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robin1234 Jul 5th 2023 12:25 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Steerpike (Post 13202048)


That's a great article! It even mentions the Vesta Chow Mein I referred to above! I haven't had a fish finger since I was about 10, but I must confess - I'd love to try one. Can you buy anything reminiscent of a classic old fish finger these days? If I recall correctly, they had a thick, breaded coating. I did love them as a kid (unlike the fried fish of 'fish and chips' fame - I never liked the idea of battered fish and still don't).

I tried US style fish sticks years ago, they are bad. Just cheap quality ingredients I assume. In England, I buy the Birds Eye branded haddock or cod fish fingers, they are really good. Solid cuts of fish, and, as you mention, thick very tasty breading. I tried the Tesco “finest” cod fish fingers, even more expensive than the Birds Eye, but they were not good. The fish was watery when cooked, which degraded the breading.

Pulaski Jul 5th 2023 1:25 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by dickyrose (Post 13202038)
I know you didn't want to actually make a curry BUT, there is a recipe book called "the Classic 1000 Indian recipes" book. On page 116 ( in my copy) is a recipe for a Beef Madras which is foolproof. The ingredients are not overwhelming, any idiot can make it from scratch. You can easily omit the ground ginger and substitute chicken or lamb for the beef and the ghee for any oil you want. Any idiot can do it! Not that you are an idiot or a fool. Seriously the book is a revelation.

Medium-large onion - chopped, oil, half a cup of flour, boiling water, 2-4 teaspoons of curry powder depending on strength and taste, water, and mix in chopped, pre-cooked meat of choice (or fry it in the oil before adding the onion). ..... It makes me 4-6 servings, and it is my standby meal of choice when Mrs P isn't around, so when I make it I freeze the extra in individual serving sizes, and it's available to heat up in the microwave. :)

robin1234 Jul 5th 2023 1:34 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 13202098)
Medium-large onion - chopped, oil, half a cup of flour, boiling water, 2-4 teaspoons of curry powder depending on strength and taste, water, and mix in chopped, pre-cooked meat of choice (or fry it in the oil before adding the onion). ..... It makes me 4-6 servings, and it is my standby meal of choice when Mrs P isn't around, so when I make it I freeze the extra in individual serving sizes, and it's available to heat up in the microwave. :)

Huh .. sounds like me, solitary vice is mostly food-related.

Pulaski Jul 5th 2023 2:24 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by robin1234 (Post 13202099)
Huh .. sounds like me, solitary vice is mostly food-related.

Recently I branched out into making naan bread too, after deciding that my "curry experience" was lacking something, and that paying Kroger $3.50 for two naan breads :blink: was absurd. I am on my third batch at the moment, and each batch is getting better - these ones are either stuffed with garlic or butter. :)

I have made a few tweaks to this recipe notably stuff and folding the bread one more time as any topping gets burned while cooking, increasing the flour by 25g, increasing the salt to 3tsp, and I swapped the yoghurt for sour cream. I also recommend using weights, not volume measures, for most ingredients, esp