Phil,
       Thanks very much for taking the trouble to provide the explanation.

Best regards,

Rob

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on October 15, 2013, 06:26 PM
We've already lost H4ppy Chris to the sheep-shaggers' forum; do we really want to lose Bigboaby1 as well ?
** Phil.

Been off-line for a few days, what happened, has H4ppy Chris been naughty? His posts seem to have vanished too, is he now an unperson, and what is this woolophile forum of which you speak?

Baffled,

Rob

Quote from: goncalo on August 17, 2013, 12:45 PM

Quote from: Gav Iscon on August 17, 2013, 11:17 AM

Quote from: Garabi Army on August 17, 2013, 11:09 AM
Apologies for going off topic slightly but has anyone got the link for 'blade's recipe for chicken tikka' ... I can't find it 

Cheers,
Ken

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,874.0.html

I'm going to do my next batch with this. 27 pages of rave reviews can't be wrong.

On the theme of avoiding Pataks paste, there's a  variant on Blade's original recipe which I always use that replaces the paste with a tbs of Raja tandoori powder and a tsp of tamarind concentrate.

I think it was Blade himself that suggested it but I can't find the original post. Seriously good though, got a batch of boneless thighs marinating in the fridge right now.

Thanks for that Chewy. Like Solarsplace I've had no luck searching for Uri on the web and was beginning to think I'd imagined it - what a worrying thought: dreaming about non-existent curry dishes!

I'll look out for Uri when I'm next near an Asian grocers. Meanwhile I'll experiment with the fine green beans blanched, then fried with onion, garlic and panch poran to accompany tonight's prawn patia.

Rob

Looking at a packet of green beans rapidly approaching use-by date I remembered a side dish I haven't seen on a menu for years: Prawn Uri. As I recall this was essentially a green bean bhaji with the addition of a few ounces of small prawns/shrimp.

Anyone else remember this?
I've tried the search function but it just throws up every word containing uri, is there a particular syntax you need to use to search for uri as a word?

Cheers,

Rob

Interesting that there's no mention of spices. Personally I've never understood what's to be gained by having spice in the base when you'll be adding a lot more in the final dish, plus if it's present in any significant amount it must surely reduce the versatility of the base. These days I don't put any in the base and can't say that I've missed it.
Do people find spice in the base really produces a significantly different taste compared to only frying them in during cooking?

Rob

Encouraged by the comments here I decided to give this a go, and to follow the instructions to the letter, despite reservations over putting the raw lentils plus water straight into a salty sauce. I used the basic red lentils, (Natco) that would normally be turning to a mushy dhal after about 20 minutes simmering in plain water.

At the end of the recommended simmering time, 30 - 40 minutes they were still hard, as in gritty. After an hour and a half they had just begun to soften, but by that time we were starving so dived in. The sauce was indeed delicious, although lacking the smooth texture expected of a dhansak and as feared there were digestive "issues" throughout the night.

In fact the sauce was so nice I'm going to have another go but next time adding the lentils pre-cooked.

Rob

I've always assumed that the paprika is included principally to add colour as the flavour is a bit too subtle to be really noticed in with all the other spices. (I could be wrong, of course!)

Rob

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/The-Bay-Tree-Caramelised-Onions/29373011?from=search&tags=%7C20000&param=caramelised&parentContainer=SEARCHcaramelised_SHELFVIEW

Nearly 20% brown sugar, plus balsamic vinegar. Doesn't sound much like a base

Rob

Spotted some sauces in Home & Bargain yesterday. These were the ones that have a separate plastic container on the lid, sealed with foil and holding powdered spice mix that is fried with your main ingredient before simmering with the sauce from the jar. There was a long list of spices on the label, plus yoghurt and coriander leaf. The brand was "Indi".

Thinking that perhaps these things have come on in recent years, wanting a quick meal and in the interests of research I bought the rogan josh, (89p!)

Alas, just as expected. Despite all the spicing the only flavour really detectable above the sourness was chili. The only thing on the label that we wouldn't use at home, apart from maize starch which presumably is a thickening agent to compensate for the small amount of onion, was citric acid. I suppose this is a preservative, but what's the point of a preservative that ruins the taste?

Until someone finds a way of slowly caramelising onion cheaply on a commercial scale, and avoiding preservatives that taste bitter our local BIRs will be safe.

Oddly many chinese cook-in sauces produce a perfectly acceptable quick meal, without any of the sourness, wonder why?

Robert