Topic: Easter weekend adventures

[StoneCut]

Ok, so yesterday was a busy day so no pictures I'm afraid. I wanted to give C2G another chance so I used the latest revision of the eBook. I started by making the 3 litre version of the C2G base. Apart from usinng TRS Mild Madras instead of Rajah it was fully up-to-spec (can't get Rajah dry spices). Tasted like a quite gingery onion soup but also very, very bland in the end. Never did get that smell he mentions in his book despite cooking forever, though.

Next up, was the pre-cooked lamb - also fully up-to-spec (with almb, not mutton, though). This turned out fantastic! Will definitely make it again.

Next, I wanted to do the Madras. This is where the trouble started. In the book, his Mix Powder includes Bassar as the main ingredient. I cannot get this for the life of me unless I order it from the UK. So, since I still have a sizeable amount of CA's spice mix I used that instead... (I later remembered I could have checked hos video again where he prepares a mix powder without Bassat). Then came the Tandoori Masala. Julian doesn't specify any kind of brand and for some daft reason I didn't check whether I had any in the cupboard prior to cooking so I chose CA's/Pat Chapman's Tandoori Masala which I also happened to have still laying around...
The recipe specifies 1 TBL chilli powder per portion so since I was doing a double portion I used 2 TBL. However, I figured I'd just use Deggi Mirch instead, just to avoid the dish getting too hot... Many, many deviations from the main recipe, I know. To make a long story short: Madras desaster again :/ The sauce itself tasted bland, boring - definitely not 'that' taste AND much, much, much (!) too hot. This was more like really bad Vindaloo. Luckily no afterburner today, though. Cooking those spices properly really does seem to help. Or maybe all the cream we added later helped...

So, while I still didn't make his recipe to spec this rules out all other recipes from the C2G ebook for me, too (apart from the delicious pre-cooked lamb). I will never be able to male them up to spec due to the Bassar. The revision of the ebook also still has various errors in it, too, and some other side-dishes I tried were also not quite my thing. Ok, one less eBook/Author I have to worry about, I guess.

I'm not letting that stop me, though 

Tonight/tomorrow I'm doing a 'Chicken Tikka Contest'. I've chose Blade1212's "Better than BIR" (without yoghurt), CBM's recipe using two Patak's paste and CA's/Pat Chapman's recipe (since I know it very well) as contenders. All three are in the fridge now 

[goncalo]

Hi StoneCut,

I've used bassar mix before and I can tell you it taints your foods taste and makes your mix powder suitable mostly to spicy food as bassar is a mix of chilli, paprika and some other spices, so I would advice you to forget. C2G's spice mix with bassar is actually quite acceptable -- you can always try to roll your own bassar blend, see here. I also experienced the same problem as you with the C2G base, I cooked mine for ages without ever reaching that vinegary smell. RubyDoo seems to get the vinegary smell when he does it, which presumably has to do with the fact his pressure cooker has a high PSI. I have a cheap, prestige  PC which I think has only 7 PSI or something of this nature and that may not be enough to make the pressure peak where it should. I find his chicken pre-cooking method (the one in the book) is very good as well, although I do it slightly different (e.g without using base sauce.

[RubyDoo]

For me........
 Basaar has its place but not as a general mix.  Julian's mis pre basaar is fine. 
CA mix for me is too complicated as he adds bits and pieces that restrict final taste. Avoid CA mix and keep it simple. Remember it is a base to build on.

Chilli? Do not double it for 2 x portion size. Scale it down each time you multiply. Difficult to judge sometimes depending on what powder you use.  I did a C2G chicken Roghan J tonight together with a Ceylon. Worked fine using his base albeit it tweaked to my taste. 

[StoneCut]

Interesting composition that Bassar stuff, thanks for the link.
I know you shouldn't double chilli when doubling a recipe but since I substituted regular chilli powder with the milder Deggi Mirch I thought I'd be fine :/
The CA mix works great with his own curries. Since I want a "suite of recipes" that works for me, I definitely won't waste my time anymore with recipes that don't also specify the exact mix powder and base gravy since substituting mix powders or different bases appears to not be such a good idea (and that makes a lot of sense if base sauce and individual curry spices are tuned to each other). I'd rather fine-tune than do major adjustments.
So, unfortunately, that rules out many recipes on this site for the time being and leaves me with people who either wrote an eBook or should've done so (CA, Panpot). However, there are some individuals here who I wish would post more of their own recipes, too

[StoneCut]

Yesterday I grilled the tikka - all three versions (CA's/PC's, Blade1212's and CBM's) are delicious. There's no last place, only a winner and a tie. But the winner, for ME, is CBM's tikka by miles. They are heavily spiced due to the two Patak's pastes so by themselves they can be quite overwhelming (and hot) but as soon as you add some bread and salad they are just perfect, wow. I haven't tried either in a dish, though. Still need to do that.

[goncalo]

Yesterday I grilled the tikka - all three versions (CA's/PC's, Blade1212's and CBM's) are delicious. There's no last place, only a winner and a tie. But the winner, for ME, is CBM's tikka by miles. They are heavily spiced due to the two Patak's pastes so by themselves they can be quite overwhelming (and hot) but as soon as you add some bread and salad they are just perfect, wow. I haven't tried either in a dish, though. Still need to do that.

I tried cbm's and blade's, but as I was short of tandoori paste, I used tikka paste. I recommend it whole-heartedly using tikka instead of tandoori. To me blade's using tikka is a complete winner, whereas using tandoori paste, I simply didn't like it at all.

[StoneCut]

Thanks, goncalo. I'll try to keep the tikka paste in mind.

[parker21]

try this mix powder u might be surprised! its from the chef at mouchak in st michaels in kent which is my alltime favourite and the recipes for their base and vindaloo and madras recipies are also on  here too!

1 dsp Mouchak mixed powder ( 6pts curry powder,4pts turmeric,2pts coriander, 1pt cummin, 1pt chilli powder)

1 dsp turmeric

1 dsp coriander

1 dsp cummin

1 dsp chilli powder

regards
gary ;D

[Peripatetic Phil]

try this mix powder u might be surprised! its from the chef at mouchak in st michaels in kent which is my alltime favourite and the recipes for their base and vindaloo and madras recipies are also on  here too!

1 dsp Mouchak mixed powder ( 6pts curry powder,4pts turmeric,2pts coriander, 1pt cummin, 1pt chilli powder)
1 dsp turmeric
1 dsp coriander
1 dsp cummin
1 dsp chilli powder

I am /very/ confused !  If "Mouchak mixed powder" consists of 6pts curry powder, 4pts turmeric, 2pts coriander, 1pt cumin, and 1pt chilli powder, what name do Mouchak give to a re-mix that starts with Mouchak mixed powder and then adds further quantities of four of the five ingredients ?  If the re-mix is better than the original, why not just adjust the quantities in the original ?  Or is the original used for one set of dishes and the re-mix for another ?  What we /seem/ to end up with (if my calculations are correct) is a re-mix containing 6pts curry powder, 18pts turmeric, 16pts coriander, 15pts cumin, and 15pts chilli powder.

** Phil.