Quote from: Sverige on October 12, 2014, 06:33 AM
Looks great hazzy and very thick compared to some of the bases I've been reading up on here.

Genuine question to all the experts out there: is there a reason this base has to be diluted before you cook with it?

I'm no expert but the reason base gravy is thin (and sometimes bland as well), is so that the chef can use different spices in different dish recipes to give them different taste.  If the base from a restaurant is too thick and has too much flavour to start with then all of the dishes would taste very similar and there would be no room to vary them.  Remember it is a short cut used to produce volume in a commercial kitchen.

There is no reason why you have to have a thin base at home and certainly if you are freezing it then it is better to leave it thick and add water when you are about to use it.  If you like the taste of your base and your happy to have different curries taste similar there is no problem.

Beef is very different to lamb. Different parts of the animal produce a very different cut of meat and these perform with much greater variability.  You can (almost) cook just about any part of a lamb any way and get similar a result whereas the same cannot be said for beef.

My understanding is that slow cooking the tender cuts like Fillet and Rib eye will actually toughen them while trying to fast cook a piece of Chuck makes it impossible to eat.  Having said that though there is the Hog's Breath Cafe restaurant chain that does minimum 18 hour beef steak which is as tender as you could hope for.  I believe they slow cook it in an oven on very low heat from the previous day and throw it on a hot plate momentarily to char grill the outside.

Beef is actually much more difficult to do well than lamb.  Let me do some research and I'll get back to you.

OK. So a lot of slow cooked beef uses Heston Blumenthal's 6 hour Roast Beef principle and there is a distinct difference between slow cooking prime cuts as compared to cuts that have to be slow-cooked, like chuck and brisket.

Heston's 6 Hour Roast Beef

Try this. Core temp not to exceed 58'C.
Slow Tender Beef

or this,
18 Hour Bacon wrapped beef eye fillet

Play Johnny Cash.

I bought a self cleaning oven, yeah right.  Never fall for that one again.

Quote from: Secret Santa on October 10, 2014, 12:04 PM
It's interesting that if the ingredients are in order of greatest proportion first that mustard is second in the list. Not a spice I would ever have considered to be a major player in a curry powder. And I wonder which type of mustard?

Struck me as odd too SS.  I am only assuming that the Ing's are listed in order of proportion as they are required to be down here.

This pic is of the ing's listed for Kitchen King Masala Powder (Salt and Poppy seed not pictured).  1/2 Tbspoon of Yellow Mustard seed.



Try this out as a start point and tweak it.
Ga Lei Fan (Chinese Yellow Curry Powder)
1Tbsp each of Coriander, Cardamom, Cumin, Cayenne, Tumeric and Yellow Mustard powders.

Comparing this to Eastern Star:
chillies are replaced with cayenne,
salt, wheat flour and onion omitted (easy to adjust at cook time anyway or by playing with it).
Fenugreek and Fennel omitted.
Cardamom could be in the spices section.
Celery is definitely in Eastern Star so probably Celery Seed.

Lots of Spice Blends given here:
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/spices-recipes.php

Quote from: ajb225 on October 10, 2014, 07:58 AM
Hi all!

Does anybody have the ingredient list for eastern star curry powder? I can only find one image of the ingredient list http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tDK3FeuVL._SY300_.jpg it is far too blurry to make out.

I am going to try and recreate this powder from scratch and will share my findings should I be successful so if anybody could send me a list of the ingredients or even a photo of the packages ingredient list I would be immensely grateful!

Thank you very much
Andrew

The label reads:
Ingredients: Tumeric, Mustard, Coriander, Fenugreek, Wheat Flour, Salt, Chillies, Fennel, Cumin, Onions, Spices (Contains Celery)

Pretty sure this is how it reads from the pic you have provided. Actually, certain as I've just looked at the image direct from Google and it is clear enough to read.

Ingredients are listed in order of greatest proportion or equal quantities first.  Your guess as to proportions is as good as any and the Trace spices at the end could be anything in small amounts that may be deliberate or just resulting from being made in the presence of other spices.

It lists Allergins as Mustard, Wheat, Gluten and Celery.

Oh well. I guess that's it then. Been fun while it lasted and I was just about to start looking at Balti but it appears there is no point after reading that link.  You had all better burn your ebooks now, eh.  The pear has spoken.  It's amazing that they have 1000 year old women in India still working in kitchens.

So, what do you think about KFC extra crispy? Is their new gravy any good?  Do you think the mashed potato is made on site?  I preferred it when a bucket came in a bucket.  Hang on. Isn't a bucket also known as a balti?

Much obliged. But a search for Kushi gives 8 pages of instances with about 250 posts and only 1 is by Panpot.  Panpot has a lot of posts relating to Ashoka.

Confusion again.??

Quote from: MushroomMike on October 09, 2014, 10:24 PM
Yes sorry Sir Garp insisted I spilled further beans on a throwaway remark I made on a different thread entirely. I didn't actually mean to start a whole new topic I'm surprised anyone was even bothered...

Don't apologise.  As I said, good paths to explore can come from throw away lines sometimes as they can trigger thought bubbles that lead to discovery.  I understand thread hijacking and it can be annoying, but it is the nature of the beast.

Quote from: MushroomMike on October 09, 2014, 10:24 PM

And a Dutch onion is a cheap onion. Go to an Asian grocer and you'll get a 25kg sack for ?4 or ?5. Or as I normally buy 4kg for ?1.49. Look for them in orange mesh sacks. Try them and compare. Maybe Indian chefs simply don't realise they make a difference. They just buy them because that's what their suppliers happen to sell. I think they do personally. I'd never use anything else now.

I generally use Dutch onions for the very same reasons you've pointed out MM, but some recipes I've come across actually stipulate Spanish.  I can't say it made a difference though, other than price. Having said that though, if I'm to eat raw onion, Spanish is by far the preferred choice.

Quote from: MushroomMike on October 09, 2014, 10:24 PM

Ask anything you like on the kushi book but I think the best place to start is to order a copy.

I may just have to do exactly that.  I'll check out the going rate for supply here.

Some great little sparks of information can come from anywhere.  Here I am reading about naan pans and along comes the jousting about "the missing 5%" and thence springs Mushymik's musings on Kushi.  Being not at all familiar with this, I now have another path to investigate.

Forgive ignorance where it presents, but yesterday I has to look up what "Brum" meant.  Thanks to all, yet again.  Further advice on Kushi would be helpful. 

Interesting discussion about onions too. I watched a vid the other day from and Indian chef who said in making the particular dish that the type of onions mattered nil.  I would imagine a good onion is a cheap onion.

Back on topic though, isn't the point of a tawa that it is a "stick" as opposed to "non stick" pan?