Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => Madras => Topic started by: sp on December 29, 2012, 09:18 PM
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To start with take...
- 4x cherry tomatoes
- 1x tbsp tomato puree
- 2x tsp garlic & ginger puree
- 2x tbsp banjarra onion paste (or 1x small finely diced onion)
- 0.5x tsp methi leaves
Add a 30ml chefs spoon (or 2x tablespoons) worth of "seasoned" oil to a pan, and fry all of the above ingredients for a minute or two under a medium-high heat (number 6 on my halogen hob - maximum is 9). I prepare my tomato and garlic/ginger puree ahead of time and freeze it in ice cube trays, by the time these ice cubes have melted I continue with the next stage.
Then, I add the following:
- 1x tbsp "ifindforu" mix powder (but using unbranded garam masala from the spiceworks on ebay, and rajah hot madras curry powder
- 2x ground-up star anise
- 1x tbsp hot chilli powder
- 0.25x tsp smoked paprika
Mix all these together in the pan to make a thick paste and continue to fry for a minute or so, adding a little bit of base gravy to stop the mixture sticking too much to the bottom of the aluminium pan. Then, add the following:
- 1x tbsp jaggery goor
- 1x tsp mr naga chilli pickle
- 1x tsp mango chutney
- 1x tsp pataks balti paste
Add the pre-cooked meat or vegetables (beef in my case), and the rest of the base gravy (I freeze my base in 650ml tubs, using the c2go bangladeshi base for this - you may not need the star anise or jaggery in this recipe if you're using a base which already includes those two ingredients such as the c2go indian base)
I then let it fry (still under the same heat) until it reduces and thickens, small crater like holes appearing all over the gravy. Then it's off with the heat, leave for a minute while organising other items like naan and pakora, then serve.
It should taste quite sweet, with a strong hint of licqourice and a nice warming glow as an aftertaste.
Best I've made so far anyway, very pleased
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Are you adding all the 650 ml of base? If so would I be right in assuming this is a 2 x portion recipe? Sounds nice.
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Are you adding all the 650 ml of base? If so would I be right in assuming this is a 2 x portion recipe? Sounds nice.
yes, sorry I should have made that clearer - this is for one portion of curry using half a 650ml tub of base. The rest of the ingredients are in the quantities listed.
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Glad to hear you're having success on your madras journey sp. I plan to continue my "easy madras" mission (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,8786.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,8786.0.html)) by replacing the onion by using both the onion from ifindforu's pre-cooked chicken recipe and the spiced oil. I'm hoping for a step change here and an improvement on what i consider to be a simple but very tasty madras recipe :P
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1x tbsp tomato puree
2x tsp garlic & ginger puree
2x tbsp banjarra onion paste (or 1x small finely diced onion)
0.5x tsp methi leaves
Are all your spoon measures level, rounded, heaped or what?
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that, unless otherwise stated, most people mean 'heaped' (as seen in most videos) so one of their tsp is about the same as one of my tbls. I know you mention 30ml of oil but oil can't be heaped, so most people's recipes would incorporate that anomaly.
Also, you state "2x tbsp banjarra onion paste (or 1x small finely diced onion)" but these would give completely different results wouldn't they? I like CA's approach of mentioning options but saying it's at your own risk, probably untried and implying the end result might taste like waste water. Which do you use, leading to your comment of 'best so far'?
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Hi George, sorry should have stated that they're all heaped, apart from the oil as you rightly point out
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Some possible amendments:
I've never been too convinced about the banjarra onion paste but just using it up since there's so many ice cube trays full of the damn stuff in my freezer and i didn't have any fresh onions to hand.
I'm going to try leaving out the pataks balti paste next time to see if it makes any difference to the final dish, the only paste I use on a regular basis is the kashmiri masala by rajah for my pilau rice.
Following my ranting about mr naga chilli pickle i'm just using it up (to my taste it works better as an accompaniment to pakoras etc when mixed with lidls "tamango" sauce with a dash of lemon juice rather than in curries)
I think the star anise and (suprisingly) the jaggery gives it that real aniseed/licqourice type taste I was after so they're definately keepers.
The ifindforu mix powder i refer to is just his ratios of turmeric/curry powder/cumin/paprika/coriander/chilli powder/garam masala and not his specific mix powder with the jalpur gm.
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The two times I've made banjarra onion paste (following different recipes from the UC book and the CBM book) they've both come out the same after blending - a bright orange very smooth liquid which looks like angel delight, tastes of onions and is very oily. I froze this in tablespoon portions in a series of ice cube trays. As it's just blended caramelised onions with oil I find this is interchangeable with a fresh diced onion fried until soft and translucent. Following some rave reviews of banjarra on here I'm either doing it completely wrong or it's just not got the wow factor I was anticipating. I won't bother again with it, for my recipe above stick to the fresh onion to give a closer result to what I made if that helps.
