Hi George,

Yeah, what I mean about taking an hour to cook all the mains is purely based on about 8 - 10 mins each main, x 6 = 1hr. 

As far as cooking 2 at a time, i'd struggle with that aswell as I use a wok and the only way I could fit 2 woks at time would be to cook them diagonally on the hob as they won't fit next to each other, unfortunately, that would mean cooking one on the big ring, and one on a medium ring, don't know how that would work out. Still, it would equate to 20 mins from the first pair to the last but I guess that's the challenge

I might have to invest in some kit ;D

I'm well up for it though, sign me up please or is there something more formal that I need to do?

Ray

Hi guy's,

Having never watched "come dine with me" what would be the format?  Starter, Main and pudding?  I don't know any BIR puddings, or at leat, I've never had one.   

Would it be the host's choice of menu or would we provide a choice of menu in advance?

If the guest list was upto 6 people, over what time scale would we be talking to conclude the "round robin"  One each concecutive weekend, for me, would seem too close together!  I would suggest 1 every 1 - 2 months.

How do members feel about pre-prepairing the dishes, or would it be better to cook the dishes in front of the guest's.  If the latter is the preferred way, that would put the fear of god into me as I don't think that I could do more than one main at a time plus, it would take me at least an hour to complete all mains from the first to last, too long IMHO.

Another thing that occured to me is, would we be expecting to cook our "own" recipes or is it fine to use other members recipes or at least a few elements?   My nightmare would be that I use one of Jerry' recipes for example, and then Jerry ends up being on of my guest's, and I absolutely murder his dish 

I have got a few building projects on at the moment but, I've run the idea past the missus and she didn't responed by calling me a Knob ed so I would be interested later rather than sooner though!

Razor
Manchester
UK

Hi Jerry,

Really glad you tried it.  Not a break through for you but at least you enjoyed it.

Out of interest, how much of the base was you putting into your final dish?  The book itself, never asks for more than 125ml.  Each dish only requires about 5-8 mins cooking time max, I suspect that you may have cooked for longer to release some oil?

A quick note about bay leaf.  The book doesn't ask for Asian bay, it just say's dried bay leaf.  Now I've never used asian bay but if it does impart an aniseed flavour like SS suggest's, then I think that that, reafirms that you should be using ordinary bay.  Star anise is included in the whole spices so why would you try to add more anise flavour by using another source?

I have no idea what flavour bay produce, asian or ordinary but it may be worth trying both!

And as for the chilli Jerry, just leave it out altogether, that's what I do.  I prefer to add it at the main dish stage.

Thanks for giving it a go though, Ill post more main dish recipes, any preferences?

Ray

Makes 4 good size bhaji's

Ingredients:

1 Large onion
1 medium size potato
1 medium size carrot
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp of CA's spice blend  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3765.0
4 tbsp of gram flour
water


Method:

Peel and thinly slice the onion

Place the onion in a bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of the salt

Mix well and leave to stand for 10 mins.  This will draw out a lot of the water from the onions.

Meanwhile, peel and grate the potato and carrot.

Place the onion, carrot and potato into the center of a clean tea towel and gather up the sides of the towel.

Over the sink, start to twist the gathered tea towel, as to squeeze as much water out of the veg.

Once you have squeezed out most of the water, place the veg back into a mixing bowl and losen up.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the water, and give it a really good mix by hand.

Add the water, a teaspoon at a time and mix until you have a sticky mixture.  Be careful not to make it too runny as the bhajis will just fall apart when frying!

Divide the mixture into 4, and shape each part in to a burger size pattie.

Set the deep fat fryer at 160c and carefully, drop 2 of the bhajis into the fryer.

Once the bhajis rise, turn over with tongs and continue frying for about 5 mins or until you can put a skewer through the bhajis and it comes out clean.

Take bhajis out and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the rest of the bhajis.

Leave the bhajis to cool until you're ready to re-heat.

Re-heat in the deep fat fryer for about 3 mins at 170c

Drain and serve with green salad and a mint sauce of your choice.


These should come out really crispy yet soft, but cooked in the center.

Ray

Hi CA,

No, that's fair enough, I was just worried that people may think that I was claiming the base to be my own creation, which it most certainly is not.

Ray,

P.S, Im having a crack at your base as we speak, smelling pretty good at the moment

Sorry CA, you've lost me there Im afraid

I only posted the Kushi base, as Jerry hadn't come across it on this forum, although, he was, using the Kushi spice!

Ray

Hi George,

This IS the Kushi base, and I made clear reference to that when I posted it.  I think what Jerry meant was, It was my "prefered base" that's all!

Ray

Jerry,

Im certain that they go in.  They will make these pre-cooked meats by the bucket load, so when they ladle out a portion, naturally, they will have some of the cooking juices in there.

Please, use the juices, it has that "curry taste" which HAS to add to the final dish, I'm convinced of it!

Ray

Quote from: peterandjen on February 18, 2010, 07:26 PM
No cumin? to me thats all an elephant leg really tastes of?

Ha ha, elephants leg ;D  No, suprisingly no cumin, still, it has the taste.

Ray

Hi Josh,

Glad you liked it, even though it wasn't a breakthru in BIR terms.  With regards to the tenderness,  If you follow the recipe to the letter, I't doesn't give you what your looking for.  I reduce the simmer times on both occaisons to a max of about 6 mins in total. 

The way I see it is, if it is not cooked right the way through, it should finish off nicely in the final dish, giving me a much more tender meat.  It's still not "melt in the mouth" chicken,  but it's not like eating the sole of your shoe either lol ;D

Thanks for giving it a go,

Ray

P.S,  What do you mean "drained the chicken"  please don't tell me that you threw the juices away   I usually put it in the final dish