I can't work out the pattern of the use of ghee. Ashoka use it for some dishes at the frying stage & not others according to the report. Kushi if I remember correctly,mix it with veg oil to start off their tikka masala. One thing i'm certain of is thats it features heavily in the Glasgow bir's. The empty buckets are then used for all manner of things. The thing is, I see both, the big metal containers of oil & the big ghee buckets in the same places.

ELW

Quote from: paulirving on February 16, 2012, 02:24 AM
Ok, the first step is to make your Balti paste.
Ingredients as follows
200ml Vegetable Oil
400ml Water
1 quarter teaspoon  Mango powder (small amount but very important, I have not tried using fresh mango juice)
25 gms Garlic powder
50 gms Ginger powder
50gms Sugar
50 gms Gram Flour
50 gms Paprika
50 gms Coriander
50 gms Turmeric
20 gms Salt
50 gms Chilli powder
50 gms Corn Flour
2 teaspoons Tomato Puree
20 gms Fenugreek
1 teaspoon Tamarind paste
1 half of Lemon Juice
100 ml Coconut Milk

Method

Combine all the dry spices, the flours the salt, the tamarind, and tomato paste together.
Add the oil and stir well, now fry on a moderately low heat (DO NOT BURN)
It should be quite thick at this stage, mix the milk, the water, and lemon juice together.
pour this in a bit at a time, your paste is ready when you see the oil separating from the paste.
for me this usually takes between 10 and 15 mins but I guess this depends on your heat.
Do not boil it, lower your heat if you see it boiling.

Ok so you have the paste ready, now its time to make the Balti main course meal.

Ingredients to serve up to 4 persons

500 gms Chicken breast cut into cubes (or how you prefer)
2 medium sized Onions approx 300 gms
Approx 1 inch fresh Ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 or 2 birds eye green chillies
2 tomatoes ( remove skins and cut into Eighths and deseed) or alternative approx 7-8 cherry toms cut in half.
1 Green pepper cut into small cubes
75mls vegetable oil or approx 30-40 gms of ghee
1 half teaspoon Turmeric
2 tablespoons fresh Yoghurt
4 green cardomom pods (crush these with back of knife as you would a garlic glove)
2 Bay Leaves
55 gms of your home made Balti paste

Fresh Coriander (garnish

NOW THE FUN BIT
STEP ONE
Get together 1 Onion, half of your Tomatoes, half of your fresh Chilli half of your Green Pepper, 1 Garlic clove and a few Coriander leaves.
STEP TWO
Put above in a small pan with your Turmeric, 20 ml Oil and approx 250 ml Water.
STEP THREE
Bring to boil then add lid and simmer for approx 20 mins stirring occasionally.
Step FOUR
Blend your pan mixture into a puree.

OK so now you have your puree ready and your Balti paste ready

STEP FIVE
Heat the rest of your oil in your chosen curry pan ( I use a 14" heavy based wok)
STEP SIX
Add Garlic cloves, Cardomoms and the Bay leaves and slowly fry until the Garlic is golden. (do not burn garlic, if you do you must start this stage again)
STEP SEVEN
Add rest of your Onions, Green Pepper and Tomatoes with a touch of salt, fry until they start to soften.
STEP EIGHT
Add your Balti paste and stir continuously for approx 2-3 mins
STEP NINE
Add your puree from step One and stir in.
STEP TEN
Add your Chicken and approx 200ml of water
STEP ELEVEN
Stir well, put lid on and simmer for approx 45 mins
STEP TWELVE
stir in your Yoghurt, a small amount at a time.
STEP THIRTEEN
Add some chopped Coriander and leave your finished Balti for approx 10 mins and then serve.

Hi Paul, that looks like a good recipe from reading it..recipe's all look long winded to me until i've made them. Steps 8 & 9 is where I'm looking to improve  my own cooking. I'll add this paste to my ....other list of pastes...that I have still to try  ;D
ELW

Thanks for that mm & jb, I've only ever added masala ingredients separately, always with 1 eye on the yoghurt, a little at a time. I'm thinking the ghee, may hold this together better  in a chefs spoon in 1 dollop, still on highish heat

I'll fridge some & freeze some

ELW

Quote from: curryhell on February 16, 2012, 11:40 AM

Quote from: Whandsy on February 16, 2012, 08:13 AM
Well done CH, please keep us posted on any tips or tricks you make to achieve sundays phall results, I'm following you guys' lead tonight and making me and the missus a curry so will be cranking the hob up, fingers crossed for great results, however am using C2G's base as i have a freezer drawer full

Did you make all your ingredients to zaal spec?

