Topic: My Dhansak

[Garp]

Yeah it went well mate, and I loved the texture the lentils gave to the sauce. I followed your original recipe rather than your slightly adjusted. As I said earlier, I wasn't really expecting the sweet and sour flavours to come through quite as strongly as they did, and, as I love a pathia, I could see where this originated.

Going to give it another go in a week or three and hopefully get postable pics this time. Thanks again for the recipe 

[SoberRat]

You're welcome. Look forward to seeing the pics. On reflection of the one I made the other day I think the original recipe is what I will stick to too.

[Naga]

...My tomato puree is made using double concentrate puree, passata, water and a little TRS tandoori masala...

I very nearly missed this ingredient description in transcribing the recipe, SB.

I haven't seen this before (although that goes for absolutely nothing!) and wondered if it's something you've seen elsewhere and adopted for your own cooking, or if it's your own invention.

I didn't have any passata handy when I prepared the dish yesterday, but I did add tandoori masala to the diluted tomato puree. It's hard to know what effect the tandoori masala actually had, but every little helps, I suppose.

[SoberRat]

I used passata so that I use less water to thin it out. I'm not sure if anyone else does it. As for the tandoori masala, it is difficult to say if it makes any difference, that is a c2go idea and I have just stuck with it. 

[Naga]

Ah, right - thanks! I never really followed C2Go stuff, so I was unaware of that addition. I'll certainly try it out with other dishes to see if there are any subtle differences. I tend to use tomato puree out of a tin (rather than a tube), so I generally portion and freeze the excess. I'll give your passata + tandoori masala a go next time I freeze some.

[Secret Santa]

I think I first saw tandoori masala used in the tomato paste in that Undercover Curry book (probably where Julian got the idea from). Just doesn't seem to do much in my opinion.

[Onions]

Passata saves dilution yep.

[Garp]

Inspired by recent posts, gave SR's Dhansak another roll today. Just as nice as the last time

[Onions]

That looks fantastic. Original recipe? I am wondering a couple of things, like how many tbsp lime juice is in a whole lime, and what to do about Pineapple juice as I reckon that for the sake of a couple of tsp's, the whole carton will be unused! Or is there a 'cooking' juice available?
Bloody good idea about the lentils too! Had a dhansak once with chickpea in it- it was unbelievably filling for a meatless dish.

[Garp]

Cheers Onions. I've stuck to SR's original recipe mostly.

Lime - I squeezed a half one in.

Pineapple juice - I was the same as you mate, but ended up buying a tin of pineapple chunks (in juice) and just using that. It was cheaper than the alternative