Topic: Chicken Madras, KD1-derived

[natterjak]

Looks great Phil - trouble is it's giving me a curry craving now and my dinner tonight is roast beef + extensive trimmings 

[Peripatetic Phil]

Looks great Phil - trouble is it's giving me a curry craving now and my dinner tonight is roast beef + extensive trimmings 

Let's swap : I could murder a roast beef with all the trimmings !  Incidentally, herself has just returned home and says "This place smells just like the Taj of Kent"    The trouble is, she meant it as a complaint 

** Phil.

[Malc.]

   The trouble is, she meant it as a complaint

The best complaint you'll ever receive!

[Peripatetic Phil]

Good looking curry Phil. Nice to see some KD recipes being developed by forum members. If I'm not mistaken that's six pieces of chicken - is that your std portion size or was this just for the picture? As I've said before I usually do ten pieces per portion (yes I'm a greedy git!).

The six pieces were what was left after I'd eaten my fill !  I used 8 oz of chicken, but didn't count how many pieces that was; my portions are normally enough for two (or for one person for two days), so I would imagine there were about 12 when I started.
Didn't get to finish it up this evening, as while turning out the 'fridge I found some week-old steak-and-kidney that needed eating up 

** Phil.

[Malc.]

Even with my portly size, I find that I am always over doing portions. 5 peices of average sized chicken is ample. That is roughly a small to medium chicken breast, what would that weigh?

Do you usually only use about 210ml of base for a portion? This might be something I need to look at.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Do you usually only use about 210ml of base for a portion? This might be something I need to look at.

Not sure if that one is directed at me or at Steven.  If at me, then "only in a sense", in that I never make a single portion.  My portions are based on 3/4 pints base (426.195 ml) to 8 oz pre-cooked chicken (226.796 gm), and that makes enough for a meal for two or two meals for one.

** Phil.

[Malc.]

Thanks Phil, I only mention it as alot of recipes call for about 300ml per portion and in some of the videos, you can clearly see even more than that being used.

How long and on what heat do you cook the dish when the base is added?

Also, how thin is the KD1 base?

[chewytikka]

Hi Phil
Looks like a good Madras variant and I'm sure it tasted good with Kashmiri and Deggi chilli included.
I prefer Kashmiri for it's great flavour, but I have used Deggi and it is quite similar heat wise and gives good colour, but not quite there for my taste.
Using Bassar Masala and Cumin would definitely lean it towards a Pakistani BIR flavour, 
I would say most Bangladeshis wouldn't even know what Bassar Masala was!
It brought back memories of this small pakistani guy in his shop "The Spice Souk" in my town
and I used to buy his homemade Masala, which he called "Top 30",
being that it was his secret blend of 30 spices and it was simply amazing! Wish I could get it nowadays!
I use alot of taste enhancers in my currying, if you like MDH or Mangal products
you might want to give Kitchen King or Kashmiri Masala a go.


Oops 12.30am, I'll have to fire up the kitchen, I'm salivating, cheers.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Thanks Phil, I only mention it as alot of recipes call for about 300ml per portion and in some of the videos, you can clearly see even more than that being used.

Then they must be aiming for a significant reduction, because 3/4 pint for two portions always seems to result in a little sauce to be carried over for next time.  What is interesting with this base is the speed with which it goes from thin to ready; you think you are going to need to remove the chicken to avoid overcooking and then reduce the remaining base, but as you start to do so you suddenly discover that it has miraculously already achieved the desired consistency.

Or, an alternative hypothesis : thinking of Stephen Lindsay's recent comment, perhaps the standard definition of "a portion" is closer to my "double portion", for which about 425ml of base is required.  What weight of chicken would you expect to need in order to create a "standard portion" ?

How long and on what heat do you cook the dish when the base is added?

These are the relevant bits :

• 1 Gently saut

[Peripatetic Phil]

I use alot of taste enhancers in my currying, if you like MDH or Mangal products
you might want to give Kitchen King or Kashmiri Masala a go.

Now that is interesting, because I bought some Kashmiri Masala for my abortive attempt at the onion bhaji test, but mine is Patak's, and on looking at the label I see it actually says "Kashmiri Masala Curry Paste Chilli & Garlic Hot", so I now wonder if I bought the wrong thing ?  I asked for help in the Gurkha shop, and this was what the lady owner produced when I asked for Kashmiri Masala.  Kitchen King I have seen but not tried. 

I confess that I haven't tried flavour enhancers in Indian cuisine, although of course I use them in Chinese; when experimenting with the Taz base, I uses fresh chicken stock and/or Knorr Chicken Stock Pots to liven it up, but now I have gone back to KD1 I feel no need for extra flavour : all the flavour I want is already there !

Incidentally, this is my first excursion into MDH products : I wanted to try out Degghi Mirch and Kashmiri Mirch to see what they contributed, and I definitely like the effect.

** Phil.