Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Starters & Side Dishes => Starters & Side Dishes => Bhajis (Onion, Pakora, Mushroom, Vegetable, etc => Topic started by: Salvador Dhali on February 20, 2012, 04:07 PM
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I mentioned in the 'Just Joined' section that one of my favourite dishes is saag bhaji, cooked in the simple, dry style (i.e. no base gravy/garabi). I was asked to post a picture, so here it is, along with a couple more to show just how much liquid you need to get out of that frozen spinach to make this dish work. (You can of course use fresh spinach, but this will naturally result in a wetter end result unless you pre-wilt the spinach and then squeeze moisture out).
Keen observers may note the large amount of onions (and garlic) in my dish. This is simply because I appear to be a largely allium based life-form, and is just the way I like it. Similarly, the reddish tinge to the onions comes from the addition of chilli powder (deggi mirch in this instance). This isn't added in restaurants' saag bhaji unless you ask for it, but I seem unable to create anything without adding chilli to it.
Making it couldn't be easier, so without further ado...
For a good portion you'll need the following:
1. Around 5 briquettes of frozen spinach, defrosted. This needs to be thoroughly squeezed of excess liquid (you'll be surprised at how much liquid comes out). It's key to the success of this dish.
2. 3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced (or to taste). To add an 'edge' to your BIR cookery, I recommend the use of an unguarded mandolin to make swift work of this task. You can thinly slice 4 cloves of garlic in about 12 seconds (though it may take slightly longer to pick out the slices of finely sliced finger...).
3. Using the same mandolin with the remaining uninjured hand, deftly slice half of a medium sized onion (a bit smaller than a tennis ball in size). Or again throw caution to the wind and use the whole onion. I know I do.
4. 0.5 tsp of salt (or to taste). As with tarka dhal, salt is a critical component of this dish, and getting the amount right is something that is very much down to personal taste. Most restaurants serve it fairly salty, and that's my preference.
5. 05 - 1 tsp turmeric. Another key component, and one which lends a subtle but wonderful taste and aroma to the dish (as well as a lovely aroma to your kitchen)
Method
1. Ingredients neatly arranged and fingers bandaged, take a black iron or carbon steel pan or wok and whack it on the heat. (Because this is a dry dish you need something that has a little non stick quality when the going gets hot. You can use an aluminium pan, but it's bloody hard work keeping everything going without adding loads of oil.
2. Add a generous chef's spoon of oil or ghee (my chef's spoon is a 2tbsp size, and I use butter ghee for this, but veg would be fine, as would veg oil), and get it to the point where it begins to smoke slightly.
3. Add your garlic and finger slices, and get straight in there with your spoon to keep them moving. You're looking for some nice colour but no carbonisation (at this stage).
4. Nice colour achieved, it's in with the onion next, followed swiftly by the salt and turmeric. The onions will have brought the pan temp down a little, so you may need to whack it up to get that gorgeous smokey 'singe' going. (See the 'Cooking with Chef Az' thread for more on this.)
5. Add the spinach and vigorously integrate it with the other ingredients with your spoon. Because the spinach has little moisture content this stage doesn't take long, but you're looking to get the spinach and the odd bit of onion and garlic to catch here and there (which is where a lot of this dish's great flavour comes from), so let the mixture sit in the pan or wok for the odd ten secs or so from time to time. It all depends on the pan, the heat of your hob, etc., etc., but as always it's only down to practice and after trying it a few times you'll have it nailed.
They really don't come much simpler than this...
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Hmmm... Don't seem to be able to post even tiny picture files. Keep getting "The upload folder is full. Please try a smaller file and/or contact an administrator."
Will try again later...
Cheers
Gary
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Hi Gary
Very nicely written recipe and instructions. Thanks for posting!
Did you use the image host here? - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/ (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/)
Thanks
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Thanks for posting this, Gary. It's a good read. :) I'll definitely try it but I'm going nowhere near an open mandoline. I've seen the Rick Stein video clip ... :o
Looking forward to seeing the pictures. You do need to use the image hosting site linked to by Solarsplace, as the old onboard system is defunct now.
