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Topics - Dajoca

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Curry Base Chat / CBM Little India Base Gravy question

« on: March 17, 2013, 06:47 PM »

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8242.0

Does the addition of evaporated milk and coconut cream make any difference to the ability to freeze this base, or would it be better to add them both at a later stage?

Curry Base Chat / Onions for the base.

« on: October 25, 2012, 08:17 PM »

I'm just making my first Zaal base from Solarsplaces thread. http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8871.0

Just bought a big bag of onions from Lidl's at ?1.39 for 5 kilos, but quite a few of them were just a little bit soft with that slightly sweeter smell that accompanies.

None of them were going off or rotten, so I'm just wondering if anyone has cooked with "ripe" onions before and if it actually makes any difference to the final dish, or if I just need to ditch the lot and try again tomorrow

.

Thanks in advance.

Supplementary Recipes Chat / Tomato sauce

« on: September 12, 2012, 02:50 PM »

I've been feeling that my attempts recently have been quite bland, which is undoubtedly down to my skills rather than the recipes.
Last night I was set to make another madras with my SNS base and the associated madras recipe, only to find I was out of tomato puree.
As there was tomato sauce in the fridge, I thought I'd give that a go.

I knocked up and cooked some chunks of pork tikka using blades recipe but with half the lemon.

Also knocked up some rice, cooked with 2 Bay leaves, 3 Green Cardomom, 2 Cloves, Cumin seeds and Fennel seeds.

I fried up some onion and green pepper and set it one side then mixed up 1-ish Tbsp tomato sauce with equal water, 2 Tsp GG paste and 2 Tbsp base.

Using a drop more oil I fried up the paste, then added a mix of
1Tsp Kashmiri mirch
0.5 Tsp Deggi mirch
1 Tsp Methi leaves
0.5 Tsp salt
2 Tsp BE mix

Continued cooking on a high heat, adding the remainder of the base until I had reduced it a little and then added the onion and pepper, along with the pork.
I then covered it and left it to simmer for 20 mins while I faffed about with other things.

The final dish was wonderfuly tasty, with a slight sharpness from the tomato sauce, though I would forgo the additional salt.

Certainly something I will try using again.

Lets Talk Curry / Does anyone use fresh turmeric?

« on: August 09, 2012, 04:55 PM »

I notice that Morrisons is now selling a few different world foods and they seem to have lots of fresh turmeric.
As turmeric is meant to be so good for health, I wondered if anyone has tried using it fresh rather than powdered?

Lets Talk Curry / Help me find a curry (recipe)

« on: August 03, 2012, 03:15 PM »

Warning: Vague and unclear descriptions ahead...

Years ago (1998) I lived near Arbroath for my sins.
There was an Indian takeaway in Fisheracre that sold a rich and creamy madras hot dish. It was a vivid, bright red and would cause me to break out in a sweat as soon as I took the lid off.
I think they called it a Punjabi Massala, though that could be utterly wrong and I believe the names to be a bit arbitrary anyway.

Years later I was in Exmouth and the Indian Ocean curry takeaway there sold a similar style of rich creamy and hot dish, without the vivid colour.

The closest I can come to it now is from the Curry Express in Yelverton (Dartmoor) with their Chicken Razalla, though this is yoghurt rather than cream according to their menu.
These 3 dishes are not at all similar to Tikka massala in their flavour, but they are in consistency, all being very rich, creamy and Madras hot, but not tomatoey or coconutty.

I've not found this type of dish in most other takeaways / restaraunts, so if anyone can suggest a similar recipe to experiment with, I would love to try it.

Thanks in advance

Lets Talk Curry / Similarities in recipes, spice mix's and therefore tastes?

« on: July 31, 2012, 10:48 PM »

Prologue:
I've made the SNS base twice now, with all the dishes from my first go tasting wonderful (though seemingly better than those from my second batch).
1st batch made using White Pearl mild curry powder, as it was all I could find and the second batch made using the Rajah mild madras curry powder, having finally found a seller.
The White Pearl powder has a much lighter and more pleasant aroma than the Rajah which possesses a much darker(?) smell.
I subsequently tried the Taz base and have been using the recipes for that base posted by Stephen Lindsay.

The Chicken Ceylon - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8145.msg71760#msg71760 in particular, was a very nice dish, with the mellow taste of coconut and the sharpness of the lemon juice contrasting nicely.

The question I have though (finally) regards the other 3 dishes I found.
Chicken Madras - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8088.msg76754#msg76754

And particularly between
Chicken Jalfrezi - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5429.0
Garlic Chilli Chicken - http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7446.0

The initial method, tomato paste, GG, Methi and BE spice mix are all very similar, so while there is some variation with the amount of garlic, pepper, chilli pepper and onion, will the resulting dishes not all taste remarkably similar?

I've really only just started cooking BIR curries, so please forgive a n00b for his impudence, but if the base and basic ingredients are the same, does the spice mix not need to vary in order to truly differentiate between the dishes?

I wonder if anyone here has cooked the same dishes with the same base, but used a different spice mix each time, or maybe used a single different spice (brand of curry powder?) and noticed a significant difference?

Maybe that should be my next experiment.

Lets Talk Curry / Sharpness

« on: July 19, 2012, 11:07 PM »

I've made Blades Tikka a few times now, which is fantastic, but on my latest go I found it had a sharpness to it, which I felt could either be a bit too much lemon juice or the Pataks paste used.

This time I also made CBM's chicken tikka masala from the book and again found the dish had quite a sharp edge to it, so I am more focused on it being the pastes, as the recipe contains both Tandoori and Tikka pastes.

I managed to soften it down with a 1/2 tsp baking powder and a lot more cream, but I wonder how to avoid this in future.
Can the sharpness from the paste be cooked out, or am I better using raw spices instead of the pastes.

Thanks in advance

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