Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => Madras => Topic started by: 976bar on September 08, 2009, 08:03 PM
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I made this tonight, and was extemely satisfied with the results. I couldn't believe it when I finally got that "Toffee Aroma" as the sauce was cooking. You can adjust the chillis to suit your personal taste, and I also like lemon juice in my Madras, again a personal taste.
Chicken Madras
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
300 ml of SNS base gravy
1 Onion finely chopped
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp of garlic & ginger puree (Fresh)
1 tsp Deghi Mirch (Red Chilli Powder)
2 fresh green chillis sliced very thinly
1 tsp Tomato Puree
1 tsp of spice mix
1 tsp Turmeric
Pinch dried methi leaves (fenugreek)
Squeeze of Lemon Juice
Chopped fresh coriander leafs and stalks
Salt
Add water if sauce is too thick
Method
Cut the chicken breasts into chunks, put to one side.
Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wok and gently fry the onion until golden brown.
Add the garlic, ginger, green chillis, and fry for 1-2 minutes.
Add the tomato Puree and fry for 30 seconds.
Add the Deghi Mirch and fry for around 30 seconds
Turn up the heat and add a ladle of the base gravy, let it sizzle, then add 2 more ladles and let it heat up. Continue doing this until all the base gravy is in there. Cook for around 3-4 minutes to reduce the sauce. If it gets too thick add some water.
Remove from the heat and put in a food processor. Puree until smooth. Let it stand for a minute or two.
Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp oil in the same wok, add 1 tsp of turmeric, fry gently for 20 seconds. Add the chicken pieces and fry turning until it is sealed.
Add the puree?d madras mixture and boil hard on a high heat. You will then get that toffee aroma, which I have never had before. Then the oil starts to separate.
Add a pinch of Methi leaves, the coriander and about 1-2 tbsp lemon juice (optional).
Cook until the chicken is done.
Serve at once with Rice and Naan.
All in all with the exception of the puree time I would say this took about 15-20 mins.
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Hi 976bar - glad it worked out for you. Pics look good.
Question - why would you add onion to the base, and then puree it again? Just wondering what you think that adds to the dish, other than suggesting there wasn't enough onion ratio in the original SnS recipe.
I couldn't see this being a BIR method, so was wondering what led you down this path.
Thanks!
-- Josh
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I can understand the thinking behind it as fried onions taste very different to boiled ones which actually taste pretty bland.
I agree its definitely not a BIR method but if the results are good - stick with it.
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Hi 976bar - glad it worked out for you. Pics look good.
Question - why would you add onion to the base, and then puree it again? Just wondering what you think that adds to the dish, other than suggesting there wasn't enough onion ratio in the original SnS recipe.
I couldn't see this being a BIR method, so was wondering what led you down this path.
Thanks!
-- Josh
Hi Josh,
My original Madras recipe had 1 tbsp of pataks Balti paste in it, and I wanted to steer away from this. So I thought the onion would give it more depth, then i thought why not puree it as well. I think next time i might just add the onions chopped, although I have never had a madras that has had onions bits in it before...... :-\
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976bar,
well pleased u hit toffee - u're on the right track.
the chopped onions in the curry are quite difficult to master - but they too are on the path. i used to pre fry, then pre par boil. the par boil works best. i now manage to cook fresh ok. i put it down to having a thinner base and more heat which finish cooks the onion whilst the base is condensing. the frying alone is not good enough as they burn before cooked.
once mastered the onion should blend into the dish and u would not know it's there.
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976bar,
well pleased u hit toffee - u're on the right track.
the chopped onions in the curry are quite difficult to master - but they too are on the path. i used to pre fry, then pre par boil. the par boil works best. i now manage to cook fresh ok. i put it down to having a thinner base and more heat which finish cooks the onion whilst the base is condensing. the frying alone is not good enough as they burn before cooked.
once mastered the onion should blend into the dish and u would not know it's there.
Thanks Jerry :)
I will experiment with the onion some more and let you know how it turns out. It was very satisfying to produce a madras with such a depth of flavour and no Pataks anywhere in sight!! :)
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Great work. This is basically the recipe I use. This is very similar to the bir chefs methods i have seen first hand. a handful of chopped onion should be fried at start for 2 or 3 mins. dont let it start to soften, as this will occur later when you add the base at high heat. the tumeric is also very good. the chef i know adds extra tumeric. even though he uses spice mix as well. i find this works well for madras, and rogan josh especially. i would use more oil, and a little more spice mix perhaps. fry the tomato puree in a little extra oil for 1 minute, it adds a little extra flavor. also try it with no methi , it can be better without. nice one ; D
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Great work. This is basically the recipe I use. This is very similar to the bir chefs methods i have seen first hand. a handful of chopped onion should be fried at start for 2 or 3 mins. dont let it start to soften, as this will occur later when you add the base at high heat. the tumeric is also very good. the chef i know adds extra tumeric. even though he uses spice mix as well. i find this works well for madras, and rogan josh especially. i would use more oil, and a little more spice mix perhaps. fry the tomato puree in a little extra oil for 1 minute, it adds a little extra flavor. also try it with no methi , it can be better without. nice one ; D
Hi Derek,
Many thanks for your input. I guess I am trying to do too many things at once here. I'm trying to create that BIR taste, but without the unhealthy side to it, i.e. not so much oil, as I suffer from a bit of a cholestrol problem. I love my indian food and I can use all the spices/garlic/ginger/tomatoes I like, but I do have to watch the oil content.
