Show Posts

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.


Messages - ast

Pages: 1 ... 16 17 [18]
171
BIR Main Dishes Chat / Re: Vindaloo Experiment #1 (Illustrated)
« on: January 03, 2008, 02:43 PM »
I want it!!! :(

Too late!!! Already gone! :D

BTW, I forgot to say thanks to Gary (parker21) for posting the Rajver recipe/method in the first place.  Cheers, mate.

172
BIR Main Dishes Chat / Vindaloo Experiment #1 (Illustrated)
« on: January 03, 2008, 02:26 PM »
Since I'm working at home today and few people are back, I decided that I'd have a go using some of what I've learned from the forum to make a Chicken Vindaloo for lunch.  I'm happy to say, that I think it's all down to technique, because I think it was every bit as good as BIR curries I've had from my favorite restaurant.  I also have that same "heavy" feeling after eating it that I have with "real" BIR, so something must've gone right.

Most of what I did was influenced heavily by the cooking techniques described by Gary (parker21) in this post:  http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2041.0.

However, I only used it as a guide as to techniques, and adapted some things as well.  Here's the run-down of what I did:

I started with some of the remaining Stage 3 KD base I described in this post: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2246.0 and half of the remaining cooked chicken.  I set aside about 500ml of the base.

I then put about 3 tablespoons of oil in a 1/4 cup measure and added 1/4 tsp of dry minced garlic to it (I used all of the fresh we had the other day).  I let this sit awhile, so that the granules would absorb some of the oil, but it was also so I could get the rest of the stuff organized.

I then decided I'd use the spices from the KD curry recipe, so I made a spice mix of:
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6 tsp hot chilli powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala (heaped)
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin (heaped)


Dry Spice Mix

I'd originally decided I'd follow Gary's method to fry the dried spices, but then I knew I wanted to add some of the remaining fresh chillies I had.  I looked at my notes from Gary's post and decided that it would make sense to cook the chillies in with the dry spices, so then I decided I'd add them to the spice mix.  Having mixed it and coated the chopped chillies, I got to looking at the process again and said, "Why not make a paste instead?"

Again, based on Gary's method ("1/4 ladle of runny base sauce(200ml ladle)"), I poured 50ml of base into the dry spice mix and made a paste.


Vindaloo Paste Mixture

Once this was ready, I started to actually prepare the vindaloo.  I heated the empty pan on med-high heat until it felt like it was ready (not sure how else to put this).  I dumped in the oil and garlic and quickly swirled it around the pan, roasting the garlic granules and making sure they didn't burn.  Not sure if it was 30s or not.

I then added the paste to the hot pan (not removing it from the heat) and quickly stirred it around to fry the paste.  I'd say it was about a minute.


Frying the Paste Mixture

After that, I dumped in the remainder of the base sauce and boiled gently (reduced the heat to around medium), stirring constantly (mostly to reduce the splatter) for about 3 minutes to reduce it to close to my desired consistency.


After First Reduction

I then added the chicken and continued to stir occasionally for about 3 minutes.


Finished Vindaloo (in the pan)

Served over a fresh batch of my pilau rice (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2233.0) and garnished with a few of the chopped chillies and a few sprinkles of dried coriander leaf (but without the Cobra beer this time). :(


Finished Vindaloo (presented)

Based on it being exactly the same base, and exactly the same spices but yielding vastly superior results than my New Year's Day efforts, I don't see how there's a "secret" ingredient missing from any of the bases people are using on this forum.  It all comes down to the technique used in making the curries.

Of course, the big question is:  can I actually do it again??? ;)

All-in-all, I'd say it was a fairly mild/moderate vindaloo (what you'd get here around the 3rd time you asked for a really hot vindaloo at the same restaurant in as many weeks so they didn't forget you).  Next time I think I'll try 8 tsp of chilli powder instead, or add more fresh chillies.  I don't think the paste could handle more than most of two chopped fresh chillies though.  Each of these was about 4" long.  I'm not sure how the consistency of the paste would be with the additional chilli powder either.  I guess it's just a feel thing so that it turns out the right consistency.