I know what you mean about getting the moisture out of the frozen spinach. I used a potato masher to really squeeze the water out last time I tried making a Saag Bhaji. Then I probably spoiled it by adding a splash of curry base and a squirt of lemon juice.
Cheers
Ian
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Hi Gary
Very nicely written recipe and instructions. Thanks for posting!
Did you use the image host here? - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/ (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/)
Thanks
Thanks for the heads-up (one of those increasingly frequent 'doh!' moments). Will try again...
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I mentioned in the 'Just Joined' section that one of my favourite dishes is saag bhaji, cooked in the simple, dry style (i.e. no base gravy/garabi). I was asked to post a picture, so here it is, along with a couple more to show just how much liquid you need to get out of that frozen spinach to make this dish work. (You can of course use fresh spinach, but this will naturally result in a wetter end result unless you pre-wilt the spinach and then squeeze moisture out).
Keen observers may note the large amount of onions (and garlic) in my dish. This is simply because I appear to be a largely allium based life-form, and is just the way I like it. Similarly, the reddish tinge to the onions comes from the addition of chilli powder (deggi mirch in this instance). This isn't added in restaurants' saag bhaji unless you ask for it, but I seem unable to create anything without adding chilli to it.
Making it couldn't be easier, so without further ado...
For a good portion you'll need the following:
1. Around 5 briquettes of frozen spinach, defrosted. This needs to be thoroughly squeezed of excess liquid (you'll be surprised at how much liquid comes out). It's key to the success of this dish.
2. 3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced (or to taste). To add an 'edge' to your BIR cookery, I recommend the use of an unguarded mandolin to make swift work of this task. You can thinly slice 4 cloves of garlic in about 12 seconds (though it may take slightly longer to pick out the slices of finely sliced finger...).
3. Using the same mandolin with the remaining uninjured hand, deftly slice half of a medium sized onion (a bit smaller than a tennis ball in size). Or again throw caution to the wind and use the whole onion. I know I do.
4. 0.5 tsp of salt (or to taste). As with tarka dhal, salt is a critical component of this dish, and getting the amount right is something that is very much down to personal taste. Most restaurants serve it fairly salty, and that's my preference.
5. 05 - 1 tsp turmeric. Another key component, and one which lends a subtle but wonderful taste and aroma to the dish (as well as a lovely aroma to your kitchen)
Method
1. Ingredients neatly arranged and fingers bandaged, take a black iron or carbon steel pan or wok and whack it on the heat. (Because this is a dry dish you need something that has a little non stick quality when the going gets hot. You can use an aluminium pan, but it's bloody hard work keeping everything going without adding loads of oil.
2. Add a generous chef's spoon of oil or ghee (my chef's spoon is a 2tbsp size, and I use butter ghee for this, but veg would be fine, as would veg oil), and get it to the point where it begins to smoke slightly.
3. Add your garlic and finger slices, and get straight in there with your spoon to keep them moving. You're looking for some nice colour but no carbonisation (at this stage).
4. Nice colour achieved, it's in with the onion next, followed swiftly by the salt and turmeric. The onions will have brought the pan temp down a little, so you may need to whack it up to get that gorgeous smokey 'singe' going. (See the 'Cooking with Chef Az' thread for more on this.)
5. Add the spinach and vigorously integrate it with the other ingredients with your spoon. Because the spinach has little moisture content this stage doesn't take long, but you're looking to get the spinach and the odd bit of onion and garlic to catch here and there (which is where a lot of this dish's great flavour comes from), so let the mixture sit in the pan or wok for the odd ten secs or so from time to time. It all depends on the pan, the heat of your hob, etc., etc., but as always it's only down to practice and after trying it a few times you'll have it nailed.
They really don't come much simpler than this...
Okay... Here goes...
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/e5da536e281a20dd20fff4a517d44db6.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#e5da536e281a20dd20fff4a517d44db6.jpg)
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/7e85f09a8eabb160772ad16be4c9c868.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#7e85f09a8eabb160772ad16be4c9c868.jpg)
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/1f03baac47d0306b0d443dd338c282c4.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#1f03baac47d0306b0d443dd338c282c4.jpg)
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I'm off to buy some frozen spinach tomorrow and give this a try on Friday night . It's always been my favourite side dish when cooked well and the photos look good so we'll see . I'll post back with my thoughts .... ;)
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Don't know how i missed this one. Thanks SD. Will be giving this a go sometime very soon. Will make a pleasant change from brinjal bhaji and it may help me get one step closer to replicating one of the best saags i've tasted from a local BIR ;D
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Get all that water squeezed out of the spinach and get the salt level just so and you really can't go wrong.
