Topic: BIR supplies

[curryhell]

Nice pan Rob 

[Kashmiri Bob]

Yes.  It's a whopper Dave.  I now also have one of the paddle/spoons popular for making karahi dishes.  Just need a large serving basket to complete the set.  All the gear and no idea!  Hoping the pan will fit on my BBQ.  30 degrees forecast next week, so may be able to fire it up.  Get a feel for the Butt karahi, without trashing my kitchen, or setting the house ablaze.

Rob

[Kashmiri Bob]

More stuff.  Life's luxuries.

These will go nicely with poppadoms, paneer starters and Kashmiri lamb chops



Rob

[Kashmiri Bob]

And with sausages



Rob

[Kashmiri Bob]

Recent supplies.





1.5 L fryer (Amazon) for chicken, paneer and gobi (65).

2.8 kg mango chutney.  Got this from Rogers (Wholesale Foods) in Bilston (nr. Wolverhampton).  It's a warehouse that specialises in close to (or past) use-by date foods.  It's well past but for £2.00 thought to give it a go.  It looks like the BIR runny stuff.

I seemed to have recently acquired a taste for spicy noodles and Rogers obliged once more (in date).  A couple of weeks ago I chanced on a Bombay Bad Boy pot noodle, on yellow sticker from a local shop.  Haven't had one for a long time (decades).  What struck me though was the little sachet of hot sauce they come with.  It's amazing!  Quite fiery but super smooth.  Identical to the hot chilli sauce I remember from Abdul's of Manchester.  Anyway, checked and It's basically just cayenne pepper, vinegar salt and "spices".  Bought some cayenne pepper and made it myself (with ground cumin and a little coriander).  Proper hot sauce.  Coincidentally, my hand-written recipe for the Abdul's shami kebab has finally turned up, so, it's back on the menu.  The sauce with the Inferno noodles is good, but loads of soy in it, so not suitable.  I will get though the noodles in next to no time though 

1 kg yellow mustard powder.  For Misty's Shababs Balti.

New blow torch. My last one packed up.  This one is much neater and fills from the bottom.

5 kg Daawat.

Rob

[Kashmiri Bob]

Starting to stock up on the Shan seasonings. Get them from a local Nisa type shop. The Fried Fish ones were on clearance. 20 p.There is a simple batter/deep fry recipe, so will go with this. Have some nice hake and cod fillets in the freezer, also on yellow sticker. None of that pangash (basa, vietnamese river cobbler) stuff for me thank you very much.

First photo having realised my tablet gadget actually has a camera on it.  Not a very good picture though is it?

Rob

[livo]

Don't completely disregard Vietnamese imported basa. We have it over here as well and I can assure you it can be used to make excellent tod mun pla.  When it goes on reduced sale I can usually pick it up for $6 to $8 / kg (£3 to £4) and I usually buy all there is, being up to 3 kg.  My wife also boils it up as the dogs love it.

[Kashmiri Bob]

Not convinced livo. Last time I looked Vietnamese pangasius was on the US FDA "Avoid" list. I have tried it many years ago. Think It's still used a lot by Bangladeshi TAs for their Masala fish. It's cheap here too. Apparently what we get is contaminant free. What I find really off-putting is the way it's marketed. I don't think people realise it's not a sea fish. Asda, for example, sell it "fresh" alongside fillets of cod, haddock, etc. Similarly in their frozen range, where the packets labeled as white fish are actually basa. At one time the cheap white fish was usually Alaskan pollock.

I wonder when the name basa was introduced. Perhaps Vietnamese catfish, chips and mushy peas wouldn't have the same ring to it here.

Rob

[livo]

There were early baseless rumours about the farming of these fish consisting of a diet of human waste when it first hit the shops over here.  I guess you could argue that any fish in a river might be exposed to these materials and dead animals etc.  The same with fish and crustaceans from the oceans, particularly in proximity to deep water ocean sewage outlets.

The main issue in the USA, I believe, is that the local Catfish farmers don't want it labelled as catfish, even though it is.  Hence the name Basa.  It is generally recognised as a healthy food product.  I'm not about to compare it to any of my preferred ocean fish species but I've eaten it and it's fine.  As I said, it makes really good tod mun pla.  I've prepared it for fish tacos and even had it fried in butter after salt seasoning.

I will have no issue with preparing it for my own consumption again.

I'd trust the USFDA about as much as I trust Philip Morris International or the American Heart Association.

[Robbo141]

Agreed about the FDA here. They ban ‘proper’ haggis as it contains sheeps lungs but allow packagung of meat with carbon monoxide to keep it looking red. I think there are quite a number of things in food here that are banned elsewhere. Too old to worry now though but man would I love a real haggis this winter….

Robbo