Hope this helps someone.

Cheers,

ast

BTW, still frustrated with the pictures, but at least these are better.  It's a little tricky to take pictures and cook at the same time without messing either of them up, don't you think?  I guess this just takes practice too--or an assistant. :)

173
Curry Base Chat / Re: Curry Bases
« on: January 03, 2008, 11:59 AM »
fumble,

In that case, you're dead right.  If you don't add any salt at the end, it will certainly be missed.  Actually, both salt and sugar act as flavor enhancers in different ways.

Speaking of flavor enhancers:  interestingly enough, MSG doesn't enhance the basic tastes (bitter, salty, sweet and sour), but it is supposed to enhance the "complex flavors of meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables" (http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=15581).  The article also mentions that it is naturally a part of tomatoes and Parmesan cheese, so maybe that's one reason that some of the curry bases with a few more tomatoes, or the addition of tomato puree to the target curries, might make a significant difference to the overall taste of the final dish.  I'd never investigated exactly what it was supposed to do before, but your reference to "flavor enhancers" made me go look it up.

Thanks for clarifying the base/salt question.  I haven't tried Admin's base yet.  I'm now almost tempted to try Gary's (parker21) Rajver base next as it seems to have also delivered good results to several people.

174
It's been said many times that these bases do not "scale"
I have never totally accepted that
Perhaps I will have to!?
When I have time and a new pot, I will try a full sized version

I personally find it hard to believe that scaling any recipe isn't possible.  What I think happens most of the time is that, depending on the proportion you're trying to apply, your margin for error becomes quite low compared to the original.  Thus, even being off by one or two grams of a particular ingredient (or sometimes less, depending on the amount required) can affect the taste. 

When you're talking about taking a 5L yield (or 10L if you add the water at the end) down to something in the 1-2L (or less) range, that's a pretty big difference given the original quantities of the ingredients.  You'll have to treat it more like chemistry instead of cooking to come anywhere close to the original, I'd expect.

175
Lets Talk Curry / Re: New Years Curry Experience (Illustrated)
« on: January 02, 2008, 04:02 PM »
Wow, thanks for your comprehensive reply AST!  :o

I actually thought the glasses were TOMATO juice!  But they ARE curry base you say!  ;D

hahahahaha....well, I take my hat off to you then!  ;)

Sorry CA, just bad WB setting on the camera.  I was frightfully annoyed when I got them on the computer so I could write the initial post.  I *could* say that it wasn't my camera (it's my wife's new D80 with the Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 lens), but I make the same mistake from time to time with my own 300D.  I just don't use it enough at the moment to remember to check.

I promise it was the same color as the base in the 2nd picture. :)

176
Lets Talk Curry / Re: New Years Curry Experience (Illustrated)
« on: January 02, 2008, 03:23 PM »
Wow.  Thanks for the feedback.  I'll try and answer all the questions.

Re: consistency

Interesting that most of you think the sauce looks too thick.  To me, this is the consistency and texture I expect in my eat in and take away curries.  As I mentioned, I intentionally reduced them to this state by extended cooking at the curry stage because all three were too thin after the recommended times.  It's hard to describe exactly what I look for, but I go for something that will pour off the spoon, but which just does it in a mixture of globs and flowing.  If I'd stopped earlier or added more water, it would have been all flow and no globs, which wouldn't match my expectations from "real" (B)IR fare.

Maybe my expectations aren't the same as yours, and, like I said, the only authentic BIR I ever had was the phal in London I mentioned in my introduction post.  The rest of them have been in the US, Spain, Portugal, Canada, New Zealand and here in Ireland.  The chef I like here came out to see me one time to ask me how my vindaloo was after everyone working in the restaurant had a go at trying to make it hot enough for me.  On more than one occasion (both by him, and at the BIR in London), I was asked if I'd lived in India.  Maybe they were winding me up, because I've never been to India before, and I learned to appreciate IR fare in New Jersey. :)

Re: as good as a takeaway

Personally, I think it's better than any of the ones that serve the area of South County Dublin where I live.  I've tried just about all of them many times, and many different dishes, and I wasn't happy with them.  That's the main reason I embarked on this journey in the first place.  I think the taste is close, but not the same, to the chef I like in town (Jewel in the Crown on Shelbourne Road, Dublin if you're interested).  The main difference is the "weight" and the "fire".

