Quote from: getonthegarabi on February 07, 2013, 09:59 AM

Quote from: gagomes on February 06, 2013, 01:49 PM
I wish I liked balti curries, these pictures make me want some now!

I find balti curries always taste a bit bitter/vinegary to me. Is this the norm, or was I having them from the wrong TA?

I'm going to try a balti chicken korma this weekend gagomes.  Just looking at the recipe in Authentic Balti Curry and it's a bit different.  Tsp amounts of coconut and almond powder, with coconut (and cows) milk.  It also involves a dedicated straightforward (3 onion) korma base, with carrots.  Going off the picture on the front cover it certainly looks the business. Will see how it goes.

Rob 

Good luck Rob!

Please report, as I'm a big fan of Korma myself. I'm mildly curious about the use of carrot in this dish, though I know some bases do make use of carrot

Goncalo

Is this closed? I wouldn't mind to join if still open

Thanks Phil/PaulP for your insights. I shall try it again next time I sail to the land of cockney

I wish I liked balti curries, these pictures make me want some now!

I find balti curries always taste a bit bitter/vinegary to me. Is this the norm, or was I having them from the wrong TA?

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on February 06, 2013, 11:55 AM

Quote from: gagomes on February 06, 2013, 11:33 AM
KD1 was offered to me as a "leaving gift" from my work colleagues in Cambridge on my last day. I never felt tempted to even try any of her recipes, I got the book before I came across cr0 and was suspicious about the quality of the recipes at the time.

Very different to my own reaction, and subsequent behaviour.  I can no longer remember how I learned of the book's existence, but I bought my first copy (yes, I now have several !) with excitement and anticipation, and was ecstatic at my first attempt at a Chicken Madras.  After maybe 40 years of complete and utter failure at producing even an /acceptable/ curry (let alone a BIR taste-alike), KD1 was for me the Book of Revelations.  With the benefit of experience I modified Kris's recipes (doubling the quantity of spices and -- for some time -- doubling the volume of base, so there was actually four times the quantity of spices per unit weight of chicken), and I still use the modified versions today (sometimes substituting Bassar curry masala for ground chillies).  Her method is so different to that commonly advocated today, where the spices inevitably have to be bhooned, if not near-cremated, that it is remarkable how both methods can give such similar results.  But similar they most certainly are, and if you have not yet tried KD1 then I think you should do so : you may be very surprised at the results that can be achieved.

Thanks for the advice Phil! I have since changed my mind about it, it's just that as of late I have been sticking to safe options and "what works". I plan on doing CBM next because of comments I heard on the his jalfrezi and bombay aloo, but KD1 will be following it closely!

Goncalo

Quote from: natterjak on February 01, 2013, 09:29 PM
(...)
Top book, highly recommended for less than a fiver from Amazon!

Thanks for taking time to write a comprehensive review natterjak. Let us know how if you go into chip-shop type food and the results impress you as much.

Quote from: joadt on January 22, 2013, 01:44 PM
http://rg3.github.com/youtube-dl/

For those that like a command line approach to grabbing streaming video...not confined to youtube can download from sites like vimeo etc.

I used this one successfully several times (on youtube only)

Quote from: Salvador Dhali on February 06, 2013, 10:18 AM
My BIR cooking today is very much a fusion of a little bit of this and a little bit of that (picked up from manifold sources), underpinned by a few very sound, tried and tested principles that are common to the art. I'm sure it's the same for many here.

My thoughts exactly. What I'm enjoying from cooking this style of food, is the complexity and the infinite chase for more information and for personal improvement in the art of BIR cooking and the sudden epiphanies that it brings with whenever you seem to make some progress and the obvious satisfaction of eating something that pleases you.

I have 3 books to date on BIR: KD1, C2G and CBM. I have used and read C2G's extensively and used a good number of his recipes. KD1 was offered to me as a "leaving gift" from my work colleagues in Cambridge on my last day. I never felt tempted to even try any of her recipes, I got the book before I came across cr0 and was suspicious about the quality of the recipes at the time. I got CBM yesterday and all the main recipes have similarities with C2G and the ones in this forum, but I'm going to try do everything by the book tonight (plan is: base+jalfrezi+pilau+red massala+tikka) - neither of these books are complete, but all of them seem quite useful and nevertheless even if I never manage to find the "definite BIR flavour/smell" I can be proud that I have improved my cooking abbility and can make reasonably tasty/spicy food now.

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on February 06, 2013, 09:49 AM

Quote from: gagomes on February 06, 2013, 09:40 AM
Thanks, this is more interesting than it looked at first. It appears that it can be used to keep things cooled for  longer period, if you keep the salt blocks in the freezer which then makes me wonder if it would be the secret to Tim Hortons' stone cold ice cream that I had in Canada and have been since trying to find how to replicate it at home.

How exactly would that work, Gagomes ?  Is the idea that, when you remove the ice-cream from the freezer, you remove the salt block at the same time and then leave the former standing on the latter, and if so, how is that better than leaving the ice cream in the freezer ?  Confused.

** Phil.

Quite honestly, I was speculating. I think the trick behind the stone cold ice cream is to handle it at varying degrees of cold temperatures in order to produce that "creamy, yet far from melting" type of ice cream that you can get in, say, Tim Hortons in Pickering, Torronto, Canada.

Quote from: DalPuri on February 06, 2013, 12:22 AM
I'm as green as you as i only saw it for the first time tonight. But here's a few of links with all the info.

http://voices.yahoo.com/cooking-himalayan-salt-blocks-10774899.html?cat=22

http://products.mercola.com/himalayan-salt/

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/06/take_it_from_me_saltblock_cook.html

Thanks, this is more interesting than it looked at first. It appears that it can be used to keep things cooled for  longer period, if you keep the salt blocks in the freezer which then makes me wonder if it would be the secret to Tim Hortons' stone cold ice cream that I had in Canada and have been since trying to find how to replicate it at home.