2012 Cooking Club Week 2b: Indian Resturant curries

Chicken tikka Masala (the illuminous version) note, this is a simplified version.

2tbs oil
2tbs tomato paste
1tsp fenugreek/methi leaves
a pinch of chilli powder
300ml curry base
2tbs coconut block/coconut flour
1tbs ground almond
1tbs sugar
2tbs yogurt
precooked chicken/lamb
a dash of cream
1tbs coriander leaf

earlytobed wrote: »

Curry Addict, I have trouble finding cardamon powder for the long Tikka Masala recipe. I have both green and black cardamon pods. could i grind either of these to make powder?

Yes just remove the green cardamom seeds from the husk and crush them to make a powder. I find one bash of a mortal and pestle opens the husk nicely.

angeldaisy wrote: »

Hi Curryaddict, have you tried cooking the base in the slow cooker for the first part of the process.

Need to make a new batch but don't have time to do on gas!

i haven't tried it but i can imagine it would work great. slow cooking the onions should bring out the best in them.

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Hi Curryaddict.

By any chance, would you have a good Biriyani recipe please?

i have a killer biryani recipe but i was going to do that in my next cooking club submission as its fairly tricky.

lol ok arm twisted, ill post it up then, i need to write it down anyway

When I was younger I used to think of Biryani as that boring Indian rice dish. A poor unremarkable pesant dish, with no sauce! As the years went on and I tried it in by chance in the middle east and other spots around the world my respect for it grew and grew. Then Medina opened in Mary street here and I enjoyed it there from time to time.
My wife is a huge Nasi fan and had grown to love the Biryani even more so she demanded I try to make one like I had eaten in the middle east. So I made my first attempt about 3 years ago and it was gloriously good. It became a staple in our home and we enjoy it weekly so it has been tweaked and perfected.
The basics of it are chicken or lamb cooked in a heavily spiced broth. The rice is then cooked in the broth using the absorption method. The rice absorbs the broth fully during cooking and the meat is added back in. The result is a highly complex flavoured rice dish, showcasing the amazing flavors of the whole spices. Its very delicious and light yet filling and satisfying. It is also very healthy food, cheap and the food staple of Indai. This recipe makes enough for about 4 hungry adults. We usually eat half of it and freeze the rest for the following week. It’s probably my all time favourite to cook and eat.

Biryani
4 star anise
4 sticks cinnamon
4 bay leaves
10 cloves
8 green cardamom pods
4 black cardamom pods
16 black peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 dried red chillies medium size

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1tbs ginger/garlic chopped
1 onion chopped
1tsp salt
2 green chillies (medium sized)
1 pack of chicken thighs (8-12)
1.5 tbs. curry masala
3 mugs of water

2 mugs of basmati rice(soaked for 20mins and drained)
1 small carrot (diced to the size of a grain of rice)
Salt to taste

method
Heat a small amount of oil in a large pot.
Add the whole spices (first section above) and sauté them for 1 minute, stirring a little so they cook evenly and start to release their aromas.
Add the ginger/garlic, onion, salt, green chillies and sauté for 2 min.
Add the chicken thighs and brown them off (takes about 5min).
Add the curry masala, stir it in for about 30secs then add the water.
Simmer with the lid on for 1.5 hours.
Remove the chicken onto a large plate with a tongs so you can squeeze the juices into the pot before putting onto the plate. Strip all the nice chicken meat from the thighs onto a separate plate. Discard the bones and skin.
Pour the contents of the pot through a sieve into a large bowl. Squeeze the juices from the vegetable matter and spices through the sieve using the back of a ladle, discard the vegetable and spice matter.

The critical bit
The liquid in the bowl needs to be 3 mugs worth so the ratio of liquid to rice is 3:2. So scoop the liquid out with the mug back into the cooking pot and add water if necessary to make up a full 3 mugs worth. Add the finely diced carrot and bring to the boil.
Add the rice to the pot and bring it to the boil. Once it starts to boil reduce the heat immediately to a minimum, put the lid on the pot and cook for exactly 6 minutes, do not remove the lid during this cooking time. When the 6 minutes is up remove the lid, turn off the heat and stir in the chicken meat. At this stage the contents of the pot may look a little wetter than you would like and the rice will have a little bite to it. Allow the steam to dissipate, stirring occasionally over a 20 minute period. This allows the contents of the pot to dry up nicely and the rice to cook on its retained heat to perfection. Add salt to taste (a tea spoon should be plenty but be careful).

thanks for the kind comments! I hope you guys like it

Gbear wrote: »

I've been making a lot of stew-based curries lately - chicken legs, lamb shanks and so on, cooked in a pot in the oven over the course of 1-4 hours (depending on the meat) in whole spices, curry massala, ginger and garlic.

Then I remove the meat, strain the whole spices and veg out of the stock, reduce the stock and incorporate it into the curries from earlier in the thread.

Especially with the lamb shanks you get draw dropping results.

I must try something like a lamb shank biryani now. Nice one again CA.

nice idea, some restaurants do add a tbs or 2 of stock to their curries.
condensed stock will add a nice whack of flavor. Sometimes if a curry goes a little too dry while cooking, i add a little of the juices from the pot i cooked the chicken in to loosen it up. recently though i like my curries light and delicate with a bit of fire.

Im a huge fan of the stew style curries like hill billy's vindaloo. my wife makes a killer "Surinamese curry" which is stew style and our current addiction. its from a small little country above brazil which has a strong indigenous Indian population which has influenced their food down through the generations. Its made with their own style of curry powder and madame ginette chili which is similar to a scotch bonnet or habenero.

Gbear wrote: »

One of the ones I made recently I put in one little scotch bonnet or habanero (can't tell them apart) and I put in no other chillies, dried chillies or chilli powder.

Was like a furnace. The chilli gave it a very distinctive flavour. It was delicious.

Loads of left over stock as well, which I froze.

We were going to have just normal roast spuds and chicken tonight but we're out of spuds so I had to improvise.
I've marinated the whole chicken in a curry paste.
Is there any carrot, parsnip or other typical sort of veg you get that you can turn into a side dish that'd go with a curry?
Just chicken and rice is a little lacking.

a full scotch bonnet or habanero is a lot to add i dont use them much but the wife does. she makes bami goreng with pork at least twice a week for many years now, its her quick comfort food. she usually slices the madame jinette/scotch bonnet in half, adds it to the pan and removes it before eating, it gives a nice firey fruity spice. the heat from these peppers varies a lot, she can tell how spicy it is by smelling it after slicing it in half

Mrs Fox wrote: »

I ran out of Basmati last week, with only Thai Fragrant ones left in press. But the other day my FIL gave us six bags of the EU Aid Long Grain Rice. I know Basmati is a must for Biryani, no way Thai Fragrant can be used for it, but would the Long Grain do?

i don't know so much about rice tbh. I do know that different rices absorb different amounts of moisture so it would be a risk using long grain rice. you might be left with a soggy mess!

We have recently bought some top quality basmati rice, just too see if there is any difference to standard quality in flavor etc. we found when cooking it that we needed to use a 1:1 ratio of rice to water so it absorbs much less water than standard basmati rice which usually is 1:1.5 so even from one basmati rice to another the absorption factor can differ quite a bit.

the top quality basmati rice was nicer in flavor and aroma but it absorbed much less water. It also bled a lot of water into curries which ruined them while eating so back to the standard basmati for awhile and maybe we will try some different top quality basmati in the future and see how that goes.....