What I made last night (and finished for lunch today) doesn't feel as heavy as what I get from JITC.  Maybe I didn't use as much oil.  I'll try and add a bit more the next time I make it.  When I eat there, I end up feeling like my stomach gained a couple of pounds for a couple of hours.  Of course, maybe it's the fact that I finish everything (naan, vindaloo and pilau rice) and have a few glasses of water before and after.  I don't generally drink anything while I'm eating, unless it's a just a few sips.  Their portions are a bit larger than I've seen at most other restaurants as well.  You get one of the oval shaped deeper dishes (I'm sure they have a name) with your curry in it and a similar sized flat plate heaped with rice whereas most other places give you the small round bowls.  At home, most of the time I do finish the pan, but I saved a bit from last night to eat today--no idea how much though.  Still, the feeling wasn't quite the same.  Of course, I don't mind that part all that much.  That's one of the reasons I prefer Thai curries to Indian ones is that the Thai ones seem "lighter" to me.  Still, maybe it's all about volume... ;)

The "fire" is also a bit different.  Most of the time at JITC, you can taste both immediate spice on your tongue (I always taste just the curry first) and this is followed by the slow, building heat that comes from "inside".  With mine, I just feel the latter--every time.  I haven't hit on what's different.  I stress "different", because I'm not sure I don't prefer the slower heat more as it really enhances the flavor and experience.  Sometimes, the initial heat can be enough in the restaurant ones to diminish some of the flavors until after you've stopped eating but you still have the flavor in your mouth.  I guess that's one of the reasons that I don't drink too much during or immediately after eating Indian curries.

Re: glassware

Yes, the glasses all contain the finished curry base.  I didn't have enough pans, etc. to measure it all and still cook.  The tall Pilsner glasses are the largest ones I have (except maybe for some crystal wine glasses--which I did consider briefly!), so they were pressed into service this time.  Each one has 650ml of base in them, and the smaller one is a 12 oz "pint" glass (US) that has 325ml in it.  Next time, I might just use them for a measure, since I know how full they should be, but I'm not sure how consistent I am with getting around the same amount of curry base.

What I always do is roughly divide the base into 4 main course dishes and then reduce the end result to the consistency I describe above.  I'm sure it varies quite a bit each time, as this was the only time I ever measured the resulting volumes.  Now that we've decided our son is ready for curries, it will need to be split in 5 so that we can have two rounds of curry from each batch (he gets half a batch for now).  Not sure how that will work next time, as this time we only have enough for 1.5 dishes left.

Re: cr0 bases

I haven't yet tried any of the bases from here as this was the first curry since we got home from the holidays.  I only discovered the site while we were away and was tempted to try a curry for my family in the US.  I do intend to try some of them over the next while, however.  My primary goal with this round was to accurately document where I am now in the hopes that I can recreate it later to see if I'm improving or otherwise use as a control case after I try the new recipes from here.  As I said, I only realized that I didn't consistently do the same thing each time based on the KD recipes when I was trying to make notes.

Having read through a number of the base sauce recipes, I'm not 100% sure which one I'll try next.  The "A GOOD CURRY BASE" from ifindforu (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,923.0.html) and blade1212's "one pot base - as used by the BIRs" (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=876.0.html) look interesting as well as Stew's (Admin) "New Base Sauce Recipe" (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1894.0).  Even though I normally make basic curries for the family, I want to stay with a base that's as utilitarian as possible.  I also don't want to get hooked on a base that uses carrots, since my mother's allergic to them and I don't want to have to change things when she comes to visit.  Peppers are also probably out, as my wife doesn't do too well with them.  She hardly lets me put them in anything else I make, and then only if they're large enough for her to pick out.  Seems somehow incompatible with the use of a blender... ;)

From a lot of what I've read on here, though, it seems like people feel that any number of "good" bases will do the job, and it comes down more to the technique of actually preparing the final dishes than the base.  From prior cooking experience, unless you start with something which is really bad, most of the time, it's possible to make something turn out nice enough if you are willing to work with it enough and have a taste in mind.  I'm assuming that this applies equally well to curries.

