So I've decided to keep my ventures to a single thread, rather than opening one new every time. I will document here my experiments, successes and failures and ideas for the future.

I got some scotish smoked salmon from lidl and decided to give "Salmon Ceylon" a try, using some left-over coconut&ginger rice to further accentuate the coconut flavors and a peshwari naan that my girlfriend brought from a restaurant we are going to try tomorrow night. The result was FAB, the only thing missing being the BIR flavor.

I made a marinate on the spot, which I wasn't sure was going to come together well. After tasting the salmon, I thought it came together beautifully.

Salmon Marinade:

2 tbsp of tomato puree
2 tsp of tandoori masala
1 tsp of mr. naga
1 tsp of Rajah All Purpose Seasoning
1 hpd tsp mix powder (CBM's mix powder #2)
1.5 hpd tsps of g&g
juice of half-lemon
pinch of methi, rubbed to fine powder

Everything into a bowl and whisk until everything is fully mixed and cover the salmon with it and let it seat for at least 10mins. Allows for 2 reasonably alrge portions of salmon, 4 if only using on the top side

Salmon Ceylon:

1. Turn the flame up to medium heat, wait 30 seconds, add oil.
2. Add g&g and wait until it finishes sizzling
3. Add tomato sauce cook it for 15-30 seconds
4. Add salt, fenugreek, mix powder, chilli... mix well.
5. Add a ladle of base
6. Crush 25gm of creamed coconut block over the pan
7. Add another ladle of base to help loosen the sauce which should be looking reduced but creamy by now
8. Add the salmon and let it cook in the sauce undisturbed for 2 minutes, mix seldomly
9. Add fresh tomato and/or coriander
10. Add lemon juice to taste






My girlfriend surprised me with this peshwari. Now, the looks can be deceiving and this is possibly one of the best peshwari naans I've had.


Meal Rating: 4.5/5

Requirements:

1 mug of basmati rice *
4 mug of hot water or enough to cover 1" above the rice level **
2 heaped tsp of butter ghee ***
1 tsp of salt
1 chef spoon of medium desiccated coconut
2 tbsp of sugar
1" piece of ginger peeled and grated

Prep (optional):

For a nicer, sparkling white rice, wash it thoroughly under the tap in hot and cold water and soak it for about 15-30 mins in a sieve and a bowl filled with cold water. Change the water once or twice throughout the soaking.

Method:

1. Throw rice, water, salt, 1 tsp of butter ghee and salt into a pot on high heat with the lid on
2. Once the rice starts to boil, immediately lower to a low-medium heat (low simmer)  and fluff the rice with a spoon once.
3. After 2.5 minutes, turn off the heat and immediately drain the rice in a sieve, let most of the water drain
4. Return the rice back into the pot and seat it on the stove (or any other warm surface)
5. Pick a wok, put the other tsp of butter ghee into it and heat up on low-medium heat.
6. Add the ginger and stir fry for 45-60 seconds
7. Add the coconut and the sugar, stir fry for 5 seconds
8. Add the rice and stir thoroughly for 2-3 mins without leaving the wok -- the intention here is not to cook the rice again, but to mix the coconut, sugar and ginger well, while giving warming it up a little. ****

Expected Result:

Loose rice with a coconut and ginger taste/aroma with a sweet edge to it.

Notes:

1. Basmati Rice is important as I can't vouch for the results you will get with other types of rice
2. Heat cold water in a kettle, don't use hot water from the tap
3. Alternatively you can use 1 tbsp of veg. oil
4. If you like it fried, then leave it for longer intervals between stirring, but be careful not to burn

This one didn't go so well and I'm sure it is because of my experiments and not because of this recipe itself, which I have cooked before with great success.

I followed CBM's recipe with only a few changes at the end, where I added 1 tsp ghee and 1 hpd tsp of mr. naga. Another thing I did differently, was the use of the 2nd mix powder in the book which I have never used before and due to a bit of ghee's flavour and heat overpowering the dish, it was not possible to tell how much I like it.

Possible reasons for the failure:
* Addition of mr. naga which I've not used before (and honestly couldn't tell anything out of)
* The addition of butter ghee at the end
* The mix powder #2 off of CBM's book, which I have never used before
* Too much reduction caused by the fact that I forgot to chop coriander and was doing it at the end
* Frozen tikka defrosted on microwave using Blade's recipe

My gut feeling is that  extra reduction along with butter ghee caused the dish to be quite below my expectations. It was edible, but not quite interesting. On the contrary, the looks are not quite bad, as far as I can tell   :

I have been using C2G (w/o bassar) and so far I'm OK with it, it's not great, but I seem to have cling to it for some odd reason. CA's mix powder is decent as well. However, I would like to hear comments on other mix powders from the rest of ye.

I'm particularly curious about a few mix-powders, namely:
* kushi
* ifindforu's TA
* zaal

Though, I haven't made/tried any of them.

Went shopping and finally got some things I had been dying to find, namely:

1. Mr Naga paste!
2. Kashmiri Chillies (though I'm judging by the looks as the indian chap at the green grocers couldn't tell whether they were or not)
3. Rajah All Purpose Seasoning for CBM's base (though I realize how unimportant it really is in the context of that recipe.)
4. and just above the green chilli are the seeds that markh3565 kindly posted to me for free! Thanks markh3565!
5. Shan's Special Garlic Pickle that Julian mentions in his recent video and I felt curious about
 


I managed to tick a lot of the "to buys" this time around! Happy days!