Quote from: goncalo on September 21, 2013, 06:32 PM
Thanks pr0tax, I didn't try the recipe yet. I like the recipe's method and the looks of your dishes though -- sorry if I confused.

What brand of rice are you using?

It is Akash Basmati

haha, that's fine Phil, I'm enjoying reading this tbh. It was before my time and I do hear the calls of the 'old skool' coders when I attend conventions and such with nostalgic conversation formed into obscure debates within the blink of an eye!

Does anybody happen to remember AMOS and/or STOS?

edit: oh and Goncalo, I can't help but agree with you on that one!

Hey Goncalo,

Thanks, did you happen to try it?

With regards to the Rice, I honestly couldn't tell you. There is no post-editing but yes, in real life it also looks brilliant white almost to the point you need shades on just to look at it!

QuoteSounds a lot like a BIR approach with the base gravy and all so maybe not really traditonal.

Ah, true. However I wasn't sure where to put this thread with it not being any type of 'mainstream curry'.

QuotePersonally, I'd serve that curry sauce with some chips instead

I made some for me and the enemy after this batch with chips Oddly enough, none of my kids like chips which I find real strange.

With regards to the rice/water, yes I always used to stick with 1.5x too, however in the Microwave and with Basmati (it was soaked for an hour or two prior) I just use this ratio and the Basmati turns out absolutely perfect (at least I can't shout at myself for failing the rice)

Digging our heels in deep here Phil  ;D

I did have an office 2007-2009 but the overhead (~?500) a month was ridiculous. I just work from home since 2009 and I'm saving, plus I can claim back on expenses such as rent and what not. It's awesome being able to talk/see the kids whatever time of day and just creep back to my desk whenever I please. I do have a strict routine of 12-14 hours a day Mon-Friday, sometimes weekends included if it's a big job.

Being self-employed is such a roller coaster, one minute you're way up, the next it's rock bottom and the entire journey you never know how much/when/where from pillar to pillar. That's part of the excitement though.

At the top of this year, I found a new platform for online education and I started teaching kids and adults alike how to develop computer games with no programming at all. I've had the privilege of working closely with a global company (I won't namedrop) but they develop awesome software for all ages to develop games and applications in with no programming, I'm quite close to the company itself (although not part of it) and it's a fantastic community with huge potential laying before it.

Do you still do any programming at all?

QuoteI wish I had been more responsible to start my own business, something I still think of to this day.

To be honest, with the least life experience ever and being very naive at that age I didn't take advantage of a lot of things, especially the dot com boom, it just seemed to sail by me. I was quite ignorant too, I never thought the internet would boom like it did, I just got myself into a comfortable corner and sat in it... work is still good though as I've built up a huge portfolio of work I've done since 1998!

Glad to see like minded people on here, Indian food is top of my list and I'm looking forward to trying new recipes especially BIR ones and I'm looking forward to contributing back what I can.

Hey Everyone,

My first contribution thread that I felt quite proud of; so I just had to share it! I hope this is the relevant forum to post in, apologies in advance if it's not.

The kids have been asking for curry n rice for their dinner so I threw on the overalls and got to it. Here is the recipe with ingredients and method(s) for the entire thing. Took me 15 minutes.


Just to further note, my 6 year old son and 20 month old girl went through this like a bullet and asked for more so it's certainly something to note for the future

FYI: I used Dipuraja's Curry Base Gravy for the base (prepared the night before)

Cooking Time: 15 Minutes

Rice: 8 Minutes

Rice Method

• 125g Basmati Rice
• 300ml Boiling Water

Pop into a Microwavable dish, wrap with clingfilm and pierce several times, 4 minutes on full power (800w) then 4 minutes on Medium power (500w).

