Okanagancook

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

Vij's is a well known and loved restaurant started by Vikram and his wife quite a few years ago. These are two books from them. They are easy and very tasty.

Of course no cookbook list about Indian cuisine is complete without Madhur Jaffrey. A Taste of India is one of her first ones. 50 Great Curries of India has a good commentary on Indian cuisine and the use of various ingredients .

These are two contrasts. Prashad seems very 'authentic' to me. There is no index. The recipes are divided into categories such as "Handi" or casseroles; "Kadhai" or Wok (recipes using a wok); "West Coast Foods", etc. The recipes are very involved but absolutely amazing flavours. The Indian Family Kitchen is authored by the daughter of the Pathak family who are famous for their curry pastes. This is an excellent introductory book. The recipes are very good with not too many ingredients and simple preparations.,

This one is all vegetarian with many, many wonderful recipes. Very deserving of "Cookbook of the Year".

This book is truly outstanding. 😍😍 This is my second one and it too is falling apart from use. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It has recipes and cuisine notes from the following countries: India & Pakistan; Sri Lanka; Indonesia; Malaysia; Singapore; Burma; Thailand; Cambodia & Laos; Vietnam; The Philippines; China; Korea and Japan. There are well over 50 curries from the countries noted above. They are easy to follow and the glossary at the back will be useful for those not familiar with all the ingredients.

This is a terrific topic....could go on for weeks.....months. My brother introduced our family (we're from England originally) to curries. He was working in a restaurant at Expo '67 in Montreal for his summer student job. Across the way was the Indian pavilion which he visited frequently on his breaks. He was studying Mathematics at McGill but after this summer he switched to Linguistics and got very interested in the languages of Indian. I could go on but this about curry. He bought Foods of the World: India and began cooking curries for the family. I just made a curry dinner for 5 on Monday. I think one of the challenges of cooking curries is designing the menu so the dishes complement one another. The other one is using enough fat when cooking the spices and letting them cook enough to get the flavours out. I will take some pictures of my favourite books.

Yes, I find the air fryer does cook foods quicker. One needs to check frequently the first time you try something. I have only used Yukon golds from the garden to make the hickory sticks but I think Russets would also work fine. the potatoes are thinly sliced and soaked in water for at least 30 minutes. They are dried and thinly sliced into sticks, tossed in 1teaspoon or so of duck fat or whatever fat you want, then put in a 390f air fryer for two or three five minute time periods with shaking in between until they are brown and crisp. I toss them in my salt seasoning and spread on a sheet pan to cool.

Trying to use up my garden potatoes before they go soft. This was about 45 minutes work for two bowls of 'Hickory Sticks"

Just googled Bribie Island. Looks like paradise! You are probably SV'ing fish. Welcome and do jump in with some dinner pictures.

In terms of getting a softer ice cream, Alton Brown instructs to use Vodka...around 2 T per batch to help make ice cream soft. I tried it and it doesn't help. Can't comment on the rest as I am relatively new to ice cream making. I did find this website very helpful and I think the fellow has posted on this thread. http://icecreamscience.com/science/

There'll be a run on Spam at the grocers this week! I have not had it in years either. I could probably eat it if someone removed the label so I could not see what's it made of. 🙃

This thread should be renamed....” Lunch. What I wish I’d had.”