Okanagancook

I really need to stop reading this thread 🤑 based on my experience with the CSO, Instapot.....and many other Egullet inspired purchases. 😫

From Eat Your Books https://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes?q=Yellow curry paste the first couple of pages are recipes for the paste then the list enters into recipes. i have never used it so cannot offer anything

Yes, many more fresh and somewhat difficult to find ingredients in non-East Indian Curries so best to find a recipe first.

Rack of lamb. They come 'English" style (i.e. not-Frenched 😃). I pull the cap fat off which has a layer of meat on it. Take the meat off in one piece. Trim the fat and sinew off the rack and use meat glue to attach the meat back on to the rack. You can see the layer in the photo. The rack was roasted with a brushing of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, rosemary, pepper and salt. Served with smashed garden potatoes & roasted garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes Provencale and a salad.

Chapatis are tricky alright. I don't like Atta Flour for some reason the texture is not what we like. I use all purpose white with a little whole wheat mixed in...about a tablespoon whole wheat per cup of white. A little oil in the dough makes them softer.

When buying black cardamon, they should not be all dried out...should be able to break open the pod quite easily yielding the black seeds inside. They are kind of smoky. Nice list of recipes.

@Shelby I would say for essential curry spices these would be a good start. I buy whole spices and grind them as needed: Cumin seeds Coriander seeds Black Mustard seeds Turmeric Fennel Seeds Whole Cloves Cinnamon Sticks Green Cardamon Pod Cayenne Chili or Kashmiri Chili if you can find it Whole Dried Chili I did I miss anything?

Well, that has planted a seed....maybe I can take one of those branches in my package and grow it up.

I hope they keep it up. Actually they seem to be stocking more exotic stuff since they opened. There is also a big East Indian population in the surrounding country side....fruit farmers. They have Long Beans, Japanese eggplants, cassava, lemon grass, taro root, Asian squash, and jicama.

@sartoric another interesting plate. The eggplant dish looks like a nice combo and the coconut sambal seems a perfect accent to the other dishes. I am fortunate that The Great Canadian Superstore opened a big store here about 3 years ago and they regularly have fresh curry leaves. Just got a package and they just cut the branches off with the leaves attached. I have to freeze most of them because we do not eat curry everyday. They also routinely have okra, baby eggplant and occasionally the little green Thai eggplants which have amazing flavour, curry leaves, fresh young ginger, fresh lime leaves...in little old Penticton of 35,000 WASP old folks! I feel obligated to buy something from that list so they keep bringing it in🙄

There are many different preparations for tamarind. Since I was using Charmaine’s recipes, I made her preparation. I have a jar of tamarind liquid for use with the Syrian cookbook Aromas of Aleppo and it is way thicker than the one I just made....and on and on it goes. I think what’s important is to add a bit and taste, then add more, etc.

Do you use black cardamom? Love that spice.

I guess that’s why mustard oil is sold in small bottles. I shall have to try it. Cannot wait for your travels...whatever you have time for would be gratefully appreciated.😁

I made tamarind water for my upcoming curry cook. Tamarind seasoning is used in many curries especially South Indian, Indonesia, etc. Tamarind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind I had the pulp that can be purchased in blocks. Charmaine Solomon's books says to soak a walnut sized piece of pulp in 125 ml or 1/2 c of warm water for ten minutes or so; squeeze the pulp with your fingers; and strain through cloth. Here is the process. I dated the bottle and it is in the fridge. While talking about ingredients there is a picture of my spice boxes. These little things are very handy when making curries. They seal quite well keeping the spices fresh. I do have a stash of more of each spice sealed in vac bags for freshness. https://www.amazon.ca/Philco-Masala-Dabba-Spice-Box/dp/B00G7S201G/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1537642590&sr=8-16&keywords=spice+boxes

@sartoricWelcome back! Lovely looking plate. Thanks for taking the time to post. I have a couple of questions. Do you think mustard oil adds flavour to the dish? I have not used it. I've seen the use of white poppy seeds in pastes before...Madhur Jaffery's recipes I think. Why are they included? Is it to bind the rest of the spices for frying or as a sauce thickening agent? I like the look of the rice and dal is my favourite legume dish. Will you be taking us along on your Rajasthan and Punjab trip (typing while on my knees)?

Where is @sartoric??? I remember seeing loads of great curries on dinner plate outta the kitchen.

I found it for $12 on Amazon.ca...arriving next week. It will be interesting to see what the recipes are like from 1955!!

I managed to find it on Amazon.ca.....arriving next week....thanks. You can NEVER have too many curry books.

I will be making Rendang using leg of lamb. It is an Indonesian curry made by slowly simmering chunks of beef or lamb in spices and coconut milk until all the liquid has evaporated and the meat begins to sizzle in the remaining coconut milk. This is part of an Indonesian themed birthday dinner for our Dutch friend. I will document the preparation. For those who have Charmaine Solomon’s Complete Asian cookbook, it’s the Rendang Daging (but using lamb) on page 190.

Well done. All three sound delicious. You may have thought about this already...take the skin off and cook separately. You would probably have to put it between two wire racks with a weight on top in order to keep the crackling from curling. If you score it fairly well you would be able to cut it into smaller pieces to be placed on top of the meat.

Making your own curry pastes that are used in Thai and Indonesian Curries is well worth it if you can get the ingredients. It is a lot of work. They can be frozen too. But if you are new to Curry making the commercial pastes are a good starting point.

sorry no picture but this salad is really outstanding. Great for this time of the year to use the last of those garden tomatoes and herbs. https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/tomatoes-herbs-and-almond-vinaigrette

I took a look at the recipe index over on Eat Your Books and they look really good. Not many people have made notes about the recipes though. How about the Jumbo Shrimp in Coconut Curry Sauce on page 65? That's an easy one to start with. :-)) Oh, and one of the authors is David Thompson..check out the Thai Curries.

Page 27 in the Manual: French Bread. Wow, was that easy. First time making bread in the little beast. I'll be doing this again. Have to confess, I COULD NOT WAIT so I cut into it not 10 seconds after it was out of the oven....shows on the crumb shot. Me bad.

Bengal Lancers Indian Cookbook by Mohan Chablani and Brahm N. Dixit is sadly out of print but if you see it, buy it. Absolutely terrific. Mine is totally in pieces...a paperback with poor spine-binding. Oh well, still excellent recipes. So, these are my favourites. I have others but I use all of these all the time. There are also many websites but I like this one: http://www.manjulaskitchen.com