Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to buy one of these hand blender things, and I was wondering what types people would recommend for blending bases.  I have two main concerns:

1) The length of the stalk the blades are attached to:  is it long enough for "reasonalby" sized pots of > 6L?

2) The power output/chopping ability:  My gut feel is that a smaller one would burn up quickly and I've no idea how the blade shroud design will affect the size of the vegetables you can use when cooking the base.  Granted, they should be soft enough by the time you blend, but I don't want to spend the money for the thing and then end up still using my blender at 1L/time to get a smooth curry base.

In having a look around one of the 3 main shops here today, I found a Braun, 300W jobber that looks like this:



A 400W Moulinex 3-piece kit:


Specs: http://www.moulinex.fr/products/preparation-culinaire/mixeurs/robot-marie.htm

and a 3-piece, brand X kit that is similar to the Moulinex, but a bit cheaper.  There's also another Moulinex one that's pretty similar, but I can't find a picture.  Price range is ?25-50, and I want to buy one here (we're in France visiting the in-laws), because past experience says they'll be cheaper here than in Dublin.  I'm also going to need a serious curry fix when I get back, so next weekend I'll be hoping to break it in on a new batch of base.

Any experience, recommendations, things to look out for, etc. would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

ast

This is my current version of a Jalfrezi.  It is based on merging aspects of all the different Jalfrezi recipes and information I could find both here on the forum as well as on the Web.  It has currently been tested successfully with the Saffron curry base (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2271.0.html), but any other mildly-spiced base should work equally well, however you may need to add up to 1 tsp of salt to the final dish.  I make both a chicken and lamb version of this dish, depending on my mood and who it's for, with equally good results.

AST's Chicken/Lamb Jalfrezi

200ml curry base
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cooking onion, chopped
1/4 green pepper, sliced
1/4 red pepper, sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced into 4 wedges
2 tbsp minced garlic (approx 2-4 cloves, depending on their size)
60-80g pre-cooked lamb or chicken
60ml of broth from pre-cooked meat
1 heaped tbsp tomato puree
8 small green chillies, sliced as desired
2 heaped tsp extra hot chilli powder
1/4 tsp amchoor
1 large pinch of dried methi leaves
2 1/4 tsp spice mix (see note 1)
2-3 tsp lemon juice

METHOD

Heat a heavy pan on high heat until hot.  Add the oil to the pan and let it heat to just before smoking.  Add onion, garlic, peppers and chillies and stir-fry until the onion begins to change color.  Add the spice mix and amchoor to the pan and fry, being careful not to burn them, until you can't breathe and then continue to cook them a bit longer, adding a little base if necessary.

Add the curry base and stir to evenly mix the spices and vegetables with the base, ensuring that none of the vegetables stick together and there are no clumps of spice.  Stir in the tomato paste.  When mixed well, add in the pre-cooked meat and broth.  Stir to cover the meat in the sauce, bring back to the boil and reduce the heat to medium.  After about 5 minutes, stir in the dried methi and tomato wedges.  Reduce to desired consistency (approx 5 minutes).

Stir in lemon juice, sprinkle with coriander leaves (freshly chopped or dry) and serve.

Note 1:

Any "restaurant style" spice mix can probably be used here, depending on personal preference.  I have developed my version of this dish using an individual portion of "Haldi's Takeaway" Spice Mix as relayed by Haldi and used by the takeaway where he gets all his demos.  For this dish, you may use:

"Haldi's Takeaway" Spice Mix (Individual Portion)

1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp Madras curry powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin

VARIATIONS

The amount of chillies and chilli powder should be varied to taste.  I've found that this works for me, but when I make it for my guests, I cut the chillies down to 2-3 and use between 1/2 and 3/4 tsp of extra hot chilli powder.

With the Saffron curry base, no additional salt is required.  However, other bases may require the addition of salt to fully bring out the flavor in this dish.  I would not add over 1 tsp, even if the base has no salt at all.

For a drier version of this dish, reduce the amount of curry base used between 50-80ml.

Hi Everyone,

Reflecting on Haldi's recent posts about the two new dishes got me wondering about the difference in preparation methods between the two, and so, I was wondering if there were certain techniques that should be applied to certain dishes that would (or should) appear in or be common across any version of that dish.

Saying it another way, has there ever been any discussion about the "essential elements" of specific dishes from looking at them as a class rather than reviewing, commenting and improving on particular recipes in isolation?

In my short stint in the forum so far, I've encountered at least 4 different basic methods to preparing the final curry:

The KD method (basic reduction with late spicing)

Almost all of her recipes for curry dishes follow the same basic pattern:

• 1. Stir-fry/sautee any additional ingredients (onion, garlic and/or veg)
• 2. Add curry base and bring to the boil
• 3. Add salt, chillies (powered or fresh) and any meat
• 4. Main reduction
• 5. Add any additional spices
• 6. Final reduction and taste blending

The Dry Spice Method

• 1. Stir-fry/sautee any additional ingredients (onion, garlic, ginger, others?)
• 2. Add dry spices and stir-fry until chok--er, the "toffee" smell hits you in the face
• 3. Add base
• 4. Add pre-cooked meat (except prawns) and/or veg
• 5. Main reduction
• 6. Add prawns (and possibly more "fragile" veg?)
• 7. Final reduction to desired consistency

Gary's (parker21) got a variation on this which uses a small amount of base to the spices during step 2, but essentially proceeds the same way.

