Thanks Phil. I've been watching quite a bit of Chetna's YouTube uploads recently.
Will give this a try as it's a bit different to my usual.
Robbo

Also passing food via chopsticks between people is a big no-no. Mimics the passing of residual bones from said ashes via chopsticks between family members.
It's funny but I never think of just plonking chopsticks into a bowl of rice and leaving them standing but recently I had a client at lunch do exactly that and was a bit worried about sounding smug about advising him not to...
"I was in Japan recently....."

Robbo

Chopsticks stuck into a bowl of food mimics the incense sticks planted in containers of the ashes of deceased people. I learned a bunch of that kind of thing before traveling to Japan.
Show us your ramen, Rob!

Robbo

I have these two laminated together and attached to my pan rack. Forgot where I got them, but must've been OK for me to type them up and laminate I guess.





Makes 7 portions of onion masala. A slightly lower volume base as I try to get back in the swing of things.  I passed it through a chinois to get it extra smooth. The base itself is a little sweet but makes a good curry.  Coats the back of a spoon nicely. Dilute with a little water when cooking.



The missis isn't a heat lover like me so I made two dishes simultaneously, omitting the chilli for her. 


Worth a bash if you don't want a massive amount of base.
Robbo

I really haven't tried much Japanese cooking other than ramen. The missis insisted on making the noodles from scratch, she's good like that.  I did find this Japanese chef on YouTube and made these daikon 'steaks' and they were delicious. His channel is full of good looking dishes.
https://youtu.be/WG2LH5hkbT0?si=MqS8-CAmV_z9qWOC

Robbo

No 1000 year old eggs and not sure I'd have tried them if I had.
There's no tipping in Japan, which after living in the US 10 years and adding 20% to everything made a welcome change.
The Wagyu is all well and good, and I'd happily pay for it again, but I loved finding tiny restaurants by chance. Stumbled across this gyoza place in Kyoto that only sat 8 people. I too, this picture literally standing in the doorway. We got lucky as a couple were just leaving. Incredible chef, and very friendly Japanese ladies who'd dropped in on their way home from work.


In Arashiyama we stayed a night in a Ryokan where the room had its own natural hot spring bath (Onsen), and included in the exorbitant cost of the stay is a traditional nine course kaiseki dinner. One of which is here...food or art?


And breakfast...



Can't wait to go back, despite the 13 hour flight..

Robbo

Honestly, the curry was very tasty, had way more depth than the (very good) version I make using those roux cubes. I watched a video on making from scratch and there's a banana in it to thicken. I picked up no sweetness at all, just a great tasting dish. I wish I had picked up a branded plate now you mention it Rob.  Bugger.

That pic was from a CoCo Curry place in Kyoto. A wonderful city but very touristy.

In Kanazawa they served curry with breaded pork cutlet. I thought it seems odd, but it worked very well. Kanazawa a little more deep in flavor but not overly hot.

A5 wagyu beef is the most I've paid for a meal and worth every penny. Like nothing I've tasted before. Had it at a nice restaurant in Tokyo, then paid $40 for 2 skewers each with 5 pieces at a weekend market in Kanazawa.  Holiday splurge totally justified.

Stood in line for an hour to sit in individual booth and eat Ichiran ramen.  It's fast food, but a unique experience.
And now my pantry is full of ramen ingredients.

We went up an active volcano to see Mt Fuji and at the top a restaurant sells hard boiled eggs cooked in the heat of the sulfurous volcano. It turns the egg shells black but the egg itself tasted perfectly normal. Apparently brings good luck.



Back to reality now..time to make some base.

Robbo

Hello all, been a while.  Hope you're all still at it.
Back from my tour of Japan and it was incredible. The most beautiful places I've ever been to. I was pleasantly surprised at how widespread curry is in Japan.  There's a fast food chain called CoCo Curry with over 1200 branches and their curry was delicious. Tons of choices and ready in minutes. Wish we had them here.


Robbo

I mainly do my curries outdoors on the grill because the spatter is a pain to clean up.  I just give my stainless grill a good clean at the end of each season before storing in the garage.
Interestingly, we tried cooking a steak one winter and the propane turned to liquid in the feed hose.  Gets chilly in Chicago.

Excuse the image size, was trying to get good focus on very small text
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Green label Malabar for shrimp, fish, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, spinach

Orange Bharuch for daal and roasted veg.

Red Kashmiri for rice, cream or yoghurt dishes, chicken and lamb kebabs

All will be tried as soon as I get back from Japan at the end of the month.

Robbo

The missis picked this set up for me. She's nice that way.



Bonus feature to the chance of trying new masalas though, these little tins have 2 lids and the internal one has a very satisfying snap when pushed into place. A great airtight fit and perfect for re-use.


I just made a fresh batch of garam masala from the Dishoom cookbook and mix powder I think I got from this site. Works very well with my instant pot pressure cooked base.

8 coriander
7 turmeric
5 cumin
4 curry powder

Spring is here and almost time to get the grill out from storage so I can curry it up outdoors.

Robbo