2012 Cooking Club Week 2b: Indian Resturant curries

Curry Addict

Cork Boy wrote: »

One last thing, I'm currently cooking the base but the water barely comes up to a centimeter so the (whole) onions are more steaming in the initial phase more than anything else. They're nearly like glass at this stage but I'm not getting that acidic smell with 40 mins to go, they actually smell rather sweet, like when i roast whole onions with my chicken.

Is this ok? I'm guessing/hoping the initial 2.5 hours onion cook is just about that, the onions being cooked whole nice and slowly and then when adding water and spices it'll all come together?

Can't get fresh coriander where I live in Europe :mad:

after 2.5 hours the onions should have released a lot of water. You should have much more liquid in the pot. I guess that, much of this liquid, must have escaped the pot? The lid should be on so the steam can't escape. Its not a disaster though, unless the contents of the pot burnt. its not optimum but can still give a good result in the end.
How did it go in the end?

Cork Boy

Curry Addict wrote: »

after 2.5 hours the onions should have released a lot of water. You should have much more liquid in the pot. I guess that, much of this liquid, must have escaped the pot? The lid should be on so the steam can't escape. Its not a disaster though, unless the contents of the pot burnt. its not optimum but can still give a good result in the end.
How did it go in the end?

The lid for the pot is pretty tight except for a tiny steamhole, the water content doubled in the end and nothing was burned.

I'm guessing the pot was too wide, all the onions (I did a half portion) were able to sit on the base.

Going to try the korma tonight so will post results and pics.

In the future could I add more water initially and boil it off afterwards so the onions are stewed rather than braised? Or add more water initially and subtract it from the 3.5 (or 1.75 in my case) litres added at the end?

Even if I had a narrower pot I can't see 75ml or 150ml covering the onions so maybe I should try the trick of sealing the pot with tinfoil and then placing the lid over?

Curry Addict

Cork Boy wrote: »

The lid for the pot is pretty tight except for a tiny steamhole, the water content doubled in the end and nothing was burned.

I'm guessing the pot was too wide, all the onions (I did a half portion) were able to sit on the base.

Going to try the korma tonight so will post results and pics.

In the future could I add more water initially and boil it off afterwards so the onions are stewed rather than braised? Or add more water initially and subtract it from the 3.5 (or 1.75 in my case) litres added at the end?

Even if I had a narrower pot I can't see 75ml or 150ml covering the onions so maybe I should try the trick of sealing the pot with tinfoil and then placing the lid over?

It sounds like it went perfect so no worries. The pot also is perfect. Absolutely don't add more water at the start, a slow shallow braize gives the best result.
Your setup now for a great curry tonight :pac:

Cork Boy

Curry Addict wrote: »

It sounds like it went perfect so no worries. The pot also is perfect. Absolutely don't add more water at the start, a slow shallow braize gives the best result.
Your setup now for a great curry tonight :pac:

Ah good to hear, thanks for putting the mind at ease!

Made Korma last night with Pilaru Rice for me, herself and our faltmates, had it all laid out and beautifully presented on the kitchen table before bringing into the living room, turned my back to grab my camera and the helpful feckers had taken all the stuff inside for me

I promise photos from the rogan josh!

Btw, the korma and rice was a huge hit :pac:

PPS, I definitely missed the coriander though, will have to grow some myself when spring rolls round

Curry Addict

Cork Boy wrote: »

Ah good to hear, thanks for putting the mind at ease!

Made Korma last night with Pilaru Rice for me, herself and our faltmates, had it all laid out and beautifully presented on the kitchen table before bringing into the living room, turned my back to grab my camera and the helpful feckers had taken all the stuff inside for me

I promise photos from the rogan josh!

Btw, the korma and rice was a huge hit :pac:

PPS, I definitely missed the coriander though, will have to grow some myself when spring rolls round

the korma is nice and simple to cook, a good one to start with. glad it went well!

Cork Boy

Curry Addict wrote: »

the korma is nice and simple to cook, a good one to start with. glad it went well!

And the rogan josh was only better :pac:

Pictures at last, the light in my apartment is atrocious though but hopefully the idea comes across

Curry Addict

Cork Boy wrote: »

And the rogan josh was only better :pac:

Pictures at last, the light in my apartment is atrocious though but hopefully the idea comes across

nice work looks great. I think the rice may have been a bit wet and leaked water into your curry, no biggie tho. I usually have the rice ready half an hour before i want to eat it, to give it time to dry up.

Mrs Fox

Made your chicken Biryani again, CA. With sauce this time. Again. I haven't got fenugreek leaves so used curry leaves instead.

gerrybbadd

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Made your chicken Biryani again, CA. With sauce this time. Again. I haven't got fenugreek leaves so used curry leaves instead.

How did you find this impacted flavour wise? I ask, cos I just picked up a pack of curry leaves myself, having never used them before.

