Had a go at making Curryhell's pillau rice last night.I've always struggled cooking rice and never attempted before to cook it completely in an oven.All I can say is fantastic!!!! Much better than any take-away round my way(They all seem pretty tasteless to me and none really colour their rice any more).A real winner!!!

Next time I will leave the dish/oil in the oven for longer than two minutes to heat up;the spices didn't sizzle much neither did the water.The recipe called for the oven to be 175C which I think is gas mark 4 so maybee my oven wasn't hot enough.





It was a last minute thing-I had no base sauce so I quickly knocked up a curry and potato dish to go with the rice.The recipe was from the Curry Book by Vivek Singh,not BIR but nonetheless very tasty.It's very similar to the staff curry recently posted from Ifind4you.

Quote from: jb on October 30, 2011, 07:47 AM
Had a go at making Curryhell's pillau rice last night.I've always struggled cooking rice and never attempted before to cook it completely in an oven.All I can say is fantastic!!!! Much better than any take-away round my way(They all seem pretty tasteless to me and none really colour their rice any more).A real winner!!!

That's not to spec.  It's gone green    ;D.  Well that's another dish nailed for you then . Try it with Dips mushroom pilau and my special fried rice without mix powder is very like some round here.  Looking at those pics it's restaurant quality jb.  Glad it worked for you and thanks for trying it out and reporting back.  All i need you to do for me now is to critique my my NIS dish ;D. Not forgetting the other pics - that curry looks tasty

I did the oven thing once but it's too much messing around for me. I made a post about how to cook perfect rice every time in the Chinese section, and tells you how to apply it to basmati rice too. Try that out and you might (should) find it a much easier way to make perfect textured rice with dry separated grains 100% of the time. If you want colour in it, just add it after it is cooked and before forking through. Add and leave the colour to set for 5 minutes, and then separate with a fork and serve. https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=6206.msg61747#msg61747

Quote from: madeinbeats on October 30, 2011, 05:16 PM
I did the oven thing once but it's too much messing around for me. I made a post about how to cook perfect rice every time in the Chinese section, and tells you how to apply it to basmati rice too. Try that out and you might (should) find it a much easier way to make perfect textured rice with dry separated grains 100% of the time. If you want colour in it, just add it after it is cooked and before forking through. Add and leave the colour to set for 5 minutes, and then separate with a fork and serve. https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=6206.msg61747#msg61747

Read my original post and will see it's no more messing than your post, in fact easier, no washing, no soaking and still perfect results.  Try it and see

Quote from: curryhell

Read my original post and will see it's no more messing than your post, in fact easier, no washing, no soaking and still perfect results.  Try it and see

Mehh, splitting hairs maybe, but the method I use is less messing with all the opening and closing the oven. I may try it one day for arguments sake.

Quote from: madeinbeats on October 30, 2011, 06:25 PM
Mehh, splitting hairs maybe, but the method I use is less messing with all the opening and closing the oven. I may try it one day for arguments sake.

I'd sooner open and close the oven door 4 times than stand there washing rice ;D. I now use this method simply because i have an electric hob .  Prior to that i used virtually the same method as you describe apart from using a couple of tsp of oil and frying the spices then the rice before adding the water.  The rest, including timing is exactly as you describe.  An excellant method for a gas cooker

Agree with curry hell

Sounds like we have another George on the forum lol

Quote from: curryhell on October 30, 2011, 08:38 AM

Quote from: jb on October 30, 2011, 07:47 AM
Had a go at making Curryhell's pillau rice last night.I've always struggled cooking rice and never attempted before to cook it completely in an oven.All I can say is fantastic!!!! Much better than any take-away round my way(They all seem pretty tasteless to me and none really colour their rice any more).A real winner!!!

That's not to spec.  It's gone green    ;D.  Well that's another dish nailed for you then . Try it with Dips mushroom pilau and my special fried rice without mix powder is very like some round here.  Looking at those pics it's restaurant quality jb.  Glad it worked for you and thanks for trying it out and reporting back.  All i need you to do for me now is to critique my my NIS dish ;D. Not forgetting the other pics - that curry looks tasty

The next curry feast I will do will certainly contain your NIS dish.I was hoping Ifind4you was coming up with some some sort of new base gravy revelation(before I make my next batch) but alas it looks like it's not come to anything.Did you not like the green colour? Wasn't sure when you said the rice was not to spec.Got to say the black cardamons were spot on.Never used them before-I chucked a couple in my main dish and they gave it a wonderful smokey rich flavour,

QuoteDid you not like the green colour? Wasn't sure when you said the rice was not to spec.

Green for me, too : first say green-flecked rice in the Mumtaz at the very northernmost limit of Baker Street and was initially uncertain, but very soon came to think of the green flecks as an essential element, and now every pulao I make has green flecks, as well as red and yellow.

** Phil.

Quote from: curryhell
I'd sooner open and close the oven door 4 times than stand there washing rice ;D. I now use this method simply because i have an electric hob .  Prior to that i used virtually the same method as you describe apart from using a couple of tsp of oil and frying the spices then the rice before adding the water.  The rest, including timing is exactly as you describe.  An excellant method for a gas cooker

Well, now, if I had electric hobs, I sooner use prayer to cook my rice with. Washing the rice takes seconds lol. But it's what I do, fry some onion with the spices first, then the rice, water and salt in...