How does one get in touch with Chris these days?

Tried sending him a personal message, but he does not receive messages from here anymore?.....

My very first attempt at a Naan bread today. I'm not sure who's recipe this is or whether I even got if from this site,but have decided to spend some time exploring these.

Given that we have an Impinger oven, 3 different types of oven (one waiting to be commissioned) and a stove top, gives me a few options of trying these out.

The mixture seemed ok, but the final taste was lacking in something for me. I did not add enough salt and I don't think there was enough yogurt. I ended up making 1kg of plain flour and multiplied everything by 8. I did not need all the fluid yeast.

The dough mixture was left for an hour and a half in a warm climate and I cooked about 4 on the Impinger oven, starting at 302 degrees centigrade for 3 minutes. The naan was over cooked so, reduced the time to 2 minutes 20, the naan was still over cooked, so dropped the time down to 2 minutes dead and it was undercooked. 2 minutes 10 produced the cooked naan I was looking for and then went on to add garlic slices, finely chopped chilli and coriander leaves. BUT... It still was not right for me... I think the cooking process was good, even though I will try other methods, but I am thinking some other recipes to try first.

The Naan Bread Recipe, but cannot remember where it is from.

Makes 2-3 Naan Breads

Ingredients
80ml hand hot water
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon dried active yeast
125g plain flour
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons melted butter, divided
1 tablespoon plain natural  yoghurt or try Greek Yogurt
Coriander leaves, chopped for garnish

Method
Prep:15min 

Quote from: chewytikka on February 01, 2014, 01:02 AM
Not being picky Bob hic:
Probably just the heat lamps, but your pics look all the same colour, if it wasn't for the
coriander and cream it could be difficult to tell them apart. Maybe take the snaps before they go in the Counterline.

Couple of questions if I may
Do you still use KnorrPataks pastes for spicing in these or do you go your own way completely.

I got the impression you were cooking for mainly students at a college refectory, how much are you charging
per portion for these fine curries. probably very cheap!

On the veggy, what kind of Pumpkin do you use and what brand of Paneer Cheese

There's a couple BIR dishes with Chicken Tikka and Paneer combined as a mixed flavour.

Worth an experiment.
cheers Chewy

Morning Mike,

Yes this week, the pics look pretty much the same in colour due to the heat lamps from the servery. The Paneer & Pumpkin Tikka Masala was a deeper colour of red (no food colouring added, just the colour from the TRS Tandoori Masala). I can't remember right now what brand Paneer came in as one of the Indian porters picked the Paneer up from the large cash and carry in Southall, but I can find out on Monday and come back to you. The pumpkin was just a standard pumpkin, but sometimes we will use butternut squash or sweet potato as well.

The only time I use KnorrPataks pastes is when I make Tikka, then I use Tikka Paste along with all the other spices from Blades Tikka recipe on here. I use the Kashmiri paste when making Kashmiri Masala, and I use Tandoori, Tikka and Kashmiri pastes when making Tandoori. Otherwise I make all curries by making Taz's base, along with spice mix, curry powder, chilli powder, methi or whatever other ingredients I need to make a certain dish.

I do have a big bag of dried Kashmiri Chilli's and when I get time I will have a go at making my own Kashmiri Masala paste as I did with the Tikka paste. I've almost got the Tikka Paste to perfection now and when I am satisfied with it, I'll stop buying the Pataks paste and make my own. Similarly, I will venture into the Tandoori paste at some stage in the future.

We usually have around 350 to 500 people come through, "The Hub" kitchen restaurant which is one of 3 main restaurants on the Uni and we have a number of smaller outlets on campus which serve, cakes, panini's, sandwiches etc.

A portion of curry costs about

Another week gone by at the UNI, and this week we made a lovely Paneer & Pumpkin Tikka Masala for the Vegetarians along with a Chicken Ceylon and Chicken Nepal...

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on January 26, 2014, 09:34 PM
I think if it has stood the test of time, and particularly in view both of the rave reviews it has received and my love for old-fashioned bhuna, this has to be my next curry.  Bob's chicken bhuna, here I come

** Phil.

Thanks Phil, I hope it doesn't disappoint....

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on January 26, 2014, 08:50 PM
In the over-two-years that have elapsed since you first published this recipe, Bob, have you made any adjustments to it when you cook it for yourself ?

** Phil.

To be totally honest Phil, no I haven't. I am happy with what I have produced, but I still do not think it is 100% to what I have had, and with only about two restaurants. There is a depth to this dish which I have not fathomed out yet nor had the time.

When I get the time, I will work on it further, but for me I am thinking it has something to do with the garlic and the process of cooking it...

I'm pleased you both enjoyed my recipe.

However, remember, Bhuna is a style of cooking not a flavour. It should be a dryish fried dish with not too much sauce or a dryish thickish kind of sauce.

My recipe is my take on a Bhuna, which I am sure will vary from region to region, but feel free to experiment with whatever ingredients suit your palate...

Quote from: chewytikka on January 26, 2014, 01:01 PM


What a shame about your Nausea  :  C'est la vie.........

lol Mike, I like that

If only people were prepared to do their homework

I find that Paprika or indeed Smoked Paprika is essential to me in the winter months when I cannot BBQ anything outside, as this for me achieves that smokey flavour in dishes.

Tandoori Masala is essential in CTM for me and I have achieved my best results using both Tandoori Masala and Smoked Paprika.

Again, personal tastes will vary and you will need to stock your pantry according to the tastes that suit you best as you move forward with your experiments

Quote from: rapscalli on January 26, 2014, 02:31 PM
Hi all,

new to the site and glad ive found it!

I am in the midst of a diet, so dont want to make a base at the moment with a pint of oil! Can anybody recommend a healthy recipe for a base.

Also, my other half is fussy, sometimes will eat chicken, sometimes not. Can somebody recommend a chicken and veg curry i can make, no hotter than a mild madras / jalfrezi? If she is on a veggie phase i can just fish out the chicken (she is fine with that)

Cheers all

Hi Rapscalli,

My partner is a vegetarian, so I've adapted a lot of my curries to suit us both.

Firstly, you can make any base sauce with as much or as little oil as you wish. Yes it can affect the final taste, but to be honest after having cooked BIR curries now for approx 7 years, I no longer crave that curry swimming in oil and regularly make Taz's base with only about 150ml of oil. (The recipe calls for 400ml) which I find too much. You can always add more oil to the final dish.

On some occasions, I make it with about 600ml of oil, and when it is finished, I spoon off the excess oil and bottle it and use it as a spiced oil for when I am making curries.

Getting back to the curries themselves, I will make a particular sauce that we both want or sauces, and I will make either Chicken Tikka/Base Chicken or whatever meat I am using.

I then chop up a load of vegetables, i.e. squash, peppers, aubergine, courgette, potato, beans, anything you want and either roast these in the oven with a little oil, fennel or cumin seeds or both or star anise, or steam some veggies for my partner.

Once everything is ready, plate up the meat or veggies and pour the sauce over the top or, split the sauce into 2 pots and add the meat to one and veggies to the other.

They all come out extremely well