Plus smell is the only sense that wires directly into the higher brain centres. All the other senses route through the reptilian core then the primordial mammalian functions. So smell is much more tightly tied to emption and memory.
Well, to answer James' question - Naan is definitely a restaurant thing. People who like to cook at home and learn by trying new things will try these at home, but because a proper naan requires a tandoor oven, you'll never get that proper feel at home. But, coming to a slightly more important reasoning now - butter chicken itself isn't a dish people regularly make at home. And this trend isn't specific to butter chicken, but rather all those rich creamy gravies(or curries), or tandoor dishes, that are very commonly bought at Indian restaurants in western countries tend to be a part of what is considered as "restaurant food", i.e. stuff that you mostly either order in or go out to eat. The food that is prepared in homes across India tends to be very different from what you would find in a restaurant menu, and usually is mostly lighter and healthier food. You're more likely to find potatoes, gourds, beans, carrots, wilted greens, peas, lentils, etc along with plain steamed rice, vegetable pulao, or flatbreads like chapati or paratha. These items tend to not be attractive to Indian customers at an expensive restaurant, so there the menu has to adapt to the desire to eat food that has stronger spices and a rich texture.
If u think a real tandoor naan and a home naan is the same thing u have problems ....i am indian and i cant cook it like a real tandoor and i have 20 years of experience
@@jwanilpatel3223 Both my father and myself have worked with a lot of Indians and my Dad traveled there regularly. You don't have to be Indian to know there is a big difference if there is no tandoor. The food I've had in Indian homes has also been as avvalijain3430 says, lighter and more vegetable oriented, although it depends on where people are from. Indian food has infinite diversity.
Naan is totally a restaurant thing, unless you really go an extra mile and make it at home, which is rare. As for adding egg or yeast, you can add those, but if I'm not mistaken, we don't add either of them for naan here. The recipe I make contains baking soda and powder. And the technique I use is that I add water at the base of the naan after rolling it, make sure the tawa (pan) is smoking hot, and stick the naan to it, then flip the entire pan upside down and cook it slowly on the fire. After that I flip it again, remove from the pan and light char the base, literally 5-10 seconds, and then brush it with garlic coriander butter/ghee. Great reaction as always!
About the onion, a friend of mine was a chef in India for 37 years and he says that this guy is correct. Originally there's no onion in it. Only the last 15 years or so people added it to the dish. For the rest of his methods used my friend said it's very close to authentic and he had no complaints at all. Especially the sauce looked amazing and he would serve thet in his restaurant for sure if it tastes as good as it looks. He does complain a lot about other Indian chefs on TH-cam claim to make authentic butter chicken saying they're just Ramseying it up. Meaning they make it more fancy like Gordon ramsey tends todo with his dishes. My friend said hes gonna follew this method exactly on Monday and give me some. Really excited.
Hi James, love your videos. I am not a professional chef but a foodie from India. I love how non-vulgar your reviews are and it’s hard to find these days with comedians doing food reviews. Especially love when you review Ranveer or YFL. My favorite channels. Regarding some questions in your video: 1. Yes, we don’t usually make naans at home. They cost like $0.5 in normal restaurants and $1.25 in fancy ones. 2. The naans in this video look a bit undercooked and I guess would be a bit rubbery when tried. Normally naans are softer than tandoori roti but still are cooked properly.
Hi! Thank you very much! I try to keep things clean. I love naan and normally order when I eat out but since I don't have a tandoor I don't really want to make it at home as it is not the same thing.
@@ChefJamesMakinson You can definitely make it at home using the above recipe that involves sticking the naan using water and roasting over flame, this mimics the effect that tandoor gives to the naan. One thing to note that it does not use any oil while cooking. PS: We've tried it at home and it comes close, but it is a hassle to make and uses maida (refined flour) so we tend to avoid it
Yes, in every household in India, we usually make Roti(Chapati) on a daily basis(Almost). Firstly tandoor takes up a large space and is very hot so it's rare to have a tandoor in an Indian house. So it is not feasible for a person in a household to stand in such heat. Plus rotis are easier and faster to make, and Indian people live in a big family. So they can provide hot rotis instantly instead of waiting for a nan while they have already started eating. And this guy naan was more like a paratha than a nan. Nan is usually a bit fluffier and thick.
10:49 for naan , as an Indian cook , I would recommend you to search for a process called " khameer" this the only thing we do here . No yeast , no eggs. Although eggs and yeast looks pretty convenient yet we don't do it here . Secondly when we cook butter chicken or any other dish that requires naan we simply go out and generally at every corner there's a home kitchen where there's tandoor type food corner from where we just go and give money and say pack few naans and in 5 minutes or less we take the naan back and serve .
Between you and Ethan Chlebowski, I am loving all the inspiration and tricks for cooking at home! I've been looking for a good naan recipe for ages too. Thank you!
First time seeing this guy. Thanks, Chef James! When i lived in LA there was a small Indian place up the street. It was really small, like a family place. I have no idea what anything was called, i just pointed to it and got a giant portion. It was SOOO good oh my god!!! With warm home made naan. Oh i miss that place. ❤ Looking forward to the egg fried rice video!!
Roti is a much more common and staple food in Indian households than Naan. It is also a much healthier option as Naan is usually made of maida (refined flour) to give them that special texture while household rotis are made of whole wheat flour.
Got news for you atta is loosely translated as whole wheat flour but it is not really whole wheat flour. There's very little difference between atta and maida.
@@70newlifea lot of Indians do make their own atta(from farms to plates) and it's definitely whole wheat. We even mix a few more grains together to make it more healthier.
Yeah usually in pakistan and india we use roti instead of naan in our homes. Roti is basically like a flatbread more akin to a crepe made of wheat or corn flour.
@@anoopsachdev5772 I eat naan at home... but it can't really be called naan lmao. it's good enough tho. goes really well with chili chicken (indo-chinese version).
I make naan at home with my mom, but I think it’s more common to have roti. Roti is pretty much flat and does not use yeast and does not contain egg while naan is fluffy because of the yeast. My mom taught me the vegan version of Naan though. The friend that taught her was vegetarian and my mom didn’t want to use up precious eggs.
You should review more of Sonny’s videos. Sonny is very legit no nonsense with his presentation giving insight as to why you should or shouldn’t do this or that so he has earned my sub. He did a Biryani video recently so that video may be worth a review.
This is awesome. Sonny is really good. He is very watchable but the thing that I like is that he has a great grasp on technique. As I get older I find that I can find any recipe/list of ingredients on the internet but it is sometimes difficult to get the different techniques from the recipe card.
When I cook chicken in that style, I use the toaster oven on the highest rack and just use the "toast" setting. It mimics the salamander I used in restaurants better than anything else in a home kitchen to get those little toasty bits, and it's a lot more efficient than heating up the main oven.
Sonny's videos are great! I like his energy in the kitchen and I've definitely just binged his videos in the past as entertainment 😂 And he seems to know what he's doing in the kitchen as well 😁
@@ChefJamesMakinson Also the hitting the fridge is his thing. Ever heard the saying "taste so good it make you wanna smack your mama?" well he beats up the fridge lol
Sonny is the best. Once you start watching him you can't stop. You will also start to better understand his refrigerator rage, which goes back to his days in Colorado (he now lives in Austin).
I think he's got it kinda the opposite way around. The chicken tikka masala that is considered the national dish of England would be made like this, cause it was invented in England and they add the chiken tikka that is grill in a tandoor into an almost tomato soup kind of sauce which has no onions. Butter chicken does have onions in it, at least in india, but when we make tikka masala in india, that sauce is way more punchy. Butter chicken is the rich makhani sauce with tandoori chicken And Tikka masala is a strong and spicy makhani sauce with tandoori chicken, and it's heavier on the smokyness. The word makhani means buttery, so butter is central to both the sauces.
@@ChefJamesMakinson I always order (and make myself) vindaloo as well, but very rarely can I get a place to make it spicy enough for me. I almost always have to do that myself. I was a service industry GM, so I can understand their fear of making it too spicy and ending up with wasted product, the enemy of all margins. 👍🏻
@ChefJamesMakinson I just had lamb vindaloo last night. It’s pretty spicy, but it’s so delicious. The fact that you normally order vindaloo gives you even more credibility in my book 😉
Great video- I love these cooking reviews that you do. You mentioned quick peeling tomatoes by dropping them in the deep fryer. Another option is to just drop them into a pot of boiling water briefly and then put them in an ice bath. It works very well and is more convenient for the home cook. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! yes I was explaining what we do in the kitchen because the fryers are already hot so instead of getting a pot of water on and waiting for it to come up to a boil you drop them in a fryer
I've made this recipe (except the naan part) about 3 times now and have made a few changes each time. I've loved each batch I've made of it since the first one.
@@SandeepSinghMango Ended up removing turmeric from the chicken marinade (saw it in a few other recipes that it didn't call for it) and then instead of cashews I've used cashew butter. The time I used whole cashews they didn't blend well into the sauce I felt and even after straining it felt grainy
For naan recipes Adam Ragusea has a couple of them which are very interesting. I still haven't tried them, but the tawa style seems very interesting for getting the tandoor oven treatment with just a cast iron pan. Kenji also has one in a pizza oven.
Yeah those tens of thousands pakistani videos by pakistani home cooks both in Pakistan as well as abroad are totally useless but some white guy becomes the go to expert😂😂 Pakistan where it's more common for people to eat Tandoor roti or naan brought from tandoor around the street corner than India where eating naan at home is pretty much nonexistent. You know it's 2023 we have something called internet, google, TH-cam etc
I've never had indian cuisine, but theres a Curry based dish in my home country Ecuador which is called "Encocado" which is usually named after what it is accompanied with such as "Encocado de camarón" which is coconut based curry with shrimp or "Encocado de cangrejo", same with crab. Its an absolute delicacy.