W

I think any good base and spice mix will do Wayne.  Not had chance to do Az's base or spice mix yet.  More interested in perfecting the technique.  Watch the phall video a few times and look at the timings to get an idea of how quick it all happens.  That first minute is vital to the success of the dish.  It does help also if you add things in  the correct sequence too :

Me too
Great report CH, what would the difference in Az's Bhuna, & your basic curry up until to the 1st gravy?
ELW

Thats pretty much standard language in my kitchen

I get the choking fumes frequently when using fresh chillies, but not from any other spices. From 1:50 until the gravy goes in, looks like where the new flavour is created. I've had brief flashes of this at home, but now I see I've been cooling it with  the gravy too early.It makes me wonder why none of the bir books & recipe's really focus on this much at all, except to tell you not to burn them? The chefs seem oblivious to the grief this has caused us.  ;D
With this hindsight, I see now that the KD stuff did have everything required to create bir, from base gravy,onion paste,homemade gm to the masala sauce, but the cooking technique was completely missing, same with the Ashoka report on here. Bruce Edwards never focussed on this either, but he was  'bhagaring' his gravy way back

I'd like to know if the mix powder is mainly a way of getting spices into a pan quickly, for even cooking & if Az would use one at home?

Does Az use pre cooked pepper/onion? The they are normally pretty soft here with virtually no colour on them. Especially the peppers.

Regards
ELW

Quote from: emin-j on February 15, 2012, 07:58 PM
Really surprised how little veg oil goes into this base considering the 400 - 500 ml that goes into many base recipe's on the forum.

Hi emin-j, I noticed hardly any oil going in as well, although it does get 1 x heaped chefs spoon veg ghee to fry the tomatoes to 'bhagar' the gravy. Not sure what that makes the total equiv?
ELW

Quote from: Salvador Dhali on February 15, 2012, 07:50 PM

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on February 15, 2012, 06:08 PM

Quote from: Phil (Chaa006) on February 15, 2012, 04:15 PM
Brilliant literate self-introduction, SD : welcome to the forum !
** Phil.

At first I thought the eloquent use of lanaguage was Phil in disguise! Welcome to CRO from Bonnie Scotland, alas not Glasgow, but Dundee - however our claim to fame is that Dundee had the first BIR to get in the good food guide, an establishment no longer there but one of many good curry houses in our small city / large town. When did you last have a curry in Scotland SD?

regards

Steve

Thanks for the welcome, Steve. To my shame the last time I had a curry in Scotland was November 1982.

Although I did some exploration up there, the nearest I got to Dundee was Perth - and the only curry I had there was cooked by the mate I was staying with. (From memory he didn't make too bad a job of it.)

Most of my Scottish BIR experiences and all of my formative drinking experiences were had in Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Irvine and Ayr, and as said I've been chasing 'that' taste ever since.

Talking of formative drinking experiences, I'll never forget my first ever time in Scotland. I'd driven up to Glasgow to start a new job. I was 20 years-old and very wet behind the ears. After the drive from hell I found myself lost in Glasgow at around 8.00pm on a January night, running about 5 hours behind schedule (no sat-navs or mobile phones back then). I saw a bar, pulled up and popped in to ask directions.

You know those Western films where the protagonist walks through the saloon's swing doors, and the piano player stops and the whole place goes quiet? Well that was just what it was like, except there was no piano player, and no swing doors - just me and a bar full of extremely hard-looking locals fixing me with a steely gaze.

I remember thinking "F**k. I'm not going to make it out of here in one piece..."

Plucking up courage, I asked in my most polite and respectful voice if anyone knew the way to the Red Road flats.

I was answered by another period of lengthy silence and steely gazes.

Then, from the dim recesses of the back of the bar someone shouted "He's a f****ing Sassenach!". 

I remember thinking "F**k. I'm not going to make it out of here alive..."

Before I could make a run for it, a huge unshaven guy stepped towards me, and said in an accent I struggled to fully comprehend...

"A Sassenach, aye? Well then, ye'll have a wee drink wi us, son."

I got the impression that it wasn't an offer I was supposed to refuse, and before I knew it, three hours had passed and I stoatered (staggered) out of the bar completely and utterly 'steamin' (drunk), having been thoroughly introduced to the concept of the 'wee half', whereby each glass of whisky is accompanied by a half pint of beer.

I'd also had a brilliant time, and made about a dozen new friends.

When I met up with my new work colleagues the next morning (feeling bloody dreadful), I told them what had happened.

"Where did you say this bar was?" asked one of them.

I gave him all the details I could recall.

"For f**k's sake man. Were you out of your tiny English skull? That's bang in the middle of the Gorbals!

"Eh? What's a Gorbal when it's at home?" I replied.

