Hi all. Just went shopping, and bought a tin of saag from the world foods section. Here's the description:

sarson ka Saag, instant feast, curried mustard leaves.

Ingredients: 87% mustard leaves, spinach 2.8%, then various spices and ghee.

Now, I always thought Saag was spinach. I'm trying to find out if this tin will be suitable for making a Saag main dish. Wikipedia doesn't really help, it says that Saag is made from either Spinach or Mustard leaves.

So, has anyone used this, and does anyone know how similar spinach and mustard leaves are?

Thanks.

Hi all.

I've been growing a couple of methi (fenugreek) plants on my kitchen window sill since spring. The plants are now looking quite healthy... about a foot high, with lots of green leaves about the size of a 5p piece.

I really want to try some recipes using fresh leaves. I don't really see the point in drying them... I have a box of methi in the spice cupboard, and these won't be any better than that I don't suppose.

So my questions are:

1) When are the fresh leaves ready to be used? Any reason why I shouldn't use them yet?

2) If anyone has any recipes, or experiences, using the fresh leaves, I would love to hear about it. I'm thinking of methi gosht, chicken methi etc.

Thanks.

I need to buy a new bag of lentils to make some more of CA's super tarka dhal (and my great dansak!).

What lentils would you recommend? I'd rather buy something authentic from the asian grocer, than the usual "Tesco red split lentils".

Should they be red, yellow, split, whole, etc?

Until now I've just been using Tesco own brand basmati rice. It's not good... comes out very sticky and soggy, no matter how carefully I follow the recipe. So, over the last couple of weeks I've done a lot of reading here and some experimenting.

I went to my local indian grocer, and the chap told me the best rice they do is Fudco Dehraduni Basmati. I hadn't heard this mentioned here before, but bought 2Kg at ?5. A bit pricey, but I want to experiment. Instant success with the cooking... finally I can produce fluffy, separated rice, the way the rest of you describe. However I'm not convinced on the flavour, it seems to emit a slight waxy, plasticy taste, a little like what you might  expect from long grain rice. It still doesn't taste like pilau rice from the local.... in fact the grains once cooked are much longer than anything I ever get served from a BIR.

Anyway, back to topic, just a heads up... Tesco are currently doing a deal on a Pakistani rice - Salaam Apna Basmati - 5Kg for ?5 - which is a great price, if it's any good. It says it's aged, and all that bumph, so who knows. Just wondered if anyone has tried it?

Any comments, tips, welcome :-)

I've tried a couple of the Dansak recipes in this section, and they have not really been much like the type of Dansak I get served in London. There has been some discussion on regional variations, and clearly there must be, as I am sure I have never had a Dansak with pineapple chunks in!

So today I had a go at making it the way I know it, and I think it turned out incredibly well, I'm very pleased with it. This recipe takes various elements of other people's and combines them. Also, the cooking method is the bog standard cooking method repeated on this site countless times, so I won't detail it too much.

Serves one big belly or two small bellies

Preparation

Lentils. I make regular portions of C.A.'s Tarka Dahl, and as C.A. himself recommends in his Dansak recipe, I use a ladle of this. It's best if it's thick, not watered down too much into soup. Of course you could prepare some fresh lentils, but I can't vouch for the difference it will make to the flavour.

Sweet and Sour. All BIR menus describe Dansak as Hot, Sweet and Sour, and it's an important part of the taste. I created a simple mix which did the trick for me:
1 heaped teaspoon sugar
3 level teaspoons lemon jiuce
1 heaped teaspoon mango chutney.

Base sauce. My favourite base is the Bruce Edward one, but of course you can use your own preference. 2-3 ladles needed, depending on amount you want to make.

Spices. All down to personal taste... I used:
1 tsp Rajah Madras Curry powder
half tsp Garam Masala.
1 tsp Rajah Chilli powder
1/3 (third) tsp Amchoor (mango) powder.
Small pinch dried methi leaves.

