Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on December 27, 2011, 11:12 PM
Abdul, just to add what others have said, there are more positives than negatives about the forum and hope you keep on logging in and contributing to the posts.

I agree. I hope my previous comments are regarded as constructive and very positive.

Hi Abdul, i bought your book too, personally i love it and have been using it for the last six months or more, i don't feel any need to try other recipes, your's are perfect for our house, and my family think i'm some kind of Gordon Oliver of the curry world because of the meals i have cooked from your book. I havn't received an email about an enhanced base sauce, although thats probably my fault, i have too many email addies, don't worry about it, i'm happy, so if you are busy, just put it on the back burner till you get a chance.
And as for negative comments, take them with a pinch of salt, unless its from somebody who has not bought the book, for them i would say "You get what you pay for in this life".
Merry bloody Christmas to all :-D

Hopefully Abdul hasn't decided to leave us to our own devices and will continue to try and educate the class for some time to come in spite of the unruly behaviour of some of our classmates

I have a question for the teacher.  The tomato puree paste in your recipes, diluted or undiluted??  Having cooked Abdul's madras last night to try out Ifindforu's mix powder, it suddenly dawned on me this morning, for some reason, that nobody has asked for clarification on this which is now beginning to nag at me a little. 

As we all know the use of this stuff goes hand in hand with curry making and there are very few dishes that it doesn't find its way into to a greater or lesser extent.   IMHO this is a key player in bringing about that BIR aroma we all rave about.  As an ingredient if used incorrectly or in the wrong proportions it can have a huge impact on flavour and easily ruin what should be a good curry.  I have for many years used the concentrated paste used in BIR kitchens, diluting it 50/50 with water and then freezing in ice cube trays.  I must admit, to date I haven't tried adding anything to it like Julian does or cooking it with garlic spices etc, so there is possibly work in this area still to be done. 

But one thing does stand out, with few exceptions, when specifying the use of this key player, many of us are a little vague to say the least.  It goes without saying that this can lead to inconsistent results.  If we are all more mindful of this when writing our recipes, at least we'll remove one of the many variables that we battle against.

I currently assume when somebody writes 1 tbsp of tomato puree / paste (again there is a difference  between the two and there is a thread on the forum that covers this) I need to add 2 tbsp, since mine has been diluted.  Or do I?  Do you see where I am coming from now?? Julian tells us how he prepares his paste and CA always specifies a quantity mixed with a certain amount of water.  Unfortunately many of us currently don't do this which can lead to misinterpretations and incorrect assumptions (should we be making these anyway?).  Enough said.  I hope Abdul is still around to clear this one up  .

Guy's,

I think writing recipes down can prove to be a little tricky, especially if you are the recipe provider.  What is 'second nature' to you, often throws up questions from others

Tomato puree/paste IS a tricky one and is definitely one of the ingredients that really needs clarifying when putting a recipe down.  1tbsp of normal strength tom puree is a completely different beast to 1tbsp of triple strength tom paste, and therefor is going to give very different results.

I think that the only sure fire way of having any kind of consistency with our recipes, would be if there was a 'recipe template' built into the forum.  Something a bit like the on-line insurance forms whereby you can add details of the ingredients, and there be a drop down function at the side of the text field which gives you specific options for example;  1 tbsp of tom puree (hit the drop down) to reveal>single concentrate>double concentrate>tripleconcentrate.  You simply select which one it is, so the recipe would read; 1tbsp tom puree (double concentrate)

It's probably not feasible on a forum like this but it would be a great help.  In it's absence, we all need to be more specific I guess?

Ray

Quote from: Razor on December 30, 2011, 01:31 PM
In it's absence, we all need to be more specific I guess?

You got it!

A good test is this. Ignoring any preconceived knowledge, write the recipe down including ingredients and then read it back to yourself and ask yourself the question: Could I make this dish following the instructions I have written? If there are ambiguities to you, then there will be ambiguities to other people and don't assume anything.

3 cloves of Garlic
Yeah, how prepared? With skins on? Added whole? Chopped? How finely chopped? Pureed? If pureed, with water? oil? To what consistency? Thick, runny? How much water or oil? What size are your cloves, plump? skinny?

3 Tomatoes
Yeah, how prepared? What size? Plum or Salad? Cherry? Tinned or fresh? Quartered? Skinned? De-seeded? Pureed? Chopped?

2 Tsp Cumin
What kind of cumin, regular or black? Seeds? Roasted and ground? or just ground? Any particular brand?

I daren't even mention Garam Masala