Quote from: paast10 on August 20, 2005, 02:50 PM
I have to comment about MSG.  In the US, studies have found it to cause cancer in lab studies.  I mean - big studies - it is a confirmed fact!!!  The big push there is to privide food without it. I am very alarmed to see in the UK people dont care about that or just dont know about it.  I always read all the packages and make sure that nothing i buy has MSG in it!!  I ate at one chinese place here and after eating, had terrible symptoms - dizziness, giddiness and just felt terrible - symptoms from too much MSG!! I will not have any type of chinese food in the Uk anymore because none of them say their food is MSG free - in the US, all the restaurants advertise that they are 100% MSG free.

This 'msg' is found in Walkers Crisps and Pringles and infact most food snacks, its also under the name of Flavour Enhancer or E621, have a look at the back of a packet of crisps next time you have some.

On that note though, i've too had a head ache after eating at ?5 eat all you can type of place, and it is due to the amount of msg they use, but this can be overcome by drinking lots of fluids (not alchohol).  So if any of you are thinking of going to a chinese buffet then try to look for places that advertise 'msg free' or just drink loads(water).

I know im expecting quite a bash for this one, but i try to emulate any type of business cooking that takes me fancy, im into Indian/Chinese/Italian/Mexican and some of the fast foods like kfc chicken. And so here's a link for making your own pizzas similar to what you'd get from your local takeaway.... http://www.billyreisinger.com/pizza.php

On these recommendations i took a 30min drive out to my closest ASDA and picked up one of these 22cm frying pans,
I Haven't used it yet but it looks the business and at the price of only ?3.97 they are well worth the money. I've been looking around for a good frying pan but most these days are Teflon coated, this one isn't coated at all just the ones used in BIR's.

Quote from: pete on June 29, 2005, 10:30 PM
I am trying to get a tandoor at the moment.
I looked at the tandoor Q
It runs on charcoal and I was quoted a cost of ?1.50 a cooking session
It can be left outside but needs to be covered to protect the clay from frost
I spoke to loads of people about it and got a little confused.
Apparently NO indian restaurant uses a charcoal tandoor
They all use gas
They light them, and half an hour later, they are hot enough to use
So if you get the tandoor Q, you won't be cooking in the same way as a restaurant.
I reckon it will run closer to a very good barbeque
Unfortunately, the gas tandoors are nearly twice the price!
This is where I have been looking
http://www.tandoori-oven.com/
A 24 inch cube tandoor is about ?420 but there's vat on that too!

If you take a look at the price list on that site, you will see that a gas version is also available, it's the same tandoori with just a gas ring fitted, i recon any tandoori could be converted to gas by just buying the gas kit for ?55
http://www.tandooriq.co.uk/shop/tandoori_ovens.html

Hi all, just came across a website that gives some brief info about cooking in a tandoori, thought you might all want a read of it.

http://www.thaliofindia.com/tandoori.htm

I also found a great website that sells tandoori ovens in the uk for private use for about ?260, the site also has some recipes too,

http://www.tandooriq.co.uk/

I went to me favorite takeaway last night, and tried to notice as much as i could about stuff,
Anyway what they used for a madras was about 1tsp of chilli powder, well they were using a cooks spoon and it looked about 1tsp, then when they added a pinch of fresh coriander they also added some chilli pickle (mr naga very hot) i don't know how much they used as they had there back to me but it was sufficient for the madras to taste perfect. when i got home i searched for mr naga and found the following picture, which is the same as used in my best takeaway. so im now on the hunt for this additive for me home variety.

Hey Darth, maybe this is the stuff you need to get the heat in your curries without the powdery taste.

something i've always found with chillies and the heat in your mouth is:

the more liquid in your mouth then the better the chilli heat affects you, so if your chewing salted chicken then it's going to make your mouth produce more saliva and then you can taste the chilli (hotter tasting curry).

sometimes when i've had a poor phall i sip water between mouthfulls of the curry so that i can feel more of the heat(chilli)

Quote from: curryqueen on April 22, 2005, 06:59 PM
Hi John,  You have just reminded me that I have some Tepin chilli seed that I bought at the Chilli Festival last year.  Will it be too late to plant now?  They are supposed to be the hotest chilli and I think they come from Brazil.  If you are in the south east of England in August then the chilli festival is well worth visiiting.

Hi CurryQueen, I don't think it's too late to sow the seeds, but they will take about 2-3 weeks to germinate, just make sure theyre warm and damp, i've put in 20 seeds and i've only seen half of them come up sofar, but they've only been in 2weeks so i may see the others come up this week....Hopefully!!! so get on and sow your seeds tomorrow!

I've been meaning to go to the chilli festival for a while now but i've never followed it up, where and when is it? i just might make it this year!

or you could nip down to your local garden centre and buy some chilli seeds, and grow your own!
Thats what im doing this year, i like damn hot curries the same as darthphall, so im growing some Tepin chillies, meant to be hotter than Habareno!

Hey Darthphall, i'll post some down to you once they have ripened and dried out.

Quote from: Mark J on April 19, 2005, 07:00 PM
I must confess the recipe I sell on ebay (CTM) contains both tomato ketchup and tomato soup and judging by the feedback I get people are stunned by the results they get with it.

Ketchup contains a number of things that could improve a curry: salt, sugar, tomatos and probably MSG  ;D

I agree with you mark J, i've seen it used in very good takeaways and also tried it myself during cooking, it does not take from the dish, it adds to it! and since you only add a very small amount it wont ruin anything, i suggest that the next time anybody makes a curry that they give a squirt of ketchup to the dish, were not talking keeping it squeezed till the bottle gives up it's guts, all thats needed is just a little squirt (prob about 1tsp). I wouldn't add it to a korma or a standard curry or vindaloo though, but to richer dishes like madras and rogan josh and passada and the like.