2012 Cooking Club Week 2b: Indian Resturant curries

Curry Addict

Zymurgist wrote: »

Can the curries on this thread be frozen and reheated at a later date? Say if a person was to cook a large batch would they be able to portion it off and freeze it for use later in the week/month?

the ideal way to do it is to make the base and freeze it in portions. when we eat curry its just 2 of us so I put two portions of "curry base" in each old plastic take away container and freeze. When i want a curry i take one out of the freezer and defrost it in the microwave. I cook 2 chicken fillets fresh as per the recipe "cooking the meats" and then I make each of the 2 curries 1 at a time. It gives a great result and tastes nice and fresh although the base does lose a little flavor when frozen.

Curry Addict

eisenberg1 wrote: »

Curry addict, do you have anything for Tandoori chicken?

I do chickens wings, marinated in yogurt, lime juice, vinegar and tandoori spice, quite a tasty snack, but looking at your recipes, I am sure you have something better?

Thanks

i have used many recipes down through the years and i do have a favorite, although most recipes do work well imho. i have a tandoor in the garden

i have one that I like the best, ill post it up here tomorrow and ill also post a butter chicken one someone else asked for :pac:

Mrs Fox

Curry Addict wrote: »

i have a tandoor in the garden

Get out of here:eek:

PigeonPie

Curry addict - had your madras the other night......absolutely gorgeous! Thank you!!! Have a load of the curry base in the freezer. Can't wait to try the korma next. Cheers for all your recipes ��

Curry Addict

Here is the recipe for butter chicken/Murg Makhani

2 tbs oil
1 onion(finely diced)
2 tomatoes(diced)
1 tsp ginger/garlic paste
----
1 tbs curry masala
0.5 tsp chilli powder
a cup of water
----
pre cooked chicken/lamb
1 tbs honey
60g butter
1 ladle curry base
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
a dash of cream

add the first set of ingredients to the pan and fry off for 3-4mins on medium to high heat.
Add the second set of ingredients and blend in the pan with a hand blender(add the water quickly after the dry spices, within 10 secs). bring back up to heat.
Add the 3rd set of ingredients except the cream and cook for 3 mins.
turn off the heat, stir in the cream and serve. the sauce should be silky smooth!
a lot of places will add orange food colouring.

garbanzo

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Get out of here:eek:

+ 1 . . . . You can't just casually drop the fact you've a tandoori oven in your back garden like that. Come on.....pictures, story.....

Curry Addict

garbanzo wrote: »

+ 1 . . . . You can't just casually drop the fact you've a tandoori oven in your back garden like that. Come on.....pictures, story.....

lol :cool:. i made it myself out of an old copper boiler a large clay plant pot and a fire resistant cement. It works grand, its all covered up now for the winter.

eisenberg1

Curry Addict wrote: »

lol :cool:. i made it myself out of an old copper boiler a large clay plant pot and a fire resistant cement. It works grand, its all covered up now for the winter.

The only place to cook Tandoori is outside:rolleyes:, it usually takes three days to clear the aroma from inside the house.

Any update re a recipe ?

Thanks

Curry Addict

eisenberg1 wrote: »

The only place to cook Tandoori is outside:rolleyes:, it usually takes three days to clear the aroma from inside the house.

Any update re a recipe ?

Thanks

sorry this took so long, getting new floors installed here so my resources all packed away.
The recipe is from the book "Prashad, cooking with indian masters" its a definitive book on Indian cooking like larousse gastronomique is for french.

Tandoori Murgh

1 full chicken(remove the skin and chop into portions)
Salt
1 tsp red chilli powder
4tbs lemon juice

---

100g natural yoghurt
100g fresh cream
5tsp ginger/garlic paste
1tsp ground cumin
0.5 tsp garam masala
1tsp saffron
1 drop of orange colour

Make deep incisions in the chicken flesh. Make a paste of salt, lemon juice and chilli powder. Rub it over the chicken flesh evenly. Note i tend to use a lot more than is recommended in the recipe(at least twice the amount).
Set the chicken aside for at least 15 minutes to allow the marinade do its work.
Add all the remaining ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Rub the mix into the chicken pieces and refrigerate for at least 4 hours(i recommend 24hours).
Skewer the chicken if you have skewers(not totally necessary)
Cook for 30mins at 200 degrees basting with butter every 10 min's. The basting is really important to keep the chicken for getting too dry.
Last baste about 2 mins before it finishes in the oven and finish with a squeeze of lemon.

Gbear

Hey CA, we have a pineapple (for some reason) so I thought I might try a dhansak (or whichever one has pineapples in it).

Do you have any dhansak recipes?

gerrybbadd

Joy of Joys!!!

Just discovered a shop, 2 mins walk away from work, that sells spices.

Got a fairly nice sized bag of tumeric & another bag of black mustard seeds, for less that €3.00!:D:):D

eisenberg1

Many thanks for the Tandoori recipe Curry Addict

Curry Addict

Gbear wrote: »

Hey CA, we have a pineapple (for some reason) so I thought I might try a dhansak (or whichever one has pineapples in it).

