Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - UK/Canadian in USA

Pages: [1]
1
Just Joined? Introduce Yourself / Re: Hi from the USA Midwest
« on: May 01, 2006, 12:40 AM »
I'm in the Indianapolis area.

There's about 8 or so Indian restaurants in and around the Indy area so we do fairly well.

The food tastes identical to BIR's too which is why they are popular.

2
Pictures of Your Curries / Re: Raan of Turkey and a little bit more!
« on: February 05, 2006, 04:31 PM »
Looks superb....... :)

3
Breads (Naan, Puri, Chapatti, Paratha, etc) / Naan Bread
« on: January 31, 2006, 05:05 PM »
Here's the recipe I've been using and it works well for me.
It's a very slightly modified version of one I found onhttp://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art19568.asp

Naan Bread Recipe

1lb white flour
2 sachets dried yeast (sachets in the USA are 0.25oz each)
1 tsp nigella seed - optional (charnushka or kanolfi seed in Indian stores)
6 tbsp plain yogurt
2 tbsp ghee or melted butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup warm water
oil or ghee to coat

1. Dissolve sugar in warm water.
2. Add yeast - yeast should froth after 5 minutes or so.
3. In a seperate bowl, sift salt with flour and add nigella seeds if you?re using them - which I never have.
4. Make a well in the centre and add yoghurt, ghee and yeast mixture.
5. Knead well until it forms a dough. Shape into a ball. If dough is sticky, add more flour until elastic but don?t get the mixture too dry or they will go hard during baking.
6. Coat a seperate bowl with oil or ghee and roll dough into it until fully coated.
7. Shake off excess oil and cover with damp tea-towel or plastic wrap (cling film).
8. After 2 or 3 hours, dough should have doubled in size.
9. Preheat the oven to about 450 to 500 deg. F (230 to 260 deg. C).
9. Knead the dough and divide into around 6 equal portions. Flatten and mould into typical 'pear' shape naan.
10. Here?s the tricky bit. If you bake then too long they lose their soft chewy texture. Once the oven is up to temperature I turn it down a notch until the element or flame goes out and then put the naans in. I think this somewhat simulates a hot tandoor without subjecting the naans to direct heat. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes. You can keep checking them as it?s not like you actually want them to rise so opening the oven door ocasionally for a brief moment won't hurt. Finally I finish them under a hot grill for a few seconds to give them that nice browned look. You?re supposed to brush them with ghee or butter to serve but I never do.

4
Pictures of Your Curries / Re: Sunday's Effort
« on: January 31, 2006, 03:46 AM »
Glad you liked the pics.
I've been making BIR curries for about 3 or 4 months now and I would say that this was my best attempt to date. I did actually add some spice to the rice for the first time but I’m not sure that it made a difference. This is definitely an area that I need to work on.
The naans were good though.
The other week I commented to my wife on how the curries always tasted better when I took them to work the next day for lunch. So, after reading similar posts about eating them the following day I did the same thing and made it on Saturday for Sunday’s supper.
Totally convinced now that this is the way to go.

5
Pictures of Your Curries / Sunday's Effort
« on: January 30, 2006, 03:23 AM »
Well this was my offering for today (Sunday).
Previously I had just been boiling the onion / garlic / ginger mixture. This time I fried it until it was a golden brown and then boiled it. I'm sure it made a difference.
My lot are completely unforgiving and if it’s crap they’ll say so.
They ate way more than normal this time and now I don’t have much to take to work tomorrow for lunch….. :'(

Anyway, here’s some pics:


6
Just Joined? Introduce Yourself / Hi from the USA Midwest
« on: January 28, 2006, 02:04 AM »
Originally from England (Midlands) moved to Canada in 1995 and then to the USA in 2003.

While we're all here trying to "crack the recipe" for the perfect BIR curry you gotta wonder how Indian restaurant chefs have kept their recipes such a closely guarded secret for so long.
Put it this way, there are some 8 or 10 Indian restaurants within a 30 minute drive of my house here in the USA Midwest and yet if you close your eyes you'd swear you were eating in an Indian restaurant back in England. Yes, they taste identical here.

How then does the secret travel 3,500 miles across the pond and still stay a secret??
It's not like all the Indian chefs on both sides can be related eh??

I’ve been working on the Curry Guzzler recipe for the Curry Base and it gets a bit better each time. The texture, consistency and smell are close to 100% whereas the taste I would say is about a 50%. They taste a little bland, like there’s just something missing. My guess is that it’s a case of experimenting with different spice mixes.

Anyway, glad to be here and looking forward to reading and sharing thoughts.

Pages: [1]

  ©2024 Curry Recipes