indian cooking problems...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Hi all,

First time posting in this neck of the woods, was hoping there's be some Indian cooking connesiurs amongt ye that could help out:

I havea problem in getting the sauce to penetrate the meat. The mean is good, the sauce is good, but it's like I'm eating one or the other, not both together. I've tried marinating it for longer (up to an hour) on low-mediaum heat but still no joy.

And no cheating with a tin of Uncle Ben's !!

Any advice greatfully received - many thanks!!

Ip.

bonkey

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

I've tried marinating it for longer (up to an hour) on low-mediaum heat but still no joy.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Marinading is generally done pre-cooking, so wouldn't be done on any heat at all that I can see.

Also, the length of time you need to marinade will be dependant on a lot of factors. Given that I don't know what you're cooking, I'll just point out some of the main bits:

- Is there something int he marinade/rub which will cook the meat without heat (e.g. citric acids, or even salt)
- What meat are you using?

I would often marinade dishes using beef (and sometimes lamb) for 12 hours, or sometimes even up to a day. Chicken, on the other hand, I'd generally do for 2-3 hours. Fish is about the only thing I'd marinade for less than an hour.

If, of course, there was something like lime-juice in teh marinade, I might need to shorten those times, or else the meat could literally fall into mush....

Cooking time is then dependant on the food, but generally if you're trying to get the flavours to cook in, you want long slow cooking.

After that...hard to say. "Indian" is about as specific a type of cooking as "European". You could be talking about pretty much anything, so its hard to know whats going wrong.

jc

p.s. As an aside, I do know someone who syringes marinade into their meat, but personally its not what I'd consider the "right" solution.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

That makes sense...

I'm cooking Kerala butter chicken and chicken korma mainly. Think I may have gotten the wrong end of ths stick as regards marinading, if it's done pre-cooking. I thought there was another technique, considering you don't wait hours in Indian restaraunts, but this might be just the point I'm missing. Many thanks!

Ip.

Smoggy

Ikky,

To get the meat flavoured, the best methods I have found is to steam them with herbs and spices such as cardamon pods and cinemon for about 15 mins, this makes the meat tender and also adds an indian taste.

take a look at :

www.cr0.co.uk

randomname

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Hi all,

First time posting in this neck of the woods, was hoping there's be some Indian cooking connesiurs amongt ye that could help out:

I havea problem in getting the sauce to penetrate the meat. The mean is good, the sauce is good, but it's like I'm eating one or the other, not both together. I've tried marinating it for longer (up to an hour) on low-mediaum heat but still no joy.

And no cheating with a tin of Uncle Ben's !!

Any advice greatfully received - many thanks!!

Ip.

As smoggy said steaming or cooking the meat beforehand can allow flavours to penetrate easier when you are actually making it.

But if your not gonna pre-cook meat it will require you to cook for longer on a lower heat and then the food will get the flavour.

How are you cooking the curry at the moment, from start to finish?What spices are you using?

randomname

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

That makes sense...

I'm cooking Kerala butter chicken and chicken korma mainly. Think I may have gotten the wrong end of ths stick as regards marinading, if it's done pre-cooking. I thought there was another technique, considering you don't wait hours in Indian restaraunts, but this might be just the point I'm missing. Many thanks!

Ip.

Well in the majority of indian restaurants the chicken isn't marinated beforehand. Its usually pre-cooked then while the pre-cooked meat get cooked again its easier for it to get the flavours from the spices get in.