Good luck to all with the birth, but I must have spent too long in the Far East because I read "Coorg Pork Stir fry" as "Corgi Pork Stir fry" ...

Quote from: JerryM on November 05, 2022, 10:17 AM
1) use lamb leg 1.5" cube
2) oven slow cook at 60C on open rack (how long who knows say 1hr)
3) marinate per livo say 24hrs
4) pan fry rocket heat

Is the "pan fry" because you don't have a barbecue or a steak grill, Jerry ?  I ask because in my (admittedly limited) experience, Greeks and Turks who cook souvlakia / şiş over a charcoal grill do not pre-cook in a low oven, and in your position I would be looking for a way to try to avoid this stage if authenticity is desired ...
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** Phil.

Quote from: livo on November 03, 2022, 09:00 PM
If your lamb is too lean you may need to add some fat between the cubes.

"If your lamb is too lean", it is probably not going to give you the flavour that you aer setting out to achieve.  Think of a rasher of bacon — which tastes better, one than is 99% lean, or one that had 25–30% fat ?  For souvlakia 25–30% is probably excessive, so I would aim for 10–15%.  And look on the web for marinading recipes, not to tenderize the lamb (should not be necessary) but to give that authentic middle-eastern flavour.
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** Phil.

Bought one of these a few days ago, and finally got around to trying the chicken vindaloo today.  I added extra garlic-infused and chilli-infused rapeseed oils, some chopped coriander stalk, a couple of green chillies (cut into roundels) and some kala namak (it appears to be virtually salt-free).  Eaten with a freshly cooked frozen paratha.  It was OK (better than many BIRs today) but not especially hot or flavoursome.  The Morrison's Volcanic Vindaloo, if still available, would be a better option.  The chicken phal remains to be tried.

But the onion bhaji that accompanied this are complete and utter rubbish — 95% bhaji, 5% onion.  Basically a mildly spicy gram flour paste wrapped in a few token onion rings.
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** Phil.

Quote from: livo on October 31, 2022, 09:52 PM
The interesting spicing in the gravy (and mixed powder) is the nutmeg and mace. 

Both (as I'm sure you know) from the same seed, the mace being the "skin" around the nutmeg ...

OK, gave it a go —

BIR Base Gravy - 10 x 400g Pouch £24.99
BIR Base Gravy - 1 x 400g Pouch £2.99
BIR Mix Powder - Resealable pouch 80g £2.99

Total £30.97, so qualifies for free delivery.

No.  I saw it, I was tempted, but I am still undecided.  If you (or anyone else) tries it / has tried it, do please report back.
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** Phil.

Having recently re-discovered the delights of home-cooked (albeit not home-made) BIR cuisine with my Co-op Indian meal deal for £8-00, and being too mean to spend £3-50 on just one Co-op main course, I took a pack of free-range corn-fed chicken breasts out of the freezer a day or so ago, and this evening made a rather good Indian chicken curry (generic name because I mixed two quite different dishes) using Aldi's "Specially selected fragrant Punjabi-inspired bhuna" mix.  As before, I bhooned the spices before adding the chicken, but this time using the technique that my wife taught me for making Singapore rice noodles — rather than adding the spices to oil in the pan and then frying, I heat the oil in the pan, add the spices, and immediately turn off the heat (being induction, this is virtually instantaneous).  The spices change colour nicely, and become beautifully fragrant, but there is zero risk of burning them.  I also used considerably more oil that Aldi recommend — probably 60ml, if not more, being a mixture of chilli-infused and garlic-infused rapeseed oils.  When the spices were nicely bhooned I added the chicken (two breasts made about 24 curry-sized pieces), turned up the heat to 40% and cooked and stirred until the chicken was uniformly but lightly cooked.  I then added one heaped dessert spoon of the sauce, stirred and cooked until it had reduced, added a second heaped dessert spoon and repeated — this left about 2/3 of the sauce unused.  I checked the seasoning, added a heaped coffee spoon of kala namak, four finely chopped green chillis and a few finely chopped coriander stalks.  Finally I blended in the remaining "chicken tikka" sauce from the previous (Co-op) meal and served with a freshly cooked frozen paratha (fried in ghee).  A delicious meal, not at all time consuming, and far better than anything I have eaten in any local BIR for quite some time.
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** Phil.

For those who failed to spot it, the Co-op recently ran an Indian meal promotion, with two main courses, two side dishes, and 4 x 330ml Cobra beers, all for the princely sum of just £8-00.  Quite superb value, really, and clearly a loss-leader.  As I had food in the 'fridge which needed eating up first, I was able to benefit from the advice of two friends/colleagues who went in for the same deal, which was that more chicken was needed.  I therefore cut and pre-cooked two free-range chicken breasts, and added these to the two main courses I had selected (Chicken rogan josh and chicken tikka).  Much to my surprise, it was the latter I preferred, although as it transpired it wasn't chicken tikka at all but rather chicken tikka masala.  As well as the additional chicken, I added liberal quantities of garlic-infused and chilli-infused rapeseed oils, plentiful fresh coriander (both during cooking and for presentation) and a coffee spoon of kala namak.  I just had a second portion for lunch today, served on a freshly cooked paratha, and it really was excellent.  I think that I may well be willing to pay full price for this dish in future, given the ease with which it can be enhanced to yield a really flavoursome and satisfying meal.
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** Phil.

Two (or even three) decades too late, Livo ... It was the late 60's and early 70's that were the pinnacle of BIR — after that, things started going downhill ...