Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: Peripatetic Phil on April 23, 2013, 12:17 PM
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Waitrose had the Spicetailor (http://www.thespicetailor.com/)range on special offer yesterday, so I purchased one packet of Rogan Josh mix (plus some lamb to go with it) to try. I haven't used it yet (sadly got instant food poisoning from one of their own-brand packs of chilled paella (remaindered), which will be going back for refund and microbiological analysis) but thought I would review it in advance, and then continue once I have used it.
The mix comes in three sachets : RRJ ("Rustic Rogan Josh") base, sauce and spices. The base is a pale brown, finely particulate fluid; the base a good orangy/reddy brown liquid, and the spices include dried red chilli, Indian bay, black cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon, black peppercorns and cloves. All spices are whole. All looks good so far, particularly the use of Indian bay rather than European. The only negative so far encountered is in the cooking instructions, where it reads "3. Stir in the sauce and simmer for 3--5 minutes or until the lamb is cooked through (1--1 1/2 hours for lamb cuts and 30 -- 35 minutes for mince)". One is forced to wonder for which variant of lamb the "3--5 minutes" applies, and I very much fear this is just recycled from a more generic text that applies to chicken as well as lamb.
More when I have cooked and eaten it !
** Phil.
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Food poisoning..from Waitrose?! . Not familiar with chilled paella, does it have seafod or chicken in? (Sorry off topic I guess!)
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how can you be so sure what the cause of the food poisoning was, when the symptoms of food poisoning rarely affect you immediately?
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Food poisoning..from Waitrose?! . Not familiar with chilled paella, does it have seafod or chicken in?
Both ! Not at all a good paella -- too spicy, no flavour of saffron whatsoever.
** Phil.
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how can you be so sure what the cause of the food poisoning was, when the symptoms of food poisoning rarely affect you immediately?
Because in my case, because my stomach acids are kept artificially low with proton-pump inhibitors, my gut reacts within 30 minutes to any food toxins. It is a very useful defence mechanism, in that the pathogens are generally expelled before they get much of a chance to multiply, and it does mean that I can be completely confident as to which particular food was responsible if I have eaten nothing else within that period (as was the case with the paella).
** Phil.
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how can you be so sure what the cause of the food poisoning was, when the symptoms of food poisoning rarely affect you immediately?
Because in my case, because my stomach acids are kept artificially low with proton-pump inhibitors, my gut reacts within 30 minutes to any food toxins. It is a very useful defence mechanism, in that the pathogens are generally expelled before they get much of a chance to multiply, and it does mean that I can be completely confident as to which particular food was responsible if I have eaten nothing else within that period (as was the case with the paella).
Ah, I see. For what reason do you use PPIs?
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Ah, I see. For what reason do you use PPIs?
Barrett's oesophagus :(
** Phil.
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Ah, I see. For what reason do you use PPIs?
Barrett's oesophagus :(
** Phil.
is that too many liquorice all-sorts? ;)
Sorry, just couldn't resist that one.
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I have tried both the Rogan Josh and the Punjabi tomato products from the spice tailor. They are probably the best supermarket curry product I have had.
They are hard to describe more like a cross between BIR and Homestyle Indian.
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Ah, I see. For what reason do you use PPIs?
Barrett's oesophagus :(
** Phil.
Sorry to hear that Phil. I suffer of gastric reflux and I'm taking omeprazole 20mg because of over-indulging in spicy food for my time in Cambridge. I don't take it too often yet, but occasionally I need to. Generally after a jalfrezi and because I didn't have anything since last weekend, I'm gonna start again tomorrow taking these.
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Sorry to hear that Phil.
Thank you. Fortunately, due mainly (or perhaps even entirely) to an extremely good gastroenterologist, it seems to be remaining under control. Sadly he retired a year ago, and I now have to start looking for another ...
I suffer from gastric reflux
Nasty : I get that from time to time, and find that 2 x Domperidone 10mg bring it rapidly under control (after I have recovered from the worst of an acute attack). But I also take Pantoprazole 40mg b/d. Avoiding late-night chocolate and/or fruit pastilles also helps, and there are one or two other foods that fairly reliably trigged it, but I cannot remember what they are as I write ...
** Phil.
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I have tried both the Rogan Josh and the Punjabi tomato products from the spice tailor. They are probably the best supermarket curry product I have had. They are hard to describe more like a cross between BIR and Homestyle Indian.
That sounds very promising : just a shame that I have no opportunity to cook before Saturday at the earliest (well, apart from tonight, when I had king prawn chow mien for quickness after a 2-hour meeting).
** Phil.
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Waitrose had the Spicetailor (http://www.thespicetailor.com/)range on special offer yesterday, ...
More when I have cooked and eaten it !
Which I just have. Cooked /exactly/ to recipe, including a weighed 300gm of lamb, and it required the full 1H30 to get the lamb sufficiently soft and tender to be fully enjoyed. The oil clearly separated twice : once after adding the base, and once (much later) after adding the sauce. I decanted off excess oil at the end. Overall impressions : not bad, but not earth-shattering. No better and no worse than some of my own efforts. Rather too sweet and aromatic for my taste, but an unexceptionable dish. I did add some Burmese lime pickle to try to liven it up, but the combination was not particularly successful. It might have been better if I had had some coriander stalks to add at the end. Worth trying if you think that nothing good can ever come out of a packet (or three packets/sachets, in this case). Would I buy it again ? Probably not, but I don't regret buying it once. Oh, and if you try it, remember to remove the black cardamom before serving : biting into a green cardamom is fun; biting into a black one, anything but.
Post scriptum : while I was cooking the curry, I was also making some lamb stock using the 1/2 shoulder bone, sufficient water to cover the latter, and one Knorr chicken stock pot. I have just tried the lamb stock, and it is out of this world -- better than the curry, in fact. I just can't stop drinking it. Sometimes the simple things in life are the best ...
** Phil.
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Post scriptum : while I was cooking the curry, I was also making some lamb stock using the 1/2 shoulder bone, sufficient water to cover the latter, and one Knorr chicken stock pot. I have just tried the lamb stock, and it is out of this world -- better than the curry, in fact. I just can't stop drinking it. Sometimes the simple things in life are the best ...
Thanks for the review Phil. The knorr chicken cubes/stock pot never fail in my non-BIR cooking! :)