Topic: Garlic and Ginger paste (show me the curry)

[Peripatetic Phil]

Also, is there not a method of soaking cloves in a bowl of water that makes the peeling process much quicker (something from the Undercover book)?

Yes, Dave Loyden writes of soaking the cloves for a few hours to make them easier to peel.  I've not yet tried it, but it makes good sense.

** Phil.

[solarsplace]

Hi

Tried it 2 or 3 times now.

When making the G&G paste, just fill up a pint glass with cloves of garlic, then fill it up with water, leave for 1 hour or so, then happy peeling - really helps make a tedious chore a lot faster

Also find that garlic cloves from the supermarket are especially tedious to peel compared to garlic from a local greengrocer.

Cheers

[Razor]

Hi Guy's
Ramirez, SP, I will give the pre-soak a go.  Never done it before but anything's got to be better than peeling off the shelf garlic.

Jerry, I have tried the ashoka gg paste before and yeah, it was fine but I should imagine the flavour is fresher when frying your garlic from raw, although I've never done a side by side, so I'm willing to be corrected on that one.

So Josh, you can verify that using oil prevents the paste from going green then?  I'm guessing that I would need to sterilise what ever receptacle I put the paste in?

Thanks for the tips fellas,

Ray

[JerryM]

Is this the one, Jerry?

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3915.0

Ramirez,

YES. i only had the link to the original post. the details are the same. the idea is only to part cook. it still gives off the "raw" aroma at frying stage. i'd say the idea is to 1/4 or 1/2 cook it no more - my container is just warm with a little steam coming off after the microwave bake. it might be an idea to follow the ashoka instructions and use a frying pan initially - just to get the idea of how much part cooking is needed.

[JerryM]

just fill up a pint glass with cloves of garlic, then fill it up with water, leave for 1 hour or so, then happy peeling - really helps make a tedious chore a lot faster

Also find that garlic cloves from the supermarket are especially tedious to peel compared to garlic from a local greengrocer.

will give this a go - sounds a real find.

i only use asian store garlic down to the very reason that they peel much more easily.

ps. i had just started chucking the unpeeled in base down to the "peeling" hassle. early days but seems to work just the same - a bit more froth that's all.

[Willyeckerslike]

I have just bought some frozen crushed garlic &  frozen crushed ginger from Asda.  The brand is TAJ and it is 100% garlic or ginger with no additives or presarvatives.  The packs are filled with rectangular frozen pieces and at a guess each one will be about 2tsp.  It costs 97 pence for a 400 gram packet.

Will

[Peripatetic Phil]

Ramirez, SP, I will give the pre-soak a go.  Never done it before but anything's got to be better than peeling off the shelf garlic.

Ray, just read this in the recently posted Chinese food thread on Money Saving Expert :

HOW TO PEEL GARLIC

One of the most common time consuming things is usually the peeling of garlic. As I'm a speed chopper my personal method is to chop the top and tail off which releases each clove and then I position each clove and slice through a side of the skin to easily peel away. My method wastes a little of the garlic but I can get through a whole garlic in less than 20 seconds.

20 seconds to peel a whole head of garlic is pretty d@mned impressive !

** Phil.

[hcoool]

If you go to Lidl's they have Chinese garlic which is massive without individual cloves, so would be ideal for making this.

It comes in a little basket with about 8-10 bulbs and it's only about a quid.

[976bar]

I spent about an hour this afternoon crushing and peeling 9 bulbs of the stuff.

I usually break the bulb open by pressing down on it really hard with my hand, then after separating them I find the easiest way to peel the individual cloves is to crack them with the back of a large knife. This splits the cases and the garlic and the skin is then quite easily removed.

It's still a long process but well worth the effort for the final dish.

I then put the garlic in a processor, add 1 teaspoon of turmeric (It's a good way to preserve the garlic puree for longer), then add some rapeseed oil as the process is in motion.

I end up with a jar full of creamy garlic puree mixed with oil and a yellowy colour, which does not affect the final dish.

[Stephen Lindsay]

how long would this stuff last 976bar?