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Quote from: George on January 25, 2012, 03:19 PMYour rude comment (above) detracts from the rest of your post. Anyone who thinks European bay leaves are rubbish has a lot of learning to do.Blimey George, you're a bit nitpicky aincha!My interpretation of that comment was that European Bay Leaves are rubbish when used in Indian Cuisine and particularly the BIR variety, which I must agree with. But that doesn't mean I think European Bay Leaves are rubbish when used in Mediterranean cookery - because that's where they work best flavour wise.I think it's a fairly common mistake that new cooks to Indian cuisine make to use the European variety when they should be using the Indian variety - but it's a mistake borne out of innocence and lack of knowledge than anything else.
Your rude comment (above) detracts from the rest of your post. Anyone who thinks European bay leaves are rubbish has a lot of learning to do.
For a bit of fun, just had a quick go at making a small amount of GM.Had a look at a few recipes and chose this one, as it didn't contain coriander seeds (which I'm out of anyway).I did make a couple of changes/additions (in brackets) to suit my store cupboard. Oh and I really like Panch Poran, and noticed some of its ingredients were used in some GM recipes I found, so added a some of that.Garam Masala Makes approx 3 Tbsp.1.5 Tbs black peppercorns 3/4 Tbs black cumin seeds (1 heaped tsp normal cumin + 1 tsp panch poran) 1.5 tsp whole cloves 4 large brown caradmon pods (5 small green pods) 2 inch stick of cinnamon (cassia) 1/2 a whole nutmeg 2 star anise (2 small bay leaves (fragrent Asian not the European errrr ones)).Gently roast all spices in pan, break into small pieces, remove seed from pods and grind everything to a fine powder in a coffee or spice grinder. Sieve and store in a tightly lidded small jar.Lovely aroma, and from a quick, finger dip, taste test, had much sweeter and smoother taste than the only GM I have left (Fiddes Payne).Be interesting to have a go at cooking with it now.As an afterthought on my Boiled whole spice idea.I might make a small amount, as an experiment, probably using the same ingredients as the GM, and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then can add it to defrosted base or curries when required.Not actually sure if this would be any different to just adding the GM, but whole spices would be more boiled in a base, rice and potato cooking.Martin
I remember a base sauce I made a few times where whole spices were infused in water and added to the base sauce. I cannot remember whether it was from this site or RCR but it was pretty good and would love to try it again now that my cooking technique has improved.I don't know why but I think it may have been posted by Mick (Curry Barking Mad) but I could be wrong.Mick - If you read this and it was one of yours, please can you post it here or PM me the recipe.CheersNick
I agree 100% with what you say. Unfortunately, Emin didn't qualify or explain his statement, like you have. He simply said European Bay leaves are rubbish.