I'm curious how many forum members have really worked through a number of different bases and recipes systematically rather than just trying set combinations.  If so, how long has this taken?  I don't think I could get the family to eat curry more than once every couple of weeks.  Twice a week is the most I ever do it if I'm eating lunch out.  Given the sheer number of base sauce recipes, I think it will take me several months to try them all.  What criteria does everyone use for finding "their" base?

Sorry this got a lot longer than I intended. :-[

Cheers,

ast

177
Lets Talk Curry / New Years Curry Experience (Illustrated)
« on: January 02, 2008, 01:20 AM »
Hi Everyone.

I took advantage of the day off to whip together (Ha!) curry dinners for the family, and, since I've been reading all the info on here, I thought I'd pay lots of attention to what I did as a sort of control case before I start changing things.  All in all, it came out the best so far.  I also made the first home-cooked curry for the little nipper (11 months), so I didn't put any salt in the base sauce.

Some of you may find this interesting, but then again, you may not! :)  Happy New Year.

First up:  The Curry Base

I'm still using the bog standard KD base with some slight modifications, except today I noticed that her metric/Imperial measures weren't quite equivalent.  Previously, I tended to use whichever seemed the handiest based on what measuring device I had to hand.  For today's control case, I decided to be a tad more scientific... :)

Instead of the 900g of onions, I always use a 1kg bag.  It's easier to manage, and I don't want to arse around with trying to get exactly 900g of onions out of a 1kg bag.  The main discrepancy I noticed today was that 2 oz is not 50g as Kris says, it's actually nearly 60g.  I always use the balance for this one, and, since my wife is French, it's always set on metric rather than Imperial.  Today, I used 60g of both garlic and ginger and skipped the salt for the little guy's benefit.

At the end of Stage 2, I ended up with approx 2.5L of stock.  I'm not sure how much the standard recipe makes, but this seems pretty-much the same as always for the way I do it.


The Finished Stage 2 Sauce

For Stage 3, I always use a 400g tin of Roma whole, peeled plum tomatoes instead of the 8 oz tin in the recipe.  I haven't seen an 8 oz tin here, and I use the canned plum tomatoes in a few other things I make, so we always have a few around.  For the chicken, I always use a bit more turmeric than she calls for, but otherwise, it's the same.  Today I cooked the meat around 25-30 min.

In paying more attention to what I do so I could write this up, it occurred to me that I always need to reduce the final curry sauce longer than the KD recipe specifies.  I guess this means that I don't reduce it enough at Stage 3.  Next time, I'll use a bit more heat than I normally do to see what happens.


The Finished Stage 3 Sauce and Pre-cooked Chicken

Even with the skimming (which removed about 1/2 cup, I'd guess), I still ended up with about 2.6L of curry base.  This got me to checking the proportions/math in the book again.  Kris says her base is good for 8 servings.  Some of the meat curries call for 425ml of sauce and some specify an equivalent of 3 cups.  Not sure what laws of measurement apply in her kitchen, but the numbers don't add up in mine.

By her calculations that a full batch of Stage 3 base will make 2 of her main dish recipes, this means that the volume of Stage 3 base should be 850ml, or, by her account, about 6 cups or 1.5 pints (assuming Imperial ones here, naturally).  Given my measuring equipment (and from some discussions elsewhere on the forum around this topic), 1 cup = 250ml of liquid.  Technically, a US cup should be 236ml and a UK cup should be 284ml given the 2 cups/pint definition.

This means that 6 "standard" cups of curry base is 1.5L and not the 852ml in 1.5 Imperial pints.  Either way, I still ended up with loads more volume than this, so I simply divided it up so that I used 325ml/serving.  It also made me realize that I was inconsistent in the way I adapted the proportions of the curry recipes too.  In order to make 4 total portions of curry out of one batch of base (since my wife and I don't use the same temperature scales), I should technically divide the ingredients by 4, however, upon reflection, I realized that the best tasting curries I've made used 1/4 of the base sauce, but then used the full amount of ingredients specified for the 3-4 portion recipes.  To confirm this, that's what I did tonight, and it turned out great!

