Topic: in Praise of Mark J 's base - my best recipe

[fourmations]

hi all

just thought I'd share my experience

i have made mark j / blades - "10 onion base" twice
and the second time it was amazing

I made the following modifications:

Quarter the chili powder and used four of the fat green African Chilis - deseeded
Double the amount of ginger and garlic - I used fresh
used "MDH" Chicken curry masala powder - from asian grocers

The final dish:

Chicken for four people
1" cube of creamed coconut - added towards end
tsp of methi - soaked for 10 mins - add 10mins from end
tablespoon of "MDH" Chicken curry masala powder - from asian grocers
heaped tablespoon of "total" fat-free fromage frais "total"
juice of one lemon - at the end

it was by far far, the best curry i have made and was so close to my local madras

I just hope I can reproduce it on demand

Regards

niall

[Curry King]

Hi Niall,

Any chance you could post your madras recipe in a step by step format please?

Also did you use any other powdered spice's along with the MDH stuff?

Cheers
cK

[Mark J]

Great stuff, Ill give that a go, I love the taste of green chillis, they always add something to a BIR meal I think, makes sense they would make a great base

[fourmations]

hi ck and all

step by step:

1: heat two or three tblsps of veg oil (tesco cheapo variety)
2: I then put in two cubes of ginger and one of garlic (i mince and freeze them in ice cube trays, probaly a tblsp per cube)
fry til just browning slightly
3: put in a few tablespoon of base - lower heat
4: Put in tblesp of the MDH powder - fry for few minutes - low heat - add water if it sticks
5: Put in precooked chicken cubes (i fry fast until sealed and white - but only barely cooked)
6: Put in the rest of the base sauce
7: Simmer / splatter for 10mins
8: Put in creamed coconut - stir in
9: Simmer another 5mins, put in the fromage frais stuff or yogurt ( Stir the fromage frais in well bit by bit)
10: turn off heat
11: put in 1/2 tsp of garam masala - NOT COMMERCIAL MIX - equal weights of cloves, cinnamon, blk cardomon seeds, pepper
12: put in methi
13: squeeze juice of a lemon in

Hey presto!

Notes:
I notice that lemon juice is not used a lot in recipes - but i think it makes a big difference

I also think that the usual garam masala with cumin and coriander ruins a curry as it makes them all taste the same.
It is basically a curry powder, whereas the one i use is very fragrant and not like a curry powder.

the methi is a great ingredient and smells soo good!

I know that creamed coconut is usually soaked to make a milk - but I cant be bothered and just use it stright from the package

The chilli amount I use suits me, I have found that the chilli amounts used in most recipes here to be way too hot.

I use at least twice ot three times the amount of ginger as most recipes use - I love the zing

I do not have a lot of experience with various curry powders as  I usually do the dry-fry spices and grind for each dish
(I used to only make authentic curries with a full dish recipe rather than the base and final dish BIR style)
the MDH Chicken Curry masala powder seems very good though

Let me know if anyone trys it, I thought is was superb


Regards

niall

[raygraham]

I also think that the usual garam masala with cumin and coriander ruins a curry as it makes them all taste the same.
It is basically a curry powder, whereas the one i use is very fragrant and not like a curry powder.
Regards
niall

Hi Niall,
Yes I totally agree with you. The shop bought Garam Masala's rely on the cheaper spices to keep cost's down, that is why there is a greater use of Coriander and Cumin.
"Garam" means "Hot" so why add these spices which are not hot at all.
I have made a number of recipes for Garam Masala out of books all using the more aromatic spices. Simply roasting the whole spices gives off an amazing aroma and you know straight away you are making a superior product. There are one or two recipes on this site and for the cost of a coffee grinder I would reccomend to everyone they try it. You will never buy packet stuff again!

Ray

[Yellow Fingers]

But do you really think that your average curry house goes to all the time and therefore expense of roasting and grinding their spices? Has anyone who's been into a curry house kitchen ever seen a grinder? It would have to be a commercial quality one so wouldn't be small.

If I had any money to bet with, I would bet that they don't and I reckon I would be quids in. I think I'll stick to the packet stuff like the curry houses do, there are already enough variables preventing me from getting that restaurant taste and smell and I don't need another to muddy the waters.

[George]

heat two or three tblsps of veg oil (tesco cheapo variety)

Niall

I think your very first step is spot-on for a start, and the rest looks very promising too. I went round the back of another Indian restaurant the other day. There were 3 or 4 empty (I assume) huge tins of Pride 'vegetable oil' and another 3 or 4 huge tins of 'economy cooking oil'. This restaurant is quite a good BIR, but I don't think they waste money on any special oil or very much ghee.

Regards
George

[Mark J]

But do you really think that your average curry house goes to all the time and therefore expense of roasting and grinding their spices?

Indeed not, however they use spices in such quantites even out of a packet they are going to be used up before before losing any flavour I would think

[raygraham]

Hi Y.F.

Having read the number of books I have about curry it does crop up from time to time that good chefs have their "own recipes" for Garam Masala and guard the secrets to it as much as their base sauce's.
I don't see why they would need to spend that much time roasting and grinding the spices.
It takes me five minutes to create a jar full which seems to last forever.

The quantities used are very small and even half a jar full lasts ages. I also know through talking to Asian friends that some of the preparation work goes on not in the restaurant but at home, even grandma can have a hand in it. And I have visited many houses in the course of my work where almost production line factory food making seems to be going on which I assume is not for home use.
I have often seen staff opening up their shops with pans of pre-prepared food made elsewhere, dough, samosa's, kebabs etc.

I do agree their will be many using packet Garam Masala just as some use jars of pureed Ginger and Garlic instead of fresh but it should not be dismissed that other options are not used by some. Perhaps this is yet another question that we can ask next time we pick a take-away up!

Regards

Ray

[blade1212]

Niall, regarding your point on shop bought garamasalas.... I wonder if you are onto something here. Like many others, I find garamasala ruins most dishes as it tends to overpower them. Years ago I used to always use my own ground versions but was always disappointed in the overpowering results, so ended up using Natco as I find it tastes nice and is a lot less hassle.

However I've always thought that cloves and methi are 2 of the key ingredients to getting to the taste, so maybe the larger volume of cloves in your garamasala makes the difference.

Does you final dish taste overpowered by the garamasala does it blend into the 'background' ?