The Spice Paste Method

Like above except spices are mixed with water, oil and/or base prior to step 1 and added as a paste instead of dry in step 2.  The rest proceeds the same.

To the above two methods, there's also a common variation which involves reduction by halves of the curry base, one ladle at a time.  Additional spices or ingredients are added between reductions.  Other people have mentioned they do it in more than two steps, but the idea is the same.

Haldi's Kashmiri Method

• 1. Cover base of pan with thin layer of curry base and stir-fry
• 2. Stir-fry/sautee any additional ingredients (onion, garlic, ginger, others?)
• 3. Add dry spices and stir-fry until chok--er, the "toffee" smell hits you in the face
• 4. Add minimal amount of base to keep "wet"
• 5. Add additional spices/flavorings
• 6. Add pre-cooked meat (except prawns) and/or veg
• 7. Add "enough" curry base for runny sauce
• 8. Minor reduction and taste blending

So, ok, there's really only 3 with a couple of variations, but still...

The point is, these methods have appeared more than once and they have to have specific purposes.  Does anyone really know why each one is the way it is?  What is the effect on the taste of the finished dish, and which parts most contribute to the difference?

I'm also wondering how much difference there really is between various people's interpretations of particular dishes.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to minimize anyone's contributions here by any means; I'm just trying to figure out what the differences/points of variation really are.  There's scores of different recipes here, and I've been trying to think of a better way of classifying/organizing and subsequently mentally digesting them than just going through them all in any particular way (top-to-bottom, random or via recommendation really doesn't matter that much).

My goal here is to try and get us to think about all the collective knowledge/wisdom we have about this topic and see what's common to certain dishes or cooking methods that may result in making both better curries and all of us better cooks.

Any ideas?  Does this make any sense?

I think I understand the rationale and intent of the KD method pretty well.  Let's face it, if you were writing a book for the masses, your first two priorities would be simplicity and repeatability--in that order.  You'd also have to get reasonable results, and, I think she succeeded on all counts.  There's pretty-much no way to screw up her method unless you burn the stuff in step 1.

Most punters can sautee an onion without burning it, but I'd hazard a guess that many people without quite a bit of cooking experience would take a few times to get the stir-frying of the spices right, and they also probably wouldn't know what to do when the aroma from the frying spices hit them.  There's just too many things to go wrong, and like any form of product, you don't want your customer's first interaction with it to not be successful.

Based on all this, she adapted the restaurant methods for the "average" cook so they'd have a harder time messing things up.  I'd also say the late addition of all the spices was part of this adaption.  If you add them early under high heat, they're "activated" and "released" into the flavor of the dish as it's cooking.  However, without all that heat, you're going to have to do something else to make them work.  About the only thing left is to add them late, and potentially in greater quantities than would ordinarily be used, so that you would get some of the same effect.  Of course, we all know it isn't the same, but it's much closer than most other things out there.

This is also why I think we can safely exclude her curry making process from "how it's really done" (not that most of us hadn't already), because it just doesn't deliver the full taste.  I've included it here a) because most of us are familiar with it as a starting point, and b) as a point of comparison and to try and illustrate the type of thing I'm trying to isolate.  Of course, this is only an (semi-)educated guess as to why it is the way it is.  Any other opinions or comments are welcome too.

So.... I did the first one.  Your turn for the rest! ;D

ast

Hi Folks,

I've been thinking about this for a while, but I haven't come up with a good answer on my own.  What I was wondering was if we were to develop some heavily modified or original recipes based around the "essentials" of BIR-style cooking, where would be an appropriate place to post them on this forum (if it is appropriate at all)?.  I'm thinking predominantly about new dishes made with a curry base but using similar techniques and styles.

The main reason is that I'm interested in trying some experiments using base sauces but with potentially non-standard additions/ingredients that are borrowed from other types of cooking.  If they turn out ok and are something I'd be interested in making again, I'm willing to share them here.

If it's really just minor variations to existing recipes, I'll follow the lead of everyone else and post them in the appropriate BIR-* category, but if it's more substantial than just two or three changes which don't really try to mimic an existing restaurant dish, I don't think that's the right place.

I guess I could always just post them in the general curry forum and see what happens.  Maybe that's the best solution after all.

Any info would be appreciated.  BTW, I don't have a timeline planned for any of these recipes, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

Thanks in advance,

ast

Hi Everyone,

I've been searching through the form to find a concise description of how this is best done, but except for the post regarding using a deep muffin tin (which I've now lost again), I haven't found anything close to guidelines.  I know a number of people seem to do it all the time (it's mentioned loads), but what's the best approach and how does it affect the taste of the curry?

I'm going to need to finish off some base/meat that's in the fridge, but my wife's not yet finished hers from the last round, and I've already eaten 3 curries this week, so I'm up for a bit of a break! (blasphemy, I know...)

Thanks in advance,

ast