Here's a couple of photos of a Prawn Vindaloo that I made from Andy's Curry Base here:
https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1476.0

Sorry, I was a bit hungry (presentation took a bit of a back seat I'm afraid!) so I turned it into rather a sloppy mess (!) by piling on loads of:

Tandoori/Mint Raita (here: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1224.0
Onion Salad (here: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1677.0
Sweet Mango Chutney (out of a jar), and
Plain Boiled Basmati Rice (here:  https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1383.0

Scooped it all up with plain Naan bread (here: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1448.0

It was pretty tasty, nevertheless 

and it surely hit the spot and filled a (n a***?) hole   ;D

Regards,

Quote from: Serum on February 26, 2007, 07:12 PM
I can definitely smell asafoetida in the curries I buy from my local so I'm sure it's in there.

Um.....you sure that's actually asafoetida Serum...or maybe it's something else that simply smells like it..........?    ;D

....smells like "IT" I said!

Kindest regards!

Photos:

Top:  Onion salad with a couple of drops of green food colouring

Bottom:  Onion salad without any food colouring

I've just made some of this very simply but tasty onion salad to go with a King Prawn Vindaloo.  I therefore thought I'd post the simple recipe here.

It is a perfect (and very healthy) accompaniment to any curry or with poppadoms (or even in a cheese sandwich!):

Ingredients:

• 1 medium ripe tomato (finely chopped)
• 1 medium onion (finely chopped or sliced)
• Approximately 2 inch long piece of cucumber (finely chopped)
• 1 - 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• 1 - 2 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice (or bottled will do)
• 1/4 tsp paprika powder
• 1/8 tsp garam masala (optional)
• pinch of salt (or to taste)
• A couple of drops of liquid green food colouring (optional)

Method:

• Chop the onions, tomatoes, cucumber and coriander, as finely or as coarsely as you wish
• Mix all the ingredients in a non-metallic bowl
• Cover and leave in a fridge for an hour or so (or overnight) to allow the onions to absorb the lime or lemon juice and soften slightly

Notes:

• omit the tomatoes, cucumber and/or coriander if you wish
• add any other ingredients that take your fancy (e.g. fresh chillis, capsicum, fresh mint, etc)
• I have included photos of the onion salad with and without food colouring below

Regards,

Hi Stargazer,

I see this is your first post...welcome to cr0! 

It seems to me that grapeseed oil has a relatively low smoke point of 204C (from the reference source that I gave above)? 

I would therefore presume it to be just about as unsuitable (for curry cooking) as an unrefined (i.e. extra virgin, virgin) olive oil?

Keep up the posts!  The more the merrier! 

Regards,

Welcome Serum,

I think we have a number of members who are from the London area and more that have eaten in BIRs there. 

Try checking out the "Member Map": https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?action=mm

Regards,

Good point Jeera,

If in doubt, fish 'em out! 

I reckon it would be a good idea to fish out any cassia bark or cinnamon sticks.

But, as I said, if the whole spices are otherwise soft enough to blend fine enough, I think they are ok to be left in.  I have just made Andy's curry base.  I left all of the whole spices in and they were soft enough to be blended into indiscernible oblivion!  Just to recap, this included:

• 10 cardamom pods
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp ajwain seeds

But I think I'm right in saying that CP and Andy advocate leaving them all in (rightly or wrongly)?

Regards,

You're welcome Ritchie,

It seems to me that this is sound provided that the whole spices are soft enough to be blended fine enough.

Regards,

Hello Ritchie,

As far as I'm aware, Chilli Prawn (and Andy) advocate leaving the whole spices in his base and blending them.

Regards,

Hi All,

This is a really good article on woks, what to look for and how to season them: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4759306

Listen to the commentary at the top of the page under "listen"....really interesting! 

Although its about Chinese Cooking, I think it equally applies to "karahis" for Indian cooking.  It explains that a cast iron or carbon steel wok (NOT "non-stick") is best. 

It also explains that you need to heat the oil to JUST BELOW smoking point.

I've recently bought a 3 ring gas burner that consumes about 30 MJ of gas per hour.  A typical domestic gas stove burner consumes about 10 MJ per hour.  However, these people talk about Chinese restaurants using gas burners that consume 80 to 150 MJ per hour!   

Listen to those babies burn!  Sounds more like a Tornado taking off!    ;D

Regards,