Show Posts

Profile Info

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Topics - goncalo

Pages: 1 ... 6 7 [8]

Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions / gram flour alternatives?

« on: December 24, 2012, 06:37 PM »

I just realized I didn't buy gram flour. Could I use normal flour for cooking onion bhajis?

Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions / things that puzzle me in recipe books and videos

« on: December 23, 2012, 12:39 PM »

The more recipes/videos/books I look at, the more intrigued I get about certain advice.

For example:

Chefs picking teaspoon quantities using a chef spoon and you can almost swear they've picked up more than a single teaspoon (and yes, don't get me wrong, I know it can be done using a chef spoon and it's not the size of the spoon that matters but the quantity, but it just doesn't help to elaborate with precision.
The advice of storing spices in dry, air-tight containers away from light, when you can see not all cooks practice this (i.e Julian Voigt has these large containers open throughout all of his vids and I'm pretty sure he doesn't go through one of those large containers in a single day)
what puzzles me is that the chef spoon after mixing the g&g paste in oil in a pan goes into all these separate spice containers, which not only leads to lumps of spice caused by any drizzle of the sauce/g&g paste from the spoon , but presumably overtime it alters the flavour?

May be I'm being naive, as I'm a rather inexperienced cook, but still, I would like to hear any thoughts?

Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions / "wait until the oil starts to separate"

« on: December 23, 2012, 12:22 AM »

This is something I've seen recommended a number of times, but I'm not entirely sure what to look for, could someone clarify it for me?

Curry Videos / No reservations - India

« on: December 22, 2012, 05:30 PM »

Part 1
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaF74lJhJBw]

Part 2
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4j3oxsawL4]

Lets Talk Curry / christmas curry

« on: December 22, 2012, 12:41 PM »

Since moving to UK that I became a fanatic for curries. I'm now living in Dublin for the past 2 months and completely addicted to cr0, partly because I can't find a decent takeaway around here and partly because I am trying to achieve that takeaway curry taste myself, which we all struggle or struggled at one point. Since the 2nd day of knowing cr0, I've been able to improve my korma (it used to be the persian version, and it is now the BIR version, using a mix of darthphall's base and CA's korma recipe plus slight modifications and I know there is room for improvement, I can already say I had the perfect one.)

I am now about to visit home (Portugal) and as last year I tried to make a curry using pataks, which came out very wrong, but everyone loved it, I've decided that this year I'm making the curries following the recipes in here and Julian Voigt's curry 2 go ebook.

Also just bought all the spices to bring along for the trip (though the attached picture predates it, as I only finished the list yesterday and the picture is at least a week old.)

So, with all this being said, my plan is to:

1. Make g&g paste (again)
2. Make seasoned oil
3. Make curry 2 go base sauce, and if that doesn't work, I'll fallback to darthphall's.
4. Make my own spicy masalas: garam masala and curry 2 go masala
5. Cook my own korma
6. Cook my own jhalfrezi
7. Cook my own madras or vindaloo
8. Bombay potatoes / pilau rice

I'm only slightly afraid about the end result as they have a "clean glass stove" and although it functions properly, I'm not sure exactly if that equates the same amount of heat that is expected in these elaborate curries (based on a post from someone else)

With this being said, is there any advice I can get from you?

Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions / ginger and garlic puree with seasoned oil?

« on: December 18, 2012, 10:40 PM »

I was wondering if you would use seasoned oil to make your ginger and garlic puree mix or if there is any reason not to do so :-)

Highly Recommended British Indian Restaurants / Renus - Milton Road, Cambridge

« on: December 17, 2012, 11:19 PM »

Take-away only.
At the southern end of the Milton Road
01223 313233 / 319999
http://renus.co.uk/

Flavour-wise, this is not the best takeaway in Cambridge, but they are BY FAR the most reliable one in my opinion. The prices are quite acceptable, the quantities are the BEST in Cambridge. Their naans are simply huge. The staff is super friendly. The owner is incredibly friendly and he never missed anything in an order and would always offer extras. Occasionally he would play the trick of "I lost your visa number, could you spell it again" after 20 mins from placing the order to justify the fact that he was going to be starting the food only then (probably too busy or short-staffed). I also find him it to be the freshest take-away, but one downside was that different curries tasted all almost very similar, though you can ask for bazillion of chilies and they will hear you (sometimes too well.) -- this is could very easily be the best takeaway in Cambridge

Highly Recommended British Indian Restaurants / Pipasha - new marketroad, Cambridge

« on: December 17, 2012, 09:18 PM »

The address and phone are:
529C Newmarket Road Cambridge, CB5 8PA, United Kingdom
+44 1223 57778

I've used it as restaurant for the most part, but have ordered at least 3-4 times over the phone. My advice for anyone interested would be to use it as restaurant only and not as takeaway.
The prices for takeaway are the same as in the restaurant and the quality is the "quick curry" type, which is way below the threshold. This is, however, by far the best indian restaurant I've been in to date. The flavours, textures are just unreal. The starters are orgasmic, their chutneys and poppadoms are really out of this world and the food is full of flavours. I'm a fast eater and I find myself taking time to appreciate the taste whenever over here. The staff is friendly, especially after you become familiar. Out of the 4 regular staff members, there is one guy (the youngest one) that seems a little rude, but if you can cope with that, the curry makes up for it.

One other downside is in fact the size of the place and as it gets busy, you find yourself listening to other people's conversations. Tables have little space between each others.

http://www.pipasha-restaurant.co.uk/
The two lads on the front page are the owners and they are very welcoming and sympathetic. Last time I was going over I sprained my ankle. While I was in a lot of pain, I still carried myself over for about 300 meters until I got the restaurant and as I had ripped my jeans on the knee after the fall, they were all sort of worried about me and trying to make me feel comfortable, pulling an extra chair to put my leg up, etc.

Just Joined? Introduce Yourself / hello from dublin

« on: November 22, 2012, 01:32 AM »

Hello,

I've lived for 2 years in Cambridge, UK and became completely addicted to the Indian-bangladeshi BiR food. Since then that I have been trying to cook a proper chicken korma, which has been one of my main frustrations so far. I've just seen a few recipes around here which look very promising! I also didn't succeed at making proper bombay aloo, which is something I hope to find good recipes around too. I'm not too unhappy with my Jalfrezi or Madras, but I reckon they are nowhere near my 2 favorite restaurants from Cambridge.

So even before starting, I would like to say thanks to all the contributors. Finding this forum is almost like finding this forum is probably the best gift I could get!

Pages: 1 ... 6 7 [8]