Quote from: solarsplace on March 01, 2012, 07:07 PM

Quote from: ELW on March 01, 2012, 07:04 PM
Anyone catch what went in 1st from the spice deck, after the onions/chicken were done?

Hi

That was a tiny dip of Methi leaves.

Cheers

Cheers solarspace, the videos are great, is there G&G in Az's bhuna?, apologies in advance if I missed that

Anyone catch what went in 1st from the spice deck, after the onions/chicken were done? That heat does away with any hit & miss affairs

Looking to get a smaller rounded pan as well, any recommendations, the meyer looks very thin?

Quote from: curryhell on February 29, 2012, 07:58 PM

Quote from: ELW on February 29, 2012, 06:18 PM
all looks very familiar, especially the red phall served in the ash tray 

Oi ELW, i'll have you know that's no ashtray mate .  That serving dish is classic and has probably been served up more times than you and i have cooked curries  ;D.  It's a little bit of history for me since it hails from the restaurant where my journey started some 25 years ago, he says with a tear in his eye . It's as classic as the flock wallpaper and the music accompanying the video ;D.  Happy days :

just a bit of trollin to stoke the coals....no wonder I didn't recognise it 1st time round. Some of the resturants still look the part on the outside here...inside is all clean sharp lines now, except maybe koh i noor Glasgow
ELW

Quote from: michael.t on February 29, 2012, 07:26 PM
Frustrating I know. Has anybody been to Julian's curry2go if you watch his videos he seems to cook on on a lowish heat (and singe) proof would be in the pudding.

No taste report from c2g as yet, it's long overdue & would answer a few more questions. I suspect some of the bir videos tuts are done on low heat to fit an explanation in & not cough

ELW

Quote from: michael.t on February 28, 2012, 09:04 PM
Not sure on the high heat.  Ive been cooking curries this weekend and yesterday was home early with some curry base left over.So I thought I would do some singeing .On my stove I have a wok burner so the flames can lap up sides of my pan . I made four Madras sauces ( chewwy recipe the one with with a dash of worcester sauce please correct me if wrong and compliments to the chef)  anyway my aim was to singe at different times and from low to high heat the last 2, I put on high heat both had flames coming out of the pan as soon as the ginger garlic paste hit the pan . one of them the garlic turn very brown then  I carried on  with tom paste and spices.  Heat still on high then maybe 30 secounds before first ladle of gravey .(no joke I had to rush of to tun the smoke alarm off) . The first two low heat TRYED to singe for 2 min.  Not saying I did it right, but either way I did it they all came out the same a very tasty curry.                                 

Hi michael.t, the reason I say that is after cooking dozens upon dozens of curries on low to medium, not a single one gave me a taste like any bir I've been in...occasional bir aroma....tasty yes...bir no.
4 attempts on high, 1 x was decent & 1 was superb. These two efforts tasted nothing like anything which went before it. It would be great for everyone if it could be done on a low heat, cooked for longer......but I haven't managed it yet

Regards
ELW

all looks very familiar, especially the red phall served in the ash tray 

QuoteThere is a fantastic traditional style restaurant on manningham lane just opposite valley parade which looks very unhygeinic however this guys lamb handi is legendery really thick dark sauce you can see him cook everthing as it is an open kitchen the place is called the sultan.
as i say its what i would call a mans curry house not a place to take the missus its a bit rough and ready.

great review & sounds right up my street   

ELW

cooking jarred pastes on high heat i think is recommended to kill any spores, but there's no doubt that cooking the spices & tomato paste on high produces results, I only wish I could get more heat! In fact I think it's crucial to strif fry cooking full stop

Agreed, I think even in 'The Takeaway Secret' ,recipes it called for high heat

ELW

Quote from: PaulP on February 27, 2012, 01:00 PM
Thanks Russ, I've already got exactly the same pan! You're right about not claiming 100% as it leaves nowhere to improve on.

I tried the singe technique for the first time on Friday and had a partial success. Unfortunately I let the garlic go brown and ended up with a strong burnt garlic flavour. I cooked the spices quite long and hard and they didn't look or taste burned. I managed to eat the curry (just) but the burnt garlic flavour was quite a spoiler. A pity as some other nice flavours I don't normally detect had developed. I would also agree that when properly cooked the chilli powder has a hotter effect.

Next time I won't cook the garlic for as long. Do others brown the garlic or stop short?

Cheers,

Paul

Hi PaulP, I put the garlic on low to medium on the biggest burner then creep it up, just starting to colour.
Full blast for those spices!

I'll be looking to cut the oil content of my curries if possible somewhere down the line, but for the moment the  more oil, the easier i find it, especially in the 26cm pan.

I'm all out of base atm, but next batch I'll do a long medium heat fry with spices,both on their own & in the tomato paste. I'm still not sure if this method can get the bir taste out of those spices, as I can only achieve it as yet, by chucking them into a full heat pan, (I wish I could get it even hotter)....& quite possibly burning them a little
This is something I need to clear up in my own head !

ELW

Quote from: haldi on February 26, 2012, 08:29 AM
Tell you what cook mates
After thoroughly enjoying all the Zaal posts and reading/watching everything
I was fired up with new enthusiasm and now I just feel crushed
The last bit of knowledge seems unobtainable
I've seen hundreds of curries prepared at takeaways
It looks so simple until you try it at home
I just don't get it
I'm spending some part of an evening,next week, at my local takeaway
and I've run out of questions to ask
They've got magic hands, with every curry they make
Perhaps I should point out that it's only me (in my family) that is dissapointed
They simply don't understand the dissatisfaction
I can get 100% result using old manky oil
But I don't want to do that

Hi Haldi, I only ever do side by side comparisons with a t/a version rather than ask anyone. It's not that the curries I've made in the past are not nice to eat...they just don't taste like the bir's........thats all the bir's I've ever been in!

Look at the technique in Kris Dhillon's The Curry Secret & compare it with say Zaal  or Chewytikkas or CA's recipes...the spices are cooked in hot gravy, rather than oil/tomato paste. Although I could make a tasty curry from the kd stuff, I was never going to be able to achieve the bir taste@ home, using this method. Maybe spices can be 'singed' in gravy on a big burner, but I don't think so on my bog standard gas cooker. I could add layers of flavours all day long to a curry, old oil being one of them, but they won't make the dish bir if the initial stage isn't correct.

All I used for testing was base(any base), tomato paste(not puree), mix powder(Zaal),GG,oil(i used fresh Flora sunflower oil  ),salt . I didn't need anything else to find that changing my technique, changes the taste of these ingredients together dramatically. A tentative approach when doing it, doesn't do me any favours
Good luck
ELW

Edit- You could ask the chefs in the t/a if they cook the spices at home in the same way & if not why not?