Main Dish: Ingredients

• 2 tbspn Ghee/Oil
• Ginger and Garlic Paste
• 1 tbspn - Dipuraja's Mix Powder
• 1/5th tspn Methi
• 2 heaped tbspn Tomato Puree
• 1 tspon Salt
• 100g tinned tomatoes
• 2 tbspn Lemon Juice
• 1 tbspn Natural Yogurt

Main Dish: Method

• Heat the oil up nice and hot, once sizzling drop in the Garlic and Ginger paste and fry for around 15 seconds
• Put in the Methi and continue to fry for a further 5-10 seconds
• Put in the Tomato Puree and continue to fry for a further 15-20 seconds
• Add Base Gravy
• Put in the Mix Powder and quick-fry for around 20 seconds
• Add some base gravy and bring to the boil, leave to sizzle for a good 10-20 seconds
• Put in the salt and leave it for a good 30-35 seconds
• Add more Base Gravy if you need to at any point
• Add the Tinned Tomatoes, stir in and leave to cook for roughly 20-30 seconds whilst constantly stirring
• Now, add your 1tbspn of Yogurt in the centre and leave it there for about 15 seconds
• Stir around the yoghurt and throw in the Lemon Juice
• Add more base gravy (if needed for quantity and/or prevention of sticking)
• Leave to cook off for a further 2 minutes whilst constantly stirring and you have the desired thickness and you're done!

N.B - The adding of Base Gravy adds to the time to cook to bring it up to the same level as the contents already in the pan (hence why it can extend to 10-15 minutes - even though the above method only looks about half of that)

Thanks for the greetings!

Great to see some IT folks around here too! I started VB and Pascal around the age of about 13 (~1998?) and it went from there, never attended College or Uni just started doing my own thing and have grown ever since. No better feeling than running your own business! Glad I found my strong point at such an early age, although I did miss out on the dot com boom (I put that down to lack of life experience) 

QuoteI would like to see the biriani recipe.

Thanks Stew! I love contributing anything I can back, so I will certainly post my Biryani recipe and will welcome all types of criticism (although I must admit, I finally got it on-par with my fave takeaway)

Hello Everyone.

Good to see a forum I think I can slip right into. By day I'm a software/computer game developer. 28, divorced but with a new girl now (hindsight!) and I love Indian food.

Quote*Cue Long and Probably Boring Intro*

It started when I was young (14?) every Wednesday I used to go to my asian friend's house for tea and his mum used to cook and by god it was beautiful. Ever since the days I started with the pubs/clubs we went to restaurants afterwards and got into curry even more.

Since the age of about 15, always had good curry from one main takeaway here (but always like to try new things) then I got bored of some tasting completely different so I stuck with my main one. We usually eat Curry/Biryani 5-6 days a week. So I started cooking Indian food myself 4 years ago. I was completely unaware of this forum at this point!

Initially I started with the usual paste from Asda etc. but in all honesty, it was terrible and it set me quite back thinking I wouldn't attempt it again. Until one day I thought sod it, I followed a recipe online for a Lamb Biryani and I bought all the spices and what not, awesome! It came out terrible, 2nd attempt was bang on, 3rd attempt was awful, 4th attempt - terrible. Biryani took me a good 12/13 attempts until I finally mastered my own recipe based off a collection of different recipe's I had found.

After this was curry, after the pub one night I went to my fave takeaway for a curry (as you do) and I saw this huge pot he was 'dipping into' and I often wondered how they whipped up curries so fast and I said to my pal, I wonder if it's like a 'base curry' or a 'standard set of ingredients pre-cooked'. So I shot home and Googled it and would you know it yes!

So, since then I have delved into many a recipe and I must say, this site is worth it's weight in Gold. I haven't tried any of the recipe's yet but I think I may post my Biryani one, I'm not fully up to scratch with Curries yet, my first attempt at Base/Madras last week was 95% there, tonight it was 35% so I'm a bit disappointed but I get the gist pretty quick.

I'll try get around to putting my own Lamb Biryani recipe up with instructions but aside of that, I'm looking forward to learning more. Just to put a smile on my face, I ditched the old pan set and purchased some new stainless steel pottery today from our local continental.

Apologies for the long and probably boring intro. Glad to be here