From ianhoare@angelfire.com Fri Jun 17 10:57:03 2005 Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:51:32 +0200 From: Ian Hoare Reply-To: ianhoare@nospam.net Newsgroups: uk.food+drink.indian Subject: Re: What is that elusive spice in Madras? Salut/Hi buggerlugs, le/on Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:50:42 +0100, tu disais/you said:- >> le/on Thu, 16 Jun 2005 13:08:56 +0100, tu disais/you said:- >> >> >I have tried tamarind but it is not the hot and sour taste that I am >looking >> >for >> >> Well tamarind won't give the hotness, but it sure gives sourness. Are you >> sure? >Maybe I should use more then, how much would you recommend, either fresh or >out of a jar ? What I tend to do (because I don't live very near places where I can get anything better) is to use tamarind paste. I take an ounce or so and add some hot water to it - enough to allow me to work the whole mass to a thickish glop. I then push that glop through a small sieve (a large tea strainer could do the job) working it well with a teaspoon, and removing the seeds as I go. The stuff that goes through is what I add. I'd have thought that for about a pound or so of meat, one or two tablespoons of tamarind purée as described above, would give a pretty good touch of acidity. As for the hotness, you'd want to use a mixture of freshly ground black pepper and ground chillies. Remember that India had plenty hot food before chillies were brought to the subcontinent, and that pepper is a major crop of southern India, near Madras in fact. Here's a couple of recipes, one for a Madras Curry powder, the other (much more authentic IMO) for a Madras Curry paste. @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format Madras Curry Paste (Solomon) misc, indian, mix, spices 90 gms ground coriander 4 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 tablespoon ground chillies 3 tablespoon Salt 1 tablespoon black mustard seed 4 tablespoon vinegar 5 tablespoon garlic; peeled & minced 2 tablespoon ginger; peeled & grated 200 mls vegetable oil Combine ground spices and salt. Soak the black mustard seed in vinegar, and blend on high speed in an electric blender. Add garlic and ginger and blend until pureed. Mix with the ground spices. Heat oil in a pan and add the mixture stirring constantly until cooked and fragrant. Cool and store in a clean glass jar. Use a rounded tablespoon of this paste for each 500 g of main ingredient. Recipe Charmaine Solomon "Encyclopaedia of Asian Food". Contributor: typos IMH Yield: 1 mix ** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.66 ** @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format Madras Curry Powder misc, indian, mix ----INDIAN---- 2 dried red chilies 1 oz coriander seeds 1/2 oz cumin seeds 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds 1/2 oz black peppercorns 2 curry leaves 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon turmeric Seed the chilies. Dry roast the whole spices until they darken. Cool, then grind to a powder. Dry roast the curry leaves in the pan for a few minutes, then grind and add them to the mixture with the ginger and turmeric, blending well. Stored in an airtight container, it will keep for 3-4 months. A fragrant, fairly hot blend used to flavor lamb and pork dishes. The Complete Book of Spices by Jill Norman ISBN 0-140-23804-2 pg 108 Yield: 1 servings -- All the Best Ian Hoare http://www.souvigne.com mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website