Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions => Topic started by: fatgit on November 01, 2012, 03:55 PM
-
Hi,
I've been landed with the job of preparing a curry for about 30 people next Thursday (don't you love Being landed in it ats hort notice!), but I've never cooked for large numbers.
What I'm looking for is a mild chicken curry that's nut-free (just in case), but if possible can be tweaked when serving to increase the heat for those that want it.
I have access to a large kitchen with dry Bain marie, and 6 ring range to cook it all on/keep warm, and can use it all day for prep/cooking, but would prefer something reasonably quick or easy to make in advance (if only the base).
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? They'd be gratefully received!
Cheers for reading.
-
If you plan only to cook one large curry then 976bar is the resident expert and had more experience than most. Over to you Bob ;)
-
Yep - sound advice!
I'll stick my oar in before the man comes along though, if that's okay.
I've only ever catered for 15, but that involved three mains and three sides (plus breads, rice, poppadoms, etc), and what I learnt from that experience was to do AS MUCH PREP AS POSSIBLE beforehand.
If I was preparing one curry for 30, and wanted it to be as BIR as possible, I'd prepare the base on the Wednesday morning, and then knock out enough sauce for the 30 dishes in the afternoon by making double portions in my trusty 26cm pan.
Sounds a lot of faff, but it would only take a couple of hours to make 15 (generous) double portions of sauce - and it's the only reliable way I know of to replicate BIR in any volume.
One the sauce is done, all you need to do on the Thursday is pre-cook the chicken and sort out rice and any other accompaniments. About half an hour before serving, add the pre-cooked chicken to the big pot of sauce and bring up to serving temp, and then it's just a question of plonking everything on plates/dishes, garnishing with coriander as required.
For those whole like the heat, you could also prepare a few portions of extra hot (vindaloo +) strength sauce and a little to individual dishes, or simply stir in a teaspoon or so of Mr Naga.
It's probably sheer madness, but that's they way I'd go about it, for what it's worth...
-
Cheers for that, not sure I can get into the kitchen on the Wednesday, but could possibly do a base and other prep at home - but that could be dodgy under the Food Safety regs. I have a feeling, it's going to be a case of starting very early on the day.
-
Here here SD. That is exactly how i'd go about it as well. The less to do on the day, unless you're used it, the better all round ;D
-
I would play with this
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0)
its already big scale, you would need to adjust for 30
its a dam good madras. UB.
-
Will look, thanks again!
-
Hi Fatgit,
Sorry for not replying sooner but Thursday night is curry night at the Uni and I don't finish till 8pm, so don't get home until now.
Tonight was special for me, Phil turned up at the Uni with a couple of friends. Tonight we had, Garlic Chili Chicken Masala, Chicken Tikka Masala, Aubergine & Potato curry, Vegetarian Keema Stuffed Peppers, Onion Bhajis, Sri Lankan Tuna & Potato Bhajis, (provided by our Sri Lankan chef and I'll come back to these later on in a different subject), rice, cucumber raita, mint yogurt sauce, coriander chutney, mango chutney, caramalised onions with chili, poppadoms and Naan breads....
The question I want to ask Fatgit, is why, when you are catering for 30 people you are going to make just one curry to suit all?
I would make 2 curries at least. One needs to be medium hot, the other a mild curry and if you are catering on this scale then it will take more than 15 hours to prepare believe me.... as Michael T knows :)
Depending on how much help you will have? Is there anyone who can help you prepare this lot or are going this alone?
A Madras of some sort would suit the medium hot dish or even a garlic chili chicken masala with less chili's would go down well.
If you know the person who you are cooking for well, just ask them about allergies. If you prepare 2 curries, then the mild one could contain nuts, i.e. a Korma/CTM/Nepal/Plain curry?
If you can let me have more details, I can help you plan over the weekend so you can start shopping Monday, Marinading & Making Base Sauce Tuesday, Making the curry sauces Wednesday, Pre-cooking the meat on Thursday while the sauces are warming up, then adding the meat, plus the rice and anything else you have in mind......