Next Up:  Making the Curries

For the Madras, I used 2 tsp of hot chili powder, and I used 4 heaped tsp for the Vindaloo.  I also used heaped measures of both the garam masala and the ground cumin.  We still don't have any fenugreek in the house, so I leave that out, and I also left out the tomato this time.  As I mentioned before, I quartered the amounts of base and meat, meaning that I had 126g of cooked chicken for myself and the wife and 63g set aside for our son out of the 636g of uncooked weight we started with.  Each of ours used 650ml of base sauce, and I used half that for our son.


Curry Staging Area

I also had originally chopped up a single medium chili (fresh) for my wife, but she decided after a taste test that it was fine without it.  I chopped up 6 medium chilies and 4 hot Thai chilies (red).  That's what is shown in the picture, but I ended up using all the fresh chilies in my Vindaloo.


Final Curry Pans - Madras and Vindaloo (left to right)

Our son's curry omitted the salt and meat and used halved amounts of the rest of the ingredients.  I ended up adding a few pinches of coarse sugar to it, because it tasted a tad bitter without the salt.  I think it's much better with the salt. :)

For all the curries, I reduced the sauce quite a bit before I called them done.  For mine, I added the fresh chilies at the beginning with the curry base, at the same time as the chili powder, so there would be plenty of time for them to flavor the curry.  I didn't time this part, because I was going mostly by the texture and waiting until it was reasonably thick.  I didn't over do it, because it always thickens a bit when it sits for a few minutes afterwards, but the results came out well.

As I mentioned, I think this part could be avoided if I got the initial base sauce reduced much closer to the end result.  Maybe with some of the "ladle at a time" cooking methods, this doesn't matter quite as much.

The Results:

All that was left was to put it on the plate and dig in.  Both of us were very happy with the results, and think it's the best curry to date.  Next time, I might try some other cooking techniques for the base and/or curries, but at least now I have proper calculations for planning our next curry dinner party.  Next time, it'll be for a lot more people, so I'll need to know what I'm doing.  When there's only 3 or 4, you can fudge a little more on the amounts of base, etc. because you know you should always have enough.  More than four, well, I wasn't sure.


Chicken Madras, New Year's Day 2008


Chicken Vindaloo, New Year's Day 2008

Hardware used:
  • 4.4 qt / 4.15L (11"/26cm) Jamie Oliver Anodized, non-stick deep pan (base & curry)
  • 11"/26cm Jamie Oliver Anodized, non-stick skillet (curry)
  • 2 qt Calphalon pan (rice)

Any feedback or comments on the pictures, methods or observations would be welcome.  I'm really glad I stumbled across this forum.  There's almost no one else I know that bothers to try this sort of thing at home, so it's a great resource to have.

Happy New Year,

Andrew (AST)

P.S. Apologies for the somewhat crap photos.  I had the wrong lens on the camera and could've probably used a different white balance setting, and even with changing the ISO, I didn't get very good results.  They looked much better on the small screen.  I promise to do better next time. :)

178
Rice (Plain, Pilau, Special, etc) / Yet another Pilau Rice method
« on: December 24, 2007, 07:39 PM »
Hi Everyone,

Having read all of the existing methods for making Pilau Rice on the forum that I could find in this section, I thought I'd contribute my own way of doing it.  Like the variety of currys that I've tasted in many places, my experience is that no two restaurants have identical rice.  Some use loads of colorings and spices, some use hardly any, and there's a million in between.  To me, this version comes out quite close to several restaurant versions and isn't quite as complicated as the other ones I've seen thus far.

I'd be interested in what the rest of you think.  If this recipe is in the wrong place or isn't quite BIR enough, apologies in advance.

The basic technique is adapted primarily from how to cook rice as described in Su-mei Yu's Cracking the Coconut book http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coconut-Classic-Thai-Cooking/dp/0688165427/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198521491&sr=8-1, and I pretty-much cook all my rice this way.  The following augments the basic technique with other Pilau Rice recipe ingredients and comes out pretty well.

