Your plants are in fantastic condition - looks like you'll have a cracking harvest!

Quote from: chewytikka on August 06, 2012, 11:45 AM...the pot is quite large and the compost is good and looks straight from a bag this year. I'll deadhead it, but my question is should
it be outside or indoors...

Aye, the pot looks just fine - no need to do anything there lol!

As I said, it looks a nice healthy plant but it's certainly a bit leggy, so nipping off the dead buds and pinching out the non-flowering tips at the end of the branches will help bush it out, even at this late stage.

I can't give any useful advice about keeping it indoors or outdoors as you'll know best what kind of weather you're having. All I would say is that chillies need heat, light and water, and as long as you can give the plant plenty of light at this time of year, you might well get something from it.

But even if nothing much happens with it this year, when growth slows down for the winter you'll be able to cut the branches right back to the main stem and overwinter it. It'll be ready to burst into budding growth next year when the weather starts to brighten up.

I'm sad to report that the Tesco chillies haven't done so well in the outdoor grow-house.

This is largely due to the fluctuating temperatures and the lack of summer sun we've had up here in my not-so-sunny part of Scotland. Even my indoor chillies are producing a much-reduced harvest this year.

Plenty of green, leafy growth but little in the way of flowering. Even if some late flowers appear, it will be too late for them to produce fruit as the days shorten and the sunlight lessens further.

Still, there's a good chance that the plants will have hardened in this, their first year, so I'll overwinter them as I do with my indoor plants and see how they fare next year.

It's a bit difficult to tell from the photos, but the plant looks a bit leggy with some dead blossoms.

I would start by encouraging better bushy growth by pinching out the growing tips and the dead flower heads. That will allow the plant to get more vigour into the right places.

I would also look at the size of the pot and the quality of the compost in the pot. It looks like a good, strong plant so that might not be a problem at all, but it wouldn't do any harm to gently prise the plant from it's pot without disturbing the roots and re-potting it in a larger pot with fresh compost surrounding the old stuff.

Finally, I would ensure that it is watered every day and fed with a weak tomato feed.

I tried this recipe again tonight, after taking the 2nd half of the dough out of the fridge.

This time, after reading CA's take on naan bread this morning, I added a handful of nigella seeds and kneaded the dough until the seeds were well integrated. Following on from CA's technique, I put the naan under a hot grill after it came out of the stovetop pan.

Edit: I should have said that I didn't use the blowtorch at all, I just stuck the naan straight under the grill.

I wish I had taken a photo or two as the finished article came out much better than my first attempt last night in terms of appearance, texture and taste. I shared it around and 2 adults and my 2-year old grandson all agreed!

Being a homemade naan virgin, I think my next attempt at a naan will be to follow CA's recipe (as his has no yeast) so I can compare the two, but I can definitely say that I wouldn't be ashamed to serve Clive's naans up with any curry I make.

Quote from: natterjak on July 31, 2012, 02:31 PM
A big unfair to attach that label to Samsauceykitchen? Just about every time she posted people replied telling her to stop posting. So if she's complied it doesn't make her a fly by night does it?

It was abundantly clear that she was only interested in punting her own recipes and had no interest whatsoever in BIR cookery. Why else did she post not only here, but here, there and everywhere across a worldwide range of cookery websites?

Anyway, I'm not here to demonise samsauceykitchen - or anyone else, for that matter. I'm simply pointing out that people sometimes post here to create a focus for their own narrow agenda and simply disappear when they fail to create a market for themselves.

Recent experience suggests that some fly-by-night "contributors" (samsauceykitchen and SheminsCurryPaste shine like beacons in this regard) post here solely to increase traffic on their own websites or to increase commercial sales.

At least iCurryClub are being straight about the issue - but it's still spam!

I did this tonight using half quantities as an experiment.



Having already scoffed half the naan, this is the remaining half shown brushed with garlic butter on a 23cm/9 inch plate. It's not exactly the naan I would expect from a T/A or restaurant, but it wasn't half bad for a first attempt at home and it's a lot better than any naan I've made before, i.e. none!

I'm not sure about the number of naans that the full recipe is said to produce as I used half of my dough to produce the naan in the photo. Based on my experience, the stated recipe would only produce 4 naans, not 10 (or so), but I'm definitely not complaining! The recipe produced a decent bread that I will make again and again.

Nice one, Clive!

Looks delicious!

Best of luck again for tomorrow, mate! May your chef's jacket be stained with success!