Believe me, it takes quite a bit of time to produce bulk catering when you are not used to cooking on this scale.
We now have it down to about 2-3 hours at the Uni as long as the meat/chicken is marinaded in advance and the base is made the day before along with any raita's/chuntneys etc....
Let me know what you need and I will help :)
-
Tonight was special for me, Phil turned up at the Uni with a couple of friends. Tonight we had, Garlic Chili Chicken Masala, Chicken Tikka Masala, Aubergine & Potato curry, Vegetarian Keema Stuffed Peppers, Onion Bhajis, Sri Lankan Tuna & Potato Bhajis, (provided by our Sri Lankan chef and I'll come back to these later on in a different subject), rice, cucumber raita, mint yogurt sauce, coriander chutney, mango chutney, caramalised onions with chili, poppadoms and Naan breads....
And I can vouch for the fact that it was all first class ! My two Greek friends, Charalambos and Vasos, both went for the Chicken Tikka Masala, I had the Garlic Chili Chicken and Aubergine & Potato curry, and we all had rice, naan, onion bhaji, popadom and assorted pickles/chutneys. All three of us very much enjoyed the meal (the first time I have ever eaten in The Hub !), and Charalambos (who has been at College for about as long as I have, which is over twenty years) said that the meal had completely made him revise his opinion of College catering and he will be going back to The Hub again. It was great to meet Bob, even better to sample his food, and I look forward to re-visiting in about a month's time.
** Phil.
-
Cheers for replying. It was our youth group tonight, so I've been busy myself :)
I was going for one dish, as I also have to make a Beef Stew and dumplings for up to 12 people that don't eat curry (strange people, I know). I was meant to be doing only the stew, but now have it all :o
I will have 1-2 people helping, but to be honest, they don't cook generally, so I'm not sure I can rely on them for more than the odd bit of onion chopping, stirring pots etc. Whilst I don't cook such large volumes, I'm used to cooking from scratch, preparing quickly and methodically etc, just not at this scale.
Until people turn up, I won't know their preferences, allergies etc as it is a ticketed quiz night, and people from all over town are coming - although I suppose I could just tell them theyre on stew if theyre fussy or have allergies :)
If the base is common between the curries, I could probably get away with two final dishes.
Thanks again to everyone for the advice!
P.s. That menu tonight sounds like heaven (except the Tuna bit). My mouth is now watering, and I have one heck of a craving for a curry!
-
Morning Fatgit,
It's 5.30am and I am just getting ready to go to to the Uni for the early morning shift. I'll have a think during the day and come up with a couple of dishes that you can make quite easily and with the same base. I am thinking along the lines of a Chicken Korma which is so easy and quick to make and maybe a light Madras that won't blow peoples heads off.
I'll be in touch later :)
-
Hi
I've been cooking BIR style curry for a while now and have recently found this site and its been very helpful in reading other peoples opinions and recipes etc. I have also been given the task of catering for 25-30 people in a few weeks at a family function which I agreed to rather stupidly in my opinion! The most i have ever cooked a BIR curry for was 5 people and it turned out ok. I plan to do at least 2 curries with one being a mildish curry like a Bhuna and a spicier curry like a Madras or Jalfrezi. I plan to get the base and meats done the day before and cook the curries earlier on in the day that they are being served, however i have no idea how to do scale a curry in terms of spices for such a high number of portions. Is it possible to cook double portions, then put into a separate pot then cook another double portion and add that to the same pot and repeat until you get the amount you want or will this result in overspicing the curry if that makes sense? Any advice or help would be much appreciated!
-
Hi Richardr33 wow your brave,I have done several curry parties for 12 to 15 people cooking diferent currys each time, and the double portion and put in pot (or wok in my case)worked for me with no probs.hope this helps
-
I plan to do at least 2 curries with one being a mildish curry like a Bhuna and a spicier curry like a Madras or Jalfrezi. I plan to get the base and meats done the day before and cook the curries earlier on in the day that they are being served, however i have no idea how to do scale a curry in terms of spices for such a high number of portions. Is it possible to cook double portions, then put into a separate pot then cook another double portion and add that to the same pot and repeat until you get the amount you want or will this result in overspicing the curry if that makes sense? Any advice or help would be much appreciated!