Next time I will give your input a go and let you know how I get on :)
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Hi 976bar,
If you are worried about oil consumption here is my take on things for what it is worth:
Don't use vegetable ghee - full of transfats and hydrogenated fats.
Don't use cheap margarine - same as above.
For butter ghee the jury is still out on that one.
I use rice bran oil to make my curries. Check it out on Google but they say it is as healthy as olive oil and can take high temperatures without degrading.
Sainsburys have started selling this stuff - about ?2 for 500 ml.
I have also started using virgin coconut oil for some of my final stage curries. This is very expensive at 25p a tablespoon but it tastes great. Some people say you should avoid this as it is 93% saturated but it is a unique oil and world populations that consume loads of pure coconut oil have little heart problems. Once again it is worth googling this stuff. Note that this coco oil is unprocessed. The cheap coconut oil and bars you can buy are full of the hydrogenated fats due to processing.
If you eat the right oils you then only have to worry about the high calories. I reckon if you are planning a blow-out curry you can eat a bit less during the day to compensate.
Paul.
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Hi 9bar ! Yes the health issues do put a dampener on our fun. the great thing about curry is it can be very nice without much oil. extra water can help here. as a means to bring out the full flavor of the spices. obviously there are a great amount of yogurt/tomato based curries which need no oil. or curry slow cook caseroles which need no oil. the list goes on. creating a decent bir dish with little oil is also something i have done. its never quite as impressive, but still tasty. oil and high salt seem to be key , sadly.
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Hi 976bar,
If you are worried about oil consumption here is my take on things for what it is worth:
Don't use vegetable ghee - full of transfats and hydrogenated fats.
Don't use cheap margarine - same as above.
For butter ghee the jury is still out on that one.
I use rice bran oil to make my curries. Check it out on Google but they say it is as healthy as olive oil and can take high temperatures without degrading.
Sainsburys have started selling this stuff - about ?2 for 500 ml.
I have also started using virgin coconut oil for some of my final stage curries. This is very expensive at 25p a tablespoon but it tastes great. Some people say you should avoid this as it is 93% saturated but it is a unique oil and world populations that consume loads of pure coconut oil have little heart problems. Once again it is worth googling this stuff. Note that this coco oil is unprocessed. The cheap coconut oil and bars you can buy are full of the hydrogenated fats due to processing.
If you eat the right oils you then only have to worry about the high calories. I reckon if you are planning a blow-out curry you can eat a bit less during the day to compensate.
Paul.
Hi Paul,
many thanks for the info, I'll look into that oil. Currently I only ever use rapeseed oil which is very very low on the saturated front, and I never use ghee. I know it's a trade off between flavour and health, but this way I am hoping to still be eatings curries into my 90's :)
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976bar,
i too keep a check on the cholesterol.
i've put my curry cooking in the moderation bracket.
for info though i used olive oil for the 1st time the other night - i had no other in the house - i could not tell any difference from fresh veg oil. i buy the olive oil in 5 litre containers so always have plenty.
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976bar,
i too keep a check on the cholesterol.
i've put my curry cooking in the moderation bracket.
for info though i used olive oil for the 1st time the other night - i had no other in the house - i could not tell any difference from fresh veg oil. i buy the olive oil in 5 litre containers so always have plenty.
Hi Jerry,
Do you buy Olive Oil or Virgin Olive Oil? The reason I ask is that when I did my Indian cookery course earlier in the year, one of the subjects we covered was indeed oil. She told us that olive oil was good to use but not virgin olive oil. This is because it cannot tolerate high heat and tends to break down into a more saturated fat than just plain olive oil.
Just something to watch out for thats all..... :)
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976bar,
the wallet would not stand the expensive stuff (the virgin oil). i tend to buy what's on offer at the Asian Store i get to now and again. it's always blended (around ?8-10 per 5L).
i use it for all my cooking except curry when i normally use reclaimed veg from the base. i've been using a little marg in the base for a while now (since ashoka) but it reduces the fridge shelf life of the reclaimed oil. consequently i sometimes find myself having to use fresh veg oil. i thought the olive oil might just be better even than the fresh veg oil and intend to use it from now on if i have no reclaimed. i might even try it in base.
