I have no probs posting images as I own a URL (web address) and after I've put them up there, I link to them with the little IMAGE TAG like this ...

[ IMAGE TAG ] URL/folder/picture.jpg [CLOSED IMAGE TAG ]

Obviously you need to have some place to put the pictures, but once you've got that, it's a piece of cake. 

If anyone needs a palce to put curry images email them to me and I'll email you back the link to put in your psots. No problems!

:-)

DD

Cheers for the replies.  I'm going to pass on the Gulab Jams this time.

Menu forming:

Poppadoms, Onion Salad, Nibbles and Chutney
Onion Bhaji's - Recipe?
Bombay Alloo - Cheers DarthVader! ;-)
Tandoori King Prawns with Cukey Raita (Nice one Ray! Is Tandoori King Prawn Marsala in KD's the same?)
Veggie Pakoras (Thanks Curry King!  Recipe?)
Veggie Byriani
Chicken Madras (from our Forum of course!)

Small blobs of ice cream for dessert!

:-)

DD

I was entertaining the in-laws over the weekend so I went all-out and did Tandoori Chicken, Makhan Chicken, Chicken Korma, Seekh Kebabs, Cucumber Raita, Onion Salad, Yoghurt Mint Sauce and Rice ... and boy are my arms tired.

These pictures may be dull as old boots to the pros but I thought other newbies might be cheered by my endeavors ...

I found that by sitting down with pen in hand and writing out a timetable of when, where and how long I was able to have a wonderful time cooking all the above dishes (meat ones for the first time) without an ounce of stress.  Learned a big lesson in "being prepared".

Started the day before marinading the tandoori chicken.  So bright, I got sunburn!



Then on the actual day I started with the Onion Salad and Yoghurt Mint Sauce as appetizers.  Here is the Sauce before mixing ...



Making the kebabs was a breeze.  I thought it would be well hard, but it was easy.  Thats my weeny bit of curry base and some pre-cooked chicken in the background.  Here are the kebabs formed but uncooked. Again, note the radioactive look...



I used red onions for the Onion Salad on a whim and I won't be doing that again.  Waaay too strong.  the Yoghurt sauce was delish!



The final meal took about half an hour to actually cook, which still amazes me.  All in all it went down very well.  The tandoori chicken only cooked for ten minutes and melted in the mouth like butter.  The kebabs came out too dry but were still edible (and a half).  The cukey Raita was great and worked with everything for those at the table who found it all a bit spicey.



The best part of the whole exercise was having leftovers for lunch the next day!!

Cheers to everyone for your brilliant ideas and recipes ... it's a bit lonely over here in NYC cooking on me own and I appreciate all your cyber-support!!  This is without doubt the best BIR site on planet earth.

DD

PS. Another social gathering looms this weekend.  RESULT!  Going all out to do entirely NEW menu.  Any Ideas?  Not just for single dishes but more for three or four that compliment each other.  Before you answer, please note one of the guests is Indian and vegetarian ... so I'm looking for a MENU that kicks arse for meat eaters and veggies!

PPS.  How tricky is Gulab Jamons?  In Dhillons it looks fiddly.

I posted this before on another thread but I want to shout it out again!

My wife made me realize that there is one massive difference between the oil that we could reclaim and the oil that a restaurant could reclaim given that there is a short shelf life to the oil.  Basically ...

In any given 24 hour period they will cook a bumload more curries than we could ever do and therefore could reuse the oil faster and in more curries.  They could clearly reap the rewards of reclaiming for flavor far better than us.

Frigzample, I just did a big meal over the weekend and made four dishes at once.  That was a big deal for me but is only one tabler's worth of dishes for your average restaurant. Think about how many tables get served a night in a good BIR? Fifteen? More?

We can't replicate that ... unless we churn out the same number of dishes as they do IN THE SAME TIME FRAME ... hence the ever elusive flavor ...

Comments?

DeeDee

PS. Piccies of weekend major meal to follow ...

PPS. If this has already been covered I apologize .... :-)

I must agree with George on sumfing ... My base sauce is pretty bland, as made by following the Holy Grail page, but a Rogan Josh I made was awesome and a Mahkan Chicken (from Dhillons) was pretty damn good too.

So far I've stuck with the Holy Grail Spice mix with Natco Garam Masala and unless someone knows something I don't (very likely) I'm happy with it.

Rocking follow-up post SB.

And of course as it is the Season of goodwill, giving, Christmas and all that ... you can go to Natco and send someone a lubbly little Curry Kit too!!!?

:-)

DD

RESULT!!!! Take piccies if you can!! I'm going to try something similar with a place I know over here.

:-)

DeeDee

Many thanks for the recipe Pete!! Top drawer!

Spiceboy, cheers for all the information.  It all makes sense now as I bought the Swad in Patel Bros here in NYC.  Please feel free as many insider beans as you like ....

:-)

DeeDee

Ooh, my wife just had a thought about this ...

I was complaining about this mystery of the "taste we can't replace" (rhymes too) and I told her the idea about how it can't be the oil cos you have to chuck it every three or four days.  She said yeah, but just think how many different dishes your average Restaurant kicks out in a day, never mind three. 

Maybe we can't duplicate the complicated multi-layered taste because it's an equation of time over variety.  Short time, big variety.

Well???


Right, back to the Wolf Blass Shiraz... cheers!

I just had a red onion (three of em) omelet with madras powder and coriander.

I think I'm on my way.

DD