Hi, James. Love the use of the word 'bloody'! My favourite curry is Goan Fish curry. There are some Ghurka restaurants/takeaways near where I live that do them really well if you know the owners; their Lamb Momos are phenomenal. Until I worked with a chef from Bangladesh, I didn't even know that Vindaloo means wine and potatoes - duh! Great post as always 👍.
The Butter Chicken gravy looks good enough, even if it’s not very traditional but the garlic naan I am sceptical about. For one, the cooking process doesn’t seem to be enough to cook it through properly, it seems to have marks on the outside but doesn’t seem to be cooked through properly and I am definitely not convinced about the egg. Vegetarians in India commonly have naan and nowhere in India do we ever need to clarify from the waiter if it has egg in it or not. And since you asked, yes, naan in India is not a common household dish, simply because there is a massive difference between naan cooked in the tandoor and one cooked without it. We have different types of flatbreads that we make in Indian homes commonly but naan is not one of them. It’s an extremely popular thing to eat at restaurants though. It needs a lot of skill. A good Naan is supposed to be flaky, light, and slightly stretchy though not chewy; which is impossible to get at home on a pan.
Chef James that was a great video I enjoyed it and it's very detailed which is helpful for someone who's not used to preparing Indian cuisine. Thank you.
I haven't attempted Indian curry, I do make a Thai curry with tofu fried in bacon fat. I think my favorite Indian curry is Vindaloo, and that's probably because the character, Lister, always ate it on Red Dwarf.
@@ChefJamesMakinson This is gonna be a bit of an awkward story. Years ago when i was getting tv dinners delivered to me (insurance paid due to me being disabled) i usually ended up with one that claimed to be a Thai curry. It was a processed chicken patty with julienned carrots in some kind of light yellowish sauce that tasted kind of sweet. don't know if that is an authentic dish or not. But it was rather tasty.
Our naan does not have eggs. The main reason is that a considerable population is vegetarian and naan is a neutral kinda bread that goes with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Also I noted that he did not fry the garlic before putting it into the butter... That is also not common... Usually the garlic is fried in some butter to make it aromatic. Or sometimes, garlic is infused in the dough itself.(then we have a choice of buttered and unbuttered garlic naan. Also one near trick to make naan at home is apply some water to the bottom of the rolled out dough and stick. it to the pan. Once it rises, you flip the entire pan so that the top of the naan faces the flame. This gives a char and the tandoor feel to homemade naan.
Sure, ask away. I'm pretty sure even if I'm not able to answer, someone else will be. We are proud of our food and culture. So we're usually super happy to help you with things🫂
You should definitely review some street food from India as it’s very popular here like pani puri, vada pav, and pav bhaji. We would love to see that and hear your thoughts.
A smoker that uses actual wood (not a pellet smoker) is a pretty decent substitute for a tandoori oven. It won't quite get as hot or at least I haven't succeeded in getting it to 900f (at least not in the main chamber where I actually cook), but it'll still cook pretty well. It feels a bit wrong letting my smoker get to such a high temperature though compared to how I usually use it but the smoke flavor is pretty great.
I'm too cowardly to do the tomato frying trick. If those babies pop you're in quite some trouble. Hot oil and tomato juice.... Those frying burns aren't fun. Especially around the eyes. Nope, no thanks. I'll opt for the extra fibre from the tomatoe skin instead of sacrificing my own again. (The luxuries of a home cook 😊)
Yup, naan is a restaurant thing. At home, it'd be chapattis - which are just whole wheat flour, oil, water, and maybe a bit of salt. Home cooking isn't supposed to take this long! A quick version of the butter chicken recipe that I whip up quite frequently (2-4 times a month). Marinate chicken in ginger-garlic, salt, pepper, and yogurt. Stir fry until almost cooked, set aside. For the sauce, simply boil the ingredients - tomatoes, ginger, garlic, cashews, and whole dried red chilies (Kashmiri if you have them). Boil for about 30 mins, then cool and puree. Dry roast whole spices - cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, red chilies (optional), cloves, and whole peppercorns. Grind into a powder, and set aside. Heat fenugreek leaves in the microwave for 10 seconds, and crush them into a powder. Add the pureed sauce into a deep container, put in the spice-fenugreek powder mix, and bring to a boil. Add the chicken, more butter (optional), and sugar/salt to adjust its flavor. Voila, a 45-minute version of butter chicken. You can make extra sauce and spice mix, and use it with other substitutes (paneer, stir-fried vegetables, or tofu). It's quite versatile! And NO ONIONS! It lends a strange flavor, IMO.
As a side note on smells in house viewing, baking something is a common tactic that my realtors have told me in the past. They said that bread or cookies should be what is baked because most Americans have nostalgic memories of both of those scents (usually from grandparents, for my generation). Since memory is most strongly linked to scent, you can trigger a stronger emotional and nostalgic response by using a scent associated with pleasant childhood experiences.
@@Sniperboy5551 It is! It's interesting from a psychological viewpoint as well, but also knowing it is done makes me a bit more suspicious if I go view a house and it smells of baking... :D What are they trying to distract me from?!
A naan is supposed to be crispy, if not it becomes stretchy, for that it needs some time with direct flame (even stove flame) and best way is to stick naan on psn with water and after a little rise then invert the pan on flame
Loved the video. This guy keeps you from getting bored without being goofy. I loved every second, even making the nan. I hate watching bread being made, but I liked this. I, too, love Indian and this dish looks to die for. The nan drove me crazy. I always eat it plain (w/o the garlic) but Id be willing to try it this way, just because HE made it. I'll be looking for more of his vids. Thank you for showing me this .
My favorite Indian curry is by a local place near me that makes a curry with the name of "nirvana" in it, so I'd order lamb nirvana since I love lamb curries. I haven't seen it anywhere else offered at the other local restaurants near me, but its flavor and look appears like a mix between a lamb rogan josh and a butter lamb, with the dark color/rich flavor of the former with the creamy buttery goodness and smoothness of the latter.
I'm not really sure when but Tandoori Naan seems recently introduced. Back in 2010's I used to buy Tandoori ROTI from local bakery and they used to be longer( the size of 2 T-N's) and crisp. T-N's were mostly used by hotels dunno why which became popular. Honestly I miss those long and crisp Tandoori Rotis. We try to make them in backyard when we visit village but never get the taste from back then. (Note: I don't hate Tandoori naan but don't eat them much as well.)
Hey, I am a huge fan of your cooking and food review. Just wanted to let you know that I am from India and according to what I've learned from my mum (FYI she is an awesome cook), authentic butter chicken gravy is only made with tomato, cashew & Cream (no onion). While making chicken butter masala you have to use onion along with the other ingredients. Thats one of the primary differences between the 2 authentic gravy. All the Indian chefs recommend to add onion in the gravy to make it a bit economic coz in some seasons, tomato gets really expensive around india. According to the modern twist added to the 2 recipes the only difference left between them is spice level!
Hey! Thank you so much! that is very interesting! I'm sure the recipe also varies from place to place but I would like to visit India one day and taste the cuisine
no egg, no yeast, both not needed. just yogurt is sufficient for naan. even a bit of sour yogurt (not lemon curd😜) that will give a good rise for the dough. instead of pan toasting if you have flame stove there are roti meshes (better than pan toasting) in Indian stores in western countries. or order it online. its very cheap. put it on the flame and rolled naan dough on it toast it for about a few moments and flip, put some finely chopped garlic (you actually need those garlic pieces on the naan when eating for it to be garlic naan), and even some finely chopped coriander. then brush the garlic surface with butter,, then put the naans on a oven sheet and put it in the oven if you have it for 1-2 min on high temp. to roast the naans with garlic and coriander. if no oven put finely chopped garlic and finely chopped coriander into hot (not frothing) butter and mix and brush it on the top side of the roasted naan on the mesh, ( be careful when brushing as it is open flame). ✌
The naan looks decent, it’s a restaurant thing in India and is more thick and with more brown parts. Tandoori chicken is on point and this also is a restaurant thing. The dish we cook at home is somewhat close to Kadhai Chicken at home.
Chef James, I have cast iron pans. When I put them on max heat, they practically burn anything I put in that pan. They're like coming straight from hell itself. But cooking videos always say max heat, like for example cooking a steak. And they are also using cast iron pans. I'm a little confused about the whole thing.
I don't know where he got that, but butter chicken needs the mellow sweetness of onions to offset the sourness of tomatoes. without that you will lose a dimension of flavor that onions bring. usually bottled butter chicken sauce with long shelf lives tend to omit onions for longer preservation of sauce, but when cooking you definitely need onions. just don't brown it, just translucent gives you an authentic mellow ( remember mellow) sweetness not rich sweetness that browned onions gives.
Naan is made in the Tandoor that is why people don’t make it at home cause you can’t. Secondly, I have never ever seen someone add eggs to a naan. No one does this because there is a big vegetarian population in India. Lastly, a common way of fermenting the dough is to use yogurt. Lot of the homes and many restaurants actually make their own yogurt by using the starter from the night before. Adding yogurt to the naan dough will give it the bacteria for some fermentation along with some milk solids and protein that act as replacement of eggs. In many cakes in India, eggs are replaced by milk or condensed milk for the same effect.
