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Topics - StoneCut

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11
Lets Talk Curry / Bassar / Basaar mix powder replacement
« on: June 12, 2012, 03:14 PM »
Being located in Germany I have a bit of a problem getting some of the needed ingredients.

Mostly I'm having issues getting these:
  • Bassar / Basaar Curry Masala mix powder
  • Rajah Mild Madras (I can get tons of other Mild Madras blends, though)
  • All Spice (what is this ?!?!)
  • Chaat Masala
  • Mango Powder (Amchoor)
  • Panch Phoran (might be able to get this if I drive far enough)
  • Rajah All-Purpose Seasoning (huh ?)
All those ingredient apart from the Mango Powder and Bassar/Basaar are not used very often, but I'm having a real issue getting this Bassar stuff. I can't even find an online store which ships to Germany that stocks it.

While reading around this forum I noticed that Bassar is also referred to as Kashmiri Curry Masala. Now, I do have a glass of Patak's Kashmiri Masala - is this an exact replacement or am I mixing things up ?

Also, can anyone explain what "All Spice" and "Rajah All-Purpose Seasoning" are and how I might substitute them ? Rajah brand is not popular over here. One asian store owner told me that Rajah was a "cheap" brand, he only buys TRS ... I don't believe any of it but that's what he said :/

Lastly - what is "Chaat Masala" and how would I be able to substitute it ?

12
Lets Talk Curry / Food Lab: Chicken Tikka (and Masala sauce)
« on: June 11, 2012, 09:11 AM »
Hey everyone,

I've become a fan of "The Food Lab" on www.seriouseats.com over the past year. Many of their experiments yield at least some new knowledge and most deliver stunning results (the analysis on how to make proper chips/french fries yourself is pure gold, for example, and really elaborate).

As you can imagine, I was quite surprised but also happy to see the food lab take a look at Chicken Tikka (and Tikka Masala sauce).

Here are the respective articles and recipes:
Tandoori Chicken Food Lab: http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/08/the-food-lab-how-to-make-tandoori-chicken-without-tandoor-grill.html
Tandoori recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/08/tandoor-style-grilled-chickens-tandoori-cornish-hens-recipe.html
Tikka Masala Food Lab: http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/06/the-food-lab-how-to-make-chicken-tikka-masala-at-home.html
Tikka Masala recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/06/chicken-tikka-masala-for-the-grill-recipe.html

Beware, though: this is a US website - they obviously know little about proper british curries - and the article is not actually based on the BIR method either. However, there's still lots of new info to get from it (and the occasional error, too).

Namely:
  • The chicken preparation method is not very "Tikka" since the chicken remains whole ("butterflied") and not in pieces, but the way it's actually done makes a whole lot of sense. Definitely worth checking out for the novel approach.
  • The point to which the chicken should be cooked in order to keep succulent is also interesting (not very BIR, of course, since you usually get dried out chicken due to the pre-cooked approach)
  • The most interesting aspect is the analysis of the marinating process. According to the article it could be detrimental to marinade chicken for more than 6 hours. The reason gives is that the citric acid in the marinade actually "cooks" the meat and marinating it too long inevitably produces over-cooked meat before actually cooking/frying/grilling it. This is probably an area with lots of room for discussion, however I found the point very interesting.
  • It also talks about the importance of the surface area (and how to extend it) when marinating. This was also a very important point when wanting to get crispy chips, as Food Lab's experiments previously showed (and I verified at home). Heston Blumenthal came to similar conclusions in his TV show months later.
  • There's even a bit about Naan thrown in for good measure ;)

I didn't test any of this, and I'm sure these recipes don't taste like any BIR. I still think the articles contain valuable info, though.

What do you think ?

13
Lets Talk Curry / BIR documents I compiled
« on: June 08, 2012, 01:37 PM »
Hi there everyone !

I've compiled a couple of primers, mostly based on information I got from this site. I'd be interested if any members are interested in either of these.

Here's a little list of stuff I've compiled into single documents:

Curry Recipes Online (cr0.co.uk) Master Collection 2012 (doesn't include ALL recipes from this site but the most popular ones as far as I could tell)

Abdul Mohed ? BIR Chef Curry Recipes (cr0.co.uk)

Ashoka At The Quay - Recipe Collection (cr0.co.uk) & Menus (recipes from Panpot)

Bruce Edwards - Curry House Cookery (Complete) - already uploaded to this forum

CA's (Cory Ander's) Recipes on cr0.co.uk

Curry Frenzy - Secrets of the Indian Restaurant Chefs Revealed (this is actually from elsewhere, but I've reformatted it to be more readable)

Dipuraja1's (Dips) - Curry Videos on Youtube & Recipes (A single PDF with all recipes to share plus tons of downloaded videos which I won't provide - grab them yourself with www.keepvid.com)

I've made a couple more primers which i can't share since they are based on Mick's and Julian's books and I respect them wanting to keep their copyrights.

