Oh yes - not related to flavouring - but, should have mentioned that
after had gotten all the flavours right, I just mixed the rice in with
the mixture in the large pot, as the final part of the preparation process.
Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
"Resistance is futile, but, acceptance is versatile..."
On 2017-06-02 23:30, Jacob Kruger wrote:
Just finished off cooking it, and, it's honestly one of those you keep on wanting to sample, telling yourself that that's because you want to make sure there's nothing else it needs, but, to be honest, it's just a bit too tasty to want to leave it alone...<smile>
Anyway, you're more than welcome to tell me if you think any of the ingredients are a bit odd, or could be replaced with others that would be more normal, but was partly working with what have here, and, to me, it ended up tasting just right, or, just the way I wanted it to.
Firstly, it's winter this side, and, while we don't really have a full-blown (play on words) winter like other parts of the world, it is in fact quite chilly/cold at moment, even if at least dry. For example, our minimum temperatures are currently in low single degrees centigrade, if that means much, but, it also means that something like a nice, warm relatively spicy, or richly flavoured curry is a very appropriate dish at the moment.
I am going to try to remember at the very least, approximate amounts, and, hopefully not forget any ingredients/spices I added in to this one. But, you guys should already know I generally cook by whim, without really deciding on all portions/flavours before-hand.
Anyway, just started off with roundabout a tablespoon or two of hand-crushed pecan nuts, being fried up with two diced up baby onions that were each roundabout 5cm across, frying them up in a combination of extra virgin olive oil, along with roundabout two tablespoons of butter, and, right in the beginning, I added in roundabout 8 dessert spoons of medium curry powder, a pinch or two of salt, just a touch of turmeric - find need to be careful with this spice or else it will override various other herbs and spices with it's smoky after-taste, some dried thyme that I also crushed in my fingers, crushed garlic, touch of white pepper, roundabout two teaspoons of dried origanum, and quite a bit of authentic hot spanish paprika, along with what probably comes to roundabout at least a dessert spoon of dried cinnamon.
I fried this up until the onions had softened, with stove plate set to roundabout two thirds of it's heat - 4 out of 6 on the dial - and then threw in 6 pieces of chicken, ranging from breast to thigh, wing and drumstick, with all their skin on the pieces, and their bones included - will take those out when it has cooled down, but, wanted both their flavour and moisture included during cooking.
I tossed this whole mixture around every 5 minutes or so, just making sure nothing stuck to bottom of pot, and, carried on until the chicken pieces had browned, or developed a form of seal on their outer surfaces.
I then diced in a largish single tomato, doing this over the pot, both due to not really having too much of a work area in this kitchen, but, also partly since an instructor chef recently told me that one of the most important ingredients from a tomato is the juices, so you need to try not to lose any of them.
I then also cut up roundabout 12 medium sized baby/new potatoes into the mixture, skin and all partly since I like the texture it adds, and then added in roundabout half a cup of dry red wine, roundabout a cup of room temperature water, and a small pack of frozen vegetable mix - think it just includes things like pieces of green beans, carrots, etc.
I then turned down the heat to 2 out of 6, and left this simmering on the stove for roundabout two hours, stirring up the mixture every 15 to 20 minutes or so.
When it seemed to be getting near to the end of the cooking process, when the chicken seemed to be starting to loosen off it's bones, I then sampled one of the potato pieces, and it was ready for the next part of the process, since the potato was basically cooked, but, still slightly firm, or staying in one piece, which relates to how I want the potato pieces to start disintegrating right at the end, to lend a bit of texture, etc. to the broth/liquid.
I then cooked a cup of white rice in a separate pot on the stove. As in,just took a cup of rice, two cups of water, some salt, and a dash of oil, brought it to a boil, and, kept on stirring it every 3 to 5 minutes or so until the rice had absorbed all the water, and had softened somewhat.
I then turned off that stove plate, but, left it on the stove, and added in roundabout 2 tablespoons of butter, mixed it up thoroughly, and left it on the stove for another 5 minutes or so, to give it a form of the texture you'd expect in actual fried rice.
All this time, the curry mixture had still been simmering away, and when rice was ready, I took that off the stove, and went back to the main curry mixture.
Now, I crumbled up one slice of brown bread into the mixture, as well as adding one whole egg, mixed this all in, actually turned off that stove plate, but, left pot on it, to let mixture thicken up a bit.
And, for what it's worth, these are solid/flat electric stove plates, so even after you switch them off, if you leave a pot or pan on them, they do carry on cooking for a bit longer.
Anyway, now is when I started adding in some of the ingredients that some people might not necessarily agree with in the context of curry dishes, but, I will try to explain why I added in each of them.
Firstly, I added in roundabout two tablespoons of a cheddar cheese sandwich spread, since I wanted the slight bit of creaminess it would add to the texture, as well as a bit of the underlying cheesy flavour richness.
That was followed by roundabout the same amount of onion marmalade, both for the bit of sugar in it's flavour, but, to also try add a touch of almost fruitiness, if that makes sense, as well as roundabout two tablespoons of a thai-origin chilli sauce branded flaming dragon. And, that name should give you an idea of it's level of burn, but, it also has quite a lot of flavour in it.
I then mixed up the whole curry again, and was considering adding in some brown sugar, or chutney to add to the flavour, but then something else occured to me, and instead I added in what probably amounts to roundabout 3 tablespoons of molasses, which ended up providing exactly the flavour combination I was looking for, and then, the very last touch was slicing up one whole banana into the mix.
And, like I said, this has now resulted in a combination of flavours that I almost think should be locked away with some form of time-release padlock to avoid me overeating...LOL!
Anyway, please tell me if you think any of the ingredients, or proportions were a bit too odd, or inappropriate, and, let me know of any additions, or substitutes you could have suggested, but, overall, this is one of those concoctions that I would love to let some people sample/taste, and I would only tell them all of the ingredients after they had given me their opinions, partly since I still think that, for example, cinnamon is one of the most often misconstrued, or misunderstood spices, since lots of people seem to think it's only appropriate in confectionery dishes, but anyway.
And, truly lastly now, one of the few additional things I think might have added to the flavour would have been something like freshly ground black pepper, but, that's just my own opinion.
Stay well
Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
"Resistance is futile, but, acceptance is versatile..."