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Are all your spoon measures level, rounded, heaped or what?
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that, unless otherwise stated, most people mean 'heaped' (as seen in most videos) so one of their tsp is about the same as one of my tbls.
Why assume it's heaped George?
if it's heaped it's not actually a tsp it's more than a tsp
my heaped tsp might be 1 1/2 tsp - your2 might be a 2 tsp or even a tbsp so it's inconsistent
if it's heaped it's not a precise measurement
if it's heaped the recipe should say so, otherwise a tsp is a tsp
it's a bit like saying a pint of beer is a pint and a quarter - pubs would soon be diddling themselves using that method of measurement
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Why assume it's heaped George?
To compensate for others' way of working and documenting their recipes in practice. Blame them - not me. I always thought 1 tsp meant 5ml because almost all recipe books confirm that sppon measures mean level. But it''s very rare you see that in videos, I've noticed, so no wonder people can get very different results.
If you'd made SP's Madras before my question you'd have used 5ml for 1tsp would you? When it appears SP meant nearer 15ml. Go figure! You'd get very different results.
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personally when I say heaped teaspoon I mean slightly more than a teaspoon (5ml) but not as much as a dessertspoon (10ml) - it's not that precise as i don't weigh the ingredients out or level the spoons, if you want to say rounded teaspoon feel free - i'm just using a basic set of measuring spoons (1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp, 1 dsp, 1 tbsp). I don't think it has to be that precise, as alluded to above, your heaped/rounded spoons by eye may be different to mine. As long as the ratio is the same I can't see it being that critical to the overall result, at least in this recipe.
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Why assume it's heaped George?
if it's heaped it's not actually a tsp it's more than a tsp
my heaped tsp might be 1 1/2 tsp - your2 might be a 2 tsp or even a tbsp so it's inconsistent
if it's heaped it's not a precise measurement
if it's heaped the recipe should say so, otherwise a tsp is a tsp
it's a bit like saying a pint of beer is a pint and a quarter - pubs would soon be diddling themselves using that method of measurement
My views (FWTAW) :
1) Whilst it is perhaps unrealistic to assume that all teaspoons are heaped unless otherwise stated, I think it is not unreasonable to assume that they are rounded. Getting a flat teaspoon takes care and time, and I suspect that few if any of us are that careful. This is why my recipes always say "all spoonsful are rounded".
2) "If it's heaped it's not a precise measurement" -- even if it is flat, it is not a precise measurement; volumetric measurements of small quantities of spices are inherently imprecise : we should just take that as a given, and stop thinking that if we can measure accurate to 0,1gm our curries will suddenly exceed our wildest expectations. If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon (5gm/5ml) and I use 5,5gm/5,5ml, will anyone /really/ be able to tell the difference ? And if success in BIR cuisine is predicated on accurate measurements, how is it that real BIR chefs can manage with a chef's spoon and a practised eye ?
My EUR 0,02. Happy New Year one and all.
** Phil.
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Imagination gents when cooking is the key!, its sounds like engineering lesson with all the accuracy lol ;D
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It's not an engineering lesson, it's quite simple - if you specify a tsp then it's a tsp not 1 1/2 tsp, in the same way that 50 ml is 50ml not 65 ml.
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It was only necessary to ask sp to confirm his tsp measurements ' or what ' wasn't needed and sounds a bit hostile ??? sp has now probably been made to feel a bit awkward and I hope this doesn't dampen his enthusiasm.
Why lately do so many posts start innocently enough then get attacked by what seems ' grumpy old men ' :(
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It's not an engineering lesson, it's quite simple - if you specify a tsp then it's a tsp not 1 1/2 tsp, in the same way that 50 ml is 50ml not 65 ml.
Again, two observations (or maybe three) :
1) SI/ISO define the ml; they do not define "the British Standard Teaspoon", nor are most standard measuring spoons (which I would venture to suggest that few of us even use on a regular basis) calibrated against any traceable standard.
2) To paraphrase what another contributor said in another thread : "OK, so we all agree that 50ml is not 65ml; but is it 64.9ml ? or 64.8ml ?".
