Hi Unclefrank

My word! that Chicken Tikka looks lovely. Just looking at those pictures is making me crave some.

CA's Chicken Tikka recipe is my favorite too, and cooked on the barbecue its divine always turns out much nicer than done in a standard oven / grill I think.

Good work.

Hi

Do you use a metal chef's spoon when you make your curries?

If so, then a non stick work will probably not be the best tool for the job?

cheers

Hi

Interesting question! and one to which I had no idea of!

Mine is flat bottomed on a standard gas stove, and brilliant for Chinese style stir fry, but a bit of a pain to stop curries burning.

EDIT: In no way should you let my opinion of flat bottom woks and curry put you off - as it has already been said above, stainless steel works may have hot spots and perhaps mine has a big one!

Seems like a lot of people on the internet do though, this looks to be a reasonably interesting article that may help explain things: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/woktype.html

Cheers

Hi

I was myself using a stainless steel wok for curries until recently, but I found that the wok was just too heat sensitive and made cooking the curry without burning the spices etc a real battle. Perhaps a cast iron wok would be better.

However just got a small and large one of these: http://www.catering-suppliers.com/cgi-bin/2008productView.cgi?prodID=97

Would highly recommend these pans, make cooking the curry so much more easy compared to the wok.

Hi

Thank you for your indulgencies regarding the puree problem! - I did not mean to hijack the thread with it!

Anyway, the stuff is 'Trattoria Verdi' - Tomato Puree - Discount brands, produced in Italy for Tesco.

No mention of any other ingredients such as Basil, nothing at all to indicate that it is not pure.

However I recommend that you do not, in a moment of - Oh, panic no puree - oh - that will do - buy any for your curries. It is nasty in curries.

Thanks

Hi

Coming from a point where the curries I had been making were consistently coming out as expected, one day something changed! The dishes had now taken on an unexpected flavor and aroma, they had turned overnight remarkably peculiar and very disappointing!

What had changed? nothing as far as I know? - I must be burning the spices - what else could be causing this aroma? not fully burnt but maybe heading toward a singe perhaps?

Then proceeds to consistently cook disappointing curries for a while.... while trying to work out WTF has happened?

Turned out to be a different make of tomato puree - not sure where it came from, nothing particularly special about it ' Trattoria Verdi' double concentrate tomato puree. Anyway, its blooming nasty when used in curry!

Since then, been trying different brands of tomato pure to see what is what...

My favorite so far comes from the local co-op, their own brand double concentrate puree imparts a lovely flavor, Sanos normal and So-organic and Tescos own seem OK, but IMO they steer the flavor away from BIR and head somewhere toward a bolognese!

Like others have suggested, I too was of the opinion that all tomato puree was pretty much the same and would have little influence on the final dish!. However I am convinced that this is not the case and that the puree has a rather significant effect.

Will endeavor to get hold of some White Tower tomato puree and see how that turns out!

Just thought I would make this post just to share a personal observation and perhaps others may like to experiment with this as it is easy just to try!

Just looking at those pictures is making me crave a curry - and its only 9:30am.

Looks very nice!

Wondering... I always do a double portion of CA's base too, but mine always comes out a much deeper color? - maybe I'm miss-measuring the spice quantities?

Hi

Lovely looking curry you made there.

Seriously though, if you have a favourite BIR that you go to, and you know and trust the quality, you must try a Chicken Jalfrezi - you are missing out not doing so!

Not that your dish was any less good! of course. But its good to have a bench mark for comparison.

Cheers

Hi

All, thank you very much for the positive feed back on the picture!

Once again, thank you CA for posting your recipes!

On boy scouts honor - I have not enhanced the picture at all! - Just had my old camera repaired with a new CCD device when the old one broke and thats how it came out!

Thanks again 

Hi chriswg

Thank you for the complement, very nice thing to say .

With regard to the recipe here are the details:

CA's base - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3772.0
Always make a double batch with 2 x quantities as per spec. Usually use fresh ground spices in base.

CA's Vindaloo -  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3953.0
Always make a double portion with 2 x quantities as per spec.

However recently I have been experimenting and have now started using Bruce Edwards mix (https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1546.0) made exactly to spec with pre-ground spices. I personally find, as others have said on this site, that fresh ground spices start to steer the overall flavor away from my personal idea of the BIR taste.

I always pre-cook the chicken with an oil based method based on the recipe in the curry secrets paperback book. Basically cook gently in oil with some chicken seasoning, cardamom, turmeric and a tbsp or so of gravy until cooked and very tender, then drain on paper towel.

The spices are very gently fried, mainly because I am always paranoid about burning them.

The potatoes in the Vindaloo are boiled until firm just with 1tsp turmeric and 5 or so green cardamom pods. Plus I always allow 3 or 4 of them to enter the curry dish with the potatoes during the latter stage of cooking.

I personally find the choice of tomato puree used to be a critical factor in the look and taste of the dish and at the moment favor the double concentrate tube variety that is co-op own brand.

The tomato puree and the addition of CA's tikka masala powder (https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1514.0) are the main contributors to the deep red colour of the dish.

Oh, forgot to say, I don't use CA's spiced oil as is mentioned in his spec, not because I have any aversion to it whatsoever, just not got round to making any yet.

Thanks all.