Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Just Joined? Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: Davegrc on August 13, 2014, 10:45 AM
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Kiwi actually ! Grate grandfather, Scottish expat in Fiji , Grandfather and father borne there , Engineers in Lautoka Sugar mills where Indians where emigrated into Fiji to work the sugar plantations . the Indian Cooks servants and Yayos past on to my ancestors the culture of Indian food , that I intern picked up and ran with from a very young man ! my father then a high school student was sent to New Zealand to escape Japanese menace in the 1940s and never returned , this did not stop him befriending every Indian green grocer in New Zealand at that time to hunt down the spices , herbs and vegetables he needed to fuel his addiction in Indian food ! and it seems as I look back at 35 years of cooking and studying spice that this pursuit of spice has been my endless task as well ! Living in Cebu I have to travel to Singapore ( Mustafa in little India ) several times a year just to bring back a Port full of spice ! today I grow my own curry leaves , Kiffer Lime , Bay leaves , Galangou . we are blessed with fresh coconut and I produce my own oil ! Living in a country that was ruled for 300 years by the Spanish , there is a surprising shortage of spice in local markets
I joined this Forum for two reasons ! one, we all share this interest in spice and two because I have taken on an interest in spice pastes ! Not being able to get Pataks or any other good brands in this region ,I have started to make my own !
I will not except those who shoot down pastes as second to fresh whole spice, as fermented paste and pickels have been part of Indian culture for a millennium and Pataks speaks for itself . Mango and lime pickles , fermented producing natural lactic acids , and flavors absorbed into oils in spice paste jars somehow add to the culture and have earned there Place .
I hope that as I make my way through the archives here I can open and expand this subject beyond simply adding ground herbs and spice into vinegar and oil into something that gets closer to what Partakes do in a jar !
I ticked the "open to anyone emailing back" box when I joined ! and I look forward meeting you all and to mining the Archive
Cheers
Dave
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Welcome Dave many good topics here for you.
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Welcome, Dave. May I ask your age and what is your first language?
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Te Maori.
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? Are you saying he or she is Maori?
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age ? i don't like to count borne 1959 ! language English ! Ancestors Scottish !
20 years a New Zealander ! 20 years an Australian and 15 years in Asia !
:D
Dave
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Your age is required to facilitate any accuations of inexperience later- if required of course-, and likewise your nationality, to excuse any ad hominem attacks that may be made, under the guise of a communications breakdown.
Hope this clears things up. Happy cooking!
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Sorry, Dave. My understanding of ex-pat was that the person had lived somewhere then relocated. The spelling mistakes made me wonder about your native language. Your pro-paste comments made me wonder if you were trying to sell us something.
I have nothing against pastes and have made some lovely ones. I do, however, have issues with commercially-produced pastes, which I believe are bulked out with cheaper spices which, in my opinion, taste bland and 'industrial'.
I'm sure we would all appreciate any recipes for homemade pastes you have :)
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Were you once named Patrick or Patricia being an Ex pat why a name change? :D and welcome here
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Above ::) classic ;)
Welcome again Dave
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Garp please excuse spelling ! Some iPad auto correction ! I constantly fight with that ! Some colonial education ! :-\ and I knew if I joined this group I would have to take the heat on this one !!!
Expat because it's a term used by foreigners living in Asia of course the Asians have there own names for us
No not trying to sell anything it's more a purist pursuit ! But living in the third world I have had to learn how to grow my own ! Make my own and buy things online !
Curry making and spice has been a life time thing for my me ! I read every recipe I can and have learned to put aside any that include the words " add a teaspoon of curry powder "
And like the matrix can see through the list f spices in a recipe and methods of perpetration to know if it's the real thing
I know enough to know that most the curry pastes recipe online are not even close to commercial pastes in there construction irrespective of how fresh the spices and condiments in them are .
Comments on commercial pastes you make may be true but thy would not have started out that way I am sure ! How many great boutique brands end up that way as thy buckle to commercialism ! I see even Pataks is now sold to a multi national
What I would like to do is render down those points that commercial pasts have that home made pasts do not have , into something that those experienced enough can repeat in our own kitchens !
I am a hole fresh spice person ! I roast and grind from fresh hole spice and I do not follow any recipe any more ! But I also appreciate what Pataks did for me over the years when I did not have the time ! And I think that good pastes can help some one who dose not have the knowledge and spice to make very
expectable curries !
I will post what I have and where I am up to and hope that you all can help take this forward
I was a cook in the Air Force and have a background in chemistry ! So I will get to the bottom of this ! But for sure it will be easier with this curry group on my side !
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Lots of points there, Dave, but I have a Lamb Lal Toffan on order so not a lot if time.
What I would say is that this is, predominately a British Indian Restaurant forum
My understanding, from your posts, is that you have never lived in Britain, so there may be some issues with your opinions.
However, have fun :)
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WTF
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Hi and welcome Dave - would be nice to see some of your takes on pastes - there is indeed a huge part to play with pastes in the kitchen.
best, Rich