That is my concern Phil. I'm certain we used to get the full range of Pataks here a decade ago.  Not today though. Thanks for the offer but I'll work it out.

Contains Mustard. I wonder?

Not too happy out here in the colonies.

I know this is a very, very old thread but it is the best place for me to post as I'm on a mission to cook this.  Unfortunately, I've hit some immediate hurdles. Unless I can come up with a suitable copy of either Bassar or Patak's Kashmiri Paste, my chances are a bit slim. I could buy 20 x 400g bags of Al Noor Bassar online and have it posted to me for anywhere between AUS $180 and $200, or I could try a single bag for about AUS $60. A 2.2 kg bottle of Pataks will cost me around AUS $100     I don't think I'll be doing that and it may not succeed anyway.

I have some pretty good information I've dug up about the Bassar. I'm wondering if someone could post the listed ingredients of the Pataks Kashmiri paste.  I'd like to see if they are similar and then decide which is the best alternative between a home-made Bassar Masala or a home-made Kashmiri Paste.

As far as I can tell, there are no comparable Pakistani / Kashmiri Masalas or pastes available in Australia.  I went down to the local Indian Grocer today, "Namaste", and the lady there was on the phone to her hubby at the wholesaler in Sydney while I was present and giving her information.  I could just as well have been asking for a Dodo bird feather and the result would have been the same.

Apparently Bassar Masala is not available in Australia. I read somewhere this morning of a member who couldn't find it in the USA either and someone commented it could be down to the Mustard Oil content.  Anyway, undeterred I started to see what I could find out about it and it isn't much.  It seems to be a bit of a closely guarded formula.

I want to use it in the Kashmiri Chicken Masala dish originally posted by 976Bar and modified by JerryM in this thread, kindly shown to me by Phil. http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3585.msg32021

Apart from the listing of the ingredients (in order I hope) of the Al Noor brand it took ages to find 3 other versions with instructions.  These are from 3 different sites by Archana, Ammi ka Kitchen and Yesmien. They are similar in ways but different in others. I'll put the links up later.

Here is my usual spreadsheet analysis screenshot which is enough to go on should anyone wish to give one of them a try or make a hybrid from your own spice knowledge. At least it is a starting point, for me anyhow.

The transposition of the 3 different recipes from cup and spoon measures to grams and visa versa is very rough although I did do some weights and measures along the way.  24 Bay leaves in Archana's transposed recipe seems like quite a lot but they don't weigh much at 3 - 4 leaves per gram. Same concern for 12 whole nutmeg and 36 whole turmeric (fingers). How big is a whole turmeric piece and how do we convert that to grams or spoons of powdered?

The Ammi ka Kitchen version uses some whole / crushed ingredients and it's not a powder. It wont keep for long with the use of Fresh Garlic and Ginger as well as dried cranberries (or mango or plum). These could be swapped for powders and the berries omitted.

One thing I did read, but then couldn't find again, was the inclusion of Pomegranate seeds to give sourness / tartness in Kashmiri Masala.

So I'll take that to mean you didn't try the Kashmiri Chicken Masala, yet you'll eat snails and kidneys ;D Sausage is still acceptable on the Sanger.

976bar,

Is there a specific recipe i could follow for a Kashmiri Chicken Masala please?

Thanks

Jenny

Quote from: 976bar on February 29, 2012, 08:28 PM

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With regards to blending the sauce, I make a Kashmiri Chicken Masala which my son loves, in which I use half a chopped onion as part of the sauce.
....

I too would like to know more of the Kashmiri Chicken Masala.