Jason,

It's a smaller world than you think mate. From 1982, I lived on Manchester rd, facing what is now a Pizza Hut (Kelly Bros) and hung around on Ryecroft hall for many a good year, as well as the Snipe estate.  I'm now 42, so not sure if our paths ever crossed but it's likely they did at some point?

Big Vic Podmore is a well know bloke, used to run The Waterloo Tavern on the outskirts of Ashton.  Proper old school type of landlord.

Ray

Hey Mick, what a small world eh?

Jason, I live in A-U-L too (Guide Bridge).  Absolute long shot, but you wouldn't happen to be a relation of big Vic Podmore would ya?

Ray

Bloody hell Mick, Miles Platting.  I worked over there back in 1986, taking the 3rd floor off the masonettes, turning them into 2 storey houses, near the Brown Cow pub.

Happy day's

Ray

Hiya Jason,

From one Manc to another, a very warm welcome to cr0 mate.  Now you've started you won't stop.

Whereabouts in Manc are ya mate?

Ray

One word JB, 'gobsmacked'

No, one word isn't enough.  What an amazing array of different offerings JB, I bet your house was a very very happy home after scoffing that lot. Everything looks superb and if I were to be presented with that table, I would be a very happy chappy too

Well done fella, I like your work!

Ray

Hi Dajoca,

Yes, you would think that two dishes with similar ingredients would turn out pretty much the same wouldn't you? However, the length of cooking each component receives, the size of each component, the quantity of each component will all make subtle differences to the end result. 

A pinch of sugar here or a sprinkle of salt there, again help determine the end result.

Here is a little experiment to prove the point;

Take;

Half a tomato
half an onion
1 clove of garlic
1 cm x 1 cm of fresh ginger
1 tbsp of oil

Finely chop the tomatoes and onions
crush the garlic and ginger to a pulp and mix together
next. heat the oil and fry all of the ingredients on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Now, with the same ingredient;
slice the tomato and onion
slice the garlic and Julienne the ginger,

Heat the oil on high and when very hot, add all the ingredients and fry hard for 3 minutes.

Same ingredients but the outcome of each will be very different!

I hope that kind of explains what I mean?

All the best,

Ray

Hi Les,

Quote from: Les on July 26, 2012, 10:24 AM
Someone on here was going to try one (not 100% sure, but I think it was Razor) But never heard anything else about it

Yeah, it was me and I did pay C2G a visit back in Jubilee week, but sadly, it was shut.  I went on a Wednesday afternoon and it appears all the market huts are shut then.

I should have come back on and told people really but a felt a bit of a tit to be honest, as I'm quite sure that Julian had already told us that they don't open on a Wednesday

Ray

Quote from: Secret Santa on July 23, 2012, 02:41 PM
As Homer Simpson might say...Mmmmmmmm, carcinogens.  ;D

Really? Even if using natural lump charcoal?  Damn, I so wanted to give this technique a try

Ray

Hi CA,

Thanks for the reply.  So, I gave these a try but substituted the s/r flour for Atta as per your suggestion.  Some of them puffed up, some didn't but all tasted great.

However, on my second batch something went wrong as they came out rather crispy! Still tasted great though. I really need to practise my bread making as it's the one area that I feel i'm lacking somewhat.

I'm going to give these another try tonight but go with the s/r flour as per your spec recipe.

Ray

Hi Bob,

My first ever curry, back in the mid 80's, was indeed a Dhansak.  Now, if I was to describe what I ate back then, I would say that it was mild, sweet with a little tang to it.  It really goes to show the regional differences of the good old Dhansak.

Even now, looking through my TA menu's, the descriptions vary quite a lot, ranging from, "a mild, sweet dish prepared with lentils, oriental spices with a touch of pineapple for extra sweetness"   to " A hot, smokey and sour dish, made with pungent spices and finished off with lentils to give the sauce a unique texture"

I would say the first description is what I relate to the Dhansak that I had back in the day because, as I explained to the waiter at the time, I'd never eaten a curry before and was worried about the heat.  Dhansak is what he suggested as a good introduction to my curry journey and he wasn't wrong.

With all that said Bob, it looks wonderful and yet again, you have now given me another recipe on my ever growing 'to do' list.

Ray