Topic: Cooking Lessons with Az

[ELW]

This is the reset that the cr0 forum needed anyone new to the forum or bir@home, should probably start here  ...a few hours tuition in a Glasgow bir kitchen would be great.

[gazman1976]

@ ELW, the Ashoka in Darnley do lessons, ?25 per head and normally on a Saturday morning

[jb]

   Well just got through the door after having to endure a full blown birthday roast dinner celebration,tasted positively bland compared to what we cooked today I can tell you!!

Many thanks to Chris for organizing this,a top man.A big thanks to Az without whom it couldn't have been done,
really nice guy he was willing to answer all our questions without hesitaion.good to see the guys as well,nice to put a face to the names at last.

There were no mystery ingredients,no secret techniques.No chip oil,bhaji or any other spiced oil.No Eastern Star curry powder,no Jaipur garam masala either.The garam masala we did made the pre-packaged stuff about as good as sawdust.The base gravy involved water infused with whole spices(which are actually re-used) which was very interesting.There was no coconut in the gravy,neither was there sugar,jaggery or corriander stalk.

I was chief note taker,just as well I did take notes as there was so much info to take in.If everyone can be a little patient I will try to get my scribble in some sort of order and start posting as soon as I can.

[Stephen Lindsay]

jb you raaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!

[Razor]

Well done guy's, I really mean that.

  I can't wait for JB to get his notes onto the forum.  Really interested in the spice singeing.  I wonder if one of you guy's could do a video, just of the singeing, to show us just how far you can actually go before all is ruined, that is unless you already have one from the lesson?

Well done all, especially Chris who as done himself proud in getting this off the ground, just like he did with the cr0 recipe group tests.

Ray (in my best TOWIE accent; WELL JEL) ;D

[rallim]

Sounds like you all had a wonderful informative day all thanks to Chris and Az who seems like a truly nice, genuine guy. 

I will need to try and arrange my holiday back from Oz to coincide with one of the cooking lessons from Az: I take it there will be more organised?

Well done to all who took part, I?m so envious (in a good way) ;D

George

[curryhell]

Jb you have the unenviable task of transcribing the day.  I wish you luck with that one mate.  Let's just say it was a day to remember and i willl never forget it.  I can't remember the last time  i had a day like  today.   At this point words really do fail me .  So over to you Jb.  All i can add is that it was just one hell of a terrific day, from start to finish.  Thanks to all those involved for making it so memorable

[martinvic]

Fantastic, well done guys, glad it all went so well for you.

Can't wait to see/hear more details.

Cheers
Martin

[jb]

Well done guy's, I really mean that.

  I can't wait for JB to get his notes onto the forum.  Really interested in the spice singeing.  I wonder if one of you guy's could do a video, just of the singeing, to show us just how far you can actually go before all is ruined, that is unless you already have one from the lesson?

Well done all, especially Chris who as done himself proud in getting this off the ground, just like he did with the cr0 recipe group tests.

Ray (in my best TOWIE accent; WELL JEL) ;D

Will try and get the base sauce up today.Az certainly singed his spices,far more than I have ever been tempted to do.Everything was cooked on quite a high heat (apart from the tikka massala) with a few flames being produced by Az as he cooked.However the award for the most impressive flame of the day surely has to go to Chriswg when he cooked the mountain of garlic for his roshney.Literally two feet high!! That's not to say that the same taste results cannot be achieved at home.I know a couple of guys have electric hobs,Az said it can still be done albeit it in a longer time.Chris has done a great job making friends with Az,really a nice open guy,no crap and a very good cook.He stirs the pan in that distinctive way,leaving his spoon in the middle of the pan whilst pushing the pan backwards and forwards.Actually Julian from Curry2go was spot on in one of his later videos when he described this.Oh and the tandoori chef was a bit mad,I watched him make a couple of naan breads,he didn't bother putting them on a cushion he just put them in his hand and slapped them on the side of the oven,that oven was soooo hot!!

[chriswg]

I'm glad everyone had so much fun and learned so much. Az was very nervous and worried as this was his first time teaching people - especially when he saw Curryhells knife skills

I was really impressed with the pre-cooked lamb (well mutton actually) - I hope we got the recipe for that. I usually avoid lamb dishes because they can be chewy and fatty but this was moist and tender.

I also really enjoyed the saag bhaji which I've never tried before. I didn't see it being cooked but I gather it was really simple.

If possible, they'd really appreciate a good review on tripadvisor. The last 2 people wrote terrible reviews which almost certainly means they are local competitors. Here is the link:  http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g503830-d2446226-Reviews-Zaal-Fleet_Hampshire_England.html