Hi Mamta,

I've got some friends and they asked me over to do a few curry dishes. I did a a murgh masala (drumstick) and a madhur jaffrey chicken korma dish.

the murgh tasted fine, although the korma was a little dry and bland. I think the problem was I was given too much chicken to use and it tasted powdery.

Help me overcome this embarrassment! What is a good way of saving a dish if you think it's not going to plan?

Hello Mark

It is very difficult to say what went wrong without looking at the recipe exactly. I have not had any of Madhur Jafrey's books myself but I know that her recipes are supposed to be very good.

If you think that your korma is a bit bland, I would suggest that you go with your gut instinct. For it to taste bland, you probably did have more chicken for the amount of spice/masala mix that you made. So, if it happens again, I would suggest that you make some more masala, add to the chicken and heat it through. Alternatively, keep a packet of ready made Chicken/meat Korma mix from any well known brands handy. Heat a little oil, quickly stir-fry a little spice mix in it (the amount depends on how bland the dish is) and add it to the bland tasting curry. Stir it in well.

Hope this works!

Mamta

Powdery ?

I find every now and again I get a curry that is a bit un-absorbed and it means you get a powdery texture..

this I usually find is down to one of 2 things..

1 - not cooking the spices out long enough before adding stock

2 - not having enough oil/fat in the mix to absorb the spices..

the latter is my main problem as I try to make my curries with as little fat as possible...

cheers mamta,

I'm at it again tomorrow. I will be preparing my masalas well in advance. Actually I think i'm going to borrow a few recipes off your site!

hmm maybe thats why my curries taste powdery as i use no fat whatsoever just a little one cal spray thing for the onions.. is what u really need? more fat?

If you are making gravy (from scratch, not from a cube), you get the meat juices and some of the fat that has come out of the meat, and stir in some flour, then add water to make it into the sauce/gravy.

If you are making a white sauce you melt some butter and add flour, then stir in milk/water...

So I'm pretty certain you need some oil in there to absorb the flour/spices to help it all combine..

Steve

Oil/butter does add to the flavour. You only have to see the big chefs on TV using butter/oil/double cream with abandon in their recipes. The problem is that we can't do it in our everyday cooking. When I am on a diet, I use less oil than given in my recipes and it does effect the taste a little, but not hugely.

They do say that all good things are bad for you ;-)!

Mamta