Mrs Fox

gerrybbadd wrote: »

How did you find this impacted flavour wise? I ask, cos I just picked up a pack of curry leaves myself, having never used them before.

I've never used fenugreek leaves so I wouldn't know what they taste like. I'm sure I've had it from Indian takeaway but I wouldn't be able to recognise the taste on a blind taste test, if you know what I mean. Curry leaves however, I use a lot in Malaysian cooking. It has a lovely deep aroma, and they need to be cooked. They won't work fresh. It's not exclusive to curries; I use it to marinade chicken for frying, in butter prawns, yum.
In my opinion they work more for light (very soupy) to medium based curries rather than heavy creamy ones, definitely not for korma. But that's just my opinion.

Curry Addict

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Made your chicken Biryani again, CA. With sauce this time. Again. I haven't got fenugreek leaves so used curry leaves instead.

looks great Mrs Fox. Its still a firm favorite in our house

curry leaves will work very nicely, ill bet.

jimfinoc

Buying Dried Leaves Online
Where I live in Europe getting fenugreek leaves can't be done. Is it ok to order online and if so, do you have any recommendations? On a related note, I've read that light can kill stored spices. I'm lucky enough to have a larder that just has a lightbulb and no natural light. Will my jam jar stored spices be ok under this light or do I need to find a box for them?

As far as I can remember the supervalue shop in Ballahadreen has BIG boxes of Fenugreek leaves. If there is interest I could buy one and split it up into smaller bags and post to you guys. Only want my costs.

gerrybbadd

jimfinoc wrote: »

Buying Dried Leaves Online
Where I live in Europe getting fenugreek leaves can't be done. Is it ok to order online and if so, do you have any recommendations? On a related note, I've read that light can kill stored spices. I'm lucky enough to have a larder that just has a lightbulb and no natural light. Will my jam jar stored spices be ok under this light or do I need to find a box for them?

As far as I can remember the supervalue shop in Ballahadreen has BIG boxes of Fenugreek leaves. If there is interest I could buy one and split it up into smaller bags and post to you guys. Only want my costs.

I got my leaves from Amazon.co.uk.

gerrybbadd

curryaddict - any thoughts on cooking on a ceramic hob? I know the best curries are made with an aluminium pan (to let the sauces caramalise slightly etc), and on a gas flame.

I bound by the ceramic though, at least for a few years! I do have the aluminium pan though, bought it in my local spice shop

Curry Addict

ceramic hobs are great for curries imho. I would tend to turn it up full and slip the pan on and off for heat control being used to gas mostly. Aluminum curry pans are brilliant, great heat distribution and carmelisation, no sticking. Definitely an advantage over a standard non stick but not a necessity! They are nice, cheap and readily available in the UK. I haven't seen them on sale here, i got mine from the UK.

jimfinoc

jimfinoc wrote: »

Buying Dried Leaves Online
Where I live in Europe getting fenugreek leaves can't be done. Is it ok to order online and if so, do you have any recommendations? On a related note, I've read that light can kill stored spices. I'm lucky enough to have a larder that just has a lightbulb and no natural light. Will my jam jar stored spices be ok under this light or do I need to find a box for them?

As far as I can remember the supervalue shop in Ballahadreen has BIG boxes of Fenugreek leaves. If there is interest I could buy one and split it up into smaller bags and post to you guys. Only want my costs.

Just bought a 1kg box for €5

Cork Boy

jimfinoc wrote: »

Just bought a 1kg box for €5

I'll take you up on that good sir!

PMing you now with details

Cork Boy

Tried the butter chicken and naan bread but made a balls of both unfortunately.

Can I ask, in the recipes where you say a ladel do you mean like a soup ladel? Mine measures out to 125ml

I had everything measured out according to the recipe but the amount of sauce I got was for way more than one, it would easily fill 2 take away cartons. As a result the butter and honey were lost in the overall mass of curry base and tomato. Looking through the recipe again I'm at a loss as to how I came out with so much sauce

Just for reference I had a look at other recipes online. I see most of them using chicken tikka as a pre-cooked meat, is this the standard?

Regarding the naans, i didn't really think them through. How thick should they be rolled out? Also, should I oil up the naans themselves? Mine came out very dry after 4 mins at 250 Celsius.

For a cup of water I measured out 250mls. I used normal 80% fat butter too and when tasting added a spoon of brown sugar as the spoon of honey was my last.

Mellor

Just came across a recipe for a madras using mince (kangaroo btw).
Have you ever made curries with beef/lamb mince?

The recipe uses madras paste and I’m wondering is that’s to reduce time for the spices to cook off to avoid drying out the lean mince.
Could also be avoided by using curry base I’d imagine. Any tips?

Curry Addict

Mellor wrote: »

Just came across a recipe for a madras using mince (kangaroo btw).
Have you ever made curries with beef/lamb mince?

