Curry...!!

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

First attempt at one of the Dan Toombs “British Indian Restaurant“ curries from his ‘Bible’: Chicken Rezala.

It got a mixed reaction from the family, and to be honest I am feeling a bit deflated because I put a lot of work in to the spice blends, base curry and precooked meat.

The son absolutely loved it because it was mild and creamy (I only used one of the green chillies, because he’s not a fan of hot curry); but SWMBO was complaining that given how much went into it, it really didn’t taste of much.

To be fair she’s got a point. I think I did two things wrong. Firstly I served it with plain rice, which seems to mop up a lot of the flavour. Secondly I didn’t reduce it down enough after I added the main portion of the base sauce - somewhat because I was a bit concerned about overcooking the chicken.

However on the plus side the masala was really rich and creamy - and the flavour, although very mild (and I don’t just mean because of the lack of chilli) was complex and well balanced.

I give myself 5.5/10 ‘could do better’

 

[Clint]

Is that a non stick pan?

 

[Wilfy]

Is that a non stick pan?

That won’t help.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Oh! well there‘s a “learn” straight away - thanks guys! Yes I can see that the flavour was missing caramelisation

 

[Clint]

Get a plain aluminium chefs pan...its a balance between the caramelisation stage and burning..you'll soon get the hang of it..also make sure you use the correct amount of oil/ghee...if it says two tablespoons..

 

[Rodcx500z]

Agree non stick is a big no no in cooking

 

[Clint]

The idea is to get the curry to catch on the pan and nearly burn...you keep scraping this back into the curry as you use up the base sauce. This won't work as well in a non stick pan.

 

[Dutto]

All pans are "non-stick" if you treat them properly.

My favourite pan/saucepan etc is made from stainless steel or cast-iron, tempered with beef suet and only washed out with water. DO NOT USE A DETERGENT.

Yes, stuff will stick to it when you begin BUT if you persevere (and drop the heat a little) it will stick less and less.

The secret is to temper the vessel properly by rinsing it out with hot water, drying it, melting some beef suet in it until the suet "smokes" and then letting it cool naturally. At this stage, it may be wiped out with a square of kitchen towelling whilst it is still warm.

From then on DO NOT USE DETERGENT and if anything sticks just soak it in a bit of tap water before washing it clean, drying it and re-oiling it.

PS

Some may regard detergent as a "necessity" because it reduces the time it takes to clean a pan! Unfortunately, the detergent also removes the tempering and makes stuff stick more readily!

 

[Rodcx500z]

It's the same with a wok, or any pan you have to season them, don't put anything in them until they are hot and nothing will stick then control the temp

 

[Dutto]

It's the same with a wok, or any pan you have to season them, don't put anything in them until they are hot and nothing will stick then control the temp

I agree and may I also add that generally, “cheapest is best” when it comes to woks!

My own is a £6 Tesco steel wok with a wooden handle. It heats up in seconds and even pre-cooked rice doesn’t stick to it!

This is why NO ONE in the house is allowed to even touch it!

I had a cast-iron Le Crueset wok for many years that worked okay - but it took an age to heat up and a corresponding amount of time to cool down!

Great for liquid dishes but not so good for stir-fries where I could burn water waiting for it to cool down a bit!

 

[Rodcx500z]

I had a wok once the best one i ever had carbon steel £9-00p, it got ruined by others not knowing how to use it

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Yes, I have a plain steel wooden-handled wok that I bought in the 'Wing Yip' in Manchester back in the 80's (!)
I wonder if it would be any good for cooking a curry...

 

[Rodcx500z]

I once tried it, my answer would be no

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

How about this?

 

[Rodcx500z]

I thought the heat distribution was more concentrated than it is in a flat bottomed pan i was constantly stirring it

 

[Rodcx500z]

Yeah that should be good, be sure to wear a glove or have a cloth, nah you don't need me to tell you that

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Ta!!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

We should have a thread of “what curry are you making or eating tonight”. I am going to make a Sag Paneer served with Naan.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

We should have a thread of “what curry are you making or eating tonight”

Why not...!

I am going to make a Sag Paneer served with Naan.

I'm doing Naan too, with Shashuka :-)

 

[Hanglow]

I've not made any curry for ages, I've been ordering in 3x the amount I need to eat from restuarants and freezing it, so lazy I have a long row of coriander in my allotment though that I'm letting go to seed to have my own home grown coriander seeds