11:35 This with a thicker marinade will grill better in "Wonderchef Gas Oven Tandoor", I don't know if you get this type there but this product is a few years old, maybe you will find this near you under a different name. It is made of heavy duty material and is not afraid of high heat assuming a course you keep flipping the meat. It can also do 3 mini naan's if you space them out. 👌
My favorite cuisine is Chinese (Especially the Filipino-Chinese sort). My favorite curry is something they call Kaju Curry, Cashew curry of any kind because it reminds me of Kare-kare which I also love to bits. P.S. - Naan is good and all but I just love rice so much more
This is great! Very interesting to see the instant take on everything without it stopping too much. Typical reaction to Sonny and his arch rival "old refrigerator"! Sonny is really silly, but he's one of my favorites with all his quirks and stuff! He's awesome!
@chefjames, we almost never make any Naan or Tandoori roti at home since the "Tandoor Oven" is not common to have in any houdehold. Typically, its "chapati" or "tawa roti" is what we make regularly at home. Naan is something we have only at restaurants. With respect to the tandoori items, we typically use an OTG oven. Some of us have a small charcoal BBQ that we use to make tandoor items on rare occasions, but its not a regular thing.
Indian chef here. This recipe is pretty good except for one thing. He adds roasted fenugreek seeds to it. This is a no no for butter chicken. Especially if added uncooked like that. It would impart a weird bitter flavor if added raw. Thankfully he uses a very little bit of the fenugreek seeds so probably doesn't change the taste much. What is needed is dried fenugreek leaves.....called kesuri mehti in India.. Kesuri mehti is essential to a good butter chicken. You add some towards the end of cooking. It adds a depth of flavor to the butter chicken ( and other curries) that is noticeable . Love your videos James....you know what you are talking about.
Thank you so much for the information! I would love to learn more about Indian Cuisine! It's one of my favorites but I have never worked in an Indian kitchen. :)
I've never tried curry before. So I can't ay much on that subject. I live in Eastern WA state and I would heat the oven to the lowest and heat it up. Depending on what the lowest temperature was, I would cool it down to 95-105 degrees and put the dough in there to proof. Cut down on the proofing time. In the summer, I would put it on top of the freezer in the back porch and run a big fan to keep the temps to a maximum of 105. Eastern WA gets well over 115 in the summer. I also only did bread at night because the house would be miserable in spite of the AC.
My tip (taught by my dad, thanks dad) that isn't as dangerous as the oil for peeling tomatoes is to freeze them and then, when you need to use them, take them out, wait 5 minutes if it's a big, palm-sized tomato or larger, and then run them under a normal temperature tap. You just press on the tomato skin as if you were trying to open a book and the skin will peel so, SO easily, and no dangerous oil used. Tomatoes also freeze super well, kinda like bell peppers, so you won't loose any significant flavor, especially in a home cooking setting!
I'm British, so I grew up with Indian cuisine and I hadn't heard of 'butter chicken' until a couple of years ago. I had heard of 'murgh makhani' which I suppose is what it is based on or a variation of 'Tika Masala'.
Traditionally, tandoor used to be a community cooking thing. My grandmom owned one, which was stored on our house's terrace. The day before it was brought out for cooking, my grandmom would inform the neighbours so they could prepare their dough. Then all the women would gather around chit-chatting and cooking up heavenly-smelling, smoky, buttery tandoori rotis.
Fenugreek seeds are not used as they make the dish bitter, instead toasted fenugreek leaves are used. To skin tomatoes the technique that I use is to make cuts in them and microwave them for 1 to 2 mins, it makes it very easy to skin them. Naans are never rolled but made and stretched by hand.
When I make a horrible mess on a sheet tray, I don't scrape it for hours. I put a layer of water in it with a few drops of liquid dish soap, then put it in a very low oven, like 250-300F, for 20 minutes. I can scrape that, gently, maybe 10-15 minutes in and pretty much everything comes up with no effort. After the 20 minutes, I turn the oven off and just let everything cool down. Once it is cool enough to handle, then I can wash it by hand with no real effort.
Looked really good, but I question the 'add water' after spending all that time to get rid of it. Wouldn't it be better to use something with some flavor to go back into the tomato paste, like chicken stock, or a sweet white wine.. but perhaps I cook too much itallian. Also was wondering about the mini tomatoes. If the point of the dish is to get some of that char roasted taste, couldn't you toss them in a bit of oil and stick them under the broiler for a bit for that roasted tomato taste or would that be too strong? I think I may have to try this recipe out either way, it looked much more achievable than some of the other ones.
Yes you can roast the tomatoes but the wine is more European haha he was wanting to control the amount of water in the sauce as tomatoes can be very watery, you could also add some milk to thin it.
@@ChefJamesMakinson Thanks for the feed back, figured I was thinking too Italian in my cooking. Even when I make Gumbo... I make the rice that goes with it with the broth like I'm making risotto... Half the time I'm happy with just the rice by time I'm done.
Sonny's a great cook and his butter chicken recipe is good but, to answer your (@ChefJamesMakinson) question about Sonny's claim that "authentic butter chicken doesn't have any onions in it," he's demonstrably wrong. I don't know who told him that (maybe someone at his culinary school who was BSing to look smart) but whoever it was had no idea what they were talking about. Monish Gujral, the grandson of Kundan lal Gujral (inventor of butter chicken), posted his grandfather's original recipe on his website and it absolutely does use onions (YT doesn't allow links, but interested people can Google it): 2 tbsp Oil For the Makhni Sauce 1 Onions chopped For the Makhni Sauce 1 tbsp Red Chili powder For the Makhni Sauce 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste For the Makhni Sauce Salt to taste For the Makhni Sauce 2 tbsp Cashew paste For the Makhni Sauce 1 tbsp Garam masala For the Makhni Sauce 1 tsp Zeera powder For the Makhni Sauce 50 gm Butter For the Makhni Sauce 50 gm Double fresh cream For the Makhni Sauce 1 tsp Dry fenugreek powder(kasoori methi) For the Makhni Sauce 2 Green chili deseeded For the Makhni Sauce 1 tbsp Fresh green coriander chopped For the Makhni Sauce 1 tbsp Fresh cream for garnish For the Makhni Sauce
In India they don't add Yeast nor eggs to make the naans or rotis. Due to religious beliefs. Sonnys version is actually quite a quick version to make the dish, although you don't need to fry the tomato sauce right down you can just use tomato paste mixed with blended tomatoes and add a drop-off food color to get it red. Butter chicken and Any North Indian dishes use a ton of cream, their gravies are rich and thick Compare that to South Indian dishes, their gravies rely on coconut milk and oil, giving the gravies thinner texture and coconut flavour, and they love their chillis. South Indian food especially Tamil Nadu they're food is literally gun powder People in Kerala rely on heavy pepper based gravies Bengal food, they love their mustard oil and paste, gravies are mostly spicy with mustard paste
I learned that vegetables and fruits and bakery products are places near the entrance in (french) supermarkets because of their smell. It helps wakening the sense of hunger in customers so they buy more Your dad used the exact same technique. Awesome :D
I made this recipe a few weeks ago and the one thing I used as an alternative was the bread. I didn't have time. I used a pita bread toasted in a cast iron pan with a cilantro compound butter and it was really good.
Restaurant Indian food is VERY different from traditional Indian home cooking. For a start, there isn't the concept really of a single dish. It's a plate (thaali). The following is usually provided. Note that you RARELY eat any individual Indian dish by itself (except snacks or desserts). A. Roti + Vegetable + Salad/Koshimbir/Yogurt + Pickle B. Rice + Daal (Lentils) C. Rice + Yogurt D. Dessert (only on very special occasions, not every day thing). You may choose to have only A+B (often in north) or A+C (often in south). So: breads like plain roti (what's made at home) or paratha are used to eat the vegetables and also dip into daal. Then, plain white rice is eaten usually with daal (perfect carb+protein combo). People often eat vegetables with the rice+daal, as well. You do not eat anything individually. You are usually combining these elements (including pickle and salad) with the roti/vegetable and the rice/daal. There are other variations in South India that follow single-dish type meals more -- dosa or idli or vadas. Each is eaten with saambhaar (a specific daal dish) and some chutney (usually, coconut chutney). Meat in this scenario would be just another vegetable substitute. Biryani is a rice variation. That's a special dish which might get eaten alone by itself, but most of us eat Roti + Vegetable, then the rice course. Even at festivals, weddings, and other special occasions, there is NEVER just one dish. There will be more like 4-5 courses, and 3-4 types of everything. So butter chicken is not eaten by itself. You will eat either a roti or naan or paratha of some sort (but not stuffed, just plain) with the butter chicken, ala the roti+vegetable course. It will also usually be served with raita (a salad element which consists of yogurt+cucumber most often) and some chutney.
Hola James, que tal? I found this video when I was checking ThatDudeCanCook video about how to fry aubergine, his being a touch to burned for my taste, which I think brings out the bitterness. I'd love you to comment on this because I was challenged by a guy who couldn't stop arguing! By the way, my dear English mum used to fry onions when trying to sell our house near Paris, people visiting would always comment on the lovely smell. Adeu! from the other side of the border 😀
did I understand it right that 5 min in the oven and 3 min in the sauce is enough to cook the chicken? I have made butter chicken before and cooced the chicken much longer in the pan... and I was told to use ghee or clarefied butter for Indian food especially for the first part when he cooks, I onle use regular butter in the end (in this video the last butter that he added) I would love to get your suggestions to improve my butter chicken guys, thanks in advance!
Chef James, just a little correction😊 Indian Chef Ranveer Brar's name is pronounced in India, as "run"veer, not "ran"veer as you say it. As for classic dishes, Paneer (pronounced in India as "pun"neer) grilled dishes in Indian cuisine taste awesome too
Naan is definitely a restaurant thing but my mum did made it sometimes. Chapati is the more common home flatbread. From what I have seen, this recipe while good is not really authentic. You never see egg, and even yeast is very rare. We do proof the dough, but let the natural yeast in the air do it instead ( that is what my mum says at least), though I think using yeast is actually better. It is no vegan because yogurt is often used. Anyway, the best recipe of Naan is by Adam Ragusea, and the improvised tandoor type cooking he used is exactly how my mum does it.
