Quote from: RubyDoo on January 17, 2013, 04:40 PM
Oh -  get gas .. 

I dream of having a gas cooker again

The pre-cooked chicken is made using a simplified CA recipe - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1555.0.html

I say simplified because I don't bother with the Coriander (sounds strange!). This recipe gives me perfect results using chicke thighs, which I much prefer as a meat anyway. Sometimes for quickness I use chicken breast like yesterday. If I use chicken breasts I only ever make enough for the evening (never freeze it). I don't know why I decided to freeze it this time, (oh yes, missus is on a diet...again).

I've been having good results adding raw chicken straight to the the sauce when cooking recipes such as Madras and not bothering browning it, exactly like when making Thai style curries.

I finally had a hole in my schedule yesterday and decided to get on with my test recipe. I'm busy for the next couple of weekends, so it looked like the best opportunity.

I was to make CA's Chicken Dhansak - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,3869.0.html

Now I thought I'd have all afternoon free and had planned to do it to spec as much as possible. I intended to make the spiced oil which I've never bothered with before. Unfortunately, she who must be obeyed had an errand for me to run which although short, made making the oil impossible.

I'll also mention that due to having a fridge freezer, space is limited and I made this using CT's base, as I still have some ready. Also to free up some freezer space I used pre-cooked chicken tikka.

The photos are not the best, taken with my phone in not great lighting conditions. I tried to tidy them up a bit.

I've made this recipe before but the last time I had one of those induction related cooking incidents where the cooker starts for no apparent reason and burned the bottom of the Dhansak. I haven't made it since then, I can still taste that nasty burnt odour just by thinking about it.

I made the Dhal as per Blade's recipe, without the tomato as I'd forgotten to buy one. I scaled right sown to 150g of dhal but I still used a too small pan. Luckily I was alone. The Mrs wanted you to see this photo, so you knew how she suffered.

Usual mess


The dhal was delicious, I kept eating spoons of it to taste, really moreish, lovely amount of garlic and a nice kick with the onion/ chilli mixture. Later on the Missus tasted it (she's never relly been a big fan) and agreed. She nicked the rest of it to eat in the evening.

Finished dhal


The Chicken dhansak was straightforwards to make, but I haven't made one of CAs recipes for a while and I'd forgotten how much oil is used. At one point I thought I'd over done it, but It all disappeared while cooking. It was also the first time I've used a commercial 'curry' powder, I normally just use Ca's mix powder. I can't say I noticed any great difference.

The recipe turned out really well, I had a bit too much taste, so I made a bit more up, doubled the chilli, but kept the sugar as stated. Apart from that it was to spec. This is a really good recipe (although in fact I've never tasted a BIR dhansak), lovely sweet and sour taste with the moreishness of the dhal coming through. My only misgiving is that dhal always leaves that dry sensation in the mouth. I'd prefer to make this as part of a selection of currys rather than on its own.

The other problem was my chicken tikka. Against my better judgement I'd used chicken breast and I find this is too dry after freezing/ reheating, even undercooked. Eating the rest tonight (with chips!).

Finished

Another excellent report. The bar has been set high!

Stop talking and get whittling.

Forum software probably isn't the best thing for recording recipes. I keep thinking of ways to better organise stuff but....

Cheers, I thought it was that one, just checking.

Looks good, any chance you could link to the recipe?

Thanks, Phil.

I'm a bit worried about my partner. Normally, he's a prolific poster and I don't think he's been on-line this year. Hasn't answered my PM either.

Hope he's O.K.