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Messages - acrabat

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1
Lets Talk Curry / Re: Oh, I give up
« on: September 14, 2014, 09:32 PM »
Like you I am happy with my 95% and spend my curry cooking time experimenting finding different flavors. I thinks unless you are cooking curry, pakora, tikka, nan, chapatti etc all day every day we are not able to say out kitchen /garage replicates a BIR. Any idea who has the authority to create a new forum catagory?

2
Lets Talk Curry / Oh, I give up
« on: September 14, 2014, 08:50 PM »
For the last twenty five years I have been chasing the elusive 5%. It has got to the point were I can identify the ingredients in a restaurants base e.g. whether it includes G/G.cabbage,carrot, coriander etc. I can pinpoint the flavour of cardamon (black and green), cassia,cloves,cumin etc. I can do this with a couple of mouthfuls of a basic curry. I can even tell how long the G/G has been cooked for and at what cooking stage ginger has been added. That last five percent has eluded me until now. Don't get me wrong I do not have an a solution to the final 5% but i believe I know what it is. It dawned on me a few days ago in a local greasy spoon round the corner from work. Everything in this establishment smells of a greasy spoon. Order a bread roll it smells of greasy spoon, take a can of coke from the chiller and as you are drinking it you can smell greasy spoon, order a ham salad and there is an odour of greasy spoon as you unwrap it and eat it. Indian take-away is no different. Everything that comes out is tainted by a smell that is a melange of everything that is cooked there.
I am now pretty sure that if any of us were to prep, cook and deliver a curry in an established BIR kitchen using any of the most popular recipes on this site it would have that missing taste. I am sure that the missing element is a permeating odor that builds up in BIR kitchens and 'taints' everything in it.
Even the small plastic containers my rice come in smell awesome. This is unfortunately why we cannot ever replicate BIR cooking at home.
In my opinion we should be striving not to replicate something we can never do but to use our combined experience to produce something that surpasses our our local establishments. I have seen and tried some recipes from this site that are better than anything anything I have ever had from a TA. I propose a new forum category entitled "Better than your BIR". Not to be filled with traditional indian cooking but only recipes members have found outstandingly tasty.
Opinion please.

3
Just Joined? Introduce Yourself / Re: Hello from Sunderland
« on: September 11, 2013, 08:00 PM »
Welcome to the form Honey. I hope you find it as useful as I have.

4
Lets Talk Curry / Re: Oops!
« on: September 09, 2013, 08:52 PM »
Nice looking hob. I have a Smeg hob but mine has a double burner e.g. two rings of flame on the same burner. I find it's great for rapid heating of liquids but too hot to use on full blast for cooking single portions of curry. It burns base sauce in under a minute with not enough reduction. I am interested to hear your experience.

5
Hi H4appy
thanks for posting this, I found it interesting and informative. I appreciate the time and effort you are putting in and sharing with us.

6
Is it what graeme said he pushes down on the dough to stick the layers together to stop it puffing up like a ball

7
Is it him pressing the dough with his fingers to create thinner areas that will puff up more creating the bubbly effect on the surface

8
It looks to me that at one point after he has created a slight teardrop shape he presses down firmly on the bottom narrow end of the uncooked nan to lightly stick it to the workbench so that while he coats it in oil/water? it will retain that shape. By pressing on it to lightly stick it to the table he ensures that it will not shrink back into a round shape.
I have made enough bread and pastry to recognise this technique.
If your book delivers the goods I will still pay you for it.

9
Can unreservedly recommend this restaurant/takaway if anyone is nearby and looking for some good Chinese takaway. Their (very nice) special chow mein comes in the largest TA container I have ever seen. Curry is good if a little fruity. Went here on recommendation and was not disappointed.

10
Back home from holidays now so can write a review on a keyboard instead of a phone. My last review was for the Saffron Desi in York which was a poor experience. I am pleased to say however that the curry garden in Cambridge was a massive improvement. It was a very traditional experience, only missing flock wallpaper to make it complete. Excellent service, clean cutlery, hot tasty food, cold jug of water. The starters of popaddoms, dips and pakora were generous and very tasty. i really liked the pakora, it was very light and quite unlike a lot of the solid stodgy stuff I get in most of my local places. The mains were a bit of a let down, they tasted very like my own efforts on an off night. That is not to say they were bad but I always expect a restaurant curry to be superior to my own, after all thats what they do, all day every day, they should be good. The other three members of my party were happier than I was with the mains and raved about how good they were. The price was very reasonable given the tasty food and excellent service.
I could not say this was the best in Cambridge since it was the only place I tried there but it was nice. I had asked a bunch of punters (literally)  down by the Cam were to get a decent curry and this place was their recommendation.
Top class : no
Satisfy curry pangs: yes

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