It's common to use double marination for tandoori chicken. First marination with lemon juice and second marination with yogurt. First marination is overnight. Second marination is never more than 30-45 mins. For butter chicken sweetness comes from caramelized onions. If one is using sweeter tomatoes and adds some sugar one can skip on onions.
I’m not a chef, but I am Indian and here’s my 2 cents. Naan made at home isn’t viable for the vast majority of households. It is something we only get at restaurants with tandoor ovens. The way he cooked the naan is actually very similar to how we cook the homemade “alternative” to naan: Chapati. But the batters are completely different. And it’d surprise me if I found out a restaurant uses eggs in their naan recipes. Whether it tastes good or not, I wouldn’t know, I’ll leave that judgement to chefs.
When making nann bread i put garlic puree and corriander into my dough mixture then dry fry them in a pan and batch freeze them ... Once needed add some melted butter before reheating in an oven
10:49, I don't know how it'd turn out, but using egg just feels so, so wrong. And Yeast-ed breads are their own category for us.. this would be called a Khameeri Naan, though to be authentic it'd need to be more leavened. Also, Kahmeeri (yeasted) Roti is more common than Naan.
as weird as that might sound, there's no need to cut out any tendons, veins or silver skin from the chicken breast, especially when you marinate it and slow cook it like this. All those parts will just melt and disappear, I would dare to say even give more flavor to the dish by adding some collagen. Think about it for a second - in the chicken leg/thigh there are so many tendons and sinews there are literally impossible to remove, and that cut of meat is considered better than the breast. Would would you remove the single part of the breast that has that in common?
You can sort of cheat for Naan. Not 'quite' the same but if you have a BBQ. Stick the dough under the lid of your BBQ. As long as it's clean. It sticks and the heat from the BBQ can be turned up and you can just peel it off afterwards. It's not 'as' hot as a tandoori but if you have a blow dryer or something stick it underneath to air into the hot coals and increase the temp. Can get perfect Naan at home. Just make sure it's a good grill. Also, my favorite curry is actually Korma, followed closely by vindaloo. The highly yogurty curry is better than butter chicken imo. I find that a lot of places tend to make butter chicken way too sweet almost like a canned tomato soup level of sweetness.
I love so many cuisines it's hard to pick a favourite, but I definitely love Indian food. I prefer lamb curries to chicken curries and I like a curry that has a bit of heat, but not too extreme. One of my favourite Indian restaurants here in Edinburgh (Scotland) does a traditional pork Vindaloo, which is really tasty and you rarely see pork on an Indian or Bangladeshi restaurant menu, as pork is not something that Hindus or Muslims eat. However, Vindaloo was a dish created in the Goan region of India, which was settled by the Portuguese who converted the locals to Christianity, so pork was allowed. It's based on a traditional Portuguese dish which involved pork and vinegar along with other ingredients and was called Vinha De Alhos (which phonetically would sound like vinyadalo). The locals added all sorts of spices to it and transformed it into something altogether more tasty and over time the name was bastardised into vindaloo.
I made butter chicken based on Sonny's recipe and process here. It came out GREAT! I think he's right about the onions (or the lack thereof). I also use his chicken tikka masala recipe which is also great! I use chicken thighs for both, though. For the chili I used a serrano (or two).
I have cooked many variations of butter chicken at home and this one is actually my favorite. It's simple, its easy, it might take some time but that result is very much worth it. I just don't add cinnamon, cause personally I hate cinnamon smell and taste in anything, but I didn't know there are multiple types of cinnamon. Its fairly hard to buy it here if we talking a whole stick and not powder (which cant be fished out later), but if I find the thinner version I will definitely try it, thanks for that tip.
My favourite Indian is probably something you've never eaten. It's called "galho" and it's from Nagaland in the northeast (why my mother is from). Its basically a rice porridge with either pork or chicken and greens. Spicing is all fresh...crushed ginger (naga ginger is smaller and hotter than regular ginger), naga rajah mirchi (king chili). Some people add garlic. But really you need khuvieh...something I've only tasted in nagaland...sort of a spring onion with a garlicky flavour. And Zatti...stinky fermented soy beans. Smells like boiled week old socks. Tastes delicious...
My favorite Curry recipe is a South African Cape Malaysian/Indian curry called Bobotie. It has lots of flavour and works well for a main dish or even finger food.
I have a question, Chef James. Is there such a dish as Spanish meatballs? Maybe there is and it's nothing like what my parents used to make, but I wanted to tell you about this dish from my childhood because I'd always had the sneaking suspicion that they were making it up. In summary, it was a beef and pork meatball mixture wrapped around a soft boiled egg (like a scotch egg) and brought to temp in a tomato "gravy" with green pepper. Spice in our house was very mild. It was served with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. I haven't made it as an adult, but I think I'd replace the potatoes with seasoned rice. In our house as kids, dinner wasn't good or bad, it was just time to eat. Now I'm curious about your thoughts about this dish, or what authentic Spanish meatballs might look like in comparison since you actually cook in Spain (Could it really be a Mexican dish?). Thanks!
Yes, they are albondigas normally with a salsa. it is very common to see them here and they can be delicious! It may have been influenced by the Moors (kefta) like with the rice.
My favorite cuisine is hands down Mexican, you really cant go wrong! I am a very adventurous eater so i am down for pretty much anything but i can never say no to some authentic Mexican cooking. As for the curry, that one is harder... I do love a good Jalfrezi or Vindaloo and Tikka Masala is really good too. Its hard to pick, it really depends my mood at the time lol. I would also like to say how much i love that he added a substitute for those of us that taste soap when we eat cilantro. Man i wish i didn't but it absolutely ruins food when people cook for me and i hate pretending that i like it or making them feel bad for adding it when they like it...
Be sure to check out our other Butter Chicken Reviews!
Joshua's TANDOORI Chicken: th-cam.com/video/BW34dx29bGI/w-d-xo.html
Chef Ranveer's Delicious Butter Chicken: th-cam.com/video/o12bFLyuYo4/w-d-xo.html
Matty Matheson's Butter Chicken: th-cam.com/video/YgnIivJlP1U/w-d-xo.html
YourFoodLab Butter Chicken: th-cam.com/video/Z8IGVM3OEhM/w-d-xo.html
Jamie's No Butter, Butter Chicken: th-cam.com/video/0mjZU4AkQ3E/w-d-xo.html
Jamie's No.2 Better, Butter Chicken: th-cam.com/video/FwKjiZMX-bM/w-d-xo.html
Plus smell is the only sense that wires directly into the higher brain centres. All the other senses route through the reptilian core then the primordial mammalian functions. So smell is much more tightly tied to emption and memory.
18:45 was such useful information! So that's whats happened to some sauces I've made!
@@antlerman7644 he is such a good source of cooking, his chicken work is god tier... sgt pepper LETS GOOOOOO
React to Pakistan’s mutton karahi
React to Pakistan’s pulao recipe
Well, to answer James' question - Naan is definitely a restaurant thing. People who like to cook at home and learn by trying new things will try these at home, but because a proper naan requires a tandoor oven, you'll never get that proper feel at home. But, coming to a slightly more important reasoning now - butter chicken itself isn't a dish people regularly make at home. And this trend isn't specific to butter chicken, but rather all those rich creamy gravies(or curries), or tandoor dishes, that are very commonly bought at Indian restaurants in western countries tend to be a part of what is considered as "restaurant food", i.e. stuff that you mostly either order in or go out to eat. The food that is prepared in homes across India tends to be very different from what you would find in a restaurant menu, and usually is mostly lighter and healthier food. You're more likely to find potatoes, gourds, beans, carrots, wilted greens, peas, lentils, etc along with plain steamed rice, vegetable pulao, or flatbreads like chapati or paratha. These items tend to not be attractive to Indian customers at an expensive restaurant, so there the menu has to adapt to the desire to eat food that has stronger spices and a rich texture.
They make naan in clay pots in third world countries
If u think a real tandoor naan and a home naan is the same thing u have problems ....i am indian and i cant cook it like a real tandoor and i have 20 years of experience
Thank you my friend
@RonniBeier the original comment was talking about from the perspective of people living in India
@@jwanilpatel3223 Both my father and myself have worked with a lot of Indians and my Dad traveled there regularly. You don't have to be Indian to know there is a big difference if there is no tandoor. The food I've had in Indian homes has also been as avvalijain3430 says, lighter and more vegetable oriented, although it depends on where people are from. Indian food has infinite diversity.
Him beating the fridge is his weird ass signature, he will be the first to die in the robot uprising 😂
Naan is totally a restaurant thing, unless you really go an extra mile and make it at home, which is rare. As for adding egg or yeast, you can add those, but if I'm not mistaken, we don't add either of them for naan here.
The recipe I make contains baking soda and powder. And the technique I use is that I add water at the base of the naan after rolling it, make sure the tawa (pan) is smoking hot, and stick the naan to it, then flip the entire pan upside down and cook it slowly on the fire. After that I flip it again, remove from the pan and light char the base, literally 5-10 seconds, and then brush it with garlic coriander butter/ghee.
Great reaction as always!
Thank you! I can see it being a bit of a pain to make at home
I just buy if from an Indian store. The owner makes them and you can just warm them up.
@@ChefJamesMakinson Yes it is a lot of pain (bread) to make at home :D :P
@@djoetmathose are horrible.
@@djoetmastore bought is awful no matter where you get it from
About the onion, a friend of mine was a chef in India for 37 years and he says that this guy is correct.
Originally there's no onion in it.
Only the last 15 years or so people added it to the dish.
For the rest of his methods used my friend said it's very close to authentic and he had no complaints at all. Especially the sauce looked amazing and he would serve thet in his restaurant for sure if it tastes as good as it looks.
He does complain a lot about other Indian chefs on TH-cam claim to make authentic butter chicken saying they're just Ramseying it up. Meaning they make it more fancy like Gordon ramsey tends todo with his dishes.
My friend said hes gonna follew this method exactly on Monday and give me some.
Really excited.
Please share more about him he sounds awesome man
Hi James, love your videos. I am not a professional chef but a foodie from India. I love how non-vulgar your reviews are and it’s hard to find these days with comedians doing food reviews. Especially love when you review Ranveer or YFL. My favorite channels. Regarding some questions in your video:
1. Yes, we don’t usually make naans at home. They cost like $0.5 in normal restaurants and $1.25 in fancy ones.
2. The naans in this video look a bit undercooked and I guess would be a bit rubbery when tried. Normally naans are softer than tandoori roti but still are cooked properly.
Hi! Thank you very much! I try to keep things clean. I love naan and normally order when I eat out but since I don't have a tandoor I don't really want to make it at home as it is not the same thing.
@@ChefJamesMakinson definitely its not the same thing, tried making it once dunno what it was, maybe more of a wheat pizza base or something
@@ChefJamesMakinson You can definitely make it at home using the above recipe that involves sticking the naan using water and roasting over flame, this mimics the effect that tandoor gives to the naan. One thing to note that it does not use any oil while cooking.
PS: We've tried it at home and it comes close, but it is a hassle to make and uses maida (refined flour) so we tend to avoid it
yes it works made it during the lock down butis a lot of work.@@anshusrivastava6768
Yes, in every household in India, we usually make Roti(Chapati) on a daily basis(Almost). Firstly tandoor takes up a large space and is very hot so it's rare to have a tandoor in an Indian house. So it is not feasible for a person in a household to stand in such heat. Plus rotis are easier and faster to make, and Indian people live in a big family. So they can provide hot rotis instantly instead of waiting for a nan while they have already started eating. And this guy naan was more like a paratha than a nan. Nan is usually a bit fluffier and thick.
very good to know! I would love to learn more about Indian cuisine!
I have finally learned how to spell the words my mom says. Thank you good sir.
North India*
South India more rice than wheat
Also north east more rice than wheat
@@shreeramhegde Second that, Eastern India too mostly rice over roti/chapati.
But all else is true
@@shreeramhegde true, also in north east bamboo and sticky rice are commonly used in cuisine
Sonny’s a great guy. Cooked a few of his dishes and never been disappointed.
10:49 for naan , as an Indian cook , I would recommend you to search for a process called " khameer" this the only thing we do here . No yeast , no eggs. Although eggs and yeast looks pretty convenient yet we don't do it here . Secondly when we cook butter chicken or any other dish that requires naan we simply go out and generally at every corner there's a home kitchen where there's tandoor type food corner from where we just go and give money and say pack few naans and in 5 minutes or less we take the naan back and serve .
Between you and Ethan Chlebowski, I am loving all the inspiration and tricks for cooking at home! I've been looking for a good naan recipe for ages too. Thank you!
Awesome! Thank you! Ethan does do a great job!
Well, with a name like Chlebowski he was bound to be a good cook!
@@ChefJamesMakinson plz check him out some time.
First time seeing this guy. Thanks, Chef James! When i lived in LA there was a small Indian place up the street. It was really small, like a family place. I have no idea what anything was called, i just pointed to it and got a giant portion. It was SOOO good oh my god!!! With warm home made naan. Oh i miss that place. ❤ Looking forward to the egg fried rice video!!
😂 it can be difficult to find a good Indian restaurant! me too! :)
Sonny is great fun to watch.
Roti is a much more common and staple food in Indian households than Naan. It is also a much healthier option as Naan is usually made of maida (refined flour) to give them that special texture while household rotis are made of whole wheat flour.
😉
Got news for you atta is loosely translated as whole wheat flour but it is not really whole wheat flour. There's very little difference between atta and maida.
@@70newlife That is not really true, atta is definitely whole wheat flour, I have seen it being made
@@70newlifea lot of Indians do make their own atta(from farms to plates) and it's definitely whole wheat. We even mix a few more grains together to make it more healthier.
Yeah usually in pakistan and india we use roti instead of naan in our homes.
Roti is basically like a flatbread more akin to a crepe made of wheat or corn flour.
Very interesting! I would have thought naan was more common at home
@@ChefJamesMakinson It's usually eaten in restaurants or when you have guests over
@@ChefJamesMakinson No one eats Nan at home in India. It is always roti at home and nan in the restaurant.
More akin to tortilla than crepe
@@anoopsachdev5772 I eat naan at home... but it can't really be called naan lmao. it's good enough tho. goes really well with chili chicken (indo-chinese version).
I make naan at home with my mom, but I think it’s more common to have roti. Roti is pretty much flat and does not use yeast and does not contain egg while naan is fluffy because of the yeast. My mom taught me the vegan version of Naan though. The friend that taught her was vegetarian and my mom didn’t want to use up precious eggs.
that's what a lot of people say! I think Chef Ranveer has a vegan recipe for naan, I will have to see it!
Vegan naan: Vegaaan. hahaha
I'll see myself out, guys...
@@Maplecook
Indians generally make it vegan, mate.
@@AdityaWaghmare I just couldn't resist the pun! haha
btw, yeast is vegan
If marination only needs 10mins, we are doing some magic sorcery here in this world
😂 hahaha
😂, just a top notch comment
@@apurvpr 😂😂😂 if its not sorcery and magic, i dont know which world im living that could marinate food for 10 mins
@@HoshikoStarz i shared a screen capture of your comment with my family and they are laughing from last 1 hour 😂
@@apurvpr 😂😂😂
You should review more of Sonny’s videos. Sonny is very legit no nonsense with his presentation giving insight as to why you should or shouldn’t do this or that so he has earned my sub. He did a Biryani video recently so that video may be worth a review.
I want to! he seem like a very cool guy! He remides me of a good friend that I used to work with in Barcelona.
This is awesome. Sonny is really good. He is very watchable but the thing that I like is that he has a great grasp on technique. As I get older I find that I can find any recipe/list of ingredients on the internet but it is sometimes difficult to get the different techniques from the recipe card.
When I cook chicken in that style, I use the toaster oven on the highest rack and just use the "toast" setting. It mimics the salamander I used in restaurants better than anything else in a home kitchen to get those little toasty bits, and it's a lot more efficient than heating up the main oven.
Sonny's videos are great! I like his energy in the kitchen and I've definitely just binged his videos in the past as entertainment 😂 And he seems to know what he's doing in the kitchen as well 😁
He does and you can tell when someone has experience or not!
@@ChefJamesMakinson Also the hitting the fridge is his thing. Ever heard the saying "taste so good it make you wanna smack your mama?" well he beats up the fridge lol
He's crazy! In a good way!
@@mowas8620James’s reaction makes it better from confusion to entertained
Sonny is the best. Once you start watching him you can't stop. You will also start to better understand his refrigerator rage, which goes back to his days in Colorado (he now lives in Austin).
I think he's got it kinda the opposite way around.
The chicken tikka masala that is considered the national dish of England would be made like this, cause it was invented in England and they add the chiken tikka that is grill in a tandoor into an almost tomato soup kind of sauce which has no onions.
Butter chicken does have onions in it, at least in india, but when we make tikka masala in india, that sauce is way more punchy.
Butter chicken is the rich makhani sauce with tandoori chicken
And Tikka masala is a strong and spicy makhani sauce with tandoori chicken, and it's heavier on the smokyness.
The word makhani means buttery, so butter is central to both the sauces.
hmmm. 🤔 I thought it was with butter chicken. I like tikka masala but it always to mild for me I normally order the vindaloo.
@@ChefJamesMakinson vindaloo is too spicy 🥵
@@ChefJamesMakinson I always order (and make myself) vindaloo as well, but very rarely can I get a place to make it spicy enough for me. I almost always have to do that myself. I was a service industry GM, so I can understand their fear of making it too spicy and ending up with wasted product, the enemy of all margins. 👍🏻
@ChefJamesMakinson I just had lamb vindaloo last night. It’s pretty spicy, but it’s so delicious. The fact that you normally order vindaloo gives you even more credibility in my book 😉
Um, wasn't tikka masala made in Scotland?
Great video- I love these cooking reviews that you do. You mentioned quick peeling tomatoes by dropping them in the deep fryer. Another option is to just drop them into a pot of boiling water briefly and then put them in an ice bath. It works very well and is more convenient for the home cook. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! yes I was explaining what we do in the kitchen because the fryers are already hot so instead of getting a pot of water on and waiting for it to come up to a boil you drop them in a fryer
I've made this recipe (except the naan part) about 3 times now and have made a few changes each time. I've loved each batch I've made of it since the first one.
very good to hear! :)
What changes did you do?
@@SandeepSinghMango Ended up removing turmeric from the chicken marinade (saw it in a few other recipes that it didn't call for it) and then instead of cashews I've used cashew butter. The time I used whole cashews they didn't blend well into the sauce I felt and even after straining it felt grainy
2 of my favorite cooking channels coming together. Wonderful.
For naan recipes Adam Ragusea has a couple of them which are very interesting. I still haven't tried them, but the tawa style seems very interesting for getting the tandoor oven treatment with just a cast iron pan. Kenji also has one in a pizza oven.
I will have to see it!
