Everytime i make salan/hand im trying to achieve that thin soupy effect almost watery but full of flavour with a nice colour and oil floating on top but i can never get it right.
Mine turns out thick… if i add water to thin it out it doesn’t look right or weakens the taste…i thought maybe i should add less tomato but then i get a really powdery taste with stil no oil on top.
I try adding more oil even then it still does not work. Please help, what should i be doing?
Re: what am i doing wrong??
If only color is the problem, try 1 tsp paprika
and if texture is also a problem, how much onion are you using? perhaps u need to add more onion to make curry?
Re: what am i doing wrong??
OMG I face the same prb no mtter wot i do my gravy gets thick or watery. even if its salan type, by the time i swich off gas or eat the nxt day it gets thick
Re: what am i doing wrong??
If only color is the problem, try 1 tsp paprika
and if texture is also a problem, how much onion are you using? perhaps u need to add more onion to make curry?
colour isnt so much the problem but i wil try paprika anyway..try something new.
its more the appearance and texture. When i go to dawats at extended family's etc they make things like chicken/ghosht or kofte handi the soup is thin and watery but isnt weak in taste nor powdery like mine.
Re: what am i doing wrong??
Shona , I had this problem , until I experimented and realized there were a few things going wrong ... so here's what I learnt:
1- Make sure you dont mash the onion into a paste when you start cooking ... thinly slice the onions and then add them to really hot oil and start stirring them , then immediately lower the heat .. add a splash of water if you have to , to stop them getting brown quickly ... after that let them cook on lowest heat setting ... cover the pot and occasionally add splash of water ..
The logic behind it : Adding onions to really hot Oil , help onion release its full flavour ... immediately splashing a bit of water , helps soften it and stop it from cooking a bit too quickly ... and then lowering the heat and frying it with covered pot ,helps soften the onions and taste remains brilliant throughout ...
Then add ginger garlic like normal ... when its time for you to add the tomatoes , cut then into chunks but dont mash them .. and fry them along with the basic masala.
If the tomatoes are mashed or too soft they turn into a thick gravy ... but if they are slightly hard and cubed , then they cook fine and release their flavour too ... ensure all this cooking is done on low medium heat ...
when the stage comes to add water in the end ... if the khana hasnt already released enough oil , it means that the gravy wont have oil on top ! what it means is that your dish isnt yet ready, and you need to cook it more until it releases oil properly ... either turn up the heat and cook it covered or stir it continuously on medium heat , without adding any water , so the khana will start releasing oil... once that happens, add the water . Ensure its not too much , otherwise khana will lose its taste ...
Here's the trick : if you add water but dont cook the dish enough , the water remains raw and doesnt gel well with the rest of the dish ... and separates , eventually you feel the salan has lost its taste ... So when you add water , cover the dish and let it cook on medium low heat for a good half hour. ( you have to time it correctly as to when you add water into the khana otherwise the rest of the contents in the handi will turn into a paste ! )
If you feel the oil hasnt come on the top , continue cooking it ... until it releases oil.
What i noticed was that sometimes my dishes wouldnt release oil , but the minute i would heat then in the microwave , the oil would come on top ! thats when i realized that khana isnt getting cooked to that level ki oil release ho jaye bi .
So yeah , good luck and let me know if you have any questions ..:@:
Re: what am i doing wrong??
maybe you need to cook more. to get thick gravy you should use more onions and if u want one cup gravy for example, add 2 or more cup water and cook it so well till its about one cup. this way it wont be weak in taste.
Re: what am i doing wrong??
Even though I haven't done too much cooking myself, my mum does it & taught me exactly the same things CB has mentioned.
Re: what am i doing wrong??
thanks for your comments
@CB < I will definitely try out your method......i think im not allowing the oil and masala to separate long enough maybe thats an issue as well.
Re: what am i doing wrong??
shona , yes thats a core problem ... coz if you dont let the oil separate nice enough , it wont separate later on and will only ruin the taste ... so you gotta be patient as much as you can and let it be there for a bit before adding water to it ...
You know when i make koftay , after adding water, I just lower the hit, cover the pot and forget about the salan for a good half hour. when i uncover the pot after half hour , the oil floats on the top and I get a nice thin curry :@: