I enjoyed MR's Balti when I tried it.  I still use his Pre-cooked Chicken and Lamb recipes as my go to.  I rate them.

The dahl I took away was actually 2 different ones made separately as experimental, and then finally combined. The first was red lentil with mild spice and coconut milk (quite nice) and the second was a 4 lentil mix which my wife said was a bit dry or floury. I allowed both to sit in the fridge for 24 hours before tasting again and deciding to combine them, which gave a nicer dish than either alone.

My next attempt will be to make the dhansak lentil / dhal base without any meat and muck about with that.  What I did find when searching for recipes is that they are all very similar, so the next thing to do would be to search for something that is obviously different in one way or another.

I agree with Santa as well. Several of the recipes I found were indeed very watery / soup like.  This isn't what I was after for my trip away though.

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks. 2 months ago my wife booked us tickets to The Mitchell Creek Rock and Blues Festival where we would camp for 3 nights and 4 days with her family (mother, brothers, sisters in law and a nephew). We would share the meal preparation and I volunteered curries.  This meant a couple of vegan dishes along with basic chicken and lamb.  So, I prepared and froze these in foil takeaway containers. Chicken and lamb curry, Bhindi Masala and Vegetable Navratan using vegan vegetable cream. I also cooked a large dahl and a Rajma. We cooked yellow spiced rice up there and I also took along some mild vegan samosa.  The curries were slow defrosted in an esky (no ice) over the 2 day trip. Yep! 2 days and 1050 km to get there.

Chicken, lamb and navratan all made with Bruce Edwards base and all curries survived the journey and were delicious.

We are currently on a short coastal break for a few days on the way back home from Queensland. Staying at South West Rocks NSW, which is where the historic Trial Bay Gaol was built out of local granite back in the 19th century.  Lovely place and yesterday we enjoyed some whale watching as the mother humpbacks are working their way south with us on their own way back to the Antarctic waters with their new babies.

What made the few weeks interesting is that I had some pre-trip jobs which needed to be done at home and required a fair bit or energy and lifting.  I had to rebuild fences to keep Mrs L's horses in while we were away.  However, 16 days out I became unwell. After 1 week I noticed I had no senses of taste or smell, so a quick RAT confirmed that I had caught Covid for the first time.  Each day was a battle to build fences and then lie down.  Only 3 days out, I told Donna that I didn't think I'd make it but 36 hours before departure I suddenly felt well enough to do the trip.

I'm glad I made it as it's been a great week away and I haven't really left home much for many years.  Although, I didn't enjoy tent camping as much as I used to in my surfing days.

I'm looking forward to getting home and back to a proper kitchen.  I really do have to revisit the Bhindi Masala as it was outrageously good and the clear favourite of everybody.

Saturday evening's home delivery.  Seekh kebab sizzler and Balti chicken courtesy of Shababs.  Complementary multi-dip and mayo.


Much better than the previous two instalments I had from here.  This time managed to eat 3 whole tsp of the balti before depositing it in the freezer.  Defrosting as I type.  Will see if it can be repaired tonight.

Rob

Am I reading this right Rob?  So, you buy a home delivery balti from Shababs but you can only eat 3 teaspoons of it before freezing it. You then need to defrost it and repair it, and you add that this was much better than the previous purchases. 

Never heard of either Jonesing or gagging for anything.  We do have "keeping up with the Jones's", which is the term used to describe obtaining unnecessary things that others already have, simply to appear affluent, like buying a new TV when there is nothing wrong with the one you already have. 

Over here the appropriate slang would be hangin' or tonguin' or even dyin', as in one would be hangin' for a burger, tonguin' for a beer and dyin' for a swim.  Note that it is usual for Aussies to ignore the g on the end of words.  We would say for example, "Are you comin' or not?

Santa, I have to admit that while I have eaten the Works Burger, pineapple is not on my usual extras list.  Bacon ang egg, must have, and cheese is depending on mood.  I will also say that I fall into the beetroot camp of take it or leave it, but I don't object to it.