"Ach, never mind, never mind. Let's just say you were lucky to make it out of there alive..."

I instantly knew that I was going to enjoy my stay in Scotland. And that was before I discovered how good the curries were!

I really must go back. Hope it's still the same...

Hi Gary, welcome to cr0,the Gorbals has beeen gentrified on it's 3rd regeneration & the Red Road flats are on their way down. The big block is being razed this year. We still have full on curries for full on people!

ELW

Quote from: Salvador Dhali on February 15, 2012, 03:42 PM

Quote from: gazman1976 on November 06, 2009, 10:35 AM
Ingredients

80g onions, chopped
salt to taste
15g red chilli powder
80g tomato ketchup
15g ready-made mint sauce
30g ready-made mango chutney
a handful of fresh mint for garnishing
Method
Put the chopped onions in a large bowl, add the salt, chilli powder, tomato ketchup and mint sauce and mix well. Add the mango chutney and mix again thoroughly.

Put the bowl in the fridge for around 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

Garnished with the chopped mint and serve chilled with popodams.

Many thanks for this, gazman. I've been using a different variation of this for yonks, but having tried this it's a winner.

Because I don't have a sweet tooth I cut down on the mango chutney and tom sauce a little (used a mix of tom puree and sauce).

As a comparison, the version I've been using since 1982 came from the Shish Mahal in Glasgow (though it may well have changed by now).

It's simply:

Onion - 8oz finely sliced
Tomato sauce - 2.5 tbsp
Tomato puree - 2 tsp
Chilli powder - 0.5 tsp
Salt - scant 0.5 tsp (to taste)

Blend the tomoato sauce, pureer, chilli powder and salt well. Add the onion and toss well into the sauce. Cover and leave for 30 mins before serving.

The addition of mango and mint definitely gives it a different dimension though.

Cheers

Gary

Hi Gary I've never tried the Shish onions, either from the book or the restaurant, but I have made gazman's - minus the fresh mint as I had none. The ketchup/mango chutney & mint gives them a great sweet & sour flavour.

Don't know if you've seen this 1980 shish menu before http://www.shishmahal.co.uk/photographs
Still great food coming out of there - prices have changed somewhat  ;D

Regards
ELW

Any suggestions on storage for the Zaal Masala sauce?  I've never made a separate masala sauce before. I see this one has cooked onions rather than just cold ingredients like the others I've seen. I hate throwing food away.

ELW

Quote from: curryhell on February 15, 2012, 11:37 AM

Quote from: ELW on February 15, 2012, 10:22 AM
Do the guys who went to Zaal, think you or Az could turn out real bir quality from the recipe's on here like ca's, kd, etc, just by using better technique?
I'd be looking to revisit alot of recipe's if I notice a difference
ELW

Unfortunately, one cooking session with Az aint going to turn us into BIR chefs, if only .  We now have to put what he taught us into practice and just with any other skill it is all about practice, practice and more practice before you get anywhere near to  producing consistent results.  A BIR chef cooks loads of dishes every night of the week.  Us wanna be BIR chefs cook maybe a couple of dishes 2 or 3 times a week if that.  That said it may take us a little longer to get there but at least now we know where we're heading
Being  a BIR chef Az's recipes aren't written down, as you could see from the vids ;D He just programs in the dish required, then switches to auto pilot and out comes the ingredients required which is then translated to the chef's spoon. 
You may have picked up on the comment he made when we quizzed him about the lack of mix powder in the saag bhaji video -"no, vegetable isn't it", the implication being he rarely used mix powder in a vegetable dish only turmeric, which coincides with my experience of my brinjal bhaji at my local. 
Incidentally, the pots of spices in use were the normal culprits: turmeric, meethi leaves, salt, mix powder, chill powder, coconut powder/flour and ground almond and a container of tomato paste mixed one part paste to two parts water, gleaned from a chat over a cigarette
As for turning out BIR results from recipes on the forum, why wouldn't he, he's a BIR chef  ;D.  He may raise an eyebrow at the ingredients in some recipes but that would probably be because that's not exactly what he would use to cook the dish.  I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about what goes into most dishes, it's more the interpretation that each chef will put on it.  For certain dishes there probably is a concensus about what needs to go into to it, whereas other dishes there will probably be a lot more latitude and scope.  The one thing that does crop up though is technique.  Look how simple the phall was.  It tasted superb.  Would we have got the same results using a slow boat method of cooking, most definitely not.  I've tried it and it comes nowhere near to what i cooked with Az's guidance on Sunday

This probably explains why most of us get the bir aroma seemingly coming out of nowhere from time to time. I'm glad to find out there are no brick walls for most of us now!
ELW