Ok, I know I am a bit obsessive about curry and "the  taste"
I thought, if I don't do something fairly extreme, then I will never get what I want.
So I bought a second hand indian restaurant hob.
I got it converted to propane and the burners are really really hot
I can't work out the "btu" output but it seems to be a problem to not burn things
I imagined that getting the perfect curry would be really straight forward now.
After all, I've seen the base made and loads of curries cooked too.
What can I say?
It just hasn't made that much of a difference
Everything is too spiced and thick
In fact I think the old "at home recipes" are no longer suitable
I'm seeing a few chefs for some advice
Something is wrong somewhere
Maybe it's the spice mix
Who would have thought this was so hard to do?

Quote from: Secret Santa on October 20, 2007, 11:12 AM
You have to wonder why they boil the chicken to death. I think i'd just do the second part and perhaps cook for a bit longer, that way the chicken flavour is retained.

It makes the chicken very soft, when done this way
You've got to bear in mind that it will be reheated too
That will dry it out a bit

Absolutely crazy,I know
But I have watched chicken being precooked in a large pot full of water
And the water was chucked
I don't like telling things I was told in confidence, but it's been a good while since the demo, so I suppose there is no harm:-

Pre cooked chicken

1 ?five litre emulsion sized container? of cut bite sized raw chicken
? full water in a 14 inch high saucepan
1 chefs spoon turmeric
1 inch deep of fresh ktc oil (about a litre)
3 ladles of garlic ginger puree
2 ladles tomato puree
1 chefs spoon spice mix
10 green cardamoms
1 ladle of curry gravy

Bring the water to the boil and add the turmeric
Boil for ten minutes until it darkens in colour
Carefully add the chicken and boil for about 25 minutes
Strain and chuck the water away (surprising)
Heat the oil for a couple of minutes and add the garlic ginger
Cook for five minutes
Add the tomato puree, spice mix, and cardamoms
Keep stirring and reduce for ten minutes
Add the pre boiled chicken and coat in the spiced sauce
Cook for ten minutes, stirring now and then
Put into plastic container
Wait to cool then put into the fridge

At this place there was no chicken stock used for adding to final curries

Quote from: rozzi on September 11, 2007, 02:25 PM
the real flavour comes from cooking this gravy really hard in the first five minutes to extract the natural sugars from the onions. Also you have to fry the garlic and spices really hard as well, because this changes the flavour completely.

I guess without this extra heat, we can't get the same results
I have recently seen a few more curries cooked, in a takeaway
There is nothing complicated that couldn't be done at home, except this lack of "cooking heat"
All the meals they cook, revolve around a very simple few ingredients
Oil (from a deep fat fryer this time)
Finely chopped garlic
Chopped onion
Chopped pepper
Garlic/ginger puree
Spice mix/chilli powder
Fresh coriander
Curry gravy
Dried fenugreek
Sugar
Salt
Precooked meat/chicken/veg
Canned veg or frozen too!

Hi Fumble
         This book was discussed at length on this site
The general consensus, was that it wasn't what people expected or wanted

Quote from: mike travis on May 25, 2007, 10:58 PM
Was it half a pint of oil?
Cheers all.... ;D

I think when you get a "?" in any recipe it means "half"

Hi Jethro
         I think I will end up throwing most of the packet away.
Put it down to experience.
More specifically, the smell is like stink bombs

I am always curious about new ingredients
I saw this "black salt" in a recipe so I got some
I've tried it on it's own
Most unusual
It tastes like very salty boiled eggs
Maybe it's got sulphur in
Anyone else used it?
I got mine for a tamarind chutney

I've noticed, several times, that posts are difficult to understand because "question marks" replace puntuation and fractioned numbers
So you would have to guess the recipe posted

Quote from: Jethro on August 14, 2007, 07:02 AM
1955 was a very good year, tis mine too  ;D

Hey, it's mine as well