Curryfest

[Tempest63]

We have a curryfest planned for Saturday 10th August.

I am planning on trying some new dishes rather than stick to my usual tried and tested repertoire so have pored over the Dishoom cookbook.

I thought I would trial some of the planned dishes so did the tikkas for their Chicken Ruby, and the murgh malai. 
Got them cooking on the BBQ whilst dinner was in the oven. We trialled a couple of pieces and they were worth doing; I reckon both will go down well at the Curryfest.

The lighter colour is the murgh malai.

 

 

 

[Tempest63]

A wazwan is a ceremonial Kashmiri feast that traditionally has 36 courses.

Of those 36 courses seven are permanent and should always be included.

The seven permanent dishes are

1. Marchwangan Korma. A spicy chilli hot lamb dish

2. Rista. Meatballs in a fiery red hot sauce

3. Tabak Maaz. Lamb ribs simmered in yoghurt before being fried

4. Daniwal Korma. A mutton curry heavy on coriander (Cilantro) leaf

5. Aab Gosht. Lamb or mutton cooked in a milky gravy with black pepper

6. Roghan Josh. A very tender lamb dish cooked with Kashmiri spices including Maval, or cockscomb flowers

7. Gushtaba. Meatballs in a yoghurt gravy

 

My next project, following on from next week’s Curryfest, is to have another, focusing on a traditional wazwan. We have to consider that we have family and friends who are vegetarian, pescatarian or who generally avoid red meat, so I will have to explore the traditional wazwan menu to find other dishes to serve to replace a few of the Super Seven.

 

The other consideration is to go with the traditional Hindu or Muslim dishes. Whilst the Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu, they eat plenty of meat but avoid onions and garlic (wow that terrifies me). They do use asafoetida and fennel though.
The Muslim variant openly welcomes onions and garlic and seems to be up my street. I may have to cook each of the religious variants or two of every dish during the trial period to see what best suits.

 

This is going to be a labour of love and whilst I am on annual leave over the next week I will try at least two. I have a recipe for a Pandit Marchwangan Korma which is definitely on the cards, though it will be made with goat as opposed to lamb. A milder dish like Gushtaba or Aab Gosht would be more enjoyable for Mrs T63.

 

I reckon I may be all curried out by the end of the week. 

 

Edited August 2, 2024 by Tempest63 (log)

[KennethT]

Does Curryfest have to be Indian curries?  There are curries from lots of countries that are equally as good, if not as well known.... There are tons from SE Asia - Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore alone have tons of different curries, not to mention the curries that were adapted by China/Japan/Korea.

[Tempest63]

28 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Does Curryfest have to be Indian curries?  There are curries from lots of countries that are equally as good, if not as well known.... There are tons from SE Asia - Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore alone have tons of different curries, not to mention the curries that were adapted by China/Japan/Korea.

I enjoy any curry but I prefer the norther Indian ones, Punjabi, Kashmiri or a hop over the border into Pakistan or Afghanistan.

I do like Thai, Malaysian etc. I think maybe it was the availability of Indian spices that were more readily available when I was younger and made Indian more accessible that led me to get so heavily into it.

I may ask Mrs T63 if she fancies a home cooked Thai meal whilst I am on leave. I will have to stay away from the Massaman though…too Indian.

Edited August 2, 2024 by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

30 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Does Curryfest have to be Indian curries?  There are curries from lots of countries that are equally as good, if not as well known.... There are tons from SE Asia - Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore alone have tons of different curries, not to mention the curries that were adapted by China/Japan/Korea.

There are also similar dishes from Africa. South Africa has some great Indian inspired curries, and I am very keen to try some of the Ethiopian dishes I have seen. I would struggle to get Ethiopian ingredients locally but I could do a search for somewhere near to central London where I work.

 

Definitely another project to consider.

[Tempest63]

We are planning our next curryfest for some time in November. I was thinking about a Kashmiri Wazwan spread. My big problem is our local and traditional butcher is lost to us. It has closed down to be replaced by a delicatessen which is doing absolutely no business and will no doubt also close.