In common with my other restaurant side dish staple, tarka dhal, it's so delightfully simple that little can go awry.
I'd love to know how you both get on.
Cheers
Gary
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I will make it to spec first and see how close it is to being dry. I now have a further couple of ideas to take that dryness a step further and would be keeping with BIR practice as seen in Az's kitchen ::). The saag and saag aloo from one of my locals barely contains any moisture but so much flavour :P. The key will be getting sweet savoury taste of the garlic and onions in to the spinach without adding moisture ??? I'll let you know how i get on ;)
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Looks very nice to me,interesting to see no mix powder involved,just as Az cooked his.I do like a nice sag bhaji but often round here where I live they're invariably soggy and not very good.I did use the frozen briquettes once but made the big mistake of putting them in still frozen...not very good!!..I always see tinned spinach in my corner shop I wonder if anyone actually uses that stuff.
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Looks very nice to me,interesting to see no mix powder involved,just as Az cooked his.I do like a nice sag bhaji but often round here where I live they're invariably soggy and not very good.I did use the frozen briquettes once but made the big mistake of putting them in still frozen...not very good!!..I always see tinned spinach in my corner shop I wonder if anyone actually uses that stuff.
I've had a few too many sag bhajis and sag aloos from BIRs that used tinned spinach, JB, and the best I can say about it is that it's unpleasant but just about edible.
To be fair, the last time I came across it in a BIR was about 5 years ago. Most seem to have graduated to frozen, and some use fresh from time to time.
Being honest, in this particular dish I actually prefer frozen....
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Looks very nice to me,interesting to see no mix powder involved,just as Az cooked his.I do like a nice sag bhaji but often round here where I live they're invariably soggy and not very good.I did use the frozen briquettes once but made the big mistake of putting them in still frozen...not very good!!..I always see tinned spinach in my corner shop I wonder if anyone actually uses that stuff.
Made the recipe below using a combination of fresh and spinach puree. I was impressed with the taste and texture. The two together worked very well and the end result was as good as the chicken sagwalla served at our local jb ;D
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3600.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3600.0)
I thiink the puree is an acquired taste. A local TA i used to use in Romford used spinach puree. The texture of the finished dish is not great but i found the overall flavour quite acceptable. Is that a thumbs down for the tinned leaf spinnach as well as the puree, not having used the stuff yet???
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@curryhell: Is that a thumbs down for the tinned leaf spinach as well as the puree?
Each to their own, but a it's a thumbs down from me.
From my own experience I don't think it's possible to produce a decent dry-style sag bhaji with anything other than fresh or frozen, and I've always had my best (BIR) results with the frozen.
But I'm always happy to be proved wrong! (Just don't tell the missus... ;) )
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I agree SD that the only way of getting a dry saag bhaji will be to use either fresh or frozen. But i would definitely not discount the puree from being used in spinach and meat dishes.
Have just come out of the kitchen and this is a pic of the end result
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/dbdfb65b927cfb3441802d517708704a.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#dbdfb65b927cfb3441802d517708704a.jpg)
Verdict. Made it to spec. At the end of the cooking i added the tomato and a couple of tsps of fresh corriander. The only thing i did do was to add a stick of cassia for a bit while frying the onions as I happened a cross a lump the other week in my local's dish. I always knew it was added but until then i didn't know how they did it. Texture wise it was dryish and getting closer to what i am trying to achieve :D. I added loads of onion like yourself and as Az did at Zaal's. I gave the spinach a damn good squeeze and got more than 100ml of liquid out. I then proceeded to give it a good chopping with a knife to give it even more of a chance to dry out during the cooking stage and to make sure it didn't clump together.
