Quote from: livo on August 09, 2023, 12:43 AM
I also still love plain old 1960's Aussie housewife Curried Sausages with boiled white rice and a few steamed vegetables

Now that interests me.
Can you direct me to a preferred recipe.

I love Indian food and possibly love cooking it more than eating it. I really enjoy cooking for people, be it just the wife or 10 guests for a curryfest.
My ex wife still tells people that I ate a curry every night for a year. Batch cook at the weekend and serve up over the week.
But there are times when I will veer off of Indian and hanker for Italian, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Mexican and quite often traditional British or Irish.
Sometimes I can avoid Indian for several months, but then something will pique my curiosity and bang, I will be up to my elbows in turmeric and coriander.
T63

The lentils and vegetables are cooked and in a pot for the freezer, the goat meat similar as well as the kebabs.
The lentils tasted lovely, the meat tasted equally lovely. The kebabs/koftas had a good flavour but were a bit on the dry side, it could be because I cooked them in the airfryer? I may make up another batch and fry them for comparison.
We've decided to put this in the freezer until we have friends around and then I may only use half the lentils and veg as the whole quantity will swallow up the meat.
On the whole I'm rather pleased with the result, but there are improvements that could be gained.
T63

Quote from: Onions on August 07, 2023, 12:36 PM
I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the results of these cook-ups, considering the amount of work it involves! Best of luck, everybody 

I have the lamb on the stove as I type and the meatball mix is made up and in the fridge ready for rolling into balls and frying tomorrow.

I will also cook the lentils tomorrow and combine. The dry masala is made and ready.

I will make the rice when it is going to be eaten. This is a dry run for a Curryfest.

Quote from: livo on August 07, 2023, 08:48 AM
OK. Great. I was thinking of only doing half as a tester for myself and the Mrs, so that's the plan.  I've been out and purchased everything I needed today, and the weather is still looking ordinary for tomorrow, so it'll hopefully be lamb dhansak for dinner tomorrow.  They don't sell a packet Dhansak Masala, so I'll be just following the recipe as is except for the Colocasia.  The poor bugger at Singh Bros gave me the weirdest look when I asked if he sold dried limes.

You should be able to get dried limes from a Middle Eastern or North African outlet.

I will be making up the koftas/kebabs and the actual Sak, i.e., meat and lentils.

Good luck and I hope it turns out worthwhile for the effort you have to put in.

This is the Sambhar Masala from Parsi, by Farokh Talati. It is one of his trusted Masala recipes which he states will keep in a cupboard for 12 months.

Far be it from me to question such a distinguished chef but included amongst the dry ingredients are some wet ones, fresh garlic and oil.

Would this really keep in a cupboard for 12 months without spoiling? Would the fridge be a better option.?

There is a substantial quantity of salt in the recipe; would that go someways to acting as a preservative?


Sambhar Masala
Spicy Chilli and Garlic Masala by Farokh Talati

Where Dhansak masala brings complexity and balance, Sambhar masala brings the heat, it is just as quintessential to Parsi cooking, but it is neither quiet nor subtle. The chilli and garlic make this a deliciously versatile masala, with extra heat from the black pepper and mustard seeds and an intriguing piquancy from the fenugreek and asafoetida.

This will become your go to spice mix, ideal for more then just Parsi curries. Mixed with oil, it makes a great marinade for roast meat, fish and vegetables; or mixed with sea salt flakes it makes a spicy seasoning for all sorts of snacks-from toasted cashew nuts, popcorn and far far more.

Ingredients

20g of cumin seeds
20g yellow mustard seeds
40g salt
25g fenugreek seeds
3g black peppercorns
3g cloves
1 whole star anise
100g dried Kashmiri chilies
30g garlic cloves, roughly chopped
30g ground turmeric
2 g asafoetida
100ml vegetable oil

Method

Blitz the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, salt, fenugreek seeds, peppercorns, cloves and star anise in a spice grinder or food processor to a fine powder. You may have to do this in several stages depending on the size of your grinder. Empty the powder into a bowl

Next, blitz the chilies (in stages if needs be) and empty the powder into the bowl with the rest of the spices.

Blitz the remaining ingredients together for one minute, making sure the garlic has blended in and it's almost unnoticeable. Take the mixture finely ground spices into the food processor and blitz until everything is mixed together and become one. Store in a clean airtight jar, packing the masala down tightly to keep any air out of it. It will keep in a cupboard for 12 months.

Quote from: livo on August 07, 2023, 04:10 AM
Does the recipe say how many this amount serves?

The website quotes 8 servings, I will come back to you if the book says anything else.
I did find the article on the greedy gourmet website quite an interesting read, but as some are on a quest to find the perfect BIR, I have always wanted to find the best Dhansak. I think this is because I worked with a Zoroastrian engineer back in the late 1990's and listened to him talking about traditional Parsi food.

https://www.greedygourmet.com/recipes-for-diets/gluten-free/dhaan-saak/

Quote from: livo on August 06, 2023, 01:59 AM
The ingredient list appears quite daunting at first glance and would certainly deter lot of people immediately,
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GI-ScXs8ljI

I would make this over a couple of days, meat and lentils first, then meatballs and rice another day.

When we do a curryfest at home we tend to prepare and freeze some of the meat and chicken dishes, where suitable, and make rice and veg etc on the day.

I had no cubed mutton in the freezer so my fist attempt at this will be with goat, though I had minced mutton for the kebabs.

I don't recall ever seeing Colcasia in our Indian grocers though I understand from another website that it can be substituted with Giant Swiss Chard or Spinach, so I would suggest this is more likely to be a food ingredient rather than a spice ingredient.

"Colocasia Leaves – also known as Patra in Gujarati, Pathrado in Konkani, Arbi ke patte, or Alu in Marathi. Make sure to use fresh and green leaves. Sometimes it is hard to find these leaves, especially in the US. So you can substitute it with Swiss chard or spinach leaves. Make sure to use large swiss chard or spinach leaves."

Quote from: Onions on August 05, 2023, 01:03 PM

Quote from: tempest63 on August 05, 2023, 12:55 PM
it isn't used in the final recipe. Yet there are people posting to the site how good it is.

Where does it come from in this do you think? Although I see there's a bit of vinegar in the kachumber

Six tablespoons of Tamarind pulp I would assume. It gives a sharp acidic flavour.