Topic: Things I Can Do

[Vindaloo-crazy]

Two eggs for a portion of fried rice... It may be because I'm from Merseyside but all fried rice has lots of eggs, and when I say they are stir fried I mean they seem almost deep fried (due to the heat). One egg wouldn't cut it.

[solarsplace]

I say, chaps - in the nicest possible way, would you mind terribly taking your Chinese food recipes and discussion in to the Chinese food forum subsection? (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=11.0)

Poor Haldi's thread has been pretty much derailed.

Many thanks

[Vindaloo-crazy]

If you can get your oil hot enough you'll see that one will end up as a few, pathetic looking spindles of egg protein when you put it in, another will look like scrambled eggs; you need the former. It sounds like your wok isn't hot enough when you start (look at the takeaway version and compare the scrambling of the egg, you need to get that wok so hot the fire brigade are on standby before you start).

This takes the sweetness too out of the onion and, with a pinch of sugar, gives you that Chinese takeaway flavour.

In my experience anyway, your wok is not hot enough...

I really hope that does it for you and yours.

It's the same principle for noodles and str fried veg.

[Vindaloo-crazy]

Sorry! Solarspace you are correct entirely.

[PaulP]

Hi Solarsplace,

Good post you made before the thread went all Chinese 

One problem I have is knowing when to stop frying the garlic or garlic/ginger.
I used to crush the garlic and I once burnt it and it completely ruined the curry. Now I don't crush it but finely chop it up.

Do you fry until the garlic changes colour i.e. goes golden or brown? It's something I'm really paranoid about as if you do burn it all the effort and ingredients afterwards are totally wasted.

Cheers,

Paul

[Peripatetic Phil]

I say, chaps - in the nicest possible way, would you mind terribly taking your Chinese food recipes and discussion in to the Chinese food forum subsection?

Roger, willco.
** P.
--
P.S. "Vote SP for Mod" : has just demonstrated perfect moderation skills :-)

[solarsplace]

Hi Paul & All

This is a good question / point and one I have pondered over myself, as most recipes just suggest 'fry the g&g for x seconds or until done / golden'. Which is all very well until in theory... but thinking about it logically there are several pit falls there which can easily lead to burnt g&g and a ruined dish.

Things I find that help me are (not trying to teach any hens to such eggs here, stating all the obvious things as complete beginners may be reading too):

Watch the fekin' pan like a hawk and pay attention to what is happening - all to easy to day dream or start sipping beer!

Have the ingredients where you can get to them, and them into the pan fast. I.e the tomato pure or some base or water to cool things down if things get out of hand.

Think about the process and become familiar with how long things take to cook on your equipment at certain heat levels. No good knowing your g&g will be burnt at 60 seconds and then stopping to reach for some paste etc at 40 seconds if you know it will take you 30 seconds to get the paste and get in stirred into the pan - your g&g already burnt 10 seconds ago.

So for me, my own golden rule is to have everything measured out next to me cooking ready to slid into the pan at a moments notice. Depending on the dish, say for a Madras or Vindy take the sliced garlic or g&g paste just until the edges start to go golden, then start to introduce the next stages, the next stages usually involve cooling the pan down a little and hopefully everything reaches its ideal cooked state at pretty much the same time.

Cheers

[peterandjen]

I find that garlic/ginger paste wont burn as easily as chopped garlic does when frying.
Also the easiest way to cool the pan if its getting too hot is to take it off the heat.
I also aggree with watching the pan like a hawk, its a very hands on thing is making a curry, and when you have spent so much time and effort getting, preparing, measuring and pre-cooking then the last thing you want is to ruin the whole thing by not spending the right amount of time on finishing it. You need to relax and enjoy the cooking process.
Also the more relaxed you are the more you'll notice the little things that might just be that missing something.
I'm happy with me Balti recipe, it does exactly what i want it to.
Happy with my pilau rice (recipes on here somewhere).
Happy with my Naan breads.
The Recipe on here for the F-words Tandoori chicken is the best recipe by far that i have tried. Its perfect for my tastes.
I'm happy with my Bhaji's, simple and tasty, the recipes on here somewhere too.
I'm happy with the fact that when i made a balti for my Brother he remarked that "There's nothing in here that you wouldn't get in a restaurant".
I'm happy, knowing honestly, that whenever i go anywhere for a Balti/Dupiaza i come away afterwards thinking "Mine are better".
I'm unhappy about being 350 miles away from my kitchen and spice collection.
I'm very unhappy about being away from the missus.

[PaulP]

I find that garlic/ginger paste wont burn as easily as chopped garlic does when frying.

I would have thought that the smaller the pieces of garlic, the more easy it would be to burn it.
Reading some of the useful comments above yes I do prepare everything in advance and I do relax and enjoy cooking a curry. I was just wondering whether I was undercooking the garlic and thus missing out on the flavour. Next time I'll be braver and wait until I can see the edges of the garlic browning.

Cheers,

Paul

[peterandjen]

It don't so much as turn brown when i cook it, its more a slight discolouration, Also the paste usually has a little water added to it, purely to help it blend easier when in the blender.
No when i think about it, if my garlics gone brown then its gone too far.