3) We are cooking, not conducting a scientific experiment. How many are prepared to swear, hand on heart, that when they state they have used 1 teaspoonful in a recipe (a) they used a measuring spoon of known nominal capacity ; (b) that they have, on at least one occasion, checked that said measuring spoon does indeed hold exactly the nominal quantity, within the limits to which they can measure; and (c) that they took great care to ensure that the spoon was absolutely level, carefully removing any excess then checking that no surface cavities had inadvertently been introduced. I would be willing to bet that the number of regular posters able to honestly answer "yes" to all three is vanishingly small.
** Phil.
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It was only necessary to ask sp to confirm his tsp measurements ' or what ' wasn't needed and sounds a bit hostile ??? sp has now probably been made to feel a bit awkward and I hope this doesn't dampen his enthusiasm.
From the thread title, I assumed this thread was as much about documentation standards, as about any specific recipe. Anyway, given the number of mistakes and margins for error I've noted in the original recipe, I wonder how many more there are. For that reason I won't be investing time and money in trying this recipe. I've lost confidence.
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thanks, not feeling awkward at all, just putting a recipe out there that suits my particular tastebuds and possibly someone elses? With the risk of eliciting hostile response the phrase (moderated filth) or, to be more polite, "naval-gazing" springs immediately to mind... fwiw i think some folks are reading too much into this cooking malarky with talk of spoon volumetric capacity and such like... but all discussion is healthy and thought provoking, so feel free to carry on as you were :)
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carry on as you were :)
Thank you, Captain Mainwaring Sir !
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personally when I say heaped teaspoon I mean slightly more than a teaspoon (5ml) but not as much as a dessertspoon (10ml) - it's not that precise as i don't weigh the ingredients out or level the spoons, if you want to say rounded teaspoon feel free - i'm just using a basic set of measuring spoons (1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp, 1 dsp, 1 tbsp). I don't think it has to be that precise, as alluded to above, your heaped/rounded spoons by eye may be different to mine. As long as the ratio is the same I can't see it being that critical to the overall result, at least in this recipe.
Agree with that sp. Long as the ratio is correct you're not going to be far from what is needed. When i read 1 tsp i will use a tsp and try and make it as near as level as can. I sure as hell am not getting a knife out to compact and level the spoon :o If a BIR chef can get away using a chefs spoon and no measuring i'm sure we can get away using our "approximate" tsp, as long as we're consistant. There seems to be an inordinate amount of hot air about once more. If more time was spend practicing the art and not picking at other peoples efforts to the nth degree, we may actually make some progress ::)
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All the videos we watch seeing the bir chef at his best, i dont see any bir chefs doing accuracy stuff! infact in some ways its pretty crude but good. The chefs spoon ok! scooping spices!,,,,,from the spice tubs,,,,, is it a tsp or not? is it 2 tsp's? or 1/2 tsp? where do you draw the line on accuracy? again imagination. i only give recipes to some degree of accuracy, you may add a bigger heaped tsp of spices than i do, someone else may add less etc etc, If i cook a stew i buy all the same ingrediants, but i never weigh them for accuracy, but each time i cook one its the same taste.
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i only give recipes to some degree of accuracy
I won't be trying any of your recipes either, then! Please don't take it the wrong way but I disagree if you're suggesting that quantities don't matter much, give or take at least 50% either way. I say it could make a big difference. BIR chefs make it look easy because they have the experience.
Why be so sloppy over the accuracy of curry recipes, when presumably a mm or thou either way could make a big difference with your jet engines?
CH suggests it's only the ratios that matter. But if I'd tried SP's recipe with level spoon measures throughout, it's likely to have come out under-spiced and lacking in flavour, compared to SP's rounded measures.
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is it a tsp or not? is it 2 tsp's? or 1/2 tsp?
this is exactly my point - we are not BIR chefs churning out dozens if not hundreds of curries each day and if it's chilli powder then the difference between a half teaspoon and two teaspoons makes it a mild or hot curry
where do you draw the line on accuracy?
I draw the line on accuracy by using level spoons throughout so a teaspoon is as near as I can get it to being a teaspoon bearing in mind Phil's comments. At least that way when I'm writing out recipes I know how much of each spice or liquid is going in. If I deviate from measuring spices then I have noticed a discernable deterioration in quality.
So its about following recipes as far as possible and it's not simply chucking stuff in a bish bosh doosh kind of fashion. I'll leave that to the experts.
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Why be so sloppy over the accuracy of curry recipes, when presumably a mm or thou either way could make a big difference with your jet engines?
