Topic: From Korma catastrophe to Chasni charm.

[Secret Santa]

Having convinced myself that korma is the Devil's work I had an inedible half-portion of Korma sauce left over. Not wanting to bin it I pondered how I could make it palatable to my taste.

Well Chasni isn't a dish I've tried at a BIR, probably because it's a Scottish dish by nature and hasn't, as far as I'm aware, made itself all that well known in BIRs South of the border, though I'm willing to be corrected. But its core ingredients certainly appealed to me, at least on paper and, so, I decided to give it a whirl.

So to my half portion of Korma sauce, which tasted quite coconutty, I added mint sauce, tomato puree (didn't want the extra sweetness of ketchup), lemon juice, mango chutney (sweet, but felt the flavour was needed) and chicken tikka.

Now, I wouldn't claim this is an exact BIR Chasni replica and , indeed, how would I know as I've never had one in a BIR, but goodness me it was a cracking curry. The cloying sweetness of the korma sauce and the added mango chutney was buried by the delicious tartness of the lemon juice and the vinegar in the mint sauce. The mint flavour wasn't at all dominant but you could tell it was there. And the tikka, which I don't find suits all curries, seemed a perfect fit here. The coconut flavour, which was easily discernable in the Korma sauce, was now totally muted.

Apparently the Chasni has now overtake the CTM in popularity in Scotland and I can see why if my ad-hoc effort is anything to go by. I'm intrigued now to taste the real thing.

So, I'm not sure if I produced a Chasni ? la BIR but what a delicious curry in itself and a definite keeper for me.

[Stephen Lindsay]

It's probably not a million miles away though the Chasni tends not to have coconut in it. Glad you liked it though SS.

[Onions]

All this talk about korma, it is possible to have it madras hot   but the chasni does sound lke an interesting development. Cheers!

[Secret Santa]

It's probably not a million miles away though the Chasni tends not to have coconut in it. Glad you liked it though SS.

Well, as I said, knowing that coconut is not a Chasni flavour, the coconut taste in the Korma was completely masked by the other ingredients. So I don't think it was unnatural, as it were.

Certainly my version was not as red as those I've seen pictures of. But I put that down to the usual over-use of food colouring.

It was a braw wee dish!  ;D

[Secret Santa]

All this talk about korma, it is possible to have it madras hot   but the chasni does sound lke an interesting development. Cheers!

There's no two ways about it...you either love a Korma or you don't. And gussying it up with fiery ingredients just makes it a hot puddle of puke to me!  ;D

Honestly though, I can't recommend the Chasni enough. Ok my version is a bit of a bastardisation of the real thing, but that just makes me think the real thing must be soooo much better! For sure give a real Chasni recipe a try...there are a few on this forum.

[JerryM]

Caught my eye overtaken CTM.

Out of interest Is the absence of coconut and perhaps the addition of pur?e/ketchup the key differences. Just trying to understand the 2 dishes.

[Secret Santa]

The two dishes are worlds apart really Jerry. The CTM is dominated by tandoori masala, cream and usually coconut (as you know). No coconut or tandoori masala in the Chasni but it has a sweet/sour balance from the mint, ketchup and mango chutney. My version was deliberately towards the sour side but I'm guessing, as I've never had the real thing, that the Scottish version will be biased toward the sweet side.

[JerryM]

Secret Santa

Many thanks for clarification. Have found bigboaby tarten recipe (topic 11364) which fits exactly what you say.

Will give it a go - the ingredients fit the bill for me.