Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Just Joined? Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: vmixture on February 26, 2008, 10:51 AM
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Hi, having read through a number of the threads it seems I am in the right place for trying to create the restaurant magic in my own home. Ive been cooking Indian for about a year now with various degrees of success, recently Ive been using Pat Chapmans curry bible and the results have been pretty good. Ive also ordered Kris Dhillon's curry secret to see what that has to offer.
The food i usually try to produce is a very hot chicken curry for me (phall/vindaloo) and a prawn biriani for the other half. I start with a base, split it into two and then modify each half for my chicken curry and her veg curry side dish.
When I got Pat Chapmans book I followed the instructions to make a large pot of base sauce, this has nearly come to an end and has been quite good. But now I'm hoping to find something really special here. BTW I never order Phall's in restaurants because of the excessive use of chilli powder rather than green chilli, my dish of preference is Chicken Jalfrezi with lots of fresh green chilli or a chicken chilli masala.
I am looking forward to trying some of the bases here if anyone could reccomend a good base sauce to begin with that would be very helpful. Also has anyone used Pat Chapmans book and what did they think?
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OK I'm going with the Saffron Base Gravy for starters and depending on the state of my current illness (man flu) I will hope to get the first batch on the go tomorrow. Lots of reading to get through that entire Saffron thread now.....
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Hi Welcome to cr0 ;)
I'm with you on restaurant Phall, I love a hot curry but too much chili powder doesn't do me any favors, at home I tend to use mushed scotch bonnets, work a treat 8)
Let us know how you get on.
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hi vmixture
i have been going into my local Rajver and getting into the phall sauce. i have even cooked it in their kitchen and i have posted the visit here just look. you can get a really hot phall by adding very hot dried red chillies fried until the fumes are over powering then crushing them up this i had done for me.then you can add as many as you want. also a good recipe by bruce edwards curryhouse cookery in the downloads setion for a chicken chilli masala it uses 12 sliced green chillies and a desertspoon of chilli powder.
regards and welcome for a very long and happy future cooking cr0 bir way.
and don't forget to get into your own locals kitchen. this may give you the confidence to ask.
gary
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OK I'm going with the Saffron Base Gravy for starters and depending on the state of my current illness (man flu) I will hope to get the first batch on the go tomorrow. Lots of reading to get through that entire Saffron thread now.....
Hi vmixture
Welcome to the best curry forum.
Good luck with the base. Make sure you use the newer illustrated version.
If you have any questions please ask - we're here to help.
Let is know how you get on.
SnS ;D
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Hi Welcome to cr0 ;)
I'm with you on restaurant Phall, I love a hot curry but too much chili powder doesn't do me any favors, at home I tend to use mushed scotch bonnets, work a treat 8)
Let us know how you get on.
Will do. I use scotch bonnets in a number of dishes, but because of their unique taste would they be used in BIR? I have only come across the green finger chilli in various quantities (more the better) ;D
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hi vmixture
i have been going into my local Rajver and getting into the phall sauce. i have even cooked it in their kitchen and i have posted the visit here just look. you can get a really hot phall by adding very hot dried red chillies fried until the fumes are over powering then crushing them up this i had done for me.then you can add as many as you want. also a good recipe by bruce edwards curryhouse cookery in the downloads setion for a chicken chilli masala it uses 12 sliced green chillies and a desertspoon of chilli powder.
regards and welcome for a very long and happy future cooking cr0 bir way.
and don't forget to get into your own locals kitchen. this may give you the confidence to ask.
gary
Thanks Gary this sounds exactly what I am looking for. The only problem is i cant seem to find the downloads section :-[
EDIT: Its ok Ive found the section, I was looking along the top of the page for the downloads rather than a specific forum ::)
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OK I'm going with the Saffron Base Gravy for starters and depending on the state of my current illness (man flu) I will hope to get the first batch on the go tomorrow. Lots of reading to get through that entire Saffron thread now.....
Hi vmixture
Welcome to the best curry forum.
Good luck with the base. Make sure you use the newer illustrated version.
If you have any questions please ask - we're here to help.
Let is know how you get on.
SnS ;D
I am using this version http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2271.msg20262.html#msg20262 which I think is the latest. Ι also like the look of the Jalfrezi http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2326.0.html which seems the perfect dish for me.
I will of course let you know how I get on but I can see from the number of positive replies in the thread that this is indeed a good base.
