What you eatin' there then?

[villa4europe]

The missus was asking me about English food that I was missing and I said to be honest it was Indian food...so she took me for a curry around the corner

Nice place, little cafe type set up, looked at the menu, do curries and Italian food..."all our curries come with pilau rice and a salad" I've got alarm bells ringing, no rice choices, no breads, no popodoms, it's all a bit weird, you can't see them but you can kind of tell it ain't an Indian fella in the kitchen, ordered a chicken handi, she orders an almond curry...to be fair to them it was good! Missed the whole set up we have in England with the popodoms and dips and you're on your way but the actual curry hit the spot

[maqroll]

I love this guy's channel. His basic thing is he takes standard recipes of classic items and makes them really amazing.

 

[Stevo985]

On 30/05/2019 at 21:02, villa4europe said:

The missus was asking me about English food that I was missing and I said to be honest it was Indian food...so she took me for a curry around the corner

Nice place, little cafe type set up, looked at the menu, do curries and Italian food..."all our curries come with pilau rice and a salad" I've got alarm bells ringing, no rice choices, no breads, no popodoms, it's all a bit weird, you can't see them but you can kind of tell it ain't an Indian fella in the kitchen, ordered a chicken handi, she orders an almond curry...to be fair to them it was good! Missed the whole set up we have in England with the popodoms and dips and you're on your way but the actual curry hit the spot

Reminds me of a place in Sutton Coldfield I went to over Christmas. 

It's Indian run, but the setup wasn't right. Indian menus are usually a shit load of curry "types" and then you can have them with anything, right? So you want a Rogan Josh? You can have it with chicken or lamb or prawn etc. You basically choose the type of curry you want and then decide what main ingredient you're going to have it with.

But this place was just about 12 curries. If it says Chicken Biryani, that's all you can have. You can't have a Lamb Biryani. I know because I asked.

It just wasn't the right setup and it made me uncomfortable.

[villa4europe]

that screams that its coming from a pre made stock pot to me

[Stevo985]

9 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

that screams that its coming from a pre made stock pot to me

Yeah i thought the same. I asked for any of the dishes to be made without meat and was just told no and pointed towards the vegetarian section which was basically side dishes  

It was a shit meal (not just because of that, the meat eating people I was with didn't like it either).

Frustratingly they have a really high rating on tripAdvisor and I don't know how. it's crap

[Milfner]

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Reminds me of a place in Sutton Coldfield I went to over Christmas. 

It's Indian run, but the setup wasn't right. Indian menus are usually a shit load of curry "types" and then you can have them with anything, right? So you want a Rogan Josh? You can have it with chicken or lamb or prawn etc. You basically choose the type of curry you want and then decide what main ingredient you're going to have it with.

But this place was just about 12 curries. If it says Chicken Biryani, that's all you can have. You can't have a Lamb Biryani. I know because I asked.

It just wasn't the right setup and it made me uncomfortable.

Which one? 

I went to Akbars on the Hagley Road on Friday night. I didn't hold out much hope for a chain curry house anyway but it really was disgusting.  Hands down the worst curry I've ever paid for.

[Stevo985]

13 minutes ago, Milfner said:

Which one? 

I went to Akbars on the Hagley Road on Friday night. I didn't hold out much hope for a chain curry house anyway but it really was disgusting.  Hands down the worst curry I've ever paid for.

Bhaijaan

[peterms]

Can recommend the Nigel Slater hot and sour aubergine recipe, here.

Quote

Earlier in the week, I made a marinade for some aubergines I planned to toast on the griddle. The tartness of lime juice and tamarind was softened with a pinch of palm sugar – the hard, butterscotch type that comes in a tub – then I spiked it with chopped red chillies and a soft paste of crushed ginger. To exaggerate the sour notes I made a dressing for them with yogurt and a sharp green apple, pimped with a splash of white-wine vinegar, then they met the hot bars of the kitchen griddle, their flesh crisped, their edges singed. We ate the aubergine with a dish of rice cooked with coconut milk and cardamom.

Aubergines with tamarind

Cut the aubergines into slices or wedges, as the fancy takes you. There will, I assure you, be much smoke, so switch on the extractor or open a window. Better still, cook them outside on the barbecue. Arm yourself with a palette knife to gently prize them from the bars of the griddle. If you prefer, rather than the sour-apple dressing, make a dressing of olive oil, lime juice and coriander leaves.
Serves 2

lime juice 100ml (about 2 limes)
ginger 30g
fish sauce 3 tsp
palm sugar 4 tsp
hot red chilli 1
hot green chilli 1
tamarind paste 4 tsp
groundnut oil 2 tbsp
aubergines 300g

For the apple yogurt:
mint leaves 12
apple 1, small
white-wine vinegar 2 tbsp
natural yogurt 200ml

Squeeze the lime juice into a mixing bowl. Peel and grate the ginger and stir into the lime juice. Pour in the fish sauce then stir in the palm sugar until dissolved.

Finely chop the red and green chillies, removing the seeds if you wish, then add them to the marinade with the tamarind paste and groundnut oil, combining the ingredients thoroughly.

Cut the aubergines in half lengthways then into wedges as you might a melon. Now cut each wedge in half. Put the aubergines into the marinade, turn to coat and set aside for a good half hour. During this time they will soften a little.

