Topic: Cooking curry for lots of people - advice please

[Chiz]

Hello

I've only every cooked curry for 6 people max. I fry the spices in a saucepan, add the base sauce plus extra spices, then add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes.

Now I need to cook for around 50 people at my house warming party. Now I'm going to assume at least 30 will be having curry since I'm also making 8 pizzas as well.

I was thinking of using a slow cooker that holds 6.5 litres. Fry the spices as usual, then add base sauce. Now transfer this to the slow cooker and add the chicken.

What do you think of this approach and how many people do you think it will serve? I reckon around 30 in a 6.5 litre cooker. I have another slow cooker as well which has a 3.5 litre capacity so I could use that as well.

As for the rice, I'm making pilau rice from Cory Ander's recipe at this site. I've done it a few times and it's great.

So I have some questions:

1) Is the slow cooker method OK for lots of people?

2) My recipes are for 2 servings - when I make curry for 6 I just triple up all the ingredients. So if I make 30 servings, am I multiplying the spices by 15? I seem to remember reading somewhere that I shouldn't do this for large amounts

3) How should I keep the rice warm? What about this rice warmer on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rice-Cooker-Warmer-ONLY-55_W0QQitemZ300137471469QQihZ020QQcategoryZ122932QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I know about food safety regarding the rice, it will be cooked no earlier than 4 hours before the party.

Any other advice when cooking for loads of people?

Cheers

[HOTRING]

Ok right or wrong this is what I have done but not on a grand scale like yourself (only 11 guests)
Cook rice day before & freeze,
Pre cook chicken/meat  refrigerate
pre cook sauces ie ceylon patia korma was what I did, Refrigerate
Next day put meats in sauces & bring to the boil, & micro rice from frozen as required

[Domi]

Hi Chiz

When I cook curry for a lot of people I usually cheat and make 3 or 4 large batches of different curries - madras, vindaloo, dopiaza and a CTM for the wimps lol -  (sized to feed around 10 people) that way I don't have the worry of making one large batch and not being able to get the spice mixture right for my liking I also cook the rice the day before and freeze then microwave to heat it when serving ;D

There again I have to cook it all the day before 'cos these days I need a whole day to get me slap on for a party but that's another sad story : lol

[robothrobo]

I use a slow cooker for cheap tough cuts of beef that end up melt in the mouth.I have found that chicken disintegrates and falls off the bone if you cook it too long so keep an eye on it.I have used 4 slow cookers for large functions doing 4 different curries and it has worked out great as they then act as the serving dish and keep the food warm.Hope this helps and good luck.