Quote from: curryhell on March 25, 2012, 06:47 PM
Excellent SD.  Thanks for the link, there's also another book on the subject too - bonus.  Both at a reduced price and the reviews are good.  Both should be a good read even if i don't brush the dust of my equipment just yet, having some 100+ litres to work my way through after my recent excursion ;D.  Nothing goes down as well as a good curry followed up by a couple of bottles of class belgium ale 

As a beer nut who regularly rides his motorcycle to foreign lands (including Belgium) in search of the finest ales available to humanity, I'd love to hear what your favourite Belgian/Flemish tipples are. (It took me a while to get into the Lambics, but once you've got the taste...  ;D . Perhaps not the best curry accompaniment, though!)

Over here if you're going Belgian there's very little choice to go with your NIS or phal other then the ubiquitous (though very pleasant) Leffe...

Quote from: curryhell on March 26, 2012, 11:35 AM
That looks familar   : . Such extravagance with the zip lock bags SD . I just use small / medium food bags and tie a knot.  I don't cry then when i throw them away which i hate doing with the zip lock ones .  I do like to recycle them and do my bit for the environment :

Being a tight bastard I wash them thoroughly and reuse them, CH. But they're dead cheap if you get them from Wilkinson anyway....

Quote from: curryhell on March 26, 2012, 11:01 AM
Thanks for continuing to expand the recipes available for the Taz base and method.  Next base up will be Taz's when i have some room in the freezer ;D

Me too!

Quote from: colin grigson on March 26, 2012, 09:36 AM
At the risk of appearing stupid ... I bought a bag of curry leaves .. whole dried last time I was in UK thinking they'd be really handy but I'm yet to see a recipe that uses them .. are there any uses for these leaves please ?

I don't usually buy stuff that I have no idea what to do with so this is a tad embarrassing  :

Not embarrassing at all, Colin - I still have a bag of dried curry leaves in my cupboard and a bag of frozen fresh ones in my freezer from yonks ago. My hand regularly passes them when I'm reaching for the coriander, and I think, "Hmm... Must use those...", then I forget about them. Shame, as the fresh leaves are really nice.

They don't feature too much in BIR dishes, but you'll find them in a fair few recipes for traditional cuisine (mainly South Indian cuisine, which uses them a lot).

When I remember, I occasionally use fresh curry leaves in some vegetable dishes (IMO the fresh leaves are a different animal. Dried curry leaves just don't release the same lovely nutty flavour when placed in hot oil).

Do a search for 'curry leaves' on Google and I guarantee that loads of recipes will pop up.

That looks stunning, Stephen. I may have mentioned that I'm a big fan of the Taz base, so I'll be giving this a go the next time I knock up a batch. Thanks for posting!

Quote from: alarmist10 on March 26, 2012, 07:55 AM
Totally agree, Wickerman.............a damn fine job from those concerned enough to cook!

Just curious, SD, but which recipe did you use for the Mushroom Bhaji, and do you think it was of BIR standard?

al.

My brother made the Mushroom Bhaji (I did the other sides), so I'll have to get the recipe from him. As for it being BIR standard, I have to be 100% honest here, and say that I don't really know. After a full day of prep on the Friday and a solid 3 hours of cooking my sense of smell and taste was completely shot. (This is another reason I couldn't do it for a living.)

But the guests were raving about the food (including the mushrooms), and with many being of northern stock and all of them being curry fanatics they're not shy about panning something if it's not up to scratch. (Particularly my old man, who's my most feared critic, and the bane of BIRs countrywide. Woe betide any restaurant that serves him a moody vindaloo.  )

As said, I'll get the recipe and post it so you can check it out.

Quote from: curryhell on March 25, 2012, 06:47 PM
I'm almost contemplating getting all the kit out of the loft and having a go after so many years.  Trouble is i'm a belgium beer fanatic, and whilst there are a couple of recipes out there, I can't find anything near the equivalent of Dave Lines book to tell me how to make the many brands of belgium beer that are available and that i enjoy . Just as well i returned with a bit of stock yesterday that'll keep me going for a few months until the next trip

I haven't read this, CH, but it looks like it could be interesting if you're into brewing Belgian beers.

For an excellent book on brewing real ales (which I have read), check out: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belgian-Ale-Classic-Beer-Style/dp/0937381314/ref=pd_sim_b_17

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on March 25, 2012, 03:48 PM
I can't agree more - the Ashoka bunjarra, and indeed the Ashoka posts would be on my desert island recipes.

In full agreement there. I've now made both the Ashoka bunjara and CBM's. Both are excellent, though for me the extra spicing in CBM's just edges it.

Both pastes are similar, except there's tandoori masala in CBM's and no tomato. (As the curries I add the paste to already contain a good chef spoon of diluted tomato puree, I don't feel the need to add any more.)

I'm not sure if CBM has posted his here, as I got the recipe from his book, but the Ashoka recipe is here for those that haven't come across it yet: https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3921.0

My plan (whenever possible) from now is to try to make my main dish curries a day in advance and incorporate bunjara paste.

It may not be the way that BIRs do it, but the results are so amazing that I'm going to find it hard to go back to (relative) blandsville.

A word of caution about making good bunjara paste. It's a right bastard to get right, and never takes less than an hour to make it properly. Do not, under any circumstances, use a hefty copper-bottomed pan (or any thick-based, heat-retentive pan) when caramelising those onions. They WILL burn! You need a pan that dumps heat the INSTANT you take it off the hob/burner.

On Friday I ruined a batch in this way. The onions were beautifully caramelised, I took the pan off the heat, went to answer the front door, and when I returned two minutes later I was greeted by a blackened mess in the pan, which had continued to cook the onions in the residual heat.

Once those onions reach the right level of caramelisation, you have mere seconds to play with!

Nice one Mick - looks great, and sounds like you had a fantastic day.

As, indeed, did I, although I'm shattered! Much though I love cooking curry, I now know that I could never work as a curry chef (even if I wanted to).

I 'only' knocked out 16 curries (my brother made the other 16) and four or five side dishes, etc, which is pathetic compared with what a BIR chef punts out.

Full respect to them all!

I was mad busy and didn't have time to take pictures myself, but one of the guests snapped a few. Not brilliant, but here they are anyway:

1. Setting up. Cooking in a strange kitchen has its drawbacks - not least being where the hell do you put everything!



2. First pot of base and a pot of stock on, and some initial prep before cooking commences. I was delighted when I saw the cooker, but it was short lived as soon as I fired the mother up. Half the burners were shagged. You might as well have held your pan over a match...



I wanted to recreate that takeaway experience, so cooked each curry separately in double portions, and kept them warm in foil containers (scribbled on illegibly, naturally!). Here's the first batch ready for the hordes:



And this is the only picture anyone bothered to take of the food (Lamb Madras and a Tarka Dhal). They were too busy gorging...

Thanks Chewy - only just found this.

It's next on my list!