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Hi,
I find that if you remove the seeds and piff then chop them into a mush, added at the very start of the curry you will lose that "caribbean" flavour and smell. Even more so if you freeze them which I have done when growing my own, they do lose some heat so just add more 8)
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Hi,
I find that if you remove the seeds and piff then chop them into a mush, added at the very start of the curry you will lose that "caribbean" flavour and smell. Even more so if you freeze them which I have done when growing my own, they do lose some heat so just add more 8)
Thanks. I buy a lot of chillies and quite often end up throwing a load away before they get used. Seems to me that freezing this 'mush' could well be the way forward, will also save preparation time when i want to use them too
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hi vmixture
you could try bangladeshi naga chillies or even hotter dorset nagas both dwarf the bonnet a real chilli hit. there is a restaurant (not rajver this time) that does a take on the chilli masala and as the menu describes as a real vindaloo alternative, called chicken tikka naga, will do what i can to get the recipe it is closed at the mo due to an upstairs fire which is not the place you expect to get one with all the flambeing done in the kitchen ;D
did you find the curryhouse cookery? i read it regularly just to pass the time... it is a pivotal moment in history when someone took the initiative and did what millions of people all over the world wanted to do and he did it and he didnot even make any profit from it other than make someone else very rich and he still throws out stuff which is just a new version of the rubbish done in the last century all it is doing is lining his pockets whilst leaving the buyer very disappointed and i have atleast six of his books :-[ :-[ anyway after that rant i feel like heating up my phall sauce with some chicken i just had lying about in the fridge oh and some rice in less than 10mins it could be ready. ::)
if we can help then don't be afraid to ask however silly you think the question is we have asked them all! ;)
kind regards
gary
ps hope you feel better looking forward to making your curry should help with hte recovery :)
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Hi Gary,
Having spent most of the day reading through this SUPERB forum I have devised a menu that I will serve to the other half and our 2 closest friends. I will hold off the invite for a week or so to test all the dishes but it will be along the lines of papadums and pickles, followed by a sizzling chicken Tikka with veg samosas for starters. For the main course I will use the Jalfrezi mentioned earlier in the thread (very hot of course) and a King Prawn biriani with a vegetable curry side. I will also make a pilau rice using one of the methods found in the side dish forum. For me its not just the finished result but the fun of making the whole thing, I guess thats why most people are here otherwise we would be simply picking up the phone and waiting an hour for it to turn up.
On the subject of chillies i normally buy them from the local Indian shop (plenty here in peterborough) but I also have a small plant which serves me well when I need fresh chillies without leaving the house. If i could get my hands on some seeds for those 'extra hot' varieties then I would certainly branch out in this area of home grown produce ;D
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Hi vmixture,
Welcome to cr0. It looks like you've been pretty busy reading! ;D
Good luck with the recipes. Hopefully the jalfrezi will turn out well for you. One thing I'm doing now with it (having mixed up a bigger batch of the spice mix) is to use 1 tbsp of spice mix and 1 tbsp of extra hot chilli powder plus 8-10 of the fresh green finger chillies. It turns out pretty consistent for me.
As everyone else already said, any questions, just shout. If you make your big menu, don't forget to take pictures and let us know how they all turn out.
Happy currying! ;D
ast
Posts about AST's Jalfrezi moved by CA to here: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2326.0.html
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Posts about the Saffron Curry Base moved by CA to here: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2271.msg21511.html#msg21511
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Welcome to cr0 vmixture 8)
I see you've been hard at it already! Good on ya! :P
You will see that I have moved a number of your posts (and replies to them) to more appropriate recipes threads to which they refer. It's good if people can keep it that way because it makes things easier to find :)
Happy cooking!
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Welcome to cr0 vmixture 8)
I see you've been hard at it already! Good on ya! :P
You will see that I have moved a number of your posts (and replies to them) to more appropriate recipes threads to which they refer. It's good if people can keep it that way because it makes things easier to find :)
Happy cooking!
Thanks CA
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I honestly dont know where to post this as there are now 5 different recipes used in creating this meal. So I have decided to finish my 'welcome' thread with a post of what I have managed to create after my first couple of days of being a member here. Ypu may lock this thread now ;D
Credits:
Base Sauce - Saffron - SnS
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2271.msg20262.html#msg20262
Meat preparation - Chilli Prawn
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1232.0.html
Main Dish - Jalfrezi - AST
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2326.0.html
Rice - Pilau - Cory Ander
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1383.0.html
Side - Onion Bhaji - Chilli Prawn
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,1334.0.html
The finished article
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Nice one Vmix. Great finishing photo.
SnS ;D
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"West Ham United" vmixture? Didn't that used to be called "The Star of Bengal"? ;)
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"West Ham United" vmixture? Didn't that used to be called "The Star of Bengal"? ;)
Both true to my heart CA, and great tips from that neck of the woods in the world of Asian cooking ;D