Next make the apple sauce. Finely chop the mint leaves and put them in a small mixing bowl. Grate in the apple – it can be as coarse or fine as you wish – then stir in the white-wine vinegar and yogurt. Cover and set aside.

To cook the aubergines, heat a cast-iron griddle (and switch on the extractor). Place the aubergines on it and leave to brown on the underside. Turn, loosening them with a palette knife and brown the other side. Keep the heat low to moderate to make sure they are cooked right through – they must be fully tender.

Serve the aubergines, hot from the griddle, with the apple yogurt sauce.

I did it with the coconut rice as suggested, but added star anise and cinnamon stick to the cardamom.

Also did some plantain, gently fried in butter and virgin olive oil.  I think it was a good addition.

There wasn't a lot of smoke as he suggests, I must have grilled it more gently than him.  He's so rough.

[mottaloo]

Just bought a bag of these at Costco. 

Pure, addictive filth..... i reckon I'll have the (big) bag finished off before the weekend 

[maqroll]

Tonight it was local farm pork tenderloin fried in a pan with salt and pepper. Scraped up the pan bits with a dousing of red wine, promptly poured over the sliced pork. Side of mushrooms and spinach sauteed with garlic and chili flakes. Washedn down with a glass (or two) of a 2014 Barbaresco, "Riva Leone". Nice mild red.

[Stevo985]

17 hours ago, mottaloo said:

Just bought a bag of these at Costco. 

Pure, addictive filth..... i reckon I'll have the (big) bag finished off before the weekend 

My OH brought home some pretzel chocolate from work for testing this week and it was **** incredible. 

Not quite the same as the above, but the sweet chocolate and salty pretzel combination is a **** winner.

[mottaloo]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

My OH brought home some pretzel chocolate from work for testing this week and it was **** incredible. 

Not quite the same as the above, but the sweet chocolate and salty pretzel combination is a **** winner.

What put me over the edge was the caramel. Dark chocolate and salty pretzel are great together but then throw a bit of sweet and chewy caramel.....well.....that just made it food porn !

[Stevo985]

5 minutes ago, mottaloo said:

What put me over the edge was the caramel. Dark chocolate and salty pretzel are great together but then throw a bit of sweet and chewy caramel.....well.....that just made it food porn !

I'll suggest this  

 

This was just a bar of chocolate with bits of pretzel inside. Almost the opposite of what you were eating  

Some caramel would definitely improve things!

[Wezbid]

So happy I've found this thread. I'm going to waste my day off reading it and then start posting my crap food. 

I love seeing pics of what people make. I don't mean in the Rate my Plate way either. That shite got old fast. 

[maqroll]

Just picked a pork flank which I've never tried before. It's thin cut, I can fry it in seconds. I think I'll flash sear both sides, then set it to the side while I fry up some mushrooms in garlic. I'll let the shrooms cool and then roll them up with raw spinach inside the flank and then pop it in the oven with some red wine on it.

[Rugeley Villa]

Had my first Indian mixed grill last night. Bloody lovely it was. 

[Xela]

47 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

Had my first Indian mixed grill last night. Bloody lovely it was. 

Where did you go?

[Rugeley Villa]

6 minutes ago, Xela said:

Where did you go?

Just a place in town, it’s called Must. No doubt it’s not a patch on some of the ones in Brum and Walsall, but it was nice. 

[Wezbid]

23 hours ago, maqroll said:

Just picked a pork flank which I've never tried before. It's thin cut, I can fry it in seconds. I think I'll flash sear both sides, then set it to the side while I fry up some mushrooms in garlic. I'll let the shrooms cool and then roll them up with raw spinach inside the flank and then pop it in the oven with some red wine on it.

When you say rude things like this, whip your phone camera out and take a quick pic of the filth for us! 

[peterms]

Adaptation of an Ottolenghi recipe - veggie, or vegan if you don't bother with the yogurt.

Aubergine, chick peas, spinach, tomatoes, bulghur wheat.  To serve 3 or 4.

Cut 2 aubergines in 2cm cubes, add virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, bake in 200c oven for 40 mins.

Finely slice an onion and 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, fry the onion in a wide pan with a well fitting lid, when onion is starting to caramelise add the garlic.  Fry a couple of minutes more, then add 1 tsp ground allspice, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, some salt and pepper, chilli flakes to your taste, some tomato paste, and enough boiling water to make it fairly liquid (maybe half a pint at this stage).

Add some cherry tomatoes, a dozen or so, let them soften a bit then squish them a little with the back of a spoon so they are still in one piece, but split open.  Drain and rinse a can of chick peas (or use freshly cooked if you're already doing some for another dish), add a few handfuls of washed fresh spinach, add the aubergine once it's ready, taste and adjust seasoning.

Add bulghur wheat, maybe 200 or 250 gm, stir well, add some boiling water so that the bottom of the pan is not dry but not swimming, turn off the heat, put the cover on the pan and leave for the bulghur to absorb the water.  Leave for 20 mins, but check after 10 and 15 mins, and if all the water has been absorbed and the bulghur is still too firm, add a bit more boiling water - better to add it in several small steps than put too much in.

While the bulghur is finishing, chop a preserved lemon (flesh only, cut out and discard the inside), chop some frech mint and add to yogurt.  Or just use plain yogurt if the other things aren't easily available.  Serve the dish and let people add their own yogurt if they want it.  Add some chopped fresh coriander once it's dished up.