 large onion, sliced
2 dry red chillies, de seeded if wished
2 tsp coriander seeds
5 cloves
4 tbsp tamarind juice
Salt to taste
1 tsp aniseed, dry roasted and ground

Rub meat with turmeric, chilli and salt to taste and set aside for 1 hour.

Simmer meat in water for for 20 minutes with 6-8 of the peppercorns and half the cinnamon stick. Drain and reserve the stock, discarding the peppercorns and and cinnamon if you wish.

Dissolve the creamed coconut in half the reserved stock.

Heat oil and fry the sliced onion in a heavy pan until browned.

Meanwhile Dry roast the red chillies, coriander seeds, cloves, remaining peppercorns and the other half of the cinnamon stick and grind to a fine powder.

Reduce the heat under the onion, add the ground ingredients and fry for 1 minute. Add the meat and remaining stock and simmer until the meat is tender.

Add coconut mixture and tamarind juice and bring to a boil.

Serve hot, sprinkling on the ground aniseed as a garnish.

There are some nice recipes in the book, traditional as opposed to BIR. There is a madras recipe that I will post up later in the trad section of the forum.

Ravi Fernandez sadly passed away last year but I will remember meeting her many times in Rafis Spicebox in Sudbury. At one time it was a Mecca for all things curry that were hard to get elsewhere. She never got the coverage of Madhur Jaffrey but This 1987 sainsburys booklet became well used and was one of the earlier books in my collection.

The recipe was cut and pasted from Times of India, but a lot of recipes from India are written in the same format. I have a number of Indian recipe books in English that are presented in the same way.

I put the Garam Masala in with the methi and all teaspoons are rounded not level.

Quote from: Onions on November 29, 2014, 06:54 PM
Tomatos wine herb sugar salt pepper

Worces / molasses optional

Added the Worcester sauce to a BBC recipe. Ok but not the best. I like a proper Ragu and this was meat onions and passatta. No celery, carrot etc. will try again soon.

Bobotie is a South African dish but was taken there by Asian slaves so I think it is justifiably put in this authentic dishes section