My missis has a knife from Pampered Chef with a sharpener built into the sheath. Top of the image. Must be 30 years old and still very sharp.  My old Sabatier at the very bottom was my first purchase and is also 30 years and still my go-to. I picked up the larger knife and the cleaver on a whim when I found a Sabatier factory outlet.  I thought I'd like the cleaver more, for smashing up garlic but it's very thick and not as 'slicy' as the knives.



Robbo

Always good to get anything like a decent result from storebought Phil.
I used to occasionally buy the microwaveable curries from Sainsbury's. The vindaloo was OK in a pinch but really only for emergency break glass times.  I've also tried similar supermarket equivalents over here, but same thing. Nothing special. I've now put them in the same category as all readymade jar sauces.  Avoid.
Robbo

I'm with Livo on this.  A great, really great base, but the dish on its own is not for me. This is my little spice mix I add and cook in the usual way for an excellent result.  I've made 4 batches of this base and it's my go-to right now.



Robbo

I've had many variations of hot pot in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, and never had a bland experience.  I love that stuff. My fave South Korean dining experience was grilling marinated meat at the table.  A very old restaurant didn't have gas burners though, the staff would just bring a stainless steel bucket full of red hot coals that was lowered into a hole in the middle of the table and a grate placed over the top. A foil cake mould filled with cloves of garlic and oil sat on the grate and we would periodically just pick up whole cloves and eat them with the meat and veg. Man, I enjoyed my years in Asia...

Robbo

Seconded! Best wishes to everyone.  Enjoy those turkey curries!

Robbo

With an impending winter storm hitting us next couple of days (8in snow, 55mph wind, -26C or -35C wind chill), the missis having dinner with daughter #2 gave me the chance of a curry night in.  I have a couple of portions left of Mick's excellent base and decided to try something different. Only myself to disappoint, right?

Instant Pot pressure cooker curry using Mick's base

Add 3 TBSP oil and 1 TBSP ghee to the pot.
Press sauté and adjust to 'more'
When oil is hot, add
1 chopped onion
1" piece ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic
1 star anise
3 green cardamom
2 black cardamom
1 piece cassia

Sauté 5 mins or so then add;
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander powder
5 dried chillies, broken up
1/2 tsp turmeric

Sauté 1 min then add a pack of skinless, boneless chicken thighs. About 1lb.
Cook a couple of minutes then hit cancel.

Pour in a portion of Mick's base.

Pressure cook on high for 10 mins.  When time is up, let pressure decay naturally 10 mins then manually release pressure.

Remove the chicken and whole spices to a bowl.  Blend the contents of the pot using stick blender.  It's nowhere near thick enough at this stage.

Add a pinch of kasuri methi, a pinch of garam masala and 2 TBSP chopped fresh coriander.
Put the chicken back in.

Press Sauté and adjust to 'more' and just boil the dish down to the required consistency.
Took about 15 mins till it was good and thick.

Absolutely delicious. A testament to Mick's base but maybe also an opening to use other bases in a similar manner.

Complain all you like Rob, that madras looks good from here in Illinois! Thank your lucky stars you have at least the option to get TA.

Robbo

Well it turns out my missis mainly does smoked pork butt, so here's her recipe.
Important note: the chilli powder noted in the dry rub isn't the chilli powder we use in curry.
It's like this, not hot: 
https://badiaspices.com/product/chili-powder-122-5/?doing_wp_cron=1670455645.4970109462738037109375

Smoked pork. It's very forgiving and you can vary greatly and still get an amazing outcome every time. 

I take a large pork shoulder or butt of about 7 or 8 pounds and pat dry. Cover with dry rub of your choice, if you have a favorite you already make, or a commercially available one. 

My homemade starts with:
3 Tbs chili powder
3 Tbs brown sugar
3 Tbs Lawry's season salt
1 Tbs cayenne
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs paprika

Then I might add additional herbs/spices as the mood strikes. You can use any that you like the flavor of, this part is definitely to your own personal tastes.

Rub on the roast getting into all the folds and crevices, then wrap (cling wrap & set in a pan, zip lock bag, or vacuum seal) and refrigerate at least overnight, up to 36 hours.

Take the roast out about an hour before to take the chill off, and then place in smoker preheated to 225 deg F. You can smoke for up to 10-12 hours until internal temp is at least 200 deg F but I don't care for a heavily smoked flavor and think doing it that way dries it out more, plus I want the drippings, so I only smoke it for about 3 hours. Then I remove from the smoker and wrap it in 2 layers of heavy duty foil and continue cooking in the smoker, on the grill, or in the oven (I have done all 3 but more often do the oven) for another 3 or 4 hours at 300 deg F.  Internal temp should be at least 200 deg F and it should be tender and pulling/falling apart easily. 

Then I drain off the drippings into a pot and close the foil back up to let the roast rest for about a hour. While it's resting I add a favorite bottled (or your homemade) bbq sauce to the drippings and simmer to reduce. For us, we like a slightly thinner than bottled consistency.

When ready to eat, shred the pork with your hands (or chop if you like that texture) and we include all the bark and fat and mix it so it's all evenly distributed throughout the pulled meat. Then add some of the drippings/sauce and serve the rest on the side for everyone to add to their taste.

Missis Robbo

I think that's most likely a language issue. Downtown St.Charles the intent. Been looking up Nepalese recipes and once I'm out of my stock of Mick's excellent base, I'm going to try some, just for variety.

Robbo

Had an old friend in town this week so went to the closest restaurant that serves Indian food. I'd had takeout from there but this was my first in-person visit.
https://tasteofhimalayas.com/

Didn't take any pics, too busy eating and catching up, but we had a couple of items that were new to me and certainly worth tracking down recipes.

Appetizers
Chhoela.  A chicken dish similar to tikka, chopped with a ton of herbs and spices. Delicious. Searched online for recipes and there are a couple of variations in the name.  Choila, chhoyela and more.
Momo. Steamed dumplings, just as you'd find in Chinese restaurants. Very nice but a bit odd as a starter on curry night.

With the main courses (chicken chilli masala, excellent and lamb podina, minty, spicy and also excellent), we had garlic naan and a bread I'd not had before.
Onion Kulcha, a flat bread stuffed with cooked onions. Very similar to a naan and absolutely delicious. I'm definitely going to track down recipes for those.

Good food and a slight variation on my usual Indian fare and something to explore further.

Robbo