I have coconut milk powder.

The next time I go to the International Marketplace (which is a warehouse, here in Las Vegas, that has just about every ethnic food you will ever need) I'll have a look for the specific brands.  The have aisles for the likes of British, german, Indonesian, Hawaiian, Mediterranean, Malaysian, every Asian you can think off.

So what (exactly) is "coconut block"?  Does it have any other names?

This evening I went to my local (13-miles away) Indian food store, here in Las Vegas.  This guy has EVERYTHING I have ever asked him for - in 5-and-a-half years of going there (I usually go there once a week).
Tonight I asked him for "sliced creamed coconut block" and he had NO idea what it was.
Does this go by any other name, or, does any other ethnicity use it (so I can look in other stores, for it).

Thanks,

Peter

I've already go t a couple of changes that need to be made to this.

1) Use coconut milk powder instead of desicated coconut (it will give a smoother texture).
2) Use twice a much sugar (1 tsp) next time, as it could do with being a little sweeter.

This is my first 'draft' of a lamb passanda.  All suggestions welcome.

This is the first lamb passanda I have had in 14-years (since I left England) so I am doing this from memory.  let me know what I can do to improve this.




300g boned lamb, cut into 1-inch chunks

FOR THE MARINADE:
1-inch cube fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1-heaped tbsp dried methi
2-tbsp chopped fresh coriander
? tsp lovage seeds (ajwan), optional
? pint plain yoghurt


For the curry/passanda
75ml spicy oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped green pepper
Salt (to taste)
250ml of curry base
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
2 tbsp ground almonds
2?  tsp spice mix
2 tsp tomato pur?e
? tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sultanas
1 tbsp flaked almonds
4 fl oz single cream



Mix the ginger, methi, chopped coriander and lovage seeds into the yoghurt.  Put in the lamb and cover thoroughly with mari?nade.  Cover with cling film and chill for a minimum of 2 hours ? longer is better.

Add some spicy oil to the wok, and heat until starting to smoke.
Add the lamb and cook until white (sealed) on the outside
The meat should still be slightly pink in the middle.
Remove from the wok, and put to one side.

Heat the spicy oil in a large wok over moderate heat  and fry the lamb, so that it is colored on the outside, then removed and put to one side.
Add the garlic and fry until it starts to turn brown.
Put in the onions, green pepper, and fry until the onions are trans?lucent.
Add the salt and a ladle of curry base.
In quick succession, add the rest of the ingredients except the cream.
Stir well and add another 2 ladles of curry base.
Turn the heat to high and stir-fry for 10 minutes.
Add the lamb to the wok.
Cook for 7 more minutes or until the meat is cooked.
Add more curry base if necessary and three-quarters of the cream.
Garnish with a dribble of cream.

Saturday night, so it's curry night (but, then, EVERY night is curry night).

I'm not a korma fan (I like the kick of a vindaloo) but this has a good taste.  I was even able to find the Maggi coconut milk powder at my local new India Supermarket, here in Las Vegas.  They told my to make my own almond powder (I have a Vita-Mix 5200 blender, which spins at 4,000 rpm, but it would not break the almonds down to a fine powder).  So, I went down to the local organic food store (Whole Foods) and bought the almond meal/flour.

This was made exactly to the recipe (using CA's spicy oil and curry base).  However, I used 400g of chicken (each chicken breast was 200g).

I'm going to give a dopiaza (Hansel's recipe) a shot next, i think (unless someone can come up with a keema peas of lamb passanda recipe).

So last night I finished off the second half of the vindaloo.

Having been allowed to stand for 24-hours.  WOW! A completely different curry.  What a difference 24-hours made.

Tonight I'm going to give the korma a shot (though I like my curries on the spicy side).

No problems with moving the files, in fact that is a good idea.

I cannot put my finger into what it was missing, when I ate it at about 5 pm (my time).  However, at about 8 pm, I was starting to feel hungry again and the vindaloo was still on the cooker (it was still in my non-stick Ikea work, with the lid on top).  It had cooled down  and so i got a spoon and ate a spoonful.  WOW!  It had really come to life!!

I've known about this for years, that if you make a curry, leave it too cool down, over night, and then heat it up the following morning that it is so much better.

For lunch I'm meeting a friend for dim sum, so the earliest I'll be able to finish the remaining vindaloo will be tonight.  So, I'm going to make another batch tomorrow, but this time I'm not going to eat it there and then, but I'm going to leave it for a few hours, then heat it up and then eat it. 

Having left it to stand for a few hours and the eating it, it was as good as anything I've eaten when I was in England.  if this theory is correct, then I'll be making more, leaving it to cool, putting it into Zip-loc bags, and freezing it, to see if that works.

I used thigh meat (not breast) and used a different tandoori masala mix.  Also, I had no corriander, so I did not add it and I used a tin of whole new potatoes instead of par boiling my own.

It was good, but not great (may be when I finish it off for breakfast, tomorrow it will be better). 

Having said this, I'll be doing it again, as it is better than any I have made previously, and I'll be working on this some more.

I did the dansak agin, this evening.  This time I used more pineapple chunks, but unfortunately, the rice was not warm enough.
Still I have some left over for tomorrow.  So, if I do not have it for breakfast, I'll have it for lunch...then I'll be trying CA's vindaloo either tomorrow evening or for lunch the day after.