Quote from: Unclefrank on March 13, 2018, 08:46 PM
I must urge you all to try the hot and spicy chicken tikka, it is an excellent recipe and the taste is very, very close to a restaurant flavoured tikka.

Interesting tikka recipe, no sign of tandoori masala or mint sauce, and what's that she is starting with - pan curd? What is that even?

Thanks CT for your insight.

Does anyone have info or observations from a real BIR of how dried chickpeas are prepared for chana dishes?  Standard would be to soak overnight in plenty of water then boil in salted water for an hour or so to get cooked chickpeas, but do we think they follow this route or typically use canned precooked chickpeas?

If they are prepping their own from dried, would spices be added to the water when the chickpeas are being cooked, or are they cooked in plain water so they are added to the final dish without any curry flavours already cooked into them?

Quote from: livo on March 07, 2018, 08:39 PM
Sverige, I can read the fractions. Must be a problem at your end.

The Murgh Makhani from the Balti book and the CTM I made were both nice, very rich but spice heavy even though not spiced a lot in final assembly. This must have transfered over from the tandoori Masala used on the chicken.  To be fair, I did not use the author's recipes for the tandoori or tikka.  As unclefrank says, don't use tandoori or Tikka, or if was to do it again, I would make low spice versions of them.

Thanks Livo, may well be an issue with character set or device I'm using.  Hopefully will get sorted with forum software upgrade when it comes.

Quote from: Bing on March 07, 2018, 05:18 PM

Quote from: Sverige on March 07, 2018, 03:17 PM
Great looking recipe Frank and thanks for posting it. Unfortunately you've fallen foul of the forum's inability to display fractions, so of the "edit" option is still available you might want to change to decimals, 0.75, 1.5, etc.

I dont think your post is important really. Maybe post a curry yourself but Uncle Frank looks great cooking and big thanks the Man.

Hmmm.... avatar is different. Spelling is certainly "different" but the chip on your shoulder identifies you oh so clearly.  You really have issues Elsie.  :

Great looking recipe Frank and thanks for posting it. Unfortunately you've fallen foul of the forum's inability to display fractions, so of the "edit" option is still available you might want to change to decimals, 0.75, 1.5, etc.

Awesome looking plate there Frank. Quality cooking! 

Best advice would be to buy the same pseudo-chicken the BIRs use. Avoid expensive fresh cuts and get the cheapest frozen 70% chicken "with added water and protein".   

I've used this kind of residue from precooking meat in three different ways before. A tablespoon or two added to a curry lifts the flavour a lot, but go easy because adding too much will cause the flavour to dominate the curry too much. 

Second use is to shortcut while precooking the next batch of meat. Just adding the stock residue from the first cook will introduce all those spicy flavours without needing to mess with frying new spices, onions, tomatoes, etc. It's a big time saver that way.

Final use is to freeze it into sticks in baby food mounds and add a couple of sticks to cooked pasta as a fast-food easy dinner for nights you get home late and want something quick and easy to cook.

Definitely worth keeping and not throwing away. I wouldn't however suggest adding to base, this is just going to make a strong flavoured base so all your curries taste the same.

Sorry for the top post without judicious snipping, but I'm on iPhone and trying to edit quotes becomes a trial.

Thank you for your mention of tofu. I picked some up today for my wife, who doesn't like the thought of eating animals but who isn't keen on veggies either (don't get me started!). So maybe tofu will go well in curries, but do you fry it like paneer, or just chop it up and throw in raw?

What else is this stuff good for? Marinated on a tikka kebab?

It was shit expensive, so needs to find its way into a few meals to get value from it.

Quote from: prawnsalad on February 18, 2018, 01:34 AM
Its interesting how we are in the middle of a "Vegan" trend. I stopped eating meat in 96 aged 25 as a new Vegetarian when Veganism was unattainable for all but the uber-hardcore few. These days I find it annoying how vegetarians are referred to as vegans when if fact most are really "selective eaters." (definition is somewhat different.) In 99 I went back to fish but not red meat or poultry and thats how it is today as although I absolutely loved meat I could not live with myself knowing how much cattle suffer on the way to the supermarket.

What spurred me to write this post however was something I can wholeheartedly recommend..... TOFU!

Having used supermarket brands as well as the well known "Cauldron" label I wrote it off until I received an education in Hong Kong, You have to look beyond domestic produce for this and go commercial or specialist in my opinion and then learn how to give it texture.

I've given food to friends using tofu and they have asked what kind of meat it is.

So I congratulate you on your choice and the many health benefits it brings, but be aware it is a trade off as athough you start to taste salad and veg properly for the first time (assuming you always ate meat) and will want like 99% less salt in your diet there are many flavours you will never replicate.

Not trying to preach here just trying to help

Good luck!