I've never fried poppadoms. I just microwave them from raw. 1-2 minutes at 800W, they fluff up lovely and no nasty oil involved. That said there are some that must be deep fried, it says so on the packet, but I give those a miss. Also when I'm eating at a restaurant and I feel like a poppadom mid meal and order it, within a couple of mins I hear a ping and from the waiters' alcove comes one freshly made poppadom.



To the nutter, sorry there's no other adjective that fits, that is going to make their own poppadoms.....respect!

I thought I had tried everything in seeking the authentic restaurant experience, but making your own poppadoms!

I really want to know how this turn out.

There are a lot of variations on the onion 'mix' depending on where you go. The onion raita is by definition onion in yoghurt with various spices. The onion in tomato ketchup is the bottom end ( in my opinion) of onion in a spiced tomato sauce. Usually it is just called onion salad, and is just that, onion a bit of salt, coriander leaf, chopped tomato and lemon juice. I have never seen it as a 'dish' on its own as such, it has always an accompaniment to poppadoms. Like Pete said, it is often given free in some form with takeaways or deliveries.

It would be interesting to see what other variations people have seen on their travels.

Quote from: pete on May 05, 2005, 08:15 PM
I don't understand why they stink the house out so bad.
The kitchen smells similar to a toilet after frying them.

Are you sure you aren't frying PLOPadoms by mistake? ?:

No tomatoes?

Quote from: Blondie on May 02, 2005, 10:25 AM
I don't understand this statement, how can a home made stock have MSG in it unless we put it there?

All meat has MSG in it naturally. Roasting meat increases the amount of MSG but boiling as for a stock will also impart the MSG into the stock. This is partly why stocks are so tasty!

Quote from: pete on May 01, 2005, 09:36 AM
I will see if I can find alternatives to create what I want.

One of the main ingredients of any stock, whether it is of the cube variety or whether it was lovingly home made like yours is the dreaded MSG. So if you aren't going to use the chicken stock then perhaps just a few pinches of MSG will add something?

Quote from: pete on May 01, 2005, 09:25 AM

He uses Ajwain Seeds (lovage seeds) and this has written on the pack
"aromatic ajwain seeds have a strong pungent flavour similar to thyme".

He also confirmed the addition of chicken jelly, to the curry gravy, when it was reheated at the start of the evening.

I use ajwain seeds but they don't really seem to add anything significant to the flavour.

Did he say if that curry gravy is then used for vegetarian dishes as well?

I had a look at the 'foil' type containers that takeaway curries come in at Tesco and they were 50p per container and I wasn't about to pay that. Does anyone know where I can buy cheap disposable containers from? I want them to be the same look as the takeaway type but preferably also freezer/microwave safe.

Quote from: Ian S. on April 28, 2005, 12:18 PM
The nearest I can get to describing C's special factor (and I've tried many times, talking to the spice man at my local market) is:

A combination of smell and taste somewhere between smoke and toffee.

You will get a smokey kind of flavour if you brown some finely chopped garlic at the start. I use two cloves per serving. It mustn't be too finely chopped and you have to be careful not to burn the garlic as it will just give a bitter taste. It's a fine line between the very well browned garlic I'm talking about and being burnt, so it takes a bit of care. This doesn't work with puree. You should try this if you haven't already.

Quote from: curryqueen on April 27, 2005, 06:44 PM
I still maintain that it is the oil that is taken from each curry and re-used.?

While this is something that I do because it definitely inmproves the flavour, if you think about it, it can't be done by the restaurants. The chemical that makes chillies hot is fat soluble, so if you were making a vindaloo say then there would be a lot of the chilli heat in that oil. Imagine a restaurant doing this, after about ten curries the base sauce would be too hot to use for the mild curries. Unless they are being selective about which curries they spoon the oil from?

As far as the group slowing down, I think this is because we have reached an impasse. There are those of us here who are convinced they have sussed the method of producing the right taste and smell, and there are those like me who are 95% there but are now in need of new ideas.