Quote from: Ramirez on November 17, 2010, 12:09 PM
It's this bit at the end.

Ah, thank you : clearly my brain stopped searching at the words "garam masala", not expecting these to be followed by water !  In which case, Trucker, I think you should be guided by the "soup-like consistency" rather than the "1 litre", but with a light soup in mind, not something thick like cream of chicken.  Maybe (I have been trying desperately to think of a soup with the right consistency) something like a lobster bisque, veering towards thinner rather than thicker.

** Phil.

Quote from: Ramirez on November 17, 2010, 12:00 PM
It's this recipe Phil.

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4596.0

Well, that's where I looked first, but I can't see anywhere that Ray writes of adding a further litre of water after adding the tomato and blending.  Can you see it, Ramirez ?

** Phil.

Trucker, can you please post a link to the exact recipe you are using ?  I am having trouble tracking down this "another litre of water", and would like to see exactly what Ray wrote before commenting further.

** Phil.

Quote from: trucker5774 on November 17, 2010, 11:13 AM
I am towards the end of making Razors base. All seems well except the tomato mix still seems to be very oily. 150ml seems like a lot of oil but I stuck with it and went in with faith! Do I just need to cook for longer? is my pan too small? does it oil reduce? Should I just carry on and not worry?

The oil content certainly won't reduce (it can't boil off, unlike water) but unless/until Ray replies to the contrary, I wouldn't worry.

** Phil.

Quote from: trucker5774 on November 17, 2010, 09:14 AM
If the chicken it cooked from raw it will often be flash fried to seal the outer. By my way of thinking, that is the answer in a nutshell

OK, but in this case it definitely was not flash-fried !  It was simply added to the pre-heated (stage-3 sauce + oil mixture) immediately following the addition of the ground chillies and salt.  As there was just over a pint of sauce to seven tablespoons of oil, the chicken could not have fried in these circumstances.

VC, you'll just have to open your own BIR in Australia and show the locals how it's supposed to be done ! (Incidentally, I seem to recall that when I was working at CSIRO in Melbourne for a few weeks in 1987, there was a multi-ethnic food mall not far from where I was based which served distinctly good and authentic fare).

** Phil.

Ever since discovering Kris Dhillon, I have continued to follow her basic precepts, including the pre-cooking of the chicken (I rarely use any other main ingredient).  But yesterday, following up on my "Back to Basics" thread, I decided to make a Bassar Curry Masala version but using raw chicken.  And I have to say, it was not an outstanding success.  OK, so the chicken had been frozen, I can't swear to it being free-range, it was leg not breast, and after skinning and boning it weighed 10oz not 8 so I had to re-scale things in proportion, but even allowing for all of these variations I felt that the final dish was lacking in flavour.  So much so, in fact, that I converted it at the last minute from a Chicken Madras into a Chicken Achari.  But interestingly, it seemed to be the chicken that was lacking in flavour, not the sauce : when the meal was over, and after I had had a chance to relax, I tried the sauce by itself, and it seemed absolutely fine.  But the chicken hadn't absorbed as much of the flavour as it seems to when pre-cooked.  So I wonder whether pre-cooking is not just a time-saver for restaurants, but also an important part of the process : is the simple broiling in onion/ginger/garlic gravy with turmeric a necessary pre-requisite for achieving full-flavoured chicken ?  What do others think ?

** Phil.

Ah yes, Ambala : they have a branch in Drummond Street (just behind Euston Station) which is renowned for its Indian confectioners --

Ambala Sweet Centre, 112-114 Drummond Street, London.

** Phil.

Oops, just repeating the experiment, this time using Bassar Curry Masala, and I realised I omitted the vital oil from the recipe : it should have read

Chicken Madras a la Kris Dhillon

8oz pre-cooked chicken; 5 tablespoons grapeseed oil; 3/4 pint stage-2 sauce; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons ground chillies; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek; chopped coriander stalks and two small red chillies added 2 minutes before serving; garnished with chopped coriander leaves at point of serving; all teaspoons rounded, not flat.  No garam masala, no raw tomato.

** Phil.

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 16, 2010, 10:10 AM
I've often admired the ease with which you see them make dosas in youtube videos but I've never thought to actually try to make one at home. In fact I can't see how you would as you need a large flat heated surface to do it right

Ah, I can see that someone will have to bring one of these home from his/her next trip to India ! 

Or perhaps a trip to the local sheet-metal fabricators, with the dimensions of one's hob, and see if one can get a custom-made hob-top that covers all four elements and is sufficiently thick to ensure even heat distribution ?

** Phil.

Quote from: Secret Santa on November 16, 2010, 01:18 PM
So on that unscientific basis it would seem that all chopped tomatoes are the round(ish) varieties.

Ah, but what about George's more scientific method : "contains exactly what it says on the can" ?  Seems to have some merit, to me ...

** Phil.