No difference

OK

In Australia, tomato paste is the same as UK tomato puree.

In Australia, we can also buy a product called tomato puree, wich does not exist in UK (or didn't when I lived there.) It is a diluted form, much like the consistebcy of passata.

It's ok mate I still get confused, I often send the kids round to the shops to get a tin of "tomato puree", and guess what, they get the thin watery shite stuff, when I wanted the thick concentrated steuff....lol

I hope that makes sense coz i'm confused now.

Quote from: Naga on March 04, 2013, 03:13 PM

Quote from: RubyDoo on March 04, 2013, 02:48 PM...Not sure about the rice...Looks a bit oily...

Oh, and if anyone makes this dish, I would seriously advise using a splashguard for the uncovered cooking phase. My cooker looked like it had been a prop straight out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre!

LOL. It does gloop and splatter a tad eh?

I did say, put the lid on, especially for the last 15 minutes.

Quote from: George on March 04, 2013, 09:50 AM

Quote from: Aussie Mick on March 01, 2013, 05:27 PM
BTW, i never did get around to posting a picture of our rice. Tis is it. I was a batch of around 30 portions of rice. There was a pack and a half of Shan pillau biryani mixed in, along with dry spices and rose water flavoured colouring. Very nice indeed.

Wow - your rice looks fabulous. My original fears that the biryani mix could turn the rice a bit brown were not justified. This now looks like a must-try recipe. It just goes to show the value in posting a photo. Thanks again.

Thanks George. i hope you enjoy it. and yes, a picture speaks a 1000 words eh? it's just so time consuming for me as I'm not very computer literate. i normally have to bribe one of the kids to do the picture transfer stuff. lol.

Quote from: Naga on March 04, 2013, 09:28 AM
My rice didn't turn out exactly like yours, Mick. Yours looks much, much better than my effort, but it was absolutely delicious and is now my No.1 recipe for pilau. I didn't have any of the Shan mix powder, so I substituted Chaat Masala and it worked OK for me. Thanks for posting the recipe and photo!

You're too modest Naga.

I've seen the photo, and your effort looks bang on!

Good old Chaat masala, we use it on everything. Raj sprinkles it onto chips................wow, they taste fantastic. With seekh kebabs he rolls them in cream and sprinkles on the magic powder. Fan bloody tastic.

Yes fellas, we wash and cooke the rice, strai it, then transfer into a large container.

We then fry up a tarka of oil, ghee, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, (odd I know to use both, but this is what we do), cardamoms, cassia bark, cloves and Indian bay leaves.

We sprinkle Shan pillau biryani mix into the hot rice, then pour in the hot spice mix. squirt in the food colouring, wait a minute or two then mix it up. Easy!!!

Glad you enjoyed it naga and thanks for trying 

Just to clarify:

in OZ, tomato paste is the same as tomato puree in UK. Thick concentrated paste

Tomato puree is like paste watered down 3 parts to one with water. Passatta will do the same job, or you could water down tomato puree.

Pictures look great naga. Good on you for giving it a go.

Quote from: Razor on March 02, 2013, 06:05 PM

the savouriness, depth of flavour and the sublime aroma of an 80's style Bhuna is nigh on impossible to beat in my opinion!

Ray

I agree Ray 100%

Quote from: chonk on March 02, 2013, 05:25 PM
Well, strictly speaking, by using a tadka, you could say I'm using some sort of seasoned oil at leat ;P Must admit that I'm more into the traditional way of cooking a curry, and never even used a base so far! Sometimes I use a few tablespoons of onion bhaji oil, mixed with fresh one to fry some batches of pakora. But I'm not even sure if I've already experienced the real BIR-taste yet (I'm from germany). My favourite curry house, which is said to be the best in whole North Rhine-Westphalia and already more than 30 years in the business, could get close to the taste of british takeaways, but I'm not sure.

Greetings!

Hi Chonk

Our kitchen hand is German. She says our food is very spicy. She does enjoy it, but if we cook her something to take home she always asks me to cook it without any chilli...lol

Quote from: gazman1976 on March 01, 2013, 08:21 PM
Sorry chris, but oil added at end of curry cooking. Not in any birs that I have been in and I have been in tons and also watched my curry being made

Can't quote BIR, but this practice is widely used in Australian Indian cooking.

They use the oil from the tomato and onion base gravy as a kind of garnish