Adam's vid is fantastic and his trick with the cast iron makes amazing naan at home.:)
Yeah those tens of thousands pakistani videos by pakistani home cooks both in Pakistan as well as abroad are totally useless but some white guy becomes the go to expert😂😂
Pakistan where it's more common for people to eat Tandoor roti or naan brought from tandoor around the street corner than India where eating naan at home is pretty much nonexistent.
You know it's 2023 we have something called internet, google, TH-cam etc
I've never had indian cuisine, but theres a Curry based dish in my home country Ecuador which is called "Encocado" which is usually named after what it is accompanied with such as "Encocado de camarón" which is coconut based curry with shrimp or "Encocado de cangrejo", same with crab. Its an absolute delicacy.
Hallo fellow nieces and nephews, hi nephew james 🫠
Hey!
You're not Uncle Roger......please stop creepy.
Hi, James. Love the use of the word 'bloody'! My favourite curry is Goan Fish curry. There are some Ghurka restaurants/takeaways near where I live that do them really well if you know the owners; their Lamb Momos are phenomenal.
Until I worked with a chef from Bangladesh, I didn't even know that Vindaloo means wine and potatoes - duh!
Great post as always 👍.
Thank you! haha
@@ChefJamesMakinson Definitely picked that up from your UK side!!
You're incredible as always, Chef James. We will always support you no matter what.
Thank you so much!!
Yep, I agree.
The Butter Chicken gravy looks good enough, even if it’s not very traditional but the garlic naan I am sceptical about. For one, the cooking process doesn’t seem to be enough to cook it through properly, it seems to have marks on the outside but doesn’t seem to be cooked through properly and I am definitely not convinced about the egg. Vegetarians in India commonly have naan and nowhere in India do we ever need to clarify from the waiter if it has egg in it or not. And since you asked, yes, naan in India is not a common household dish, simply because there is a massive difference between naan cooked in the tandoor and one cooked without it. We have different types of flatbreads that we make in Indian homes commonly but naan is not one of them. It’s an extremely popular thing to eat at restaurants though. It needs a lot of skill. A good Naan is supposed to be flaky, light, and slightly stretchy though not chewy; which is impossible to get at home on a pan.
good to know! :)
Chef James that was a great video I enjoyed it and it's very detailed which is helpful for someone who's not used to preparing Indian cuisine.
Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
It's so nice when this little boy gives an approving nod!
I feel so good for the one he's reviewing!!
I haven't attempted Indian curry, I do make a Thai curry with tofu fried in bacon fat. I think my favorite Indian curry is Vindaloo, and that's probably because the character, Lister, always ate it on Red Dwarf.
🤣
@@ChefJamesMakinson This is gonna be a bit of an awkward story. Years ago when i was getting tv dinners delivered to me (insurance paid due to me being disabled) i usually ended up with one that claimed to be a Thai curry. It was a processed chicken patty with julienned carrots in some kind of light yellowish sauce that tasted kind of sweet. don't know if that is an authentic dish or not. But it was rather tasty.
Our naan does not have eggs. The main reason is that a considerable population is vegetarian and naan is a neutral kinda bread that goes with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.
Also I noted that he did not fry the garlic before putting it into the butter... That is also not common... Usually the garlic is fried in some butter to make it aromatic.
Or sometimes, garlic is infused in the dough itself.(then we have a choice of buttered and unbuttered garlic naan.
Also one near trick to make naan at home is apply some water to the bottom of the rolled out dough and stick. it to the pan. Once it rises, you flip the entire pan so that the top of the naan faces the flame. This gives a char and the tandoor feel to homemade naan.
🤔 I would love to learn more about Indian cuisine!
Sure, ask away. I'm pretty sure even if I'm not able to answer, someone else will be. We are proud of our food and culture. So we're usually super happy to help you with things🫂
You should definitely review some street food from India as it’s very popular here like pani puri, vada pav, and pav bhaji. We would love to see that and hear your thoughts.
I would love too! but I need to find some good videos to review that have English subtitles at least
A smoker that uses actual wood (not a pellet smoker) is a pretty decent substitute for a tandoori oven. It won't quite get as hot or at least I haven't succeeded in getting it to 900f (at least not in the main chamber where I actually cook), but it'll still cook pretty well. It feels a bit wrong letting my smoker get to such a high temperature though compared to how I usually use it but the smoke flavor is pretty great.
I'm too cowardly to do the tomato frying trick. If those babies pop you're in quite some trouble. Hot oil and tomato juice.... Those frying burns aren't fun. Especially around the eyes. Nope, no thanks. I'll opt for the extra fibre from the tomatoe skin instead of sacrificing my own again. (The luxuries of a home cook 😊)
yeah I got hit a few times and it is not fun!
Yup, naan is a restaurant thing. At home, it'd be chapattis - which are just whole wheat flour, oil, water, and maybe a bit of salt. Home cooking isn't supposed to take this long!
A quick version of the butter chicken recipe that I whip up quite frequently (2-4 times a month).
Marinate chicken in ginger-garlic, salt, pepper, and yogurt. Stir fry until almost cooked, set aside.
For the sauce, simply boil the ingredients - tomatoes, ginger, garlic, cashews, and whole dried red chilies (Kashmiri if you have them). Boil for about 30 mins, then cool and puree.
Dry roast whole spices - cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, red chilies (optional), cloves, and whole peppercorns. Grind into a powder, and set aside.
Heat fenugreek leaves in the microwave for 10 seconds, and crush them into a powder.
Add the pureed sauce into a deep container, put in the spice-fenugreek powder mix, and bring to a boil.
Add the chicken, more butter (optional), and sugar/salt to adjust its flavor.
Voila, a 45-minute version of butter chicken.
You can make extra sauce and spice mix, and use it with other substitutes (paneer, stir-fried vegetables, or tofu). It's quite versatile!
And NO ONIONS! It lends a strange flavor, IMO.
I love how confidently he said there is no onion in the authentic recipe.🤣🤣
Because he's right.
It was mostly added the last 15 years or so
There isn’t
Excellent! I recently discovered this guy, plan to look into his stuff.
As a side note on smells in house viewing, baking something is a common tactic that my realtors have told me in the past. They said that bread or cookies should be what is baked because most Americans have nostalgic memories of both of those scents (usually from grandparents, for my generation). Since memory is most strongly linked to scent, you can trigger a stronger emotional and nostalgic response by using a scent associated with pleasant childhood experiences.
I was so happy that James included that anecdote in this video. I’ve heard of that tactic before, it’s brilliant.
@@Sniperboy5551 It is! It's interesting from a psychological viewpoint as well, but also knowing it is done makes me a bit more suspicious if I go view a house and it smells of baking... :D What are they trying to distract me from?!
So that explains why every house viewing I’ve been to smells like that
it works too! :)
cookies are another good one! :)
I like that you are doing more deep commentary on this "reacts" video. Thanks for your advice!
I'm glad to hear!
Once again requesting react to Asmongold $2 steak. It's a gift to the world.
vale!
its disgusting 😂 i dont understand how the dude is still alive
A naan is supposed to be crispy, if not it becomes stretchy, for that it needs some time with direct flame (even stove flame) and best way is to stick naan on psn with water and after a little rise then invert the pan on flame
Loved the video. This guy keeps you from getting bored without being goofy. I loved every second, even making the nan. I hate watching bread being made, but I liked this. I, too, love Indian and this dish looks to die for. The nan drove me crazy. I always eat it plain (w/o the garlic) but Id be willing to try it this way, just because HE made it. I'll be looking for more of his vids. Thank you for showing me this .
I like his style as well!
My favorite Indian curry is by a local place near me that makes a curry with the name of "nirvana" in it, so I'd order lamb nirvana since I love lamb curries. I haven't seen it anywhere else offered at the other local restaurants near me, but its flavor and look appears like a mix between a lamb rogan josh and a butter lamb, with the dark color/rich flavor of the former with the creamy buttery goodness and smoothness of the latter.
I'm not really sure when but Tandoori Naan seems recently introduced. Back in 2010's I used to buy Tandoori ROTI from local bakery and they used to be longer( the size of 2 T-N's) and crisp. T-N's were mostly used by hotels dunno why which became popular. Honestly I miss those long and crisp Tandoori Rotis.
We try to make them in backyard when we visit village but never get the taste from back then.
(Note: I don't hate Tandoori naan but don't eat them much as well.)
Hey, I am a huge fan of your cooking and food review. Just wanted to let you know that I am from India and according to what I've learned from my mum (FYI she is an awesome cook), authentic butter chicken gravy is only made with tomato, cashew & Cream (no onion). While making chicken butter masala you have to use onion along with the other ingredients. Thats one of the primary differences between the 2 authentic gravy.
All the Indian chefs recommend to add onion in the gravy to make it a bit economic coz in some seasons, tomato gets really expensive around india.
According to the modern twist added to the 2 recipes the only difference left between them is spice level!
Hey! Thank you so much! that is very interesting! I'm sure the recipe also varies from place to place but I would like to visit India one day and taste the cuisine
no egg, no yeast, both not needed. just yogurt is sufficient for naan. even a bit of sour yogurt (not lemon curd😜) that will give a good rise for the dough. instead of pan toasting if you have flame stove there are roti meshes (better than pan toasting) in Indian stores in western countries. or order it online. its very cheap. put it on the flame and rolled naan dough on it toast it for about a few moments and flip, put some finely chopped garlic (you actually need those garlic pieces on the naan when eating for it to be garlic naan), and even some finely chopped coriander. then brush the garlic surface with butter,, then put the naans on a oven sheet and put it in the oven if you have it for 1-2 min on high temp. to roast the naans with garlic and coriander. if no oven put finely chopped garlic and finely chopped coriander into hot (not frothing) butter and mix and brush it on the top side of the roasted naan on the mesh, ( be careful when brushing as it is open flame). ✌
The naan looks decent, it’s a restaurant thing in India and is more thick and with more brown parts. Tandoori chicken is on point and this also is a restaurant thing.
