Making Jalfrezi ! !

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Tysonator

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Hi,

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5852/chicken-jalfrezi

I have followed the recipe from the above link.
Once I had made the sauce element of Jalfrezi initially it tasted good with a slight after taste kick !

However the wife’s opinion was the sauce was too watery and bland !

So what ingredients can I add to give the sauce more flavour similar to Pakas Jalfrzi that I can purchase from super market ?

I have thought perhaps some Ginger and may be Paprika !
 
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I'm no expert, but one thing I would suggest would be to blend the onion in the sauce, or grate it if you haven't got a blender. Then simmer it until it thickens up.
 
Bland food is usually a lack of seasoning. Recipes never mention to season, it's fairly obvious though.

Not that it's healthy, but a sprinkling of caster sugar in these types of dishes goes a long way and will stop that bland flavour.

So... Sugar and salt will sort you out. Perhaps be more liberal with the spices too, if they've been sitting a while they lose their pungency.

Hope this helps.

P.S. if it's too watery, add less water or reduce it down. (Keep lid off)
 
King4aDay
And next time change all the teaspoon measurements to tablespoons.
Good point ! :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

tom_nieto said:
More garlic and some salt. Cayenne pepper would be better than paprika.
Click to expand...

I will try Cayenne pepper and I did not put any salt in my sauce

Mark A
I'm no expert, but one thing I would suggest would be to blend the onion in the sauce, or grate it if you haven't got a blender. Then simmer it until it thickens up.

I did simmer the onions in oil and they got blended along with all the other ingrediants in the pan.
 
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Paprika :confused:

I don't cook jalfrezi but that doesn't look like nearly enough spices Teaspoons wtf.
You also can not skimp on oil, many Indian type spices including chilli,m essential compounds are not water soluble, but are oil soluble. So remove the fat, you remove the flavour.

This to me looks like a better recipes but as above I haven't cooked jalfrazi, so just going by look.

http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2011/06/09/how-to-make-a-traditional-indian-chicken-jalfrezi/
 
Glaucus said:
Paprika :confused:

I don't cook jalfrezi but that doesn't look like nearly enough spices Teaspoons wtf.
You also can not skimp on oil, many Indian type spices including chilli,m essential compounds are not water soluble, but are oil soluble. So remove the fat, you remove the flavour.

This to me looks like a better recipes but as above I haven't cooked jalfrazi, so just going by look.

http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2011/06/09/how-to-make-a-traditional-indian-chicken-jalfrezi/
Click to expand...

yeah, hat recipe looks much better to my eyes and is basically what i cook when I make that style of curry although I rarely look at recipes directly
 
Glaucus said:
Paprika :confused:

I don't cook jalfrezi but that doesn't look like nearly enough spices Teaspoons wtf.
You also can not skimp on oil, many Indian type spices including chilli,m essential compounds are not water soluble, but are oil soluble. So remove the fat, you remove the flavour.

This to me looks like a better recipes but as above I haven't cooked jalfrazi, so just going by look.

http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2011/06/09/how-to-make-a-traditional-indian-chicken-jalfrezi/
Click to expand...

I will print out the recipe and have another go making the sauce at the weekend.
 
Your lack of salt is the problem here. Food needs it, especially tinned tomatoes. That's why it was bland. If you don't season food as you cook, it'll always be rubbish.

Not cayenne pepper or paprika.
 
I did simmer the onions in oil and they got blended along with all the other ingrediants in the pan.
Click to expand...

No, I mean blend it with a food processor, or grate it, so that the onion becomes part of the sauce, rather than chunks in it.

Usually for takeaway style curries you would make a sauce up and then add various other spices and veg to make the curry you want. The sauce is usually onion, ginger, garlic, oil, tinned tomato, tomato puree, tumeric and paprika.

You boil it for a while and then blend it up to create a thick 'gravy'. Then you add this to your other ingredients and chopped onion etc.

I'm just going off what it says in the curry secret book by Kris Dhillon. I got mine pretty close to restaurant quality last time I made it, but I made a Chicken Pathia. Jalfrezi is another of my fav curries, so will be trying that at some point.
 
It was a while ago I last made it, but i'm pretty sure I used this recipe. I tend to find a recipe online and jot it down on a scrap of paper until I lose it, then wonder where I got it from...

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,2526.0.html

It doesn't turn out that colour in his pic, i think his white balance is off, or he used too much food colouring.


The curry base recipe I use is from the book I mentioned above, although there are also some on that forum.

How To Make The Curry Sauce

For approximately eight main course dishes.
Preparation and cooking time: 1 hr 30 minutes approx.

2 lb (900g) cooking onions
2 oz (50g) green ginger
2 oz (50g) garlic
2¾ pint (I litre 570ml) water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tin (8oz/225g) tomatoes
8 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika

Stage One
Peel and rinse the onions, ginger, and garlic. Slice the onions and roughly chop the ginger and garlic.
Put the ginger and garlic into a blender with about ½ pint of the water and blend until smooth.
Take a large saucepan and put into it the onions, the blended garlic and ginger, and the remainder of the water.
Add the salt and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to very low and simmer, with the lid on, for 40-45 minutes.
Leave to cool.

Stage Two
Once cooled, pour half the boiled onion mixture into a blender and blend until perfectly smooth. Absolute smoothness is essential. To be certain, blend for at least two minutes. Pour the blended onion mixture into a clean pan or bowl and repeat with the other half of the boiled onion mixture.

Stage Three
Open the can of tomatoes, put into the rinsed blender jug, and blend. Again, it is important that they are blended perfectly smooth, so blend for two minutes.
Into the clean saucepan, pour the oil, tomato puree, turmeric, and paprika.
Add the blended tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for ten minutes.
Now add the onion mixture to the saucepan and bring to the boil again. Turn down the heat enough to keep the sauce at a simmer.
You will notice at this stage that a froth rises to the surface of the sauce. This needs to be skimmed off.
Keep simmering for 20-25 minutes. Stirring now and again to prevent the sauce sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
Use immediately or cool and refrigerate for up to four days.
-
 
I always find that curry recipes area always missing acidity and jalfrezi is a zingy curry- try squeezing some lemon in. Try a bit in a smaller container first to get an idea of how much to use.
 
Mark A said:
No, I mean blend it with a food processor, or grate it, so that the onion becomes part of the sauce, rather than chunks in it.

Usually for takeaway style curries you would make a sauce up and then add various other spices and veg to make the curry you want. The sauce is usually onion, ginger, garlic, oil, tinned tomato, tomato puree, tumeric and paprika.

You boil it for a while and then blend it up to create a thick 'gravy'. Then you add this to your other ingredients and chopped onion etc.

I'm just going off what it says in the curry secret book by Kris Dhillon. I got mine pretty close to restaurant quality last time I made it, but I made a Chicken Pathia. Jalfrezi is another of my fav curries, so will be trying that at some point.
Click to expand...

I use a hand blender which works well.
The onions I fry in oil first and add the rest of the ingredants.
So I might try you way next time ;)
 
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