Topic: No3 Vindaloo

[JerryM]

madrasandy's ultimate vindaloo post gave me the push to get on with this.

have tried to crack vindaloo a few times. i've adopted Secret Santa's thoughts in this go.

the key change was to increase the amount per portion of the fresh green chilli and to switch to finger chilli from birds eye.

i've put the whole dish into a sauce or paste - the idea being same as the no3 madras ie freeze a "dish" portion then at dish frying simple add oil, the sauce and base. this is how the local restaurant do it. i'm purely guessing at what that means in practice.

in short the paste tastes pretty good.

the key thing for me is to get the taste and heat balance which most BIR fail to do - it's either too hot with the taste or no taste and no hotter than a madras.





in the recipe sheet the CS column is the original green chilli sauce i used and the Original Vindaloo is the dish frying ingredients - i've combined and tweaked them into the R1 column and then made a 4 portion batch.

beautiful so far.

[JerryM]

this did not go well - mainly down to the base.

i got too much oil in dish 1 - only added 2 tbsp.

dish 2 had too much sweetness in the "lumps" of mashed base which did not sit well in the dish - i blended it straight after.

dish 3 was better having upped the chilli powder and mix powder.

dish 4 was not bad but cooked on my burner using the normal technique. the dish had been lost though

going forward have 1 main question if anyone can help - i want to darken the dish - i'm thinking of well caramelised onion.

detail notes:
Rev 1 no good 3/10

Rev2 dish 2
Base to sweet "mashed not mashed enough"
More mix and chilli worked well
Colour not right
Taste not right

Rev2 dish 3

Blended base much better 5/10
Colour and taste not right
Perhaps missing more garlic or Ginger or even blackened onion

Rev3 dish 4

Hot fried
Garlic and Ginger 3:1 added
F.coriander added (too much)
Dish now 7/10 but lost original target taste
Extra Ginger worked well
Sweetness essentially gone - why
Leave garlic and puree as is ie adopt more
Try onion on next

pics
dish 1


dish4

[Madrasandy]

"going forward have 1 main question if anyone can help - i want to darken the dish - i'm thinking of well caramelised onion. "

Wont cooking the base for longer after it has been blended darken the base, and thus darken the dish?

[rshome123]

Jerry, you have exacting standards, and well respected by me.  Vindaloo colour looks good to me. Will darkening the colour automatically improve the flavour ? Or is that your expectation that you need something else to achieve the flavour expected which also darkens the dish ? 

[Secret Santa]

going forward have 1 main question if anyone can help - i want to darken the dish

That's funny that Jerry because I always have the opposite problem which is that I want to achieve the light orangey colour I see people making but mine always turn out a uniform dark brown colour!

So I thought about it and it became obvious that it had to be the way I always cook at maximum heat - like the BIRs do - but inevitably this leads to a rapid darkening of the initial spice fry. So I just used a very low heat for the whole cook instead and voila I finally achieved a light orange curry.

So I reckon you have to cook at full power to achieve a darkened curry, but I know you have a super powered wok burner so I'd have thought you'd be aware of that already. What do you think?

[JerryM]

? Or is that your expectation that you need something else to achieve the flavour expected which also darkens the dish ?

Sorry I should have been clearer.  The above is my current thought.

Trouble is I don't know. Andy and  secret Santa could be right.

The frying the spice like secret Santa says is something I know. It did cross my mind. I always aim to under cook the spice - just from experimenting in the past.

What put me off trying it is the BE comment that toilet trouble comes from not cooking out the chilli - this being my recollection although not intent cooking it myself.

I also felt some ingredient is still missing. Something simple hence thought of caramelised onion. I just could not think of other ingredient that BIR already have to hand and cheap.

The recipe so far is big step forward. I feel with decent base and ultimately naga to up the heat to lip burn will get very close.

I think green chilli amount needs to go up to. Loved the finger chilli taste. Feel more Ginger is another key element.

Ps Richard am not aiming for the local restaurant vindaloo. This version is from midlands and never seen it elsewhere in uk (all tend to be red / orange).

Cooking the spice might just be it and worth try on next go. It would be my aim ultimately in anycase to avoid the chilli morning effect.

[parker21]

hi jerry check out CBMs' video here http://vimeo.com/37462136 . I know its for CT vindaloo but just replace with your precooked chicken ;-)
regards gary

[JerryM]

parker21,

good to hear from you sir.

not seen the video and got entranced by the look and sound of the pan. still loving my pan. this looks like a larger version of my zaal omelet pan. brill for garlic tarka not for curry - too prone black debris.

on the vindaloo will give it a try - the recipe proportions are new to me and worth looking at. i think i would call it a no1 vindaloo though ie a hot madras.

i'm specifically looking to darken the dish ie via a missing ingredient. am thinking black caremelised onion. another thought i had was perhaps to add in some chef garam. also i guess but dont like but prompted by SS to over fry the spice or maybe even just the chilli powder.

very best wishes

[Secret Santa]

prompted by SS to over fry the spice or maybe even just the chilli powder.

Honestly Jerry for years I've struggled to know why others are producing orangey, light coloured curries. no matter what i did I could not achieve it. Then I just cooked on a very low heat (contrary to all advice and what we see on the BIR vids) and I pretty much have light coloured curries. Yaaay!  ;D

So the effect of cooking on a high heat is just plain as your nose to me...it makes a dark brown curry..every time. It has to be part of your quest, I'm sure of it.

[JerryM]

Secret santa,

I think a few things have been clouding my direction.

1) it's very easy to cook the test dishes in my kitchen (everything to hand and no pan to clean of sorts)
2) there much excitement at cooking without high heat. I've never really tried it and felt a holiday from the garage may deflect my blinkers. So far not.

The appreciation of "darkness" is difficult as day light and the look in restaurant are difficult to reconcile in the brain. I may have to nip outside next time in midlands.

In short i don't like to hard fry buy as you say this may need to change on this dish.