The dish we cook at home is somewhat close to Kadhai Chicken at home.
Chef James, I have cast iron pans. When I put them on max heat, they practically burn anything I put in that pan. They're like coming straight from hell itself. But cooking videos always say max heat, like for example cooking a steak. And they are also using cast iron pans.
I'm a little confused about the whole thing.
I don't know where he got that, but butter chicken needs the mellow sweetness of onions to offset the sourness of tomatoes. without that you will lose a dimension of flavor that onions bring. usually bottled butter chicken sauce with long shelf lives tend to omit onions for longer preservation of sauce, but when cooking you definitely need onions. just don't brown it, just translucent gives you an authentic mellow ( remember mellow) sweetness not rich sweetness that browned onions gives.
Naan is made in the Tandoor that is why people don’t make it at home cause you can’t. Secondly, I have never ever seen someone add eggs to a naan. No one does this because there is a big vegetarian population in India. Lastly, a common way of fermenting the dough is to use yogurt. Lot of the homes and many restaurants actually make their own yogurt by using the starter from the night before. Adding yogurt to the naan dough will give it the bacteria for some fermentation along with some milk solids and protein that act as replacement of eggs. In many cakes in India, eggs are replaced by milk or condensed milk for the same effect.
That's what I thought! :)
11:35 This with a thicker marinade will grill better in "Wonderchef Gas Oven Tandoor", I don't know if you get this type there but this product is a few years old, maybe you will find this near you under a different name. It is made of heavy duty material and is not afraid of high heat assuming a course you keep flipping the meat. It can also do 3 mini naan's if you space them out. 👌
My oven broke while the supply chain problems were in full effect so we had to buy a mediocre stove. So I'm dealing with it until I can't anymore.
😂
I stopped cooking professionally decades ago. When did we stop scoring and blanching tomatoes in water to remove the peels?
When you have 1k or more cherry tomatoes and 10 mins to peel all of them. Normal size tomatoes is still the old way
My favorite cuisine is Chinese (Especially the Filipino-Chinese sort). My favorite curry is something they call Kaju Curry, Cashew curry of any kind because it reminds me of Kare-kare which I also love to bits.
P.S. - Naan is good and all but I just love rice so much more
This is great! Very interesting to see the instant take on everything without it stopping too much. Typical reaction to Sonny and his arch rival "old refrigerator"! Sonny is really silly, but he's one of my favorites with all his quirks and stuff! He's awesome!
@chefjames, we almost never make any Naan or Tandoori roti at home since the "Tandoor Oven" is not common to have in any houdehold. Typically, its "chapati" or "tawa roti" is what we make regularly at home. Naan is something we have only at restaurants.
With respect to the tandoori items, we typically use an OTG oven. Some of us have a small charcoal BBQ that we use to make tandoor items on rare occasions, but its not a regular thing.
Indian chef here. This recipe is pretty good except for one thing. He adds roasted fenugreek seeds to it. This is a no no for butter chicken. Especially if added uncooked like that. It would impart a weird bitter flavor if added raw. Thankfully he uses a very little bit of the fenugreek seeds so probably doesn't change the taste much. What is needed is dried fenugreek leaves.....called kesuri mehti in India.. Kesuri mehti is essential to a good butter chicken. You add some towards the end of cooking. It adds a depth of flavor to the butter chicken ( and other curries) that is noticeable . Love your videos James....you know what you are talking about.
Thank you so much for the information! I would love to learn more about Indian Cuisine! It's one of my favorites but I have never worked in an Indian kitchen. :)
I've never tried curry before. So I can't ay much on that subject.
I live in Eastern WA state and I would heat the oven to the lowest and heat it up. Depending on what the lowest temperature was, I would cool it down to 95-105 degrees and put the dough in there to proof. Cut down on the proofing time. In the summer, I would put it on top of the freezer in the back porch and run a big fan to keep the temps to a maximum of 105. Eastern WA gets well over 115 in the summer. I also only did bread at night because the house would be miserable in spite of the AC.
My mom just moved to Eastern WA I haven't been yet! not all curry is the same but you should try one when you can!
My tip (taught by my dad, thanks dad) that isn't as dangerous as the oil for peeling tomatoes is to freeze them and then, when you need to use them, take them out, wait 5 minutes if it's a big, palm-sized tomato or larger, and then run them under a normal temperature tap. You just press on the tomato skin as if you were trying to open a book and the skin will peel so, SO easily, and no dangerous oil used.
Tomatoes also freeze super well, kinda like bell peppers, so you won't loose any significant flavor, especially in a home cooking setting!
😉
I'm British, so I grew up with Indian cuisine and I hadn't heard of 'butter chicken' until a couple of years ago. I had heard of 'murgh makhani' which I suppose is what it is based on or a variation of 'Tika Masala'.
Traditionally, tandoor used to be a community cooking thing. My grandmom owned one, which was stored on our house's terrace. The day before it was brought out for cooking, my grandmom would inform the neighbours so they could prepare their dough. Then all the women would gather around chit-chatting and cooking up heavenly-smelling, smoky, buttery tandoori rotis.
they have the same thing in Morocco, using community ovens to bake
Fenugreek seeds are not used as they make the dish bitter, instead toasted fenugreek leaves are used. To skin tomatoes the technique that I use is to make cuts in them and microwave them for 1 to 2 mins, it makes it very easy to skin them. Naans are never rolled but made and stretched by hand.
😉
I’m so curious. Does anyone know the name of that tool that he used to grate the ginger and garlic?
🤔
When I make a horrible mess on a sheet tray, I don't scrape it for hours. I put a layer of water in it with a few drops of liquid dish soap, then put it in a very low oven, like 250-300F, for 20 minutes. I can scrape that, gently, maybe 10-15 minutes in and pretty much everything comes up with no effort. After the 20 minutes, I turn the oven off and just let everything cool down. Once it is cool enough to handle, then I can wash it by hand with no real effort.
there are tricks but using paper or foil can help with the mess
we don't cook naan as it need tandoor , we eat roti paratha's as bread over naan normally.. naan is restraunt mostly
Looked really good, but I question the 'add water' after spending all that time to get rid of it. Wouldn't it be better to use something with some flavor to go back into the tomato paste, like chicken stock, or a sweet white wine.. but perhaps I cook too much itallian.
Also was wondering about the mini tomatoes. If the point of the dish is to get some of that char roasted taste, couldn't you toss them in a bit of oil and stick them under the broiler for a bit for that roasted tomato taste or would that be too strong?
I think I may have to try this recipe out either way, it looked much more achievable than some of the other ones.
Yes you can roast the tomatoes but the wine is more European haha he was wanting to control the amount of water in the sauce as tomatoes can be very watery, you could also add some milk to thin it.
@@ChefJamesMakinson Thanks for the feed back, figured I was thinking too Italian in my cooking. Even when I make Gumbo... I make the rice that goes with it with the broth like I'm making risotto... Half the time I'm happy with just the rice by time I'm done.
Sonny's a great cook and his butter chicken recipe is good but, to answer your (@ChefJamesMakinson) question about Sonny's claim that "authentic butter chicken doesn't have any onions in it," he's demonstrably wrong. I don't know who told him that (maybe someone at his culinary school who was BSing to look smart) but whoever it was had no idea what they were talking about. Monish Gujral, the grandson of Kundan lal Gujral (inventor of butter chicken), posted his grandfather's original recipe on his website and it absolutely does use onions (YT doesn't allow links, but interested people can Google it):
2 tbsp Oil For the Makhni Sauce
1 Onions chopped For the Makhni Sauce
1 tbsp Red Chili powder For the Makhni Sauce
1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste For the Makhni Sauce
Salt to taste For the Makhni Sauce
2 tbsp Cashew paste For the Makhni Sauce
1 tbsp Garam masala For the Makhni Sauce
1 tsp Zeera powder For the Makhni Sauce
50 gm Butter For the Makhni Sauce
50 gm Double fresh cream For the Makhni Sauce
1 tsp Dry fenugreek powder(kasoori methi) For the Makhni Sauce
2 Green chili deseeded For the Makhni Sauce
1 tbsp Fresh green coriander chopped For the Makhni Sauce
1 tbsp Fresh cream for garnish For the Makhni Sauce
In India they don't add Yeast nor eggs to make the naans or rotis.
Due to religious beliefs.
Sonnys version is actually quite a quick version to make the dish, although you don't need to fry the tomato sauce right down you can just use tomato paste mixed with blended tomatoes and add a drop-off food color to get it red.
Butter chicken and Any North Indian dishes use a ton of cream, their gravies are rich and thick
Compare that to South Indian dishes, their gravies rely on coconut milk and oil, giving the gravies thinner texture and coconut flavour, and they love their chillis.
South Indian food especially Tamil Nadu they're food is literally gun powder
People in Kerala rely on heavy pepper based gravies Bengal food, they love their mustard oil and paste, gravies are mostly spicy with mustard paste
Very interesting! I will have to make this for a video!
I learned that vegetables and fruits and bakery products are places near the entrance in (french) supermarkets because of their smell. It helps wakening the sense of hunger in customers so they buy more
Your dad used the exact same technique. Awesome :D
😉
I made this recipe a few weeks ago and the one thing I used as an alternative was the bread. I didn't have time. I used a pita bread toasted in a cast iron pan with a cilantro compound butter and it was really good.
Restaurant Indian food is VERY different from traditional Indian home cooking. For a start, there isn't the concept really of a single dish. It's a plate (thaali). The following is usually provided. Note that you RARELY eat any individual Indian dish by itself (except snacks or desserts).
