Topic: Curry dinner party this Saturday

[Salvador Dhali]

Hi SD
Just curious, are you cooking to order (individual curries per person) or big pot self serve curries
or are you going to pre-portion enough individual curries and reheat for the party.

What's on your menu?

cheers Chewy

I've enlisted the services of my brother, so the plan is for each of us to cook 8 double portions of two main curries - a Lamb Madras (your recipe) and a Chicken Ceylon (CA's recipe), decant them into foil trays and keep warm while we hit the sides, which will be Tarka Dhal, Saag Bhaji, Bombay Aloo, Mushroom Bhaji, and Onion Bhajis (plus poppadoms, onion salad, rice, etc).

Now I've typed that out I'm getting the fear!

Nah - it'll be all right in the end, I'm sure... 

[Aussie Mick]

LOL!!! ;D ;D

I've only got 8 people to cater for and I'm feeling quite smug  :

I've cooked two dishes tonight and they're in the fridge in foil trays ready for re-heating tomorrow.

My missus is sorting out the rice, so really, I just need to cook up a quick 3 or 4 curries tomoz............EASY!!

Good luck SD. Have a great night.

I don't think I could handle all them side dishes, but reading what you are planning........I wish I was a guest at YOUR party 

[chewytikka]

Hi SD
Good luck with that.
Must say, its unusual to cater with only hot tasting curries.
Your friends must all be curryheads ;D
cheers Chewy

[Salvador Dhali]

Hi SD
Good luck with that.
Must say, its unusual to cater with only hot tasting curries.
Your friends must all be curryheads ;D
cheers Chewy

The dhal has only got a small handful of fresh green chillies...  ;D

[Unclefrank]

If you are going to make this a regular thing i would get one of these http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=6207.0

I have one and it saves me a lot of time and space when cooking for friends. All i have to concentrate on cooking is the sides, starters, breads and rice.

I also do a Sampling Night, where i make anything from 6-10 different curries for friends to try and give me their opinions, i precook the chicken, giving 3 big pieces of chicken per person, just to sample for each curry.

[Aussie Mick]

Well our rvening went really well. The guests enjoyed the food saying it was bbetter than anything they have tasted in Australia.

The Bradford masala was the most popular dish followed by CA's Madras. Personally I loved CA's Dhansak.

I remembered to get 4 pictures but they are not the best quality as I was cooking outside after dark.

Bradford Masala


Bhuna


Chicken Vindaloo


Madras


Hope your night went well Mr. Dhali

We are doing the same again next week with different guests

Then in a few weeks, I will cook a few curries and get a few from our local curry house, and "blind" test peoples opinions. Should be interesting.

[colin grigson]

They look fantastic Mick .. well done !!

Did you blow the froth off a couple too ? 

We'll await SD's report now ...

[Aussie Mick]

Thanks Colin.

Yes we certainly sank a few.

Then to finish off a perfect day I stayed up to watch Liverpool lose and Man City draw.............just perfect  ;D

[Salvador Dhali]

Nice one Mick - looks great, and sounds like you had a fantastic day.

As, indeed, did I, although I'm shattered! Much though I love cooking curry, I now know that I could never work as a curry chef (even if I wanted to).

I 'only' knocked out 16 curries (my brother made the other 16) and four or five side dishes, etc, which is pathetic compared with what a BIR chef punts out.

Full respect to them all!

I was mad busy and didn't have time to take pictures myself, but one of the guests snapped a few. Not brilliant, but here they are anyway:

1. Setting up. Cooking in a strange kitchen has its drawbacks - not least being where the hell do you put everything!



2. First pot of base and a pot of stock on, and some initial prep before cooking commences. I was delighted when I saw the cooker, but it was short lived as soon as I fired the mother up. Half the burners were shagged. You might as well have held your pan over a match...



I wanted to recreate that takeaway experience, so cooked each curry separately in double portions, and kept them warm in foil containers (scribbled on illegibly, naturally!). Here's the first batch ready for the hordes:



And this is the only picture anyone bothered to take of the food (Lamb Madras and a Tarka Dhal). They were too busy gorging...

[ELW]

Compliments to the chef there  , I do get all curried out from time to time, but it passes quickly