Do you have any dhansak recipes?

place is upside down here atm I will post up a dhansak within the next week sorry i cant do it faster(hope your pineapple holds out).

Curry Addict

In the tandoori chicken recipe I never use the saffron as evertime i buy it it turns out to be crap, probably fake imho.

For Tandoori Jhinga I do it the same but it needs much less amount of the second marinade as its less surface area. also add a tsp of Ajwain seed. Ajwain seed and fish/shellfish is wonderful.

For cooking, a cast iron griddle pan smoking hot, no oil. for fresh king prawn 1.5 mins each side max gives a great result. Nice little bit of char etc. for jumbo prawn 2 mins each side should do it although I have much experience of them.

BaZmO*

Curry Addict wrote: »

In the tandoori chicken recipe I never use the saffron as evertime i buy it it turns out to be crap, probably fake imho.

For Tandoori Jhinga I do it the same but it needs much less amount of the second marinade as its less surface area. also add a tsp of Ajwain seed. Ajwain seed and fish/shellfish is wonderful.

For cooking, a cast iron griddle pan smoking hot, no oil. for fresh king prawn 1.5 mins each side max gives a great result. Nice little bit of char etc. for jumbo prawn 2 mins each side should do it although I have much experience of them.

The saffron you get in Asian stores tends to be fake. The only proper one I find is the Schwartz one.

Curry Addict

BaZmO* wrote: »

The saffron you get in Asian stores tends to be fake. The only proper one I find is the Schwartz one.

thanks BaZmo, i guess schwartz had to be good for something

gerrybbadd

Curry Addict wrote: »

ok i ordered the "chicken tikka mirchi" from bombay pantry last night and enjoyed, quite a nice curry
i havent tried it out yet but heres how i would replicate it, this should be pretty close....


Chicken Tikka mirchi
Stage 1
1tbs mustard oil
1.5tbs butter
2tsp mustard seeds
10 chopped curry leaves
1 medium sized green chilli slit crossways in 3-4 spots
1tsp ginger/garlic paste
1 chef spoon coarsely chopped red onion
1 chef spoon coarsely shopped bell pepper
0.66tsp salt
Stage 2
2tsp tomato puree
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp curry masala
1tbs kasoori methi
2ladels of curry base
1 portion of precooked chicken tikka
Stage 3
1tbs sugar
5tbs of cream
¼ tsp garam masala
2tbs chopped coriander leaf
¼ tsp garam masala
1tbs lemon juice


heat the oil to medium - high heat and add the stage 1 ingredients quickly one at a time in order. saute for 2 mins.
Add the stage 2 ingredients, the curry base must go in within 20 secs of the spices or you risk burning them. allow the pan to come back up to heat and cook for 2-3 mins.
add the stage 3 ingredients one at a time, turn off the heat, stir them in and serve.

above is my feeling of what should go in and the quantities but realistically i would taste and maybe adjust the following...
the sugar and lemon juice need to be balanced, i would try 1tsp sugar and
2tsp of lemon juice first and adjust from there. if the zing zang of the sweet and sour is not so noticeable i would add a teaspoon at a time and keep them in balance. it wont be more than 3tsp sugar to 6tsp lemon juice so that should be the upper limit.

remove the green chilli before serving..

The lord Jaysus, I tried this tonight. Amazing, even though I hadn't quite all the ingredients to hand.

BaZmO*

Curry Addict wrote: »

thanks BaZmo, i guess schwartz had to be good for something

No worries. Watched a documentary about it a few years ago. Saffron spice is the stigmas from the saffron crocus. The fake stuff is made from the odds and sods of the plant with food colouring added.
It's actually quite easy to see the difference when you compare the two side by side. There's also a test you can do by putting a small piece of each in a glass of water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRJsYtUAY8A

http://youtu.be/YRJsYtUAY8A

Gbear

Gave the Dhansak a go.

No idea how authentic it was as I've never got one before.

Fried a diced onion, ginger/garlic paste, added a drop of tomato and a makey uppy curry masala that I decided should be savoury and earthy to help balance the sweetness and acidity of the rest of the dish (lots of cumin, favouring black cardomom over green, a decent amount of both fenugreek leaves and seeds).

Then I added the base sauce and some more tomato passata. Then I simmered on a high heat for a couple of minutes, added some pre-cooked chana dhal and moong dhal, lamb, some quartered fresh tomatoes, a fistful of fresh coriander and a bit less fresh mint.

Finally I took half a pineapple and blended it together with the juice of a lemon and stirred it in at the end.

The pineapple (which has a very light kind of sweetness, rather than the richer sort you get if you use brown sugar or something like that) made is very refreshing.

Curry Addict

Gbear wrote: »

Gave the Dhansak a go.

No idea how authentic it was as I've never got one before.

Fried a diced onion, ginger/garlic paste, added a drop of tomato and a makey uppy curry masala that I decided should be savoury and earthy to help balance the sweetness and acidity of the rest of the dish (lots of cumin, favouring black cardomom over green, a decent amount of both fenugreek leaves and seeds).

Then I added the base sauce and some more tomato passata. Then I simmered on a high heat for a couple of minutes, added some pre-cooked chana dhal and moong dhal, lamb, some quartered fresh tomatoes, a fistful of fresh coriander and a bit less fresh mint.

