Topic: Good curry for ~30 people - easy to cook etc.

[fatgit]

Hi,

I've been landed with the job of preparing a curry for about 30 people next Thursday (don't you love Being landed in it ats hort notice!), but I've never cooked for large numbers.
What I'm looking for is a mild chicken curry that's nut-free (just in case), but if possible can be tweaked when serving to increase the heat for those that want it.

I have access to a large kitchen with dry Bain marie, and 6 ring range to cook it all on/keep warm, and can use it all day for prep/cooking, but would prefer something reasonably quick or easy to make in advance (if only the base).

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? They'd be gratefully received!

Cheers for reading.

[curryhell]

If you plan only to cook one large curry then 976bar is the resident expert and had more experience than most.  Over to you Bob

[Salvador Dhali]

Yep - sound advice!

I'll stick my oar in before the man comes along though, if that's okay.

I've only ever catered for 15, but that involved three mains and three sides (plus breads, rice, poppadoms, etc), and what I learnt from that experience was to do AS MUCH PREP AS POSSIBLE beforehand.

If I was preparing one curry for 30, and wanted it to be as BIR as possible, I'd prepare the base on the Wednesday morning, and then knock out enough sauce for the 30 dishes in the afternoon by making double portions in my trusty 26cm pan.

Sounds a lot of faff, but it would only take a couple of hours to make 15 (generous) double portions of sauce - and it's the only reliable way I know of to replicate BIR in any volume.

One the sauce is done, all you need to do on the Thursday is pre-cook the chicken and sort out rice and any other accompaniments. About half an hour before serving, add the pre-cooked chicken to the big pot of sauce and bring up to serving temp, and then it's just a question of plonking everything on plates/dishes, garnishing with coriander as required.

For those whole like the heat, you could also prepare a few portions of extra hot (vindaloo +) strength sauce and a  little to individual dishes, or simply stir in a teaspoon or so of Mr Naga.

It's probably sheer madness, but that's they way I'd go about it, for what it's worth...

[fatgit]

Cheers for that, not sure I can get into the kitchen on the Wednesday, but could possibly do a base and other prep at home - but that could be dodgy under the Food Safety regs. I have a feeling, it's going to be a case of starting very early on the day.

[curryhell]

Here here SD.  That is exactly how i'd go about it as well.  The less to do on the day, unless you're used it, the better all round ;D

[Unclebuck]

I would play with this

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=674.0

its already big scale, you would need to adjust for 30

its a dam good madras. UB.

[fatgit]

Will look, thanks again!

[976bar]

Hi Fatgit,

Sorry for not replying sooner but Thursday night is curry night at the Uni and I don't finish till 8pm, so don't get home until now.

Tonight was special for me, Phil turned up at the Uni with a couple of friends. Tonight we had, Garlic Chili Chicken Masala, Chicken Tikka Masala, Aubergine & Potato curry, Vegetarian Keema Stuffed Peppers, Onion Bhajis, Sri Lankan Tuna & Potato Bhajis, (provided by our Sri Lankan chef and I'll come back to these later on in a different subject), rice, cucumber raita, mint yogurt sauce, coriander chutney, mango chutney, caramalised onions with chili, poppadoms and Naan breads....

The question I want to ask Fatgit, is why, when you are catering for 30 people you are going to make just one curry to suit all?

I would make 2 curries at least. One needs to be medium hot, the other a mild curry and if you are catering on this scale then it will take more than 15 hours to prepare believe me.... as Michael T knows

Depending on how much help you will have? Is there anyone who can help you prepare this lot or are going this alone?

A Madras of some sort would suit the medium hot dish or even a garlic chili chicken masala with less chili's would go down well.

If you know the person who you are cooking for well, just ask them about allergies. If you prepare 2 curries, then the mild one could contain nuts, i.e. a Korma/CTM/Nepal/Plain curry?

If you can let me have more details, I can help you plan over the weekend so you can start shopping Monday, Marinading & Making Base Sauce Tuesday, Making the curry sauces Wednesday, Pre-cooking the meat on Thursday while the sauces are warming up, then adding the meat, plus the rice and anything else you have in mind......

Believe me, it takes quite a bit of time to produce bulk catering when you are not used to cooking on this scale.

We now have it down to about 2-3 hours at the Uni as long as the meat/chicken is marinaded in advance and the base is made the day before along with any raita's/chuntneys etc....

Let me know what you need and I will help

[Peripatetic Phil]

Tonight was special for me, Phil turned up at the Uni with a couple of friends. Tonight we had, Garlic Chili Chicken Masala, Chicken Tikka Masala, Aubergine & Potato curry, Vegetarian Keema Stuffed Peppers, Onion Bhajis, Sri Lankan Tuna & Potato Bhajis, (provided by our Sri Lankan chef and I'll come back to these later on in a different subject), rice, cucumber raita, mint yogurt sauce, coriander chutney, mango chutney, caramalised onions with chili, poppadoms and Naan breads....

And I can vouch for the fact that it was all first class !  My two Greek friends, Charalambos and Vasos, both went for the Chicken Tikka Masala, I had the Garlic Chili Chicken and Aubergine & Potato curry, and we all had rice, naan, onion bhaji, popadom and assorted pickles/chutneys.  All three of us very much enjoyed the meal (the first time I have ever eaten in The Hub !), and Charalambos (who has been at College for about as long as I have, which is over twenty years) said that the meal had completely made him revise his opinion of College catering and he will be going back to The Hub again.  It was great to meet Bob, even better to sample his food, and I look forward to re-visiting in about a month's time.

** Phil.

[fatgit]

Cheers for replying. It was our youth group tonight, so I've been busy myself

I was going for one dish, as I also have to make a Beef  Stew and dumplings for up to 12 people that don't eat curry (strange people, I know). I was meant to be doing only the stew, but now have it all

I will have 1-2 people helping, but to be honest, they don't cook generally, so I'm not sure I can rely on them for more than the odd bit of onion chopping, stirring pots etc. Whilst I don't cook such large volumes, I'm used to cooking from scratch, preparing quickly and methodically etc, just not at this scale.

Until people turn up, I won't know their preferences, allergies etc as it is a ticketed quiz night, and people from all over town are coming - although I suppose I could just tell them theyre on stew if theyre fussy or have allergies
If the base is common between the curries, I could probably get away with two final dishes.

Thanks again to everyone for the advice!

P.s. That menu tonight sounds like heaven (except the Tuna bit). My mouth is now watering, and I have one heck of a craving for a curry!