Let me know if you're interested in any of these or if you have any objections with me sharing them. Thanks !

14
Just Joined? Introduce Yourself / Hello from Germany
« on: May 29, 2012, 09:27 AM »
Hi there !

I'm so glad I found this site and its very knowledgeable members!

I can hopefully soon enjoy a proper BIR curry again, as I always do on my trips to the UK, thanks to this site. So far, I've had to resort to either traditional curry recipes at home or use a glass of Pataks, but even those are really hard to get in Germany ever since you fine folk pulled most of your troops back :/

Anyway, so far I've been collecting info in order to create some primers such as this Bruce Edwards document I made:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dx2juzgzf4xnicp/Bruce%20Edwards%20-%20Curry%20House%20Cookery%20%28Complete%29.pdf

I also did the same for all of the Ashoka recipes that Panpot posted. Next up is doing the same for Cory Anders' "Az" recipes. After that I want to make a master recipe collection and analyze the respective recipes in order to find average amounts of spices etc. As you can see I have a lot of work to do still.

My goal is to come up with really good recipes for some of the basic "mild" curries, such as Chicken Tikka Masala, Madras or Rogan Josh along with the proper base sauces and spice mixes. I'm also looking for good recipes for Samosas and Onion Bhajis as well as sauces to go with them.

However, before I move deeply into those areas I'd like to try some member-tested proven recipes first. The only Indian Restaurant we have in my area is really crap, it tastes like canned food, so most of the recipes on this site will probably blow that place away ...

Here's where I could use some help from you people:
  • What is the most popular base sauce / which one would you recommend ? Please note that I can get most Indian spices quite easily, but any recipes based on Curry Glasses such as Pataks are hard to do for me to do - plus, I have reservations even though most people do like Dipuraja1's recipes, for example.
  • Which spice mix should I use ? Keep in mind that I'd like to start with a well-proven and good one before I start wasting money on perfecting things (I'm ready for that; just not yet)
  • Based on the previous recommendations: Which recipes for CTM, Madras and Rogan Josh do you suggest that deliver a fairly good BIR approximation ?
  • Are there any Samosas recipes with a vegetarian filling ? I'm trying to recreate some Samosas I had years ago. I believe they had corn, peas and probably Potato or Chick Pea puree in them. Is this a common filling (apart from Keema) or are these actually "african" samosas (I've been told that Samosas also get cooked in Africa).
  • I keep reading about smashing Onion Bhajis - all the different Bhaji styles I've had so far were actually balls (mind you, I only ever visit the same area in the UK). Are these smashed Onion Bhajis common and is there any advantage to doing it ?
  • Talking about Cory Anders' recipes: Who exactly is "Az" ?
  • What/Where is this restaurant webcam I keep finding references to in old posts ?

As for actual input from my side (food for thought):
I've previously been studying a lot of Copycat recipes for (fast) food from the US. One of the most interesting authors in that area is Todd Wilbur. Anyway, one of the things you often stumble over when trying to create that "Restaurant" taste in this area is that it's considered "not possible" simply because they produce totally different amounts commercially. The amount of oxygen that food gets exposed to in a commercial manner is much lower this way. That is one of the reasons why commercially produced ice cream by "proper" gelaterias is so hard to copy even if you have the exact recipe: When you make ice cream at home it gets much more exposure to oxygen because the pot is much smaller so the turning of the mass exposes more of it (and all the time). This does not happen in this way in big-scale production.

Maybe similar factors play into making BIR curry ? Maybe that's why the Curry Base pots are always filled to the brim ?

I really don't know but I sure would appreciate if any of you could give me some pointers regarding my questions. Cheers!

15
Lets Talk Curry / Bruce Edwards - the complete series (PDF)
« on: May 25, 2012, 02:54 PM »
Hi folks, my first post for this excellent community.

I live in Germany but absolutely love BIR curries and always enjoy them when I'm in the UK. As I'm trying to recreate the proper taste just like all the rest of us I decided it was time to put ALL the Bruce Edwards stuff into a single document that is fully searchable and easiert to read.

I also included the two posts by/for Bruce Edwards from this forum (The curry sauce and advice/feedback).

Did I miss any info by Bruce Edwards ?

Unfortunately I couldn't attach the file ("folder is full" ?!?!) so here it is:
http://www.2shared.com/document/VB7vuP3u/Bruce_Edwards_-_Curry_House_Co.html

An alternative or substitute source has kindly been added by StoneCut as follows:

I uploaded the file to my Dropbox:

Damn it ... Please try this link:
http://db.tt/1E6d43gu

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