Quote from: blade1212 on June 24, 2005, 07:13 PM
added 1/2 chef soon of some red liquid - looked like passata, but I can't be sure it wasn't some red liquid spice mixture.

Having read a bit more of the Kushi balti book I think I know what this might be now. In the book is a recipe for masala sauce which they use in other recipes like CTM. I reckon a version of this is what that red sauce was because in KD's book she says to add a bit of tandoori marinade to the madras for more flavour.

For those who are deciding whether to buy the book here's some points.

The base sauce is very similar to the Bruce Edwards' sauce but with more whole spices. The spice mix is again like Bruce Edwards but with garlic/ginger powder and methi.

The making of the base is exactly like Kris Dhillon, in that a separate spiced tomato tarka is cooked and added to the onion sauce. Infact the whole process is very KD like, just spiced up a bit more.

There is no mention of reusing oil at any stage, but I'm not surprised by that.

Their madras recipe is very basic and I think this will come out pretty good. However they say to make a vindaloo just add an extra tsp of chilli powder and for a phall add 2 tsp of chilli. Yeah right. I always judge a restaurant by the difference in their madras and vindaloo. If the only difference is a tsp of chilli they don't get my custom again.

Here's a quote about the phall, "Normally the phall is reserved only for those occasions when someone tries to show off by eating the hottest curry on the menu. I really don't recommend it."

So who am I showing off to when I order a takeaway phall and eat it on my own at home Mr Haydor? Way to alienate your phall loving readers you pillock. You say you "really don't recommend it", well as your phall recipe is a basic curry with two extra teaspoons of chilli, neither do I.

The korma is made with a separate korma base which looks interesting. The problem is you've then got a base sauce which you can only use for making one curry. I'd have liked to have seen a couple of other curries using this base, a pasanda for example.

They add pineapple to the dhansak, which is sacrilege to me, but I suppose that's down to personal preference.

The masala sauce for the tikka masala looks suitably complicated and the tomato base needs constant stirring for an hour! From the ingredients I expect this to turn out pretty good.

There's no jalfrezi, damn it, but I see they're putting that one on their website.

The quality of the pictures, especially the B&W ones, is pretty bad. I add that just for info though as I know at the price of the book you can't expect much better.

Do note that the recipes in this book will make standard curries like you will find in any high street curry house. The only nod to them being 'balti' would be if you served them in a balti dish.

All in all not much new to the regulars here, but I wish I'd had this book when I started out, it's definitely the best beginners' book around ( you hear that Pat Chapman!). Without having made any of the recipes yet I think it's definitely worth the money.

Pete, it seems that other people are posting pics without problems, so the problem must be at your end. I can't say what it is, but you could try using mozilla firefox, assuming you aren't already, it's a free download. Perhaps the default settings of that browser will allow you to post.

My god but it's a thin tome and the B&W pics are naff. The kushi spice mix is much more complicated than what we have been using. I'll get down to reading it properly now.

Yes, the pesticide thing is a problem. If the ginger is fresh out of the ground and has been organically grown, then it definitely is worth using the skin. However, the way we buy it in the supermarkets, there's no way of knowing what's been sprayed on it and it's generally too old so the skin has become leathery. It's definitely better to peel it.

Quote from: raygraham on November 21, 2005, 06:43 AM
I don't want to be too cynical but if I get my copy this week I will show my bum in Sainsbury's!

Hi Ray

I dare say we'll soon see you arsing about at the rear of the Sainsbury's queue then, probably behind some angry customers and their piles of groceries. Try not to make too much of an ass of yourself though, and don't let those cheeky checkout girls put you off. It's tough at the bottom, butt if you try hard enough I'm sure you'll crack it.

You boiled the onions and then fried them? What made you do it this way, as it would normally be done the other way round?

Quote from: stevej on November 20, 2005, 06:35 PM
my spice oil is going to include some very old oil indeed. Is this safe?

Ahh well, there's the rub. Now you know why the restaurants might want to keep this a secret. I have no doubt that this is what is done though.

The difference between doing it at home and doing it at the restaurant however, is that the restaurant will have a higher turnover so the oil shouldn't be left lying around, either in the base or in a separate pot, for as long as it might be at home. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the cases of food poisoning that occur in these establishments are directly down to a batch being left for too long.

Infact it gets worse as the reccommendation on this forum is to reuse the oil you've cooked your curries with. That's an extra layer of potential bodily harm.

But don't the curries taste great!? ?

Quote from: Midge on November 20, 2005, 06:42 PM
Does anyone know how to make the Chilli Sauce they make on Donner Kebabs? I know its not exactly Curry Requests..but a sister somehow.

Sorry mate, I've never been sober enough to remember the next day exactly what it tastes like. I do remember it tastes worse coming up than going down though.? ?;D

QuoteALso how do they make the Red and White Cabbage they put on them too?

It's a little known fact, but the common white cabbage is quite easily embarrassed. The wily farmers, learning of this and never being slow to seize a new marketing opportunity, formed the 'fmc' or farmer's mooning collective.

Basically at a given time in the white cabbage's growth cycle the fmc sneak up on the unsuspecting cabbages and collectively drop their trousers, subjecting the poor cabbages to an onslaught of rosy cheeked tomfoolery. The cabbages, as is their nature, immediately turn a lovely shade of red.

It then remains for the dear old farmers to reap the red and white cabbages, slice them finely, mix and voila, red and white cabbage dressing for your kebab.


Either that or the geezer in the kebab shop just buys a red cabbage and a white cabbage, slices them finely, mixes them and there you have it. DUHH!? ? :

To be on the safe side you should get it in the fridge as soon as it is cool enough to do so.

The main danger is botulinum toxin produced as you say by bacteria. I have a feeling though that if you cook the curries like a restaurant, i.e. full heat from start to finish, the botulinum will be broken down into 'safer' compounds. It might make you ill but it probably won't kill you!

What you really want to watch for is avoiding, as much as is possible, getting the actual base scooped in with the oil as this is yummy stuff for all sorts of bacteria to go to work on. If you scoop before you blend your base this should not be a problem.

If you are ultra worried about this then you should really pass the oil through muslin or something similar before refrigerating.

Needless to say, if I know that I'm the only one that's going to be eating my curries, I studiously ignore all the former advice.?