What's cooking / VT cookbook merge

[LondonLax]

I'd shoot a man if he dared to put cinnamon in my curry. Horrible flavour.

You have probably eaten it in almost every curry you have had

It just blends in when there are so many spices.

[BOF]

You can take them out after, but I just grind them up. In fact they grind up quite nicely into a fine powder usually

I cut it into 1cm bits (by pressing down with big knife rather than sawing at it). I then put those bits into my new grinder Turned out fine (literally). Ready to eat with some lemon rice and chapatis now

[Hiney]

Yeh i was going to say it's an essential ingredient in most curries!

I did a nice Cambodian Pork curry last week ..

8 Shallots finely chopped

5/6 Gloves Garlic Crushed/Finely chopped

1inch square piece of Ginger Grated/Finely Chopped

2 Red Chillis Finely Chopped

1 Table Spoon Tamarind paste (1 teaspoon concentrated Tamarind)

1 Teaspoon Ground Turmeric

1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin

2 Teaspoons Crushed Fenugreek seeds

2 Red Peppers

8 Small new potatoes (Half if large)

750g Pork Steak / Fillet – Cut into bite sized amounts

Salt and Pepper

2 x Lime (Zest grated as well as lime juice)

1 Can (440ml) Coconut milk

Gently fry shallots, garlic, ginger and chilli. After 2/3 minutes add turmeric, cumin and fenugreek seeds.. fry for another 2 minutes

Add coconut milk and then all the over ingredients

Gently simmer covered for 1 hour, put rice on and gently simmer uncovered while rice cooks (10-15mins)

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

You have probably eaten it in almost every curry you have had

It just blends in when there are so many spices.

If it's tactically added and well blended I don't mind. I just don't want to taste it, see it or smell it.

Similar with mushrooms, only if someone tells me a mushroom has been tactically added to a meal, I'll throw up. If they tell me there is cinnamon in my meal, I'll just look at them with disgust.

[rjw63]

Just knocked up a quick and easy lamb & spinach keema

With cinnamon ;-)

[kidlewis]

Pork with caramelised onions and diced potatoes in cider and mustard cream.

2 massive potatoes (1 per person)

2 pork chops (1 per person)

Splash of good cider

1 Onion

milk

wholegrain mustard

olive oil

cheddar cheese

finely slice the onion into thin rings

dice the potatoes into thick circles, then cut in half

preheat oven to 230

splash olive oil and cider over the onion and potatoes in a casserole dish and mix.

season it

in the oven for 25 minutes

mix

put pork chops on top

oven for 10 minutes

100g of grated cheese in a pan on medium heat

add 4 table spoons of milk

add a table spoon of whole grain mustard

add this over the dish and put back in oven for 5 minutes,

serve with bottle of decent cider.

WIN!

[BOF]

Have you a good balti recipe, Rob?

Oh and the cashew nut curry was a big hit (with leftovers for 3 lunches ! )

2lbs chicken or 5 large breasts cut in halves

2 large onions (3 medium) chopped

12 big garlic cloves (whole)

1in x .5in ginger chopped

200g grated (fresh) coconut

7 dried red chillies (recipe said 4 but I like heat)

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1.5 teaspoon cumin seeds

3 inch cinnamon stick

6 cloves

225g cashew nuts

5 tablespoons oil

Salt

Everything except chicken, cashews, onions, oil & salt in a dry pan for 10 mins on low heat, stirring constantly.

Then onions and 50g cashews in on top for another 10, continue stirring.

In meantime, puree 25g cashews with a little water to make a paste.

Put main spice mix in blender with 150ml water and blend to fine consistency (it's at this point you might want to grind the cinnamon separately and put it back into the mix or risk breaking your blender).

Heat the 5tblspoon oil in a pan and then add the blended mixture with the pureed paste.

Stir and add salt to taste.

Stir for 5mins then add chicken and raise to a moderate heat for 10 mins.

Add 600ml water and the remaining cashews and stir until chicken is cooked (I kept it cooking for 30-40 mins to allow some of the water to evaporate making it thicker).

I served it with pilau seasoned rice which was actually a little strong for the sauce. Hold off on seasoning the rice. Chapatis were nice though It wasn't that hot at all but it was very flavoursome. You could go upwards of 10 chillies but to be honest, this dish is about the nuttiness, not the temperature.

Put it this way, you wouldn't want a nut allergy

[rjw63]

Have you a good balti recipe, Rob?

Used to have a book of them but lost it

[privateer]

Have you a good balti recipe, Rob?

Used to have a book of them but lost it

You don't need one to mirror the experience you'll get in 98%+ of the balti places.

Cook a bhuna-style curry of your choice, pre-heat a metal bowl in the oven for serving in, throw a load of chopped coriander at the end then charge yourself not less than £6.50 for it.

For added authenticity set up a price fixing agreement with your neighbours so none of you undercut each other.

[villadude]

My wife cooked me this tonight, Stuffed tofu with garlic and minced pork, with stir fried veg in oyster sauce and sesame oil, it was lovely!

[rjw63]

Replace the plastifood with chicken and its a winner :-)

[villadude]

Yeah I'll give you that mate, it's not a dish I could eat everyday, but chicken I can eat three or four times a week.

[kidlewis]

anyone know a good recipe for cantonese sweet an sour chicken?

I know how to make the sauce, but I am having trouble finding that nice thin batter they coat the chicken in.

[villadude]

Self raising flour with a tiny bit of cornflour mixed in with cold water.

[BOF]

Why is curry generally regarded as unhealthy? I can understand a takeaway because of the amount of oil they use and the non-natural ingredients like MSG that a Chinese will put in it. But for example I made a basic curry yesterday where the entire ingredients were turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika, garam masala, sprinkle of salt & sugar, garlic, ginger, onion, 2 scotch bonnets, 2 regular red chillies, 2 tomatoes, 2 carrots, handful of runner beans & mange touts with 3 tablespoons of peanut oil & 400ml water. You'd be hard pushed to find healthier ingredients in any meal. Other than the high calories of the small bit of oil that was used, there's so much goodness in that meal !

[LondonLax]

It's because most people eat curry from a takeaway or resteraunt and usually it's full of cheap oil and not a lot else.

[villadude]

I didn't know curries were regarded as unhealthy? As you say, the gash you get served up in some takeouts aren't of the same standard, but I can't possibly see a dish using fresh and natural produce would be bad for you?

[BOF]

It's probably just one of those general common misconceptions, that if you eat curries then you don't have a healthy diet. Probably explains why I would have to drive 30 miles from my house to buy the spices if I didn't happen to work beside a place that sells them. The takeaway rules

[Meath_Villan]

tesco navan or drogheada sell most of the stuff you will need bof .......Plus for that thin batter on the above post use cold fizzy water

[BOF]

tesco navan

No they don't. And the few bits that they DO sell are ridiculously over-priced and in tiny portions. For example, they sell Schwartz 34g spice bottles for about €2.50 to €3.00. I get 100g from €0.90-€1.50. So they'll sell you a 3rd of the product for twice the price. Well they do say every little helps