The recipe uses madras paste and I’m wondering is that’s to reduce time for the spices to cook off to avoid drying out the lean mince.
Could also be avoided by using curry base I’d imagine. Any tips?

i have never tried using mince. I also have little experience of cooking mince as i'm allergic to red meat so hope someone else can help

gagomes

Mellor wrote: »

Just came across a recipe for a madras using mince (kangaroo btw).
Have you ever made curries with beef/lamb mince?

The recipe uses madras paste and I’m wondering is that’s to reduce time for the spices to cook off to avoid drying out the lean mince.
Could also be avoided by using curry base I’d imagine. Any tips?

The madras paste is a shortcut for spicing the meat. It's actually a common ingredient in the kebabs for a lot of indian restaurants and it works very well with lamb. I don't think it serves the purpose of preventing meat from drying, that's what the meat fat is there for.

You can use curry base but if you are trying to replicate a restaurant standard, then you need to pre-cook the keema separately from your curry (and in fairness, this normally provides better results, YMMV)

I have used mince to make aloo keema, seekh kebabs and keema naans. I normally go about it like this:

Pan on the stove with 1/2 cup of oil, add an asian bay leaf and whole spices (1/5 tsp of cumin, 2 cloves and 2 cardamoms) - wait until they start crackling, add 1 heaped tsp of mix powder, add 1 hpd tsp of tomato paste diluted with water. keep stirring and let it gain a certain paste-like consistency in the bottom. Add your mince and make sure the meat gets coated in the mixture. Add enough water to barely just cover the mince. Bring to boil and immediately lower it to a slow simmer. Let the water evaporate as much as possible. (add just a tiny pinch of salt and let the final salting of the meat to be done in the actual curry)

Then make a madras using curry base and after you add the first ladles of base sauce and let it come to boil, add this precooked keema as needed and cook for 3 minutes or until heated through.

gagomes

gagomes wrote: »

The madras paste(...)It's actually a common ingredient in the kebabs for a lot of indian restaurants

I actually meant the Patak Madras Kebab Paste, which is only sold in large/catering sized containers, but I don't think it will make a huge difference, but I don't like really like the signature-flavour of these patak based products which are unfortunately a staple in most restaurants for marinades.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pataks-Madras-Kebab-Paste-2-2kg/dp/B0059X33QG

Mellor

gagomes wrote: »

The madras paste is a shortcut for spicing the meat. It's actually a common ingredient in the kebabs for a lot of indian restaurants and it works very well with lamb. I don't think it serves the purpose of preventing meat from drying, that's what the meat fat is there for.

Kangaroo is very lean though, almost no fat. Which is why I thought it might dry out in it was cooked alongside raw spices in a single pan. Using paste would help that in my mind, but as you pointed out it might not be the reason st all, it might just be laziness. Cooking the meat separate also prevents this, I think I'll go with that way.
Thanks.

omri

Curry Addict wrote: »

Cooking the meats (4 portions)
4tbs vegetable oil
4 bay leaves
3 cinnamon sticks
4 green cardamom pods
1 chopped onion
1tbs ginger and garlic paste
½ tsp of salt
4 chicken breasts diced/lamb
Water to cover the meat
1tbs curry masala

Heat the oil and add the whole spices. When the cardamom pods swell add the ginger and garlic paste, onion and salt. Sauté for 5 mins, then add the remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil then simmer for 45mins, stir occasionally. The chicken will absorb a all the great flavours and become very tender and succulent. If cooking lamb, it will need to cook for 3 hours so add water every hour to stop the pot going dry.

Can I freeze the pre cooked meat ?

Muahahaha

omri wrote: »

Can I freeze the pre cooked meat ?

I do it this way, when precooking the meat I normally do a good bit extra and freeze it in portions of two along with freezing enough curry base for several two curry portions as well. Then I just move them into the fridge the day before cooking curries. With freezing you might sacrifice a bit of the flavour but its in exchange for added convenience.

omri

Muahahaha wrote: »

I do it this way, when precooking the meat I normally do a good bit extra and freeze it in portions of two along with freezing enough curry base for several two curry portions as well. Then I just move them into the fridge the day before cooking curries. With freezing you might sacrifice a bit of the flavour but its in exchange for added convenience.

Thanks. Another thing - can I precook lamb and chicken in one go - and remove chicken earlier ??

Curry Addict

omri wrote: »

Thanks. Another thing - can I precook lamb and chicken in one go - and remove chicken earlier ??

that sounds ok to me....

Muahahaha

omri wrote: »

Thanks. Another thing - can I precook lamb and chicken in one go - and remove chicken earlier ??

Suppose you could, I've never tried it though I'm not sure but there might be a chance that as the lamb cooks it could lend a bit of its flavour to the chicken. There's lots of other strong flavours in the pot so it mightnt be very noticeable. Let us know how it works for you.

Curry Addict

I finally got around to making a video of the cooking of a Chicken Madras as promised.

here it is -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrLC0gwZ0gM&feature=youtu.be

eisenberg1

Many Thanks CA

Looks great, I wish I could smell it.