Quote from: RubyDoo on April 02, 2013, 08:17 PM
Got to dig up this old thread. We have been freezing pilau for some time now but I am becoming more and more unhappy with the reheated result. It seems to me that the grains are shrinking and the end result is a more dried and bitty grain that has lost some of its original plumpness after first cooking. Does that make sense.

The other thing to consider ruby is how long the rice has been frozen for and is the container airtight? A plastic ice cream carton (not airtight) and a long storage in the freezer might be a recipe for the dried out grains of rice you describe.

I freeze pilau into plastic takeaway tubs (into what is probably a large individual portion) then reheat straight from frozen with a 2 min blast at fill power, then a rest of a couple of mins, then either 30 secs or a min at full blast depending how full the portion seems. Comes out great

Goncalo, based on watching the video it looks like the milk and water are roughly equal. At least he first pours milk to just cover the rice, boils till that is absorbed, then repeats with water.

Quote from: bamble1976 on April 02, 2013, 07:05 PM
Looks good! 

Just a question. Why do you record in that format and not standard widescreen where you can get more in the shot?

That's easily answered. Simple incompetence. Next time I will try to remember to hold the phone horizontally but at the time that was the last thing on my mind.

I don't remember asking that question, maybe JB or CH did, but I made the assumption that it was for flavour and to help stop the rice sticking together. I will ask next time I'm in there for a meal.

Something which impressed me about all the dishes I saw prepared was there were absolutely no shortcuts, no dumbing down or omitting steps to reduce costs. If they think something will improve the flavour of the food they do it, painstaking as it may be. They are clearly striving for the highest standards, not the lowest costs. That's why I consider this place to be the best in my local area.

New vid: pilau rice

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,11784.0.html

http://youtu.be/sUepodGVYWw

We did get to taste that dish (you can just see a sneaky spoon at the end) and I was really pleasantly surprised. I tend to order hotter curries and have dismissed bhunas as "boring" in the past. This one wasn't! Lots of layers of flavour and all beautifully balanced. The work of an expert chef!

Lesson was

Quote from: Secret Santa on April 01, 2013, 12:44 PM
Yes, it looks like they're essentially the same thing just cut to different sizes. They look like they have turmeric in them too judging by the yellowness, or is that just the camera?

Definately not just the camera. I asked the chef about the precooked onions.

Audio clip: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1301976-indian-onions

He says: "Boil first, then garlic and ginger, fry for about 2-3 mins".
And on the question of the colour: "No turmeric, just mix powder."

He went on to say the black specs I could see were mustard seeds.

We didn't see the prep of the onions so there's an element of speculation but from the clearest pic I managed to get (which isn't super clear) I see that both types are the same shade of yellow, both have the dark spots of mustard seeds visible and there seems to be some green pepper in the fine chopped onion, which I didn't notice on the day.