Not yet I have a lot going on at the moment.Hesitant to give it a go to be honest I don't want to be disappointed but I'll have a bash soon.I've just noticed that the method of precooking vegetables in the curry crunch book(page 16) is quite similar ingredients wise to the bombay potato recipe I was shown in the takeaway.

Quote from: haldi on October 25, 2010, 07:23 PM
Where is this takeaway that you went to JB?
How many miles from Nottingham?

Quite a way I'm afraid,junction 31 off the M25 into deepest Essex,not far from the big Lakeside shopping centre.

Quote from: JerryM on October 23, 2010, 01:23 PM
square peg and only round holes in sight!

this is something i've pondered off and on and never resolved.

Secret Santa has mentioned it several times in the past.

the last few posts (pg 5) in the jb post on, "spiced oil in base" prompted the post.

this is what i know:

1) oil is needed to make a top notch BIR.
2) i don't agree that an excess is needed (defined as more than a hint of oil on the surface or small amount of pooling). at my local TA if an "excess" occurs which don't seem that often (observing from the counter) the chef skims off the excess into a tin (from the frying pan)
3) the colour of this oil is red and can be "hot" spiced down to chilli (observed from purchased dishes)
4) the colour of the curry gravy oil is yellow
5) from direct experience i know that recycling curry gravy oil through a number of batch of base (say 3 off) improves the intensity of the oil. Nb i no longer do this as i use marg which limits the shelf life.
6) using more oil at frying stage significantly eases the cooking process ie if time was not an issue use more oil and skim it off

so the question is where is this skimmed oil used. given jb's recent find that even pre cook chicken liquid is saved - i am pretty sure this "curry gold" is not binned.

i can't put hand on heart and say it does not go back into the base in some BIR - but at my local TA i am pretty sure it can't as the yellow and red oil don't mix.

the only place i can find is the bunjarra.

all thoughts very welcome to hopefully put this one "niggle" to bed.

Jerry M on my lesson there was a big pot which contained pre-cooked chicken.The chef got the chicken out with a slotted spoon,and then said the liquid that remained was indeed poured into the base sauce pan.It was quite runny but there was loads of orange/red oil floating on the top.When he had exhausted one base sauce he produced another,this was indeed yellow but when he started to simmer it the orange oil started to seep through.

Haldi I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure there was no salt,to be honest there was so much going on in the kitchen that I may have missed it.Not much lemon at all,he cut the end of it I'd say about 1 centimetre thick.

I just thought it was clever how they had managed to combine all the necessary ingredients into 1 paste I had never seen that before.The smell from the tikka massala was lovely sitting in the tray.It must have taken him all of two minutes to cook!!!

On the subject of onion bhajis I could have kicked myself for not asking him what he puts in his.Unlike most of the flat,dryish(and tasteless I might add) offerings in some takeaways near me he manages to get his really crispy with a wonderful flavour.I've noted some sort of strange seeds in his before....Another question for my return I think.

Quote from: haldi on October 23, 2010, 09:36 AM

Quote from: jb on October 22, 2010, 07:05 PM
Some links to the recipes.....

chicken madras....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4973.0

sag aloo....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4945.0

chicken tikka....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4934.0

chicken korma....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4944.0

Thanks so much for the links
Sometimes I miss things
I understand the thinking for splitting every recipe into a logical location, but I think it may be easier if a set of recipes like these, JB's latest new ones, and Panpots Ashoka's were just put all together, in a seperate place as well
They are each, one chefs recipes, and belong together

Couldn't agree more I had trouble myself remembering what I wrote and where I put it!!

Quote from: Ramirez on October 22, 2010, 11:55 AM
The coriander, green pepper, salt and turmeric are not mentioned in the instructions in part 1. I presume they go in with everything else the same as the other ingredients - is this correct?

Sorry guys I do check all my posts I missed that.The coriander, green pepper, salt and turmeric all go in at the first stage.Apologies again.Some links to the recipes.....

chicken madras....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4973.0

sag aloo....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4945.0

chicken tikka....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4934.0

chicken korma....https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4944.0

Quote from: George on October 20, 2010, 07:19 PM

Quote from: jb on October 20, 2010, 06:57 PMI can't wait to find out how they make these pastes.

Thanks again for these very interesting posts. Here's my guess as to the ingredients in those pastes: Compared to some other recipes and sources, his CTM strikes me as glaring in its apparent omission of sugar, coconut and possibly ground almonds. When I watched the East End web cam last night they seemed to start with three pale powders for what I assumed to be CTM. East End then added a red-ish paste or masala. We know how to make Tandoori Masala from various sources.

My guess is that your take-away probably add the dry powders into the more liquid tandoori masala. This would thicken it up, so it could be 'cut with a knife'. It would be faster for them to produce a dish if the pre-mix is done in advance. On the other hand, perhaps 1 chef spoon doesn't seem enough overall quantity so I might be wrong.

Korma might be similar, with a different mix.

Although I didn't see him take a spoonful of coconut(or almonds,sugar etc) I'm sure I could smell coconut in the finished dish.When I asked the Manager about the paste I said oh I suppose coconut,sugar and he nodded.I may be wrong but I guess they've found a way of incorporating all  the necessary ingredients into 1 paste.On a Friday or Saturday night the place is manic,and I suppose anything to quicken cooking times is welcome.

