Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: Peripatetic Phil on January 15, 2019, 09:11 PM
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I used up the last of my KD-base/PT (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=15041.msg131937#msg131937) (made 13th December, and not been refrigerated since) yesterday, and after eating up the last of the inadvertently pre-cooked chicken (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=15073.msg132394#msg132394) I still had a reasonable quantity of sauce left, so I bought another couple of free-range breasts and made myself a very quick curry this evening. I knocked up a fresh batch of g/g paste (this I do refrigerate), put a few glugs of Borderfields garlic-infused and chilli-infused rapeseed oils in my copper-bottomed stainless-steel 24cm frying pan, added a couple of teaspoons of the freshly-made g/g paste and a well-rounded teaspoon of Bassar curry masala. Once the chillies in the masala were starting to smell cooked, I added one breast (cut lengthways and then into four on the diagonal), sprinkled on a flat teaspoon of kala namak, then kept the breast pieces in motion until they were just firm, cooking at a medium temperature. I then added some of the leftover sauce, which very quickly reduced, added some more, waited for it to reduce, then added the remainder, gave one final stir, put the lid on and left it while I fried a paratha. The end results were superb
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Strangely I did almost the same (recipe wise) last night. Poached chicken thighs in base sauce for about an hour until the meat was just about falling off the bone. Then a good glug of oil, GG, methi and about 2TBS of bassar masala because there are virtually no spices in my current base sauce. Then the chicken went in along with the base sauce. As you say it had a real depth of flavour. And this was with a bassar that had no mustard oil in it, so it doesn't really qualify. The only thing I did notice was how salty it seemed to me but I don't have the packet to check if salt is a significant ingredient.
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I am a salt addict so I wouldn't have noticed the saltiness. Mine does have mustard oil, but I'd need to try some without before I could say whether I could detect the difference.
By the way, the Borderfield's infused rapeseed oil was an absolute bargain
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Is it difficult to make your own garlic/ginger paste ?, I am using a bought one at the moment because I imagine making your own would be hard.
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Easy as pie. Take (in my case) 100 gm peeled ginger. 70 gm frozen garlic. Cut the ginger into pieces approximating the size of the cloves of garlic. Place in a blender (I use a Lidl 260 watt Silvercrest top-motor mini-chopper, currently in-store at
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You can buy huge jars of it (or smaller ones) cheaper than making it, especially at Indian grocers. Fresh is best but I'm not convinced about it for G & G paste.
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I used to make it, 50/50 with some oil and water blended to a paste. Then freeze it in ice cube trays for storage.
But now I've got lazy as my Lidl do jars of Garlic, Ginger, Garlic and Ginger pastes.
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But now I've got lazy as my Lidl do jars of Garlic, Ginger, Garlic and Ginger pastes.
Do you happen to know whether any of these use vinegar (or acetic acid) as a preservative ? The use of vinegar as a preservative is the main reason I avoid the use of commercial products.
** Phil.
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Ginger 42%, Garlic 42%, Water, Salt, Corn Oil
Acidity Regulator Acetic acid
Thickener Xanthan gum
Preservatives Sodium Metabisulphite, Sodium Benzoate.
To be honest in the small amounts used I don't think it makes much difference to final taste.
But of course fresh made is always better
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Interesting that they think that a thickener is necessary; I wonder why ...
** Phil.
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I use frozen garlic and ginger 4oogms for
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Sounds good to me; from Tesco (Cofresh brand) ?
** Phil.
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most supermarket sell one brand or another, all the ones I've used seem to be about the same. Also available as just garlic or ginger if you don't want it already mixed.
London.
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New question for Martinvic. Why do (or did) you add water as well as oil, Martin ?
** Phil.
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Both fresh bulb garlic and root ginger are currently priced at $25 / kg in Woolies. A 1kg jar of paste is $6.99 at the Indian grocer.
I just watched a video on www.madhurasrecipe.com in which she pan roasts rock salt until it changes to a golden colour and allows it to cool before adding to the blended paste. Apparently this prevents it from drawing water from the garlic and ginger while still acting as a preservative. She is also adamant about the mixture contains zero water but uses 1 TBSP of oil to assist the blending process. She packages in small batches to avoid contamination and says it will keep for up to 3 months in the coldest part of the fridge.
Acidifying the paste would restrict the growth of harmful bacteria as with many forms of preserves. I use white vinegar for my Balti paste and the current batch is approaching 18 months in the fridge.
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New question for Martinvic. Why do (or did) you add water as well as oil, Martin ?
** Phil.
To be honest, not sure why Phil, think it was what a recipe for it said a long way back.
So always knocked some up using both.
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I use frozen garlic and ginger 4oogms for
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I would second that CT: Fresh is Best. Freshly ground spices also make an amazing difference.
The thing is though, if we are truly trying to replicate bir, then we need to use g&g paste just like the birs do.
I doubt many of them make their own. Im sure some probably do but I would imagine its more economical/easier to buy the ready prepared stuff
Regards
Mick