Taste wise, I think i'll appreciate the flavour more later on as my mouth is just recovering from the removal of a rather iritating and angry back molar. I an not convinced about not adding mix powder though, in order to replicate my local's flavour. And i have some ideas on how to get it dryer still and getting some more flavour into the dish. One thing i keep noticing in my attempts to replicate this dry dish is how chewy / stringy the spinach is. Another reason for giving it a good going over with the knife ;D . Some people say you don't need to cook the frozen stuff. The packets i have looked at say you do and so do some people ???. What's your take on this? This may remove the strong spinach flavour and make it a little more subtle. It may also make it a little more tender and reduce the strigniness. Being a regular maker of this dish, what do you think?
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I agree SD that the only way of getting a dry saag bhaji will be to use either fresh or frozen. But i would definitely not discount the puree from being used in spinach and meat dishes.
Have just come out of the kitchen and this is a pic of the end result
Verdict. Made it to spec. At the end of the cooking i added the tomato and a couple of tsps of fresh corriander. The only thing i did do was to add a stick of cassia for a bit while frying the onions as I happened a cross a lump the other week in my local's dish. I always knew it was added but until then i didn't know how they did it. Texture wise it was dryish and getting closer to what i am trying to achieve :D. I added loads of onion like yourself and as Az did at Zaal's. I gave the spinach a damn good squeeze and got more than 100ml of liquid out. I then proceeded to give it a good chopping with a knife to give it even more of a chance to dry out during the cooking stage and to make sure it didn't clump together.
Taste wise, I think i'll appreciate the flavour more later on as my mouth is just recovering from the removal of a rather iritating and angry back molar. I an not convinced about not adding mix powder though, in order to replicate my local's flavour. And i have some ideas on how to get it dryer still and getting some more flavour into the dish. One thing i keep noticing in my attempts to replicate this dry dish is how chewy / stringy the spinach is. Another reason for giving it a good going over with the knife ;D . Some people say you don't need to cook the frozen stuff. The packets i have looked at say you do and so do some people ???. What's your take on this? This may remove the strong spinach flavour and make it a little more subtle. It may also make it a little more tender and reduce the strigniness. Being a regular maker of this dish, what do you think?
Looking good there, Curryhell - and you're obviously more of an onion fiend than even I! ;D
(Coincidentally enough, I made this tonight to accompany a meat and potato curry, and if I may say so, damn fine it was too.)
It sounds as though we're (naturally) both aiming to replicate the same dish we get at our local BIRs, and these obviously differ. I've been in the kitchens of two local restaurants and watched my saag bhaji being cooked, and neither use mix powder or cassia bark - just ghee, garlic, onion, salt (lots) and turmeric. I'm going to give it a go with the mix powder and cassia though, as it will definitely add a different dimension. How much mix powder did you use? This dish (for me) is all about smokey, garlicky spinach though, so I'd personally go for no more than 0.5tsp of mix powder.
As for the frozen spinach needing cooking, well it gets more than enough cooking when you make the dish. The instructions on my packet (Tesco) just say for best results cook from frozen. (But then that's what it says on pretty much ALL packets of frozen veg, probably to comply with some H&S / food hygiene legislation?) This is fine - IF you want a plate of soggy spinach sitting in a 100ml pool of water. To get rid of this via reduction would take ages and result in an overcooked dish in which the garlic and onions have become stewed. So, following the BIR lead I defrost then squeeze the living daylights out of the spinach to get as much water out as possible, It's only when you do this that you can get the spinach dry enough to catch a little here and there to give a few charred edges, which again is what I get in the BIRs that do this dish the best, IMHO.
I can put my hand on my heart and say that I've never experienced any stringiness from the Tesco frozen spinach. It's always been nice and tender (but maybe I've been lucky).
Chuffed to hear your getting close to what you're after though.
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Looking good there, Curryhell - and you're obviously more of an onion fiend than even I! ;D
You wouldn't think it would be difficult to do, would you. I only used a medium onion but i believe this is essential to getting flavour into the spinach.
It sounds as though we're (naturally) both aiming to replicate the same dish we get at our local BIRs, and these obviously differ. I've been in the kitchens of two local restaurants and watched my saag bhaji being cooked, and neither use mix powder or cassia bark - just ghee, garlic, onion, salt (lots) and turmeric.
