It was Khanum brand vegetable ghee.It was directly under the stove where the chef was cooking,I've seen tubs of this in at the back of almost every takeaway(not that I go through their bins of course!)

Last night I managed to watch the chef prepare his pre cooked mushrooms.It was quite simple,and he used a similar technique to cook his mixed veg last week.Hopefully I'll catch him doing his pre cooked potatoes soon,he told me that they were done in the same manner.Anyway this is how he did his mushrooms.

First,he had a big container of chopped mushrooms which were blanched in water(.I'm guessing about 3 kilos).Then in a big pan he put in a chef's spoon of mixed veg oil/ghee.He heated this then added a spoon of blended ginger garlic together with a spoon of blended plum tomatoes.In the pan went half a spoon of cumin powder and the same of turmeric.Also added was about a quarter of salt and a teaspoon of panch poran.This was cooked for about 5 minutes max and then transferred to a big tray under the counter.

The mixed veg was done in a very similar way,the same ingredients but with a little water added and the veg added at various times depending on their cooking times.The potatoes are also done this way,but instead of panch poran added the chef adds cumin seeds.Neither the mix veg or potatoes are blanched beforehand.

No definite recipe for the green masala paste.I do have a recipe for one that I got some time ago from somewhere,can't remember exactly where so apologies in advance.I'm betting the recipe in the takeaway is very similar...

9 tablespoons fresh chopped coriander
3 green chillies
1/2 green pepper
2 tablespoons mustard oil
tablespoon ginger/garlic paste

I asked the chef again last night about the mix powder,it was the usual suspects,nothing magical.I have no reason to doubt him,he's been pretty honest so far.

A few pics...

[img]This is the tikka marinade that's used in my local takeaway,it's the place where I'm allowed into the kitchen.Along with the usual ingredients,it does have a couple of additions that I've not seen anywhere else.I guess it's just the chef's way of doing things.There's a lot of competition round here(and a lot of bland tikka!),there is a certain moorish taste to this one.The chef did everything by eye,and all ingredients here are standard chef spoons.The chef told me his tanddori marinade is very similar,but with more tandoori paste and less tikka.

4 mustard oil
3 thai sweet chilli sauce
1 heaped tomato ketchup
2 and half tandoori paste
3 tikka paste
1 three quarters kasmiri massala paste
2 and quarter Colemans English mustard
2 blended green massala(blended green chilli,corriander,mint and green pepper)
1 blended shatkora
1 and half mix powder
1 and half ginger garlic paste
1 methi
half turmeric
quarter salt
quarter chilli powder
6 heaped of yoghurt
2 half teaspoon red colour and 1 orange.

A few pics to follow,the chef kindly poured some into an empty tikka jar for me to take home

Spent another evening in the takeaway last night.It wasn't as busy as usual,I watched the chef cook a few big orders,however in between I was able to watch him do some of his prep work.I saw how he did his pre cooked mushrooms(which is very similar to his other pre cooked veg),and I also saw him prepare some tikka marinade.I managed to write down how he did these so I'll put the recipes in the approriate section.

I still can't believe how friendly these guys are and how willing they are to share their recipes.I guess as long as I'm buying food from them they'll let me loose in their kitchen.I had a bit of  a curry overload the weekend(can you have TOO much curry?!).Had a takeaway Friday night,ordered a bit too much so I had the rest the following day.Had another Saturday night and obviously got fed in the kitchen on Sunday night.

I'm back next Sunday,however if I can I will pay a visit on Tuesday as the chef said I can watch him make a new batch of massala paste.

He did another base gravy last night.He definetely likes to do the second bhagar stage the following day.I asked him why and he just said fresh bhagar is best.I also found out that it is in fact a mixture of veg oil and melted ghee that he uses to start his curries,not just plain veg oil.

Quote from: Admin on January 05, 2016, 09:52 AM
Excellent post, can i just ask what the Mix Powder is made up from?

Stew

I'll ask him more about his mix powder next time.I showed him my recipe(as I did with all my recipes) and he said it was good,his is probobly different but as he kept saying there is no right or wrong way with these things,just the way each individual chef does things.I'm wondering if his mix powder contains ginger powder.I've seen a few mix powders with this stuff and I've seen it in my local shop.The Chef's curries are always started off with just chopped garlic as opposed to ginger/garlic paste,I seem to remember the Kushi balti book did it like this.