Andrew's Total Absorption Pilau Rice
(normally enough for 3-4 people; total cooking time 35-40 min)

300ml measure of good quality Basmati rice (I normally use Tilda as it is readily available)
1/2 medium-sized yellow onion
4-6 whole cloves
3-4 whole green cardamom pods
3-4 bay/laurel leaves
Ground cinnamon
Sunflower oil
Red and green liquid food coloring (optional)

Method

Wash the rice in cold water 3 times, removing any foreign material or discolored grains.  By the third time, the water should be relatively clear.  Drain and set aside.

Chop the onion into small-ish pieces.  Note:  this is subjective, depending on how "visible" you want your onion to be in the finished rice.  Place the onion in a heavy saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and add the sunflower oil.  The oil should be enough to cover the bottom of the pan, but not enough to start filling up the sides (sorry I can't be more specific, but I never measure this--it's the same amount you'd add if you were to saute onions normally).  Saute the onion until translucent over high heat.

After the onions are mostly clear, put in the cardamom, bay leaves and cloves, being careful not to get splattered by any remaining hot oil.  Sprinkle in the ground cinnamon to taste (I normally add enough to get a thin layer over the bottom of the pot).  Stir quickly and dump in the damp rice and immediately add enough cold water to leave about 1/4 to 1/8th inch above the level of the rice.  It should be slightly over 300ml, but again, I just eye-ball it.  Reduce the heat to medium-high or medium, depending on how hot your fire and pan is, stir, cover and bring to the boil.

NOTE:  The temperature here is probably the most critical part of the process, and I still mess it up from time to time on other people's stoves with other people's cookware, so don't fret too much  if it doesn't quite turn out right the first time.  Next time put the heat a little lower and it should turn out perfect.

Once boiling, remove the lid and continue to boil until you can no longer see bubbles through the surface of the rice and the pan looks dry.  Stir occasionally to ensure that everything stays fairly mixed.  Don't over-do it with the heat at this stage, as there won't be enough moisture left to finish cooking the rice.

Cover with a tight-fitting lid and reduce the heat to a low simmer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, you can optionally work the food coloring magic here.  You'll want to dilute it in some water per the KD method, and then make your lines across the rice.  If you do this, do it fairly quickly so all the steam doesn't escape.  Cover the pot and remove from heat for another 10 minutes.  Gently fluff and serve.

Additional notes:

If you want yellow rice, you could add yellow food coloring to the water you add to the rice before brining it to the boil.  I'd probably mix it up first separately and then dump it in rather than trying to mix it in the pot.  One of these days, I'm going to try it with saffron, but I just haven't bothered.

I normally don't bother with the food coloring at all as I've never thought that part of the BIR experience was that important to me.

The use of ground cinnamon vs. cinnamon stick was really the result of an emergency substitution one day, but I liked the effect (and more importantly, so did my wife), so it stayed.  Your mileage may vary depending on how much you like cinnamon.  Use one or two small sticks instead if you prefer.

The rice should be nice, slightly sticky, not over-cooked and should not stick to the pot--even in non non-stick ones.  If it does, the heat or the water wasn't quite right.

Feel free to experiment with it if you want more or less of any of the flavors, but don't mess with the boil/simmer/stand part of the process, as this is the crux of the method.  I also use the basic method to make ginger & lemongrass rice to go with Teriyaki Salmon, and rosemary & marjoram rice to go with chicken dishes, so it's pretty versatile.  However, using high-quality rice is essential.  Jasmine or Basmati works the best, but stay away from anything that comes in a box or is marked "easy cook" or "American style" if you're outside the US.  The results will be less than stellar.

179
Just Joined? Introduce Yourself / Re: Hello and thanks
« on: December 24, 2007, 03:30 PM »
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the welcome and the search tips.

