Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook
curry on it's head
I decided (for no particular reason) to try an experiment to prepare a curry (chana) by a method which goes against all that I hold sacred in curry making.
Many dishes that I make start by frying onions, ginger, garlic and fresh chillies (at different times) in medium hot oil for about 20 minutes. Then I would add spices (at different times)and then either water, curds or tomatoes. After that, I would add fresh coriander leaves (or other fresh herbs), and let the whole lot simmer for a while. Meat would be added at the time appropriate to the dish.
Today, I thought I would make a chana masala curry, by putting all the ingredients in at once, macerating them before putting them into hot oil, all except the chana, which would follow soon after. It's bubbling away now. Smells OK.
Cor, Lapis, this isn't like you!
You feeling alright? ;)
Hope it turns out well...
There's a place for traditional but there's definitely a place for adaptation and modernisation and personal tastes and convenience and...
Nice to hear you change your tried and tested method Lapis. It will turn great, you will see. I have made Rajma (kidney bean)/chickpea curry that way. No frying at all, just bunged everything in a pressure cooker cooked it and it was lovely. I have on occasion/tempered' it at the end in a tiny amount of oil/ghee and cumin. Many meat curries cook very well this way in a slow cooker and I do that regularly these days. Come bake and tell us how it tasted.
not good, even after 40 minutes bubbling, it still had an off onion flavour, and not much other flavour, reminded me of 'Indian restaurant' offerings. Although I put in the same amount of spices (dhania-jeera powder, turmeric and black pepper) as usual, (which gets less as I grow older!!) it still had little impact.
Had to eat it with bread and butter to even half enjoy it! It would be OK for someone used to 'curry house' fare, but I can't see me doing it again.
I still believe doing it my usual way is the way to go, even for the ever so 'umble' chickpea.
Heh heh heh Lapis are you in diwali mode today?
Reminds me that when i cook chana dal, like the norm i wash the dal and add pinch of salt and turmeric before giving it a couple of whistle in the p.cooker. What I also add is a teaspoon of chopped onions in the cooker...that improves (If I may say so) the taste considerably. Rest of the cooking remains the same. Cheers and happy deepawali.
hi Rajneesh, I'm in diwali mode every day ;?)
Luckily, all is not lost. Apart from a lesson learnt, I kept some chana masala in the fridge overnight. Today, the off onion flavour had gone, in fact most of the flavour had gone, so I added what I had left to a dum kaadoo (pumpkin) dish that popped out of my head, to go with a chicken palak dish I've cooked for tea.
and happy deepawali to everyone here, (the fireworks are going off all night around here, already).
I am surprised it did not taste good. Slow cooking (except Rajma)or pressure cooking all ingredients with chana/rajma/meats works very well for me, as long as I have added all ingredients before cooking, including a little oil. As mentioned before, for extra flavour, you can temper it at the end.
I think the problem was, as everything was combined together, the onions were not fried in oil, making off flavours with water-based ingredients. Maybe I'm over-sensitive to these off flavours, as I can detect them in some processed food (not that I buy such stuff) and 'take away' offerings. And I don't like it. It may be due to the horrible smells I remember as a child when my mother made sage and onion stuffing, and she boiled the onions. Now I can't stand the smell of boiled onions.
Anyway, the chicken palak went down a treat, I added some raisins soaked in lime juice, for a change, never done that before. Do you think I'm going mad??
No, not mad, some people just sensitive to certain smells or flavours...
Like me and celery!
I can fully sympathise, Lapis, with the boiled onion odour. My dad sometimes used to eat a boiled onion for breakfast and it made the whole house stink. I think the worst one for me is the smell of lamb being cooked. I know someone who cut into a cooked leg of lamb and pierced an abscess and it exploded all over the kitchen.