Quote from: Sverige on January 05, 2016, 04:36 AM

Quote
At first the pan was on a farly low heat,then after a while he put the lid on and it began boiling.As with my other take-away gravy the chef stressed that the onions MUST be cooked until they've virtually melted.When the gravy was ready he took an onion out,held it between his figures to illustrate the point,

This seems to be key to a good base and has been mentioned before. Can you approximate the time the onions were cooked for to reach this "melting point"? There seem to be wildly different interpretations among posters here of the "right" duration to cook onions in a base gravy, so it would be a useful reference point.

The chef says 'about 45 minutes',I'd say it was about an hour.I guess it depends how many onions you have and how big the gas is.Really,after an hour or so take a piece of onion,put it it between your fingers and press,it should be mushy and just fall apart.I cut the onions in half and each half was cut again in three bits.Not an exact science,they were just cut to speed up the cooking.I remember reading somewhere on here once that cooking whole onions is one of those 'secrets' to achieving the BIR taste,that's clearly not correct.

I'm glad you enjoyed it Curryhell.For a place that's only been open a short while it certainly is very busy.The chef seems to take great pride and care in his curries and I think he actually enjoys been watched,it's a shame other kitchens aren't so open.I've been keen to tell him that although I'm in his kitchen learning I'll still be ordering plenty of food from him,he's nothing to worry about in that respect.Indeed I'm home alone this Friday and Saturday so it could be a back to back delivery and hopefully a kitchen visit on Sunday.

There is so much to take in and remember while I'm in there but I think I've covered most things so far.The curries are not overly oily,which is something I always look out for in places.As you say the sag aloo is very good.They have 4 trays of precooked vegetables.One is mixed veg(which I saw him cook),1 precooked potatoes(which I just missed), 1 mushrooms and also pre cooked spinach.The precooked spinach looks very much like a cooked sag bhaji in itself,obviously spinach but mixed in with onions and slithers of garlic.Hopefully the more times I get into the kitchen the more prep I'll see.I try to get in before the place opens which is when a lot of this stuff happens.

I watched the chef prepare some pilau rice.As well as the usual whole spices he began the rice frying some ghee and then added some finely chopped onion,fine slithers of ginger and then the usual ginger/garlic paste. I guess it's just his way of doing it.The onion and ginger seem to cook away to nothing.

Here's the base gravy used in my local take-away,the one where I'm recently been allowed into the kitchen to see the chefs in action.As you can see,there's nothing magical about it,just a mildy spiced gravy that the chef uses in all of his dishes.It's quite similar to other recipes,and actually a bit less complex than my other take-away base gravy I was given.I showed the chef the recipe for that one,he seemed quite impressed and said it was very similar to one he used in another place.Actually the two gravies are quite similar in taste.

This one is the usual two stage recipe,with a bhagar to finish it off.For some reason the first part is done and the gravy is left overnight and the bhagar is done the next day.Quite why this is done I don't know.
I've seen the chef do the first part and last night when it was busy I saw him do the bhagar and complete the gavy.He seemed quite amused when I shouted out 'bhagar!' He actually began using the gravy straight away so I'm quite sure there's nothing else added or no added ingredients.

He began with 30 white peeled chopped onions in a big pan.I know there was 30,I peeled them all!
Then he added one green pepper,1 red pepper,1 sweet long red pepper and five chopped carrots.He then put in a chef's spoon each of plain veg oil and ginger/garlic paste,half a spoon of turmeric and half of salt.Then he put in some water,he just filled up an old yoghurt tub and put the water in,not that much really.At first the pan was on a farly low heat,then after a while he put the lid on and it began boiling.As with my other take-away gravy the chef stressed that the onions MUST be cooked until they've virtually melted.When the gravy was ready he took an onion out,held it between his figures to illustrate the point,I think this is one of the key things to do to get a decent gravy.It was then blended with one of those industrial sized stick blenders and then water added to thin it to the correct consistency.

The gravy is then left until it is needed,this is when the second stage is done.In a pan he put a chef's spoon of oil,heated it up and added a heaped spoon of ginger garlic paste.This was browned and then a chef's spoon of mix powder was put in followed by a spoon of watered down tomato paste.After it had been cooking for a while it was then just tipped into the gravy.The gravy wasn't reboiled again,the chef used it straight away.

So there you go,yet another gravy recipe,however I've seen this one cooked and unless the chef is a magician or expert conjurer there was nothing else added apart from the ingredients I've listed.