We are that. Again this is another difficulty. Obviously you're closer to achieving your goal than i am but what you have posted has got me closer than anything todate ;D
The local saag i am chasing has a slight cinnamon aroma with very little evidence of it in the taste of the dish. You can imagine how delighted i was to fish out this lump of cassia the other night :D . I stuck with the turmeric only tonight and i agree that the dish needs to have the smokey garlicky sweet oniony thing going on with a hint of spice in the background. But in my case it's from mix powder not turmeric.
I'm going to give it a go with the mix powder and cassia though, as it will definitely add a different dimension. How much mix powder did you use? This dish (for me) is all about smokey, garlicky spinach though, so I'd personally go for no more than 0.5tsp of mix powder.
I don't intend to add more than a tsp max to achieve this as I don't want to overshadow the other flavours going on
As for the frozen spinach needing cooking, well it gets more than enough cooking when you make the dish. The instructions on my packet (Tesco) just say for best results cook from frozen. (But then that's what it says on pretty much ALL packets of frozen veg, probably to comply with some H&S / food hygiene legislation?) This is fine - IF you want a plate of soggy spinach sitting in a 100ml pool of water. To get rid of this via reduction would take ages and result in an overcooked dish in which the garlic and onions have become stewed. So, following the BIR lead I defrost then squeeze the living daylights out of the spinach to get as much water out as possible, It's only when you do this that you can get the spinach dry enough to catch a little here and there to give a few charred edges, which again is what I get in the BIRs that do this dish the best, IMHO.
Agree totally with the need to wring it dry ;D. But next attempt will be to cook it first with the salt, let it cool and then ring it dry :D. This should soften it, remove the overpowering taste that it can have and hopefully lead to better results
Chuffed to hear your getting close to what you're after though.
Thanks for posting this. I will persevere with this and let you know how i get on. I have a couple of ideas which i need to try out. If all else fails i'll have to get into their kitchen and watch the experts ;D
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Hopefully be making this tomorrow for a few friends. Just wanted to suggest the frozen spinach from Farmfoods 1 GBP for a 750g bag. Used this in chicken saag and a saag aloo, with no complaints.
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Hopefully be making this tomorrow for a few friends. Just wanted to suggest the frozen spinach from Farmfoods 1 GBP for a 750g bag. Used this in chicken saag and a saag aloo, with no complaints.
Thanks for the tip-off, Unclefrank. There's a bargain to be had at Tesco right now, too. Their frozen spinach is normally 1.30 for a kilo bag, but is currently on offer for a pound: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=260558996 (http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=260558996)
I will persevere with this and let you know how i get on. I have a couple of ideas which i need to try out. If all else fails i'll have to get into their kitchen and watch the experts ;D
Looking forward to it, CH. I normally knock this dish up at least once a week, so will try the mix powder and cassia route next time (probably at the weekend) and file an update.
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Thanks for this Gary ,
I've just cooked it now ( at 08.30 ... keen as mustard ! ) and it's very tasty and similar to BIR although not as dry still and I squeezed out loads of water ... what I would do next time is separate all the leaves because I chucked my squeezed balls ( fnaar fnarr ) in and whilst trying to break them down with the spoon the garlic and onion were catching a little more than I would risk usually ... apart from the salt content (needed as you say ) it's a very healthy dish and about the only way I would consider eating a bowl full of spinach ! I'm going to try 0.25 Tsp of All Purpose Seasoning at the end next time too ( only because I bought a bag and don't know what else to put it in ). It did look exactly the same as your picture by the way !. :)
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Thanks for this Gary ,
I've just cooked it now ( at 08.30 ... keen as mustard ! ) and it's very tasty and similar to BIR although not as dry still and I squeezed out loads of water ... what I would do next time is separate all the leaves because I chucked my squeezed balls ( fnaar fnarr ) in and whilst trying to break them down with the spoon the garlic and onion were catching a little more than I would risk usually ... apart from the salt content (needed as you say ) it's a very healthy dish and about the only way I would consider eating a bowl full of spinach ! I'm going to try 0.25 Tsp of All Purpose Seasoning at the end next time too ( only because I bought a bag and don't know what else to put it in ). It did look exactly the same as your picture by the way !. :)
Glad you enjoyed it, Colin, and a good idea to separate the leaves first (especially when those balls have been squeezed down to the density of quark-gluon plasma).