Finally I took half a pineapple and blended it together with the juice of a lemon and stirred it in at the end.

The pineapple (which has a very light kind of sweetness, rather than the richer sort you get if you use brown sugar or something like that) made is very refreshing.

sounds lovely GBear, fresh pineapple is so much better than the tinned
I saw someone bake one in a salt crust on TV awhile ago and those that ate it said it was amazing :pac:

Meself

Gona tackle the Rogan Josh now wish me luck ! Fair play curry addict for taking the time to post the recipe

Curry Addict

Meself wrote: »

Gona tackle the Rogan Josh now wish me luck ! Fair play curry addict for taking the time to post the recipe

hope it worked out ok

Meself

Curry Addict wrote: »

hope it worked out ok

Have to say, I was amazed at the quality of the Rogan Josh.. Top notch grub. Was a real pleasure making it (aided by 6 bottles of cold beer!) and moreso eating it.

Kitchen was like a bomb site this morning but well worth it.

Madras is next up.

Thanks again man.

Curry Addict

Meself wrote: »

Have to say, I was amazed at the quality of the Rogan Josh.. Top notch grub. Was a real pleasure making it (aided by 6 bottles of cold beer!) and moreso eating it.

Kitchen was like a bomb site this morning but well worth it.

Madras is next up.

Thanks again man.

glad it worked out well for you. you will enjoy the madras for sure!

dfbemt

CA

Made everything again this weekend. Absolutely gorgeous madras and just as nice eating the reheated leftovers the next day. I'm even starting to get to know the recipe off by heart !! Yet another question though.

I have placed the left over curry gravy in the foil cartons in the freezer. One foil carton is essentially the quantity of gravy required for the next madras

How do you use it? Do you defrost and then use the gravy or do you just lob the frozen block into a wok and add the meat and remaining ingredients when it has returned to liquid?

Curry Addict

dfbemt wrote: »

CA

Made everything again this weekend. Absolutely gorgeous madras and just as nice eating the reheated leftovers the next day. I'm even starting to get to know the recipe off by heart !! Yet another question though.

I have placed the left over curry gravy in the foil cartons in the freezer. One foil carton is essentially the quantity of gravy required for the next madras

How do you use it? Do you defrost and then use the gravy or do you just lob the frozen block into a wok and add the meat and remaining ingredients when it has returned to liquid?

sounds like your becoming a dab hand at it I used to find it all very fast but as you get to know everything it becomes really easy!

For frozen base i usually defrost in the fridge over night or if im in a hurry i do it in the microwave. Ill then put it in a small deep pot and heat it on a gas ring. I wouldn't recommend putting it in frozen.

I have been thinking of making a quick video to show the cooking of a curry. How you cook it can make quite a difference.

dfbemt

Curry Addict wrote: »

sounds like your becoming a dab hand at it I used to find it all very fast but as you get to know everything it becomes really easy!

For frozen base i usually defrost in the fridge over night or if im in a hurry i do it in the microwave. Ill then put it in a small deep pot and heat it on a gas ring. I wouldn't recommend putting it in frozen.

I have been thinking of making a quick video to show the cooking of a curry. How you cook it can make quite a difference.

Thanks CA.

Would love to see you do a video and see if I am anyway close to doing what you tell us to do.

Yes, the more you make it the easier it gets but you also find yourself experimenting a bit eg when making the batch of precooked meat I added one additional medium to large sized onion. It definitely gave the final curry a deeper flavour. It was even possible to just use the meat as was without doing anything else, although I have never tried this.

The rice at this stage is easy. The flavours are immense. I tend to heat the oil in the pot, remove the pot, throw in the spices, back on the heat until the pods swell, off the heat and throw in the rice, stir all the rice so it gets coated in oil, back on the heat and water in within seconds. This has worked consistently for me.

I have also made the curry gravy using half of the quantities as listed, I found that the recipe (the new and improved one) made way too much. Halving gives me about 8 - 9 curries which is about right for our family. The one thing with making the gravy is that it cannot be rushed. It definitely takes time to work its magic in the pot.

Best part about the ginger and garlic paste is that it can be used in other dishes. Yes, it does only last about a week but a last minute stir fry or chicken pasta dish usually sorts out any remaining in the fridge.

Roll it there Colette on the video and thanks again for sharing your recipes and tips with us.

Curry Addict

sounds like you have it all worked out the way you like it Experimentation is good to find your own preferences once you understand well the standard recipes.

for the amount of time it takes and the more you make the base ill bet you will be making the full recipe soon

Heroditas

Tried the recipe for the gravy on Saturday night and was delighted with the results.
Used it to make a curry for the wife and then one for myself.

I threw a couple of nagas into my own one and managed to blow the head off myself. Great stuff!

Curry Addict

Heroditas wrote: »

Tried the recipe for the gravy on Saturday night and was delighted with the results.
Used it to make a curry for the wife and then one for myself.

I threw a couple of nagas into my own one and managed to blow the head off myself. Great stuff!

lol whatever snizzles your nizzle not sure you will taste much after the first bite