Quote from: lagathy on February 20, 2010, 01:10 AM
  ;D 

  You've made my evening chinois 

  I love this forum,but it can become a bit bogged down sometimes...when someone cooks a dish likes this,enthusiastically and with shameless commentary,it dun 'alf impart mirth  ;D

Thanks No shame here!
I didnt make this curry for shock value, it was only me eating it after all. I've tried this ingredient once before and realized it had potential. As mentioned earlier, a bit more marinading needed to be done as the sauce and rub didnt really combine/integrate properly.

I do find it funny how people react to things that are foreign to them. Food as much as people and cultures. It really shows how much influence things other than taste can have on food i suppose. Neither of my housemates would try it either, and one's a chef! Dont worry, i'll feed him balls at some point  ;D

I guess you'd also be interested in this photo of a breakfast i had in bombay last year. Again dodgy camera phone i'm afraid:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nifortescue/3063645215/#in/set-72157609119088717/

Quote from: Mikka on February 19, 2010, 01:18 PM
Dang Chinois look at this! 
Look at those devils chicken spikes too. Wonderful images pal.

Nice post Chinois.

Cheers Mikka, i thought the skewers were pretty cool too. They use them at the kurdish restaurants round here. Unfortunately they dont fit sideways into my oven so i have to angle them diagonally. Not much of an issue though.

Quote from: AchMal on February 19, 2010, 03:57 PM
Nice work Nic,
and one to try,
Not sure about dishing up into unwashed bowls or was that a second serving?
Mick

Good point, that was a second serving!
I use my phone as the camera and it's kind of breaking so the initial photos didnt work out. I'd like to use a proper camera as it's a pain in the arse using this to be honest. I have to take a few shots to get one without too much blur!

Having made a double portion of the CTM sauce i posted here,
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4314.msg39324;topicseen#msg39324
i had enough left over for another meal.
The butchers around here are nearly all kurdish and so lamb/mutton is the preferred meat. They have some interesting cuts that i've been sampling. Lamb ribs are a thing of beauty and only need roasting, but preferably cooking over coals or a BBQ. I find the testicles (AKA lamb fries or lamb eggs) similar to sweetbreads (thyroid gland or pancreas) in that they're very tender and a 'squishy' consistency while being only mildly lamb flavoured. I threw together a quick rub which consisted of tandoori curry powder, kashmiri chilli powder, lemon and reclaimed oil and then grilled them under an electric radiating grill on metal skewers. As with nearly all meat i dont think they need to be fully cooked. I've never overcooked them but i guess they're dry out and firm up if you did.

Next time with more prep time i would marinade them for longer and use blade's tikka recipe. That way they'd have more flavour.
If you havent tried balls i recommend them  . They're cheap and easy to prepare. You just need to rip the skin off (which a butcher should do) and wash them really. You dont need to stew them for ages to get them tender, they're like that already! And no they dont taste creamy or of chlorine 

My girlfriend didnt share my enthusiasm though. She was surprised as she thought i was cooking chicken and she doesnt like lamb anyway. She was almost sick but it was the consistency that bothered her rather than the flavour. She's just said it was a bit like marshmallow, which i think is a positive comment!



I forgot to take an initial photo so this is one i found on t'interweb




Nearly finished cooking




The red things are sliced chillies




Bollock tikka masala with chillies and coconut, done.

I used the original Moti Mahal butter chicken (murgh makhani) recipe but used Blade's tikka recipe instead of theirs as his is perfect.
Tikka recipe here: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=874.0
Sauce recipe at the bottom of the photos.

This recipe from Delhi in the 1950's is considered to be the forerunner of CTM. I've heard a lot of conflicting stories about it's origins and claims that it doesnt exist in india or wasnt created there. Well this recipe turns out a CTM in my opinion.