There should be some moistness to the dish - the 'dry style' is more of a nod to the lack of base gravy - but I've found that even when you think you've squeezed those balls as hard as you can, if you let them rest for a minute then have another go, it's surprising how much you can get out.
That said, I think some BIRs get this dish super dry simply through the chef's skill in manipulating high heat without instantaneously carbonising the contents of the pan. It's not easy, that's for sure. (I once had a go at some wok cooking on a commercial gas hob, which at the time seemed to have more in common with a jet engine on full afterburn. "When oil smoking put in garlic and ginger", the chef told me. Approximately 0.1 picoseconds later the garlic and ginger had metamorphosed into tiny pieces of what looked like anthracite.)
Anyway, enough of that. Do let us know how you get on with the all-purpose seasoning.
Cheers
Gary
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I am not convinced about not adding mix powder though, in order to replicate my local's flavour.
Forgot to report back on this, CH. I knocked one up using a level tsp of mix powder (and a half tsp of turmeric) and it was superb.
A definite improvement, and I shall be making it like this from now on, so many thanks for the suggestion.
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I am not convinced about not adding mix powder though, in order to replicate my local's flavour.
Forgot to report back on this, CH. I knocked one up using a level tsp of mix powder (and a half tsp of turmeric) and it was superb.
A definite improvement, and I shall be making it like this from now on, so many thanks for the suggestion.
Glad it worked for you SD. They're the proportions i use in my brinjal bhaji. I think the take on this maybe the chef's own preference. I certainly like a bit more going on than just turmeric, not that it isn't good but the mix powder just adds another layer of flavour. ;D
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Hi all ,
I, like SD, have tried adding the TSP of mixed spice ( CA's ) and 0.25 TSP of All Purpose Seasoning as well as 1 Tsp of Tomato Puree mixed with a little water .. I know the concept of the dish was to be dry and at the temperature my pan was at , the liquid was gone in seconds. I think it tastes better but I'm going to try the cassia bark too next time for even more flavour ... this is a regular side dish for us now so thanks to all that have contributed !! :)
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Hi all ,
I, like SD, have tried adding the TSP of mixed spice ( CA's ) and 0.25 TSP of All Purpose Seasoning as well as 1 Tsp of Tomato Puree mixed with a little water .. I know the concept of the dish was to be dry and at the temperature my pan was at , the liquid was gone in seconds. I think it tastes better but I'm going to try the cassia bark too next time for even more flavour ... this is a regular side dish for us now so thanks to all that have contributed !! :)
Fantastic - and further proof that recipes are there to be experimented with and adapted.
Just a thought on the cassia bark...
I've never come across any in the saag bhajis I've had in BIRs (and I have had a lot over the last 30-odd years!).
That's not to say that some don't add a bit, but cassia bark is tough old stuff (I suppose it would be, what with it being bark), and takes a little time to release its flavours. If using it I'd suggest adding it to the hot oil first and giving it a good stir fry before adding the garlic and onions, etc.
As an afterthought, the only occasions that I've come across cassia bark in BIR dishes (apart from when I've been lucky enough to blag some of the staff curry), it's always been 'old'. By this I mean extremely well cooked, to the point where it's almost soft.
This would suggest that it's come from the stockpot, rather than added fresh to a dish.
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Hi all ,
I, like SD, have tried adding the TSP of mixed spice ( CA's ) and 0.25 TSP of All Purpose Seasoning as well as 1 Tsp of Tomato Puree mixed with a little water .. I know the concept of the dish was to be dry and at the temperature my pan was at , the liquid was gone in seconds. I think it tastes better but I'm going to try the cassia bark too next time for even more flavour ... this is a regular side dish for us now so thanks to all that have contributed !! :)
Fantastic - and further proof that recipes are there to be experimented with and adapted.
Just a thought on the cassia bark...
I've never come across any in the saag bhajis I've had in BIRs (and I have had a lot over the last 30-odd years!).
