Hi Paul

Cooking onions is one of the more difficult things to master, seriously. If you think about it no two onions are ever really the same, they all have different water contents, natural sugars etc, depending on the type, time of year, time in storage, place of origin etc, etc,.
It also makes a difference how the onion is sliced. Think of the root end and the pointed end as poles then for frying they should be sliced longitudinally, from pole to pole, I've no idea why this is but it works.
There's no real substitute for practice but cooking onions remains a 'black art' and I think cookery books just gloss over the problems or ignore them altogether, probably because the author is no great shakes at cooking the things either. Personally if I see "cook the onions for a few minutes until transparent" in a recipe then I just know the author hasn't got a clue.
Take heart and keep trying but cooking onions properly and repeatedly is one of the more difficult things to master, I've been trying for years but still screw up more often than not.

Hope this helps, regards
CoR.

Quote from: peterandjen on April 11, 2010, 01:45 PM
The thing that really puts me off about using any pastes is the vinegar content in them, they always end up tasting tart.

Just checked the ingredients in the Lazziza Tikka paste and there is no vinegar in it but that place linked to is being a bit 'optimistic' with the prices, all the Lazziza pastes are 1.20/1.39 a bottle they're charging 1.99 + postage, blimey!

Regards
CoR

I usually cook at least twice a week but nearly always get a T/A or have have a sit down curry once (sometimes more) every week as well.
This afternoon I'll be cooking my 4th ruby of the week, addicted? moi?

Cheers
CoR

Quote from: JerryM on April 04, 2010, 10:14 AM


i too was taken a back by how hard it was to find/get. i know i would be able to get in rusholme for example 100% (i include longsight as well) - the place has never failed in supplying everything i've found difficult to get elsewhere - it's just a bit of a jaunt to get their. i generally shop local in warrington or bolton and both do not stock.

Hi JerryM

Would Cheetam Hill be easier, there are some cracking Asian supermarkets and since they built the new Tesco parking is a doddle, the 'Manchester Superstore' is amazing, the Kashmir and Worldwide are great as well. Got myself 4 big (200g) packets of Asian Bay leaves, TRS brand, for a fiver yesterday, that's probably enough to last for another couple of years or so!

Cheers
CoR

Hi guys,

Chappati flour or atta as it's called is a mix of plain and wholemeal flour. The best stuff is Chakki Atta which is stone ground and seems much finer, well worth trying IMO.

Cheers
CoR

Hi, thought you only needed a license for live TV but not for streamed 'catch up' programmes.

Still good value compared to Sky, unless all you want to watch is footy of course, in which case Roop will no doubt be glad to empty your wallet and provide you all you could wish for.

Cheers
CoR

Quote from: Razor on April 06, 2010, 12:22 PM
Hi Josh,

Quote from: joshallen2k on April 06, 2010, 04:52 AM
Once again, it would be useful if there a member in the vicinity of Penrith, which I'm guessing SW somewhere. Would like a review...

But his apron does say "#1 Chef" sometimes...

Other end of the country,  NW.....Is Cumbria in the North West??

Ray

M6 J40, Penrith is at the North end of the Lake District. Directions to Dial-A-Curry, Penrith are HERE.

Regards
CoR

Hi guys, here we go again, mustard oil, this is what I posted last November:-


"EC rules say all mustard oil has to be labeled 'for external use only'. However, a bit of googling turns up some interesting stories.
It appears, to me, that this state of affairs has arisen as the result of some dodgy scientific research which basically showed that if you force fed lab rats 10 times their body weight per day with mustard oil after a couple of weeks they dropped dead, surprise surprise. Armed with these scientific results mustard oil has been deemed toxic to humans, so must be appropriately labeled.
Now consider this. Mustard oil is a staple to many in the Indian sub-continent as olive oil is to many Europeans. In India, its' production is a low tech, largely unregulated, cottage industry which is both sustainable and has a low carbon footprint and which is extremely difficult for the Indian government to raise taxation from. The multi-national agro/chemical industry has a solution to this, which is to switch production from the traditional mustard oil to the likes of (GM) soya, provided of course by the same agro/chemical industry along with all the fertilisers and other lovely chemicals required not to mention the oil/fuel needed to modernise an industry and increase its output so raising revenues for the government and the multi-national corporations.
As a part of this process it would of course help if some scientific basis could be found for the move away from the traditional to the new, hence the 'research' mentioned at the beginning of this post, paid for by, yes you've guessed, big pharma.
Wether you choose to believe this phony research or use a product that has been consumed with no ill effects by millions of people, for hundreds of years and is also said to have healing properties when used in traditional (Ayurveda) Indian medicine, is entirely up to you."

Mustard oil is best heated to almost smoking point before use otherwise it can be too pungent, once heated it has an almost sweet, fragrant taste that I find works best with vegetable dishes and dahls, however if BIRs do use it there is no way they would admit to it for fear of falling foul of the H&S police.

Regards
CoR

I think it most definitely a BIR thing, at least from years ago, for me a decent pillau rice just isn't right without it.

Regards
CoR

Round this neck of the woods we have a lot of T/As selling '4 curries for a tenner' including delivery, sometimes with a large bottle of coke thrown in. Seems to me that this guy could be playing that game as well and before you start thinking 'great, 4 curries/10 quid' remember the saying 'you get what you pay for'.

Regards
CoR