I can't believe i forgot to seek out this restaurant when i was in Delhi last year. I was wondering around old delhi for hours before choosing a restaurant which had cockroaches and flies everywhere and unfiltered water. I deserve a smack around the head for not doing more research!
Yes the name of this dish is different and the taste isnt exactly the same as a BIR but it is clearly the same dish IMO i.e the same original idea. Add more sugar, some coconut powder and some food colouring and it's a BIR CTM. Use reclaimed oil and it'll be better. I'm really happy to have found this recipe as it's quick, easy and requires no base.




Marinade ingredients before mixing. I also added yoghurt so it penetrated the meat more.




After 24h the chicken was threaded on to steel skewers and cooked under an electric grill on high heat. It cooked quicker than i thought it would, i think because the skewer heats it from the inside too.




My new skewers dont look like they're very well made. Oh well.








Tomatoes, tomato puree, washed stalks, water, garlic, ginger, cardamom, cloves, indian bay leaves and salt. Before simmering for about 20 mins.
Note this is double the recipe




Whole spices and stalks removed (although it didnt specify in the recipe) the mixture was blended and pushed through a sieve.




Mild chilli powder (i used a mix of deggi mirch, kashmiri and reshampati) and dried methi/fenugreek leaves were added and it was cooked for a few mins to thicken up. Butter was added, along with sugar, MSG, red food colouring, cream and the just-cooked tikka. Fat was not allowed to rise before serving. Powdered garam masala was added at the end.




Finished dish. It had more sauce, i just didnt flood the bowl so you could see the meat in the photo. Only differences from the moti mahal recipe being more sugar, MSG and food colouring. I didnt use the tikka bit of the recipe as i used blade's but theirs looks good and quite similar. Thanks Unclebuck for the recipe book. It seems like a good'n






Recipe:

Tayyabs in whitechapel right?
I've been once and thought it was amazing. I cant remember if i had that particular dish but they were all really good. I thought the lamb dishes were the most memorable because they were slow cooked on the bone. Actually i guess the chicken ones are slow cooked too.
The food is very different to BIR dont you think? Very much meat focused rather than boiled onion paste focused. I need to go back there to remind myself what the chicken was like!
The lamb dishes definitely show up BIRs dont they? And much better value IMO.
Remember to add pakistani to your search term as that should help you narrow it down.

Quote from: CurryOnRegardless on February 13, 2010, 12:15 PM
These people are just after cheap labour.

Why bring people here, BIR cooking does not exist in Asia so they would have to learn the skills over here

I think the main reason is bcos it's an opportunity for them to get visas for their family and friends. I've found the staff in restaurants/shops/kebab takeaways are often related and live together. I agree it's also cheap labour (one guy in goa was begging me to find him a job and said he'd be happy to take

Yes i've been to one and it wasnt a big deal. I only twigged half way through the meal. I know why you're asking and i've questioned that point in regarding opening my own restaurant. I would be worried i wouldnt be taken seriously bcos i'm english so i guess i'd try to employ asian staff to redress the balance.

I suppose ideally you'd hope the person who takes your order to be asian or to know what they're doing. It doesnt matter where the other staff are from IMO.
Having said this the majority of the time i ask for advice on the food the (asian) staff haven't a clue. Their only descriptions are "spicy", "not spicy" and "little spicey".
The customers eat more BIR curries than the staff so if one of them explained the menu i'd be happy.

What a terrible article, how does that newspaper still exist in this century?
That's an advert, not an article! 

It could be a useful ingredient though. Combining savoury flavours boost them so i like the idea of there being lots of them concentrated together. I imagine it would work well for basic ragu-style pasta dishes.

Quote from: Razor on February 07, 2010, 10:50 PM
Also, has anyone tried substituting sugar for clear honey.  I do at the "adding the spice stage" and it really helps in getting that toffee aroma and just seems to give the dish a nicer sweetness than sugar!

Ray

I havent tried that but can imagine it works well. I was told to use golden syrup for chinese cooking by a cantonese chef in England and it works well. Better than honey in my opinion because the taste is less obvious.