My caterers at work responded and sourced me 2kg of Pork Cheeks 2kg of ox cheeks and 2.5kg of lamb cutlets. I don’t think beef regularly turns up on a Wazwan menu, and pork is a definite no no. 
I will look at the ingredients we have available and build a menu around them.

 

[rotuts]

@Tempest63

 

Ive never been able to source cheeks.

 

would love to give them a ( SV ) try someday.

 

thoseLamb cutlets look like Lamy Lollipops tp me 

 

Rare on a hot grill.

 

congratulations on your find. 

[Tempest63]

32 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Tempest63

 

Ive never been able to source cheeks.

 

would love to give them a ( SV ) try someday.

 

thoseLamb cutlets look like Lamy Lollipops tp me 

 

Rare on a hot grill.

 

congratulations on your find. 

We have a butcher about half hours drive into the country. It is sited on the same site as a slaughterhouse so you know the meat is fresh. I will enquire if they can supply them.

I don’t know the US very well, having never visited, but I believed pork is one of the more preferred meats so I would have thought cheeks would be available if you knew where to ask.

The cheeks I brought home are much larger than I usually get so I suspect they are from a different breed of porker.

[weinoo]

https://www.regalisfoods.com/collections/2023_category-specialty-meat/products/berkshire-pork-cheeks

 

https://wildforkfoods.com/products/pork-cheeks-iberico/

[Tan Can Cook]

On 8/2/2024 at 1:03 PM, Tempest63 said:

A wazwan is a ceremonial Kashmiri feast that traditionally has 36 courses.

Of those 36 courses seven are permanent and should always be included.

The seven permanent dishes are

1. Marchwangan Korma. A spicy chilli hot lamb dish

2. Rista. Meatballs in a fiery red hot sauce

3. Tabak Maaz. Lamb ribs simmered in yoghurt before being fried

4. Daniwal Korma. A mutton curry heavy on coriander (Cilantro) leaf

5. Aab Gosht. Lamb or mutton cooked in a milky gravy with black pepper

6. Roghan Josh. A very tender lamb dish cooked with Kashmiri spices including Maval, or cockscomb flowers

7. Gushtaba. Meatballs in a yoghurt gravy

 

My next project, following on from next week’s Curryfest, is to have another, focusing on a traditional wazwan. We have to consider that we have family and friends who are vegetarian, pescatarian or who generally avoid red meat, so I will have to explore the traditional wazwan menu to find other dishes to serve to replace a few of the Super Seven.

 

The other consideration is to go with the traditional Hindu or Muslim dishes. Whilst the Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu, they eat plenty of meat but avoid onions and garlic (wow that terrifies me). They do use asafoetida and fennel though.
The Muslim variant openly welcomes onions and garlic and seems to be up my street. I may have to cook each of the religious variants or two of every dish during the trial period to see what best suits.

 

This is going to be a labour of love and whilst I am on annual leave over the next week I will try at least two. I have a recipe for a Pandit Marchwangan Korma which is definitely on the cards, though it will be made with goat as opposed to lamb. A milder dish like Gushtaba or Aab Gosht would be more enjoyable for Mrs T63.

 

I reckon I may be all curried out by the end of the week. 

 

 

Vah! Kya baat hai, @Tempest63 ji. You can cook!!!

 

I am beyond enthralled at your love towards regional Bhartiya Khana. Well done to your cooking. I know I've read somewhere on your post history that you have been cooking Indian food as long as I've been alive! My commendations to you sir.

[Tempest63]

1 hour ago, Tan Can Cook said:

 

Vah! Kya baat hai, @Tempest63 ji. You can cook!!!

 

I am beyond enthralled at your love towards regional Bhartiya Khana. Well done to your cooking. I know I've read somewhere on your post history that you have been cooking Indian food as long as I've been alive! My commendations to you sir.

It has been a labour of love with its trials and tribulations along the way. 
I’m still learning as I go and with a country as large as India, without even thinking of its near neighbours, there is a lot more to learn.