Meat. I had leftover chicken from a roast, and this was great. Prawns go fantastically in a Dansak too. Either way, mine was precooked and unspiced.

Other ingredients
Some finely chopped onion and pepper, optional
Garlic/Ginger paste, 1 heaped tsp
Tomato puree, 1 tablespoon

Cooking. The usual cr0 style:

- Heat oil.
- Fry onion and pepper, if using.
- Add G/G paste once oil is up to temperature. Fry and stir 1 min.
- Add spices, then tomato puree, fry 2 mins, careful not to burn.
- Gradually stir in the base, as described on almost all recipes on this site!
- Add the Tarka Dahl, sweet/sour mix, and chicken.
- Stir together and simmer gently while you make the rice.

Done!

Hi everyone.

As the next step in my curry adventure, I want to start making some indian breads. I've taken a quick look at some of the recipes, and most of them simply specify 'flour' or 'self raising flour'.

Now, I'm after recipes that use non-gluten flour types, which I believe to be things like corn flour, rice flour, gram flour, amongst others. I also thought that some of the standard indian breads where made with these other types of flour.

So any pointers here would be great. What kind of breads can I try which won't suffer from the lack of standard wheat flour?

Also, do any of you make your own popadums? I didn't see any recipes here for that.

Cheers!

Wow, what a week, and it's not over yet!

On Thursday I made my first base sauce using the BE recipe. I didn't have enough onions or a big enough pan, so I made 2/3rds the specified amount. So I ended up with one normal large saucepan of sauce. Since then I've used it for the following:

Friday night: Chicken Madras & mushroom bhaji
Saturday night: plain quick veggie curry for 2 before going out.
Monday lunch: Lamb Korma
Monday night: Chicken Methi for 2 & mushroom bhaji
Tuesday: Vegetable Vindaloo
Today: lamb korma
Tomorrow: intend to make Chicken Patia.

Now that's what I call a good week of curry! They've all tasted great. I wonder how long it will be before the withdrawal symptoms kick in and I have to make another sauce ;-)

Cheers all, I now have a lot more reading to do, to pick up more tips for next time.

Well hello everyone.

I found this site yesterday after doing a search for a base sauce. (I'd made one last month from a recipe I found, and it was poor  - just tasted of onions! - and it's daft that this recipe comes almost top of the searches, whereas this site was quite a way down).

Anyway, once I registered, I was hooked. I couldn't stop reading, there's such a wealth of information here. I was reading well into the early hours and went to bed dreaming of onions and sauces and spices! It's a great site, and I have the feeling I may be visiting a lot, and hopefully contributing to the occasional discussion.

I've tried to cook curry a lot over the years, but I'm the kind who likes to experiment, not follow strict recipes, and just chuck things into the pan at random. Sometimes they're great, sometimes they're barely edible. For example I tried to make a pathia last week, and used mango chutney, lemon juice, and tamarind paste to try and find that sweet and sour flavour. The base sauce thing is quite new to me - I've just spent the afternoon putting together the BE sauce, which is currently just cooling down. So we will see tomorrow when I use it - fingers crossed!

After my intense reading sessions, here's some of the things I've already learnt and been surprised by:

1) Chilli - I'm amazed, I had always thought that powders were a cop out, poor quality, and that fresh stuff should be used. The first thing I do usually is chop chillies, garlic and ginger, then add coriander and garam masala (which hardly seems to be used at all on this site). Hardly any recipes I found here use fresh chilli, and I have avoided chilli powder for years.

2) I like the hot, sweet, sour currys, and often make pathia, dansak, ceylon etc. I always use dessicated coconut, which I have read is not the right thing to use - I must buy some powdered sort.

Oh I'll stop now, you'll all have got bored by this point! Suffice to say that I found a good local indian grocer, stocked up, and the base sauce is on the hob. Can't wait, cheers!