That's not to say that some don't add a bit, but cassia bark is tough old stuff (I suppose it would be, what with it being bark), and takes a little time to release its flavours. If using it I'd suggest adding it to the hot oil first and giving it a good stir fry before adding the garlic and onions, etc.
As an afterthought, the only occasions that I've come across cassia bark in BIR dishes (apart from when I've been lucky enough to blag some of the staff curry), it's always been 'old'. By this I mean extremely well cooked, to the point where it's almost soft.
This would suggest that it's come from the stockpot, rather than added fresh to a dish.
Glad to hear growing success is being had with this dish. As for the addition of cassia, my experience when i found it in my saag bhaji was that it could have only been added when the frying of the onion and garlic occured (this i think may be done in advance and then used when the dish is cooked), as there can be no stock involved in my local's dish. The absence of moisture confirms that. As for its affect, there is only a subtle hint of it's presence, more aroma that actual taste. I will get around to trying this dish, pre-frying the onions and garlic along with a bit of dalchini at some point :D
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Not really a break through but i did add a good sprinkling (i added as i would with salt) of ground dried curry leaves when the spinach as lost most of its moisture, tasted then decided to add just a sprinkle before taking off the heat and given it a good stir and then served.
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If you'd like to see a BIR chef preparing this dish, check out the video that CBM posted earlier in this thread:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8196.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8196.0)
As CBM says: "You will see how dark the chef allows the residue in the pan to get, this is deliberate on his part. He did it with all the side dishes that I saw him cook. Having tasted a couple of them I can see why. They weren't burnt but had a fantastic smoky taste to them."
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Well SD, i can finally close the book on this one after tonight - at long last. I've finally managed to nigh on replicate my local's saag bhaji. A virtually dry saag dish with an infused smokey garlic and onion flavour with a hint of curry spice in the background, with the occasional hit of cinnamon aroma.
I pre-cooked the spinnach as per the Viceroy Brasserie method but seasoned the oil with 2 x 3 inch bits of cassia bark first and left them in the whole time it was cooking.
I then followed your method but reduced the oil garlic and onions considerably as the spinnach had already gone through one cook. Added the spice, fried/roasted it, in with the spinnach and then thrashed it round the pan for 3 -4 minutes until hot with a pinch of coriander halfway through. Fabulous and job done :P
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/b299af594a95262b808d80281e5f4402.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#b299af594a95262b808d80281e5f4402.jpg)
The spinnach after the pre-cooking had just finished
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/2c18213aba4f9e04813c797d054eb3f8.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#2c18213aba4f9e04813c797d054eb3f8.jpg)
A close up of the Viceroy Brasseries pre-cooked saag
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/6d2a13402c67f391876f7c6bc6568b90.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#6d2a13402c67f391876f7c6bc6568b90.jpg)
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Brilliant stuff, CH - well chuffed for you. And many thanks for the update!
Really pleased you cracked this one, and it's testament to your 'never say die' attitude, which I'd say is the number one factor at achieving success in this (and, indeed, any other) game.
One of the main things this emphasises is that there is no big 'secret' to any of this. Whether it's a saag bhaji or a lamb vindaloo, it's all about putting a number of simple elements together skilfully. For us home chefs that often means it can take what seems like an eternity, but if we stick at it (and at it), as you do, then it's there for the taking!
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Had this for lunch - very nice and tasty
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/a1c9ccd225cbb57890855a5412686203.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#a1c9ccd225cbb57890855a5412686203.jpg)
Ive included the pic on my facebook page for those on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=238609156270079&set=a.238608196270175.63949.100003629896125&type=1&theater (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=238609156270079&set=a.238608196270175.63949.100003629896125&type=1&theater)
best, Rich
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Had this for lunch - very nice and tasty
That looks the business Rich :P
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Looks superb. If only more restaurants could do it so well.
If that was in front of me right now it would be gone in 60 seconds!
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Looks superb. If only more restaurants could do it so well.
If that was in front of me right now it would be gone in 60 seconds!
If that was in front of you 61 seconds ago, it would be gone by now!! ;)
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I found this forum when looking for a Saag Bhaji recipe. The attached photo shows the result. Thank you for an excellent recipe.