Too much for one lifetime.

[Tan Can Cook]

Just now, Tempest63 said:

It has been a labour of love with its trials and tribulations along the way. 
I’m still learning as I go and with a country as large as India, without even thinking of its near neighbours, there is a lot more to learn.

Too much for one lifetime.

 

Without getting into politics, present day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh makes up "India" pre-partition.

 

I have about 45 books purchased laser-focused to aforementioned country cuisines and I would have to be reincarnated several lifetimes over to cook from all those books.

 

During this lifetime, I am following the "Mughlai/Nizami" and its adjacent. That means, I focus on foods from Awadh, Rampur, Hyderabad, and Bengali (West Bengal and Bangladesh).

 

Then, I focus on Malayali cuisine, Maharashtrian, Tamil, Bihari, Kashmiri Wazwan, NE Indian.

 

Indeed, a labor of love and bespoke spice blends!!! I love being a masalchi.

 

Cooking "real Indian food" takes time. That's why almost everyone in India has hired help in the kitchen.

 

In countries like UK and here in USA, hired help in the kitchen is costly, only people with high-tier salaries can afford this luxury.

 

Anyways...I digress. 

[Tempest63]

I have a week booked off of work from March 10th and have invited some friends around for a Curryfest, a night of Indian food. I normally pick dishes that I am familiar with without consideration from where they originate, so I could present dishes from across India, i.e., Rogan Josh from Kashmir, Vindaloo from Goa, and often a fish dish from Bangladesh.
This time around I have decided to focus on one region, keeping all the dishes from one area of India.
One of the constraints on me this time around is one of the guests doesn’t eat tomatoes. I’m unsure if this is for personal or medical reasons (she is currently on medical treatment for a serious health condition) but I find that the majority of my “go-to” dishes include tomatoes in some form or another.

I always err towards the cooking of Kashmir or Punjabi as these regions offer my favourite recipes but I find again most include tomatoes. However browsing through my regional cookbooks I have found that a lot of Bangladeshi recipes from My Bangladeshi Kitchen are tomato free. 
I have definitely settled on Halim as one of my dishes from the book and am mulling over several options for beef, duck, chicken, lamb or mutton; as well as the obligatory fish/shellfish dish.

In light of the recent flurry of posts from Mr Tan, I will also prepare all of the masala’s and spice blends fresh at home.

 

[Tan Can Cook]

10 hours ago, Tempest63 said:

In light of the recent flurry of posts from Mr Tan, I will also prepare all of the masala’s and spice blends fresh at home.

 

Absolutely! I encourage everyone to gradually move away from pre-packaged and pre-made spice blends and start making their own at home. I have nothing against store-bought blends or pastes—they're a great starting point for building confidence in the kitchen.

 

I myself began with MDH garam masala and enjoyed using Patak’s curry pastes. Once I gained confidence in the kitchen, I started assembling my base whole spices to craft a simple garam masala. Over time, I slowly sourced rare and specialty spices and herbs, refining my blends for 1:1 recipe reproducing from books in my collection.

 

Only 15 more days to your Curryfest! Happy cooking @Tempest63 ji. Please do share pictures of your cooking.

[Tempest63]

1 hour ago, Tan Can Cook said:

Please do share pictures of your cooking.

I fear that my photos will not match up to those you have posted or those on your blog. 
I may need to dig out my DSLR and invest in the right flash.

[Tan Can Cook]

Just now, Tempest63 said:

I fear that my photos will not match up to those you have posted or those on your blog. 
I may need to dig out my DSLR and invest in the right flash.

 

Please don't think or compare like this. Those pictures came from my portfolio for food and cooking. With the exception or perspective view images, the top down views of my food are taken with my Google Pixel 4 XL from 2019 model.

 

If your phone has something called portrait mode or similar name, use that. The phone app uses computational photography to mimic the depth of field from DSLR cameras. Modern phone cameras are getting really good at this.