I would argue that one man's sloppiness is another man's pragmatics. When I am preparing a curry for myself (as opposed to following someone else's recipe), I am guided by sight, experience, and an indefinable je ne sais quoi that informs my judgement as to exactly how much of each ingredient to add. If the dish is a success, and I then want to share my experience with others, I do not painstakingly re-create the dish recording the exact quantity of each ingredient used : rather, I simply record, to the best of my ability, what I believe I used at the time that I first created the dish. Given that this is done retrospectively, and that even if I had recorded it at the exact moment I added each ingredient I would have been completely unable to say whether any one particular spoonful was nearer to 6, 7, 8 or even 9 ml, then the best I can usually manage is "all teaspoonsful are rounded". The exact degree of rounding will almost certainly vary for each spice used, but with the best will in the world I can do no better than to record a rough approximation to the quantity of each ingredient used. Our curries are created for ourselves -- if others can share in our success, that is good, but we shouldn't feel driven to measuring spice quantities to the nearest 0,5gm/ml just in order to maximise the probability of others being able to re-create the dish with 99.5% accuracy. Again, just my EUR 0,02.
** Phil.
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I try to judge as a chef would do not pin point accuracy, after all its about ones self judgement of what a tsp is on a chefs spoon, creativness, George,,,, its not being sloppy its called practicing your skills. A jet engine on the other hand George is another thing, you wouldnt want your curry exploding at 120,000 rpm on the cooker would you ! ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjLR5_9CNh4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjLR5_9CNh4)
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Various people (including me) have been trying for years to get the twelve-fingered luddites of this forum to use the metric system with not a hope of converting them from their noggin of ale, thruppenny bit, gross of this, barleycorn of that mentality!
I fear actually asking for accurate measurements (in any system) may be asking the poor, metrically-challenged souls too much.
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Various people (including me) have been trying for years to get the twelve-fingered luddites of this forum to use the metric system with not a hope of converting them from their noggin of ale, thruppenny bit, gross of this, barleycorn of that mentality!
I fear actually asking for accurate measurements (in any system) may be asking the poor, metrically-challenged souls too much.
When tha can axe for "litre o'ale" in any BIR in God's Own Country and get litre o'ale, tha can axe oos faw them there noo-fangled mitric units, but until thaat day coomes tha can take thee mitric units and stick them wha t'soon doon't shine, for they be az welcome 'ere as t'pox is welcome in't brothel ...
** Ned Ludd, his amanuensis.
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Various people (including me) have been trying for years to get the twelve-fingered luddites of this forum to use the metric system with not a hope of converting them from their noggin of ale, thruppenny bit, gross of this, barleycorn of that mentality!
I fear actually asking for accurate measurements (in any system) may be asking the poor, metrically-challenged souls too much.
When tha can axe for "litre o'ale" in any BIR in God's Own Country and get litre o'ale, tha can axe oos faw them there noo-fangled mitric units, but until thaat day coomes tha can take thee mitric units and stick them wha t'soon doon't shine, for they be az welcome 'ere as t'pox is welcome in't brothel ...
** Ned Ludd, his amanuensis.
;D :P
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Any one actually tried this recipes rather than arguing over heaped level or rounded teaspoons? I am making a madras tonight but dont have all the ingredients for this recipe and have never used a pataks paste for making a curry (isnt that cheating) does any one else use shop bought pastes? I am going to go through the majority of recipes and cooking processes for madras from this site and take notes and then take a happy medium from the results! Shall start a new topic after I have done and shall upload some photos also of the finished madras
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Any one actually tried this recipes rather than arguing over heaped level or rounded teaspoons? I am making a madras tonight but dont have all the ingredients for this recipe and have never used a pataks paste for making a curry (isnt that cheating) does any one else use shop bought pastes? I am going to go through the majority of recipes and cooking processes for madras from this site and take notes and then take a happy medium from the results! Shall start a new topic after I have done and shall upload some photos also of the finished madras
The best Madras on this website in my opinion and I have just made this along with 5 other curries and a Raan of Lamb which is in the oven right now cooking ready for the clan when they arrive is....
1-2 persons
Oil
1 tsp garlic puree
1 tsp ginger puree
1 tsp spice mix
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp chilli powder (or to suit)
1 tbsp tomato puree mixed in 50ml of hot water
1 tsp salt
a little orange food colouring (optional)
350ml base
a splash of worcestershire sauce
1/2 lemon (juice) or to taste
1tsp suger (to balance out the lemon juice
freshly chopped coriander to garnish
oil in the pan, add the g&g, cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the spices and salt, cook for a further 1-2 minutes, add the tomato puree blend and stir in, it should splutter a little.
Add 100ml of base and cook out until the oil starts to separate. Continue with the rest of the base.
Add the worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and sugar and cook out until the curry sauce is ready and the oil is separating.
Add the meat/Chicken/Vegetables of your choice and cook/warm through thoroughly.
Serve and add freshly chopped coriander.
Done :D