This might be well known to everyone but it wasn't to me.

Previously I have been using a garlic press when preparing garlic. When I went to Tenerife before Christmas I had a paella dish and noticed large pieces of garlic in the dish. Since then I have experimented with using different size pieces of garlic in my curries from crushed to coarsely sliced.

If you crush the garlic 2 things happen: First off it is much easier to burn when frying on it's own in oil. Secondly it imparts a much deeper garlic flavour to the dish you're cooking providing you don't burn it. I've just googled for "cooking garlic" and this does seem to be the case.

So if you want a strongly garlic flavoured curry the crushed garlic does the job for the flavour.

One other thing, close your eyes when pressing the garlic in a crusher. I got some garlic in my eye recently and it isn't good!

Paul.

Could somebody point me in the direction of Achmal's spice mix please? I seem to have missed it.

Paul.

Hi DD,

First off your body is 37 degrees C not room temperature. I used to use virgin organic coconut oil which is normally solid at room temp but melts at about 24 degrees.
I've stopped using this now as it costs too much. (8 quid for half a litre !!).

Butter ghee is more healthy that vegetable ghee as any vegetable oil (apart from coconut) that is solid at room temps almost certainly contains hydrogenated and trans fats which are really are bad for you.

Regarding cholesterol you need not just a total measurement, but measurements for the LDL and HDL cholesterol figures separately. One of these is good and one is bad. Maybe speak to your doctor to get a proper test.

I think the healthiest oils to cook curries with are probably light olive oil and rice bran oil.
I normally use the latter which they sell in Sainsburys for less than 2 quid for half a litre.

Paul.

I'll have to add this to my to-do list.

Razor, would you recommend the book - I wouldn't expect you to post every recipe from it on here. I'll try one of these recipes and will probably buy the book if I like it.

Thanks for posting this stuff - I guess you are happy with the results yourself?

Paul.

Hi Tessad,

This base is pretty flexible but if you want to make a really mild dish I would leave the chilli powder out of the base. It's easy enough to add heat at the final cooking stage.

Paul.

Thanks for the reply Ray. I guess 125 ml of base (not reduced) and about 80 ml of oil would provide sufficient sauce.

Hey CA I know it's a Balti - I've had plenty in my time and never noticed a lack of sauce volume.

Paul.

Hi Ray,

I was getting very interested in this base until you mentioned not using more than 125 ml in a curry. I use 500 ml of base to make 2 moderate sized dishes normally.

Surely there won't be much curry sauce if you only use 125 ml?

Cheers,

PaulP.

Quote from: Cory Ander on February 21, 2010, 11:54 AM
I'm not convinced that BIRs use Asian bay leaves?  Do they? 

I'm not sure CA - does anybody here know for sure?

I bought them as they are specified in my new 50 great curries of India book and I'll be trying to cook some of these recipes soon.

Paul.

Hi JerryM,

I ordered some proper Indian bay leaves yesterday from here:

http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/cassia-leaves--tej-patta--tejpat--indian-bay-leaf-2178-p.asp

Cheers,

PaulP.

Hi Mikka - one thing I like about this forum is that people here are prepared to experiment! I've just partially ruined a 3 litre base by grinding the seeds separately instead of boiling the whole seeds then blending. I thought Pakistani chef Taz must have a reason for specifying whole seeds in his recipe and now I think I know why.

I think it's entirely true to say the BIR style of cooking as you described is first and foremost to produce the fastest possible curries. From the videos I've seen they can cook 2 dishes at once and can probably turn out 2 dishes in 8-10 minutes. Personally I don't think they do this to make the food taste better than a slower cooked dish.

The fact remains though that nearly everybody on this forum can't quite match the taste of their favourite takeaways, cooked with that method. Also a lot of myths even in Indian cookery probably still prevail. I was dismayed to read in my new "50 great curries of India" cookbook that if you make your dish too salty stick a potato in it! We all know that doesn't work dont we?