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976bar,
the wallet would not stand the expensive stuff (the virgin oil). i tend to buy what's on offer at the Asian Store i get to now and again. it's always blended (around ?8-10 per 5L).
i use it for all my cooking except curry when i normally use reclaimed veg from the base. i've been using a little marg in the base for a while now (since ashoka) but it reduces the fridge shelf life of the reclaimed oil. consequently i sometimes find myself having to use fresh veg oil. i thought the olive oil might just be better even than the fresh veg oil and intend to use it from now on if i have no reclaimed. i might even try it in base.
Hi Jerry,
I'm not sure whats in Margarine as I never use it, but it doesn't sound very healthy. Sainsburys and Tesco sell Rapeseed oil which is quite cheap and has a very low saturated fat content.
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Margarine is disgusting and quite probably pretty unhealthy, nasty stuff. Here in Sweden it was once promoted as a much healthier alternative to butter, poppycock.
I myself live in a family of LCHF:ers and do myself try to not eat too many carbs, but I'm not going to go preaching about it and I sure don't want to debate about it, but living by that philosophy the problem is usually that I can't have my rice or nan's with them, so I guess a really good BIR dish with all the good stuff included isn't really healthy by anyone's diet.
About oil though, I always use canola oil for my curries, which according to many is one of the healthier alternatives of oil, and wiki says this,
Canola oil has been claimed to promote good health due to its very low saturated fat and high monounsaturated fat content, and beneficial omega-3 fatty acid profile. The Canola Council of Canada states that it is completely safe and is the "healthiest" of all commonly used cooking oils.[18] It has well established heart health benefits[19] and is recognized by many health professional organizations including the American Dietetic Association, and American Heart Association, among others
Still, it's oil so if you're concerned about eating too much fat use less.
As for ghee, I think butter along with the canola oil and the olive oil are actually among the better fats you can eat so as long as it's actually real butter ghee I won't stay away from it, but other kinds I would. But to each his own.
So, now to the dish, I find the technique with the onion and the blender very interesting, because I have too been a bit concerned with getting some fried onion taste into the dish without it being visible, both for madras and for the vindaloo (I've never got any pieces of onion in that either, but I still feel it would benefit from the taste). JerryM's technique sounds good but difficult so I might start out trying your idea for my vindaloo to see how it works out, and maybe also your madras some time next week. It looks surprisingly brown but definitely good!
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Margarine is disgusting and quite probably pretty unhealthy, nasty stuff. Here in Sweden it was once promoted as a much healthier alternative to butter, poppycock.
I myself live in a family of LCHF:ers and do myself try to not eat too many carbs, but I'm not going to go preaching about it and I sure don't want to debate about it, but living by that philosophy the problem is usually that I can't have my rice or nan's with them, so I guess a really good BIR dish with all the good stuff included isn't really healthy by anyone's diet.
About oil though, I always use canola oil for my curries, which according to many is one of the healthier alternatives of oil, and wiki says this,
Canola oil has been claimed to promote good health due to its very low saturated fat and high monounsaturated fat content, and beneficial omega-3 fatty acid profile. The Canola Council of Canada states that it is completely safe and is the "healthiest" of all commonly used cooking oils.[18] It has well established heart health benefits[19] and is recognized by many health professional organizations including the American Dietetic Association, and American Heart Association, among others
Still, it's oil so if you're concerned about eating too much fat use less.
As for ghee, I think butter along with the canola oil and the olive oil are actually among the better fats you can eat so as long as it's actually real butter ghee I won't stay away from it, but other kinds I would. But to each his own.
So, now to the dish, I find the technique with the onion and the blender very interesting, because I have too been a bit concerned with getting some fried onion taste into the dish without it being visible, both for madras and for the vindaloo (I've never got any pieces of onion in that either, but I still feel it would benefit from the taste). JerryM's technique sounds good but difficult so I might start out trying your idea for my vindaloo to see how it works out, and maybe also your madras some time next week. It looks surprisingly brown but definitely good!
Hi Hargiwald,
Thanks for the info on the Canoli Oil, I'll have to take a look at that.
With reference to the Madras and the colour, it was much more red before I pureed it in the blender, the colour definitely darkened after that. I think you have to appreciate that the oil had separated from the dish before blending which would have given it that reddish translucent colour, but of course after having been in the blender it all got mixed back into the dish again, but I wouldn't let colour bother you, you can always adjust that with food colouring like all BIR's do, it's the taste I am more interested, so I wouldn't even care if it was green :)