I would do it exactly as you have described but the day before. I would make the sauces only and add the cooked meat on the day. Then simply reheat slowly in the oven. This leaves you plenty of time to do any other bits like poppadums, chappatis, onion salad, mint sauce etc and removes all the pressure as the main work has already been done ;D ;)
-
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
-
I ended up making darthphall's madras and rather than scaling up and guessing on the fluid scale to use, I just made 3 batches to be safe and left out the extra hot chilli powder.
It was a little runny, but not bad for a rush job. We actually had a fair amount left (some people changed their minds and had the stew instead) and this was sold off for people to put in the freezer (also added to our funds).
I could definitely have done with some time to experiment with the recipe first but it wasn't option.
-
Being a bit new to this forum and a bit late to this thread, I'd do loads of prep at home, chopped onions, spice crushing, butchery etc. I've done curries for a party of around 45, 3 different, lamb, chicken and veg with all the added sundries, naans, poppadums, sambals and carted it to the area of cooking.
Had a good early start, but I don't use a BIR base at the moment, just use the way I was shown by an chef who'd spent 3 years with the Gurkhas. It's an easy quick method and I managed to knock out the curries and have them bubbling away in around and hour, leaving time for the better things in life such as beer ;)
Rice was cooked as needed, naans heated as needed, leaving a fiar bit of time to chat to the others invited. At 10 pound a head for charity, I took costs out and even managed to make 370 pound for charity too.
-
Sainty62
Please feel free to post the recipes
Regards
-
Sainty62
Please feel free to post the recipes
Regards
2 x Onions, small diced
Inch cube of Ginger
8 Garlic cloves
Half bunch of Coriander
4 tins chopped Tomatoes
2 Cardomom Pods
Approx 1 Tablespoon of Nutmeg, Fenugreek, Cumin mixed
1/4 tube Tom Puree
6 x Finger/Birdseye Chillies
1/2 Cup Garam Masala
Saute onions and chillies, whilst this is going on, blitz coriander, garlic and ginger with a small amount of water to make a paste.
Crush cardomom pods, empty seeds into frying onions.
Add dry spices.
I normally add my meat at this stage, to get a mix of the spices into the meat whilst frying
Add tom puree and paste and fry over a low heat.
Add chopped toms and stir.
Cook over a low-medium heat for approx 30 mins, stirring occasionally (this shouldn't stick, it hasn't for me so far in 15yrs)
This makes a curry base for around 6 portions.
You can faff around with the chillies for varying heat, I find that 6 give a reasonable flavour.
This can be used for any meat/fish/veg curry you like and it's often good to play around with teh spice mix depending on personal tastes.
-
wow - 1st time I think I have seen nutmeg used in a Ruby!!!! ;) :o
-
wow - 1st time I think I have seen nutmeg used in a Ruby!!!! ;) :o
Weird thing is, you can't taste it, but it does something to the flavour. I don't know, I just make and eat them ;D
-
wow - 1st time I think I have seen nutmeg used in a Ruby!!!! ;) :o
Weird thing is, you can't taste it, but it does something to the flavour. I don't know, I just make and eat them ;D
Thanks Sainty, what curry is this supposed to be? garlic jalfrezi?
How hot would you rate it with the 6 bird eyes chillies and do you de-seed them and open/dice em?
I'll try it when my taz base runs out :)
-
Thanks Sainty, what curry is this supposed to be? garlic jalfrezi?
How hot would you rate it with the 6 bird eyes chillies and do you de-seed them and open/dice em?
I'll try it when my taz base runs out :)
It's not a Garlic Jalfrezi, just a curry taught to me by an Army Master Chef who'd spent 3 years with Gurkhas in Brunei. ATM, I'm just getting to grips with making BIR bases now for use at home. Ref the chillies, I normally add them to the blender to make the paste, but have started to just slice a couple more to add to the frying onions, I don't bother de-seeding them as I like a bit of heat.