He showed me the pan they cook the gravy in at the weekend...it was huge!!! When I went into the storeroom there were sacks of onions everywhere.I really can't give any more info on the chicken stock,he didn't elaborate on quantities or exactly what goes in-I'll try to find out more when I revisit.On the subject of pastes,along with the chili sauce he used for the madras he had a tub of what he called balti sauce.Again can't be sure at the moment what was in it although he did say they used Patak's balti paste but tweak it and add their own spices.

I didn't bother cooking rice as I feel I can cook pillau rice as good(or better)than some takeaways.He did precook all his pillau rice(it was in a big plastic bowl).Whenever an order came in he just put a portion into a tray and microwaved it!!!  Thought this was a bit of a cheat to be honest but he did give me a portion to takeaway and it was very nice.Keema rice was cooked in a wok with the same rice and a dollop of keema mince from another dish.I asked him how he spiced his pillau rice and it was the usual stuff..cloves,cinnamon stick,cardamom,bay,salt and fennel seeds.He used very little colour and cooked the spices in ghee.He also used a little ginger/garlic paste which I don't normally do but I'll give that a go next time.

When I arrived in the takeaway I literally scrutinized everything they had on their shelves.One thing that caught my eye was a pinkish/red ingredient in a tub behind the chef.I asked the manager about it and he replied that it was their tikka masala paste.He said it had about 9 or 10 ingredients and he was quite happy to show me how to make it when I come back for another lesson when it's not so busy.I had a good look at it.It wasn't really a paste as such but quite thick as though you could cut it with a knife or scoop it out as the chef did when the first order came.I couldn't wait to see him cook it and was gobsmacked on just how easy and quick it was.He actually made about 5 tikka masalas that night.

All he did was get a cold pan,added a small amount of oil and then a chef spoon of this paste.He started to gently reheat it and added a ladle of base sauce.The paste kind of melted in the pan and then he added a  small squirt of uht cream from a carton and then some precooked chicken tikka.Another lot of base sauce went in and it was then left to simmer.That was it.He put it into the takeaway carton,added some flaked almonds,sultanas and a swirl of cream again.

I had a good sniff of this on the side(remembering it was someones order!!!)and it was lovely,quite different from my own efforts,very moreish.I showed him the list of ingredients I use in my tikka masala(I had all of my own notes with me) and he said it was pretty close to their version(but obviously prepared in a different way).I will post my recipe over the weekend.

He then made a chicken korma.Again he used the same method of cooking but used a whitish/yellow paste this time.I can't wait to find out how they make these pastes.

Incidentally at the end of the night he prepared the chicken tikka marinade ready for the next day's service.This is one thing which I'm quite happy to replicate at home and I must say his recipe contained far fewer ingredients than I use.He took some Patak's tikka paste,coleman's mint sauce,fresh coriander,lemon juice,salt,home-made yogurt and some coleman's mustard.Added some orange colour and mixed it.I've tasted the tikka from here and it's very nice,maybe the use of a tandoori oven gives it more flavour.

I know even mentioning Pataks is controversial but as the Manager told me,they could stand and mix their own spices and pastes but they don't bother They end up with more or less the same result and it's a lot cheaper and quicker.They do make their own garam masla.I had a sniff of some of this in a tub and it was so different to shop brought stuff.

Bombay potato
---------------------

Next up I asked the chef I could have a go at making some bombay potatoes,another dish I've been trying to replicate since my earlier home lessons.He asked me to prep two large potatoes into chunks and dice 4 large onions into small pieces.I thought blimey that's a lot of onions but they I soon found out they cooked down to nothing.He actually complimented me on my knife skills and said that I must have done this before which was quite nice.

The next step was to precook the potatoes,the method he showed me was entirely different to that shown on my other lessons and I believe is the method done by another takeaway near me as it produced exactly the same flavour.On my other lessons all I did was to gently boil some potatoes in salted water with a little turmeric until they were nearly cooked and then they were left to cool.

First the pot was heated up and a couple of spoonfuls of oil from the pot on the stove was added and heated.The usual ginger/garlic paste was added together with the 4 diced onions,they were then browned.He then added a spoonful of thinned tomato puree,the potatoes,pinch of salt a little mix powder and then some whole spices.These were a couple of black peppercorns,2 green cardamoms,1 star anise,1 bay leaf and a small piece of cinammon stick.He then put another ladle full of oil in.Why this wasn't put in at the beginning I don't know,I guess he was doing it by eye.He then topped the pan up with a two large mugs of water to cover the potatoes..The lid was then put and it was boiled rapidly until the potatoes were cooked and the liquid had disaperead leaving a thick onion like sauce.There was also plenty of orange spicy oil as well in the bottom of the pan.The potatoes were cooked exactly like the ones from my takeaway-texture was spot on without being mashed on the surface(unlike the technique I'm used to doing).The star anise and cinammon stick was removed and the potatoes were left to cool.

To actually make the bombay potato the usual ginger/garlic was put into a pan with a spoonful of oil,small amount of mix powder and then a small spoonful of base sauce.The potatoes were added and simmered and then a little more base sauce was added.To finish some coriander/spring onion garnish and half a tomato as well.I asked the chef about panch poren spice,he showed me a jar he had and said you can add a small pinch when frying the mix powder on the second stage.

This was very different to my usual efforts,and much tastier with a great flavour.I caught a glimpse once of a tray of precooked potatoes like this in another takeaway so I'm certain now that's how some places do it.Here are my efforts,I took the photos today so the oil has settled somewhat in the bottom of the carton....

.