Bobby:

As I said, so far, I'm happy enough with my results with the KD base, but I'm not opposed to trying different ones.  I think its interesting that many of the other bases include carrots.  I was thinking of cooking Indian food while we were visiting my parents for Christmas as they've never really had much of it before.  Unfortunately, my mother's allergic to carrots, so any base including them wouldn't be a good idea.  I know not all of them include it, and you could always omit them, but it got me thinking/wondering about how "safe" trying to take them out for food here might be.  I think I'll introduce them the next time they come over to Dublin instead.

I do agree with you about the time it takes to reduce the sauce--especially after the stage 2 sauce has been frozen.  I made that mistake the first time I used the frozen batch and didn't end up reducing it enough because I was more-or-less following the timings in the book rather than paying attention to the consistency.  Still, most of the time I don't mind leaving it cooking for a while as it allows me to get other parts of the meal ready and clean up the intermediate mess. :)  Personally, I don't mind the ginger, but I guess I'm going more for a "feeling" rather than actively trying to replicate a particular restaurant taste at the moment.  The next time I'm in the one I mentioned in the first part, I might ask the Chef about their base, but I haven't seen anyone I know in there the last couple of times.

I must admit, I don't quite understand your comment about adding the garam masala at the end of stage 3.  From an efficiency point of view, if it's in every dish, then to me it makes sense to add it to the base sauce rather than as an extra step in making everything else.  Since most of what I make amount to Madras/Jalfrezi/Vindaloo, I was even thinking of adding a bit more of the spices from that recipe to the base just to make things a bit simpler to remember.  It might change the taste some, since some of the additional reduction happens before they're added if I remember right, but it might be worth trying.

Anyway, Happy Holidays to all and thanks again for the warm welcome.

Cheers,

ast (Andrew)

180
Just Joined? Introduce Yourself / Hello and thanks
« on: December 22, 2007, 08:22 PM »
Hi Everyone,

Just joined the forum as I found it by accident when looking for some restaurant style Indian cooking (I thought I had my recipes with me on hols, but it turned out I didn't).  I've had a look around at some of the posts, and I'm pleased so far with what I've seen.  I'm anxious to try some of the Phall recipes, as I had one recently on a trip to London and thought it was brilliant! :)

I've noticed that loads of people here have been trying to hit the "BIR taste" for many years, so that makes me a certain newbie.  I've been a fan of restaurant Indian food for a while now, and my favorite is a really, really hot Vindaloo.  I've always been afraid to try it at home because the recipes I found just didn't look quite right.  Up until recently, I worked very near a place that I frequented (at least 2 times a week) for lunch that I got to like quite well.  Since I'm no longer based near the restaurant, I decided it was time to give it a try.

A friend of mine gave me the Kris Dhillon book, and I've been pretty pleased with the results so far.  Neither the wife or our friends have died, and, for Ireland at least, it turned out much better than your average takeaway or restaurant (but considerably different than the place I mentioned above).  In fairness, except for the curry base, I tend to improvise a little, using the recipes as more a guide than following them to the letter and I've really only focused on the medium/hot chicken/lamb curries and the "normal" Naan.

From doing some reading of the search results about the KD book on the forum, I can see there are mixed opinions about it.  Still, given the variety of tastes I've experienced between the US, Canada, Portugal, New Zealand, London and Ireland--including restaurants only up the road from each other, the variety of the curry bases (and corresponding opinions) doesn't surprise me that much.  I didn't figure KD was the end-all-be-all, but I thought it was a good way to understand the mechanics of how things worked in restaurant cooking.  I look forward to trying (and, of course, adapting) many of the recipes on this site.

One question having to do with the site organization:  Is there an index (or, failing that, a way to do it) of recipes by submitter?  When I was trying to have a snoop around to see what was here, I came across many people who posted a bunch of recipes, but there didn't seem to be a good way to find all of them easily.  Am I just missing something?  An automatically generated index by author might be something worth considering.

Again, many thanks for the forum.  I'm sure I'll try lots of the recipes and techniques, but I'm not sure how much I can actually contribute to the general knowledge pool.  I'm here mostly just to read, learn and experiment.

Cheers,

ast

Pages: 1 ... 16 17 [18]

  ©2024 Curry Recipes