Topic: Powdered food colourings

[Naga]

It would be nice to see some pictures Naga, I'm sure it looked lovely

I regret that I was so busy preparing and serving up the meal that I had no time to take a photo. We demolished half of the rice at dinner and my daughter has scooped up the remainder and taken it home with her along with what was left of the curry dishes! But I'll be making more soon and will post some photos.

...Incidentally, I "upgraded" to Tilda for my last batch, and the results were good...

I've been using Kohinoor Gold Basmati Rice for a year or so now and I find it very good. It's currently

[Naga]

...It would be nice to see some pictures Naga, I'm sure it looked lovely

Well, I'm not sure if pictures of my attempts at CA's Pilau Rice are going to get the juices going, but here goes...

I didn't have any curry leaves, but the rest of the spices are set out on the plate. The rice (flanked by 2 pots of Abdul Mohed's enhanced base gravy) only took about 6 minutes before it was ready to come off the boil. I set the drained rice into my largest ovenproof dish and added the food colouring before refrigerating and then mixing.

I've had another look at CA's own photos and now realise that there is more to the alchemy of colouration than I first suspected! Still, Rome wasn't built in a day and it tastes OK so at least it's a result, if not perfection.

[976bar]

That looks great Naga, well done!!

[Peripatetic Phil]

I set the drained rice into my largest ovenproof dish and added the food colouring before refrigerating and then mixing.

I've had another look at CA's own photos and now realise that there is more to the alchemy of colouration than I first suspected!

I'm not familiar with Cory Ander's method, but the method(s) that I follow all suggest that after adding a few (very few) drops of your preferred colours at widely separated points, you then put the rice in a low oven (80C) for about 20 minutes to "set" the colours.  If you omitted this step, it might explain why the colours have mixed and spread out to the extent that they have.

** Phil.

[Naga]

Hi Phil,

...I'm not familiar with Cory Ander's method...

He recommends refrigerating the rice for at least 1 hour.

..., but the method(s) that I follow all suggest that after adding a few (very few) drops of your preferred colours at widely separated points, you then put the rice in a low oven (80C) for about 20 minutes to "set" the colours.  If you omitted this step, it might explain why the colours have mixed and spread out to the extent that they have.

I think CA's method works in setting the colours. Methinks I'm just a bit cack-handed and put in too much colour!

It's said that practice makes perfect, so I immediately made a second batch and I STILL put in too much colour! Things can only get better...at least it tasted OK and went well with my Chicken Tikka Jaipuri.

Keith

[sp]

if it's any consolation Naga when colouring my rice with the Asda liquid colourings it always comes out with no clear difference in colour even if I put loads of it in, I've tried the C2G method of cooling the rice quickly and adding dots of colouring then mixing through but even with that it's nowhere near as vibrant as some of the pictures on here.  Tried with the oven method of fixing colour; end up with lovely seperate dry grains but a bit too many burnt ones...  Encouraging to see that it's not the liquid colouring that needs changing but method that needs tweaking, will get there in the end without resorting to ye olde turmeric - one colour out of three just doesn't cut it anymore!  

[Naga]

... will get there in the end without resorting to ye olde turmeric...

You're bang on there. Taste comes before presentation for me - but I must admit that some of the photos on here make my mouth water!

[Dajoca]

Makes the mouth water doesn't it?

Are there no natural colours that would work with rice, or is the bottled stuff with added PSM the best option?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Makes the mouth water doesn't it?

Polyoxyethylene sorbitan mono-oleate sounds pretty good to me compared to (say) the part-cooked embryos of certain flightless birds, minced organs in intestine skins, slices of charred preserved hog flesh and burnt ground grass seeds coated in rendered animal fat, which is what I normally eat for breakfast !  Anyhow, PSM has an E-number (E433, to be precise), so it must be good for you : the Eurocrats have decreed it

** Phil.