A. Roti + Vegetable + Salad/Koshimbir/Yogurt + Pickle
B. Rice + Daal (Lentils)
C. Rice + Yogurt
D. Dessert (only on very special occasions, not every day thing).
You may choose to have only A+B (often in north) or A+C (often in south).
So: breads like plain roti (what's made at home) or paratha are used to eat the vegetables and also dip into daal.
Then, plain white rice is eaten usually with daal (perfect carb+protein combo). People often eat vegetables with the rice+daal, as well.
You do not eat anything individually. You are usually combining these elements (including pickle and salad) with the roti/vegetable and the rice/daal.
There are other variations in South India that follow single-dish type meals more -- dosa or idli or vadas. Each is eaten with saambhaar (a specific daal dish) and some chutney (usually, coconut chutney).
Meat in this scenario would be just another vegetable substitute.
Biryani is a rice variation. That's a special dish which might get eaten alone by itself, but most of us eat Roti + Vegetable, then the rice course.
Even at festivals, weddings, and other special occasions, there is NEVER just one dish. There will be more like 4-5 courses, and 3-4 types of everything.
So butter chicken is not eaten by itself. You will eat either a roti or naan or paratha of some sort (but not stuffed, just plain) with the butter chicken, ala the roti+vegetable course. It will also usually be served with raita (a salad element which consists of yogurt+cucumber most often) and some chutney.
Hola James, que tal? I found this video when I was checking ThatDudeCanCook video about how to fry aubergine, his being a touch to burned for my taste, which I think brings out the bitterness. I'd love you to comment on this because I was challenged by a guy who couldn't stop arguing! By the way, my dear English mum used to fry onions when trying to sell our house near Paris, people visiting would always comment on the lovely smell. Adeu! from the other side of the border 😀
My Fav Indian curry, butter chicken, pilaf rice, peshwari nann, chilli popadoms, mango or lime chutney. Or a number 12 as its called at my local ruby.
Thanks for sharing!
did I understand it right that 5 min in the oven and 3 min in the sauce is enough to cook the chicken?
I have made butter chicken before and cooced the chicken much longer in the pan...
and I was told to use ghee or clarefied butter for Indian food especially for the first part when he cooks, I onle use regular butter in the end (in this video the last butter that he added)
I would love to get your suggestions to improve my butter chicken guys, thanks in advance!
😉
Chef James, just a little correction😊 Indian Chef Ranveer Brar's name is pronounced in India, as "run"veer, not "ran"veer as you say it. As for classic dishes, Paneer (pronounced in India as "pun"neer) grilled dishes in Indian cuisine taste awesome too
Sorry for that
@@ChefJamesMakinson Oh no Chef James, please not an apology.... it was just an observation
Naan is definitely a restaurant thing but my mum did made it sometimes. Chapati is the more common home flatbread. From what I have seen, this recipe while good is not really authentic. You never see egg, and even yeast is very rare. We do proof the dough, but let the natural yeast in the air do it instead ( that is what my mum says at least), though I think using yeast is actually better. It is no vegan because yogurt is often used.
Anyway, the best recipe of Naan is by Adam Ragusea, and the improvised tandoor type cooking he used is exactly how my mum does it.
So splitting the sauce is fine and arguably recommended. Unlike in the west. The oil separating isn't considered bad in indian cuisine.
It's common to use double marination for tandoori chicken. First marination with lemon juice and second marination with yogurt. First marination is overnight. Second marination is never more than 30-45 mins. For butter chicken sweetness comes from caramelized onions. If one is using sweeter tomatoes and adds some sugar one can skip on onions.
Thanks for sharing!
I’m not a chef, but I am Indian and here’s my 2 cents. Naan made at home isn’t viable for the vast majority of households. It is something we only get at restaurants with tandoor ovens. The way he cooked the naan is actually very similar to how we cook the homemade “alternative” to naan: Chapati. But the batters are completely different.
And it’d surprise me if I found out a restaurant uses eggs in their naan recipes. Whether it tastes good or not, I wouldn’t know, I’ll leave that judgement to chefs.
Thank you for the explanation! like everything it does depend on the restaurant
When making nann bread i put garlic puree and corriander into my dough mixture then dry fry them in a pan and batch freeze them ... Once needed add some melted butter before reheating in an oven
10:49, I don't know how it'd turn out, but using egg just feels so, so wrong. And Yeast-ed breads are their own category for us.. this would be called a Khameeri Naan, though to be authentic it'd need to be more leavened. Also, Kahmeeri (yeasted) Roti is more common than Naan.
as weird as that might sound, there's no need to cut out any tendons, veins or silver skin from the chicken breast, especially when you marinate it and slow cook it like this. All those parts will just melt and disappear, I would dare to say even give more flavor to the dish by adding some collagen. Think about it for a second - in the chicken leg/thigh there are so many tendons and sinews there are literally impossible to remove, and that cut of meat is considered better than the breast. Would would you remove the single part of the breast that has that in common?
things are done differently in the pro kitchens, especially in France.
Sonny is a certified badass in the kitchen and as a content creator. Love him so much ❤
To peel tomatoes w/o a fryer you can also put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let them sit a couple minutes and peel.
You can sort of cheat for Naan. Not 'quite' the same but if you have a BBQ. Stick the dough under the lid of your BBQ. As long as it's clean. It sticks and the heat from the BBQ can be turned up and you can just peel it off afterwards. It's not 'as' hot as a tandoori but if you have a blow dryer or something stick it underneath to air into the hot coals and increase the temp. Can get perfect Naan at home. Just make sure it's a good grill.
Also, my favorite curry is actually Korma, followed closely by vindaloo. The highly yogurty curry is better than butter chicken imo. I find that a lot of places tend to make butter chicken way too sweet almost like a canned tomato soup level of sweetness.
I need to try Korma!
Thanks for this review!
you are welcome!
I love so many cuisines it's hard to pick a favourite, but I definitely love Indian food. I prefer lamb curries to chicken curries and I like a curry that has a bit of heat, but not too extreme. One of my favourite Indian restaurants here in Edinburgh (Scotland) does a traditional pork Vindaloo, which is really tasty and you rarely see pork on an Indian or Bangladeshi restaurant menu, as pork is not something that Hindus or Muslims eat. However, Vindaloo was a dish created in the Goan region of India, which was settled by the Portuguese who converted the locals to Christianity, so pork was allowed. It's based on a traditional Portuguese dish which involved pork and vinegar along with other ingredients and was called Vinha De Alhos (which phonetically would sound like vinyadalo). The locals added all sorts of spices to it and transformed it into something altogether more tasty and over time the name was bastardised into vindaloo.
Hindus eat a lot of pork.I have been eating pork from childhood.some kerala hindus eat beef also.All goans are not christians.
I made butter chicken based on Sonny's recipe and process here. It came out GREAT! I think he's right about the onions (or the lack thereof).
I also use his chicken tikka masala recipe which is also great! I use chicken thighs for both, though. For the chili I used a serrano (or two).
I have cooked many variations of butter chicken at home and this one is actually my favorite. It's simple, its easy, it might take some time but that result is very much worth it. I just don't add cinnamon, cause personally I hate cinnamon smell and taste in anything, but I didn't know there are multiple types of cinnamon. Its fairly hard to buy it here if we talking a whole stick and not powder (which cant be fished out later), but if I find the thinner version I will definitely try it, thanks for that tip.
Traditional butter chicken will have onions and it’s a staple for most curries. First time I’m seeing without.
Hey James thanks for the videos, I hope we will see that egg fried rice video soon.😊
I hope so too! :)
My favourite Indian is probably something you've never eaten. It's called "galho" and it's from Nagaland in the northeast (why my mother is from). Its basically a rice porridge with either pork or chicken and greens. Spicing is all fresh...crushed ginger (naga ginger is smaller and hotter than regular ginger), naga rajah mirchi (king chili). Some people add garlic. But really you need khuvieh...something I've only tasted in nagaland...sort of a spring onion with a garlicky flavour. And Zatti...stinky fermented soy beans. Smells like boiled week old socks. Tastes delicious...
No I have never had it before
My favorite Curry recipe is a South African Cape Malaysian/Indian curry called Bobotie. It has lots of flavour and works well for a main dish or even finger food.
As an indian i love mutton curry with some rice
Love channa masala (chickpea curry) it's so basic and easy to make and all the right types of satisfying
I have a question, Chef James. Is there such a dish as Spanish meatballs? Maybe there is and it's nothing like what my parents used to make, but I wanted to tell you about this dish from my childhood because I'd always had the sneaking suspicion that they were making it up. In summary, it was a beef and pork meatball mixture wrapped around a soft boiled egg (like a scotch egg) and brought to temp in a tomato "gravy" with green pepper. Spice in our house was very mild. It was served with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. I haven't made it as an adult, but I think I'd replace the potatoes with seasoned rice. In our house as kids, dinner wasn't good or bad, it was just time to eat. Now I'm curious about your thoughts about this dish, or what authentic Spanish meatballs might look like in comparison since you actually cook in Spain (Could it really be a Mexican dish?). Thanks!
Yes, they are albondigas normally with a salsa. it is very common to see them here and they can be delicious! It may have been influenced by the Moors (kefta) like with the rice.
My favorite cuisine is hands down Mexican, you really cant go wrong! I am a very adventurous eater so i am down for pretty much anything but i can never say no to some authentic Mexican cooking. As for the curry, that one is harder... I do love a good Jalfrezi or Vindaloo and Tikka Masala is really good too. Its hard to pick, it really depends my mood at the time lol. I would also like to say how much i love that he added a substitute for those of us that taste soap when we eat cilantro. Man i wish i didn't but it absolutely ruins food when people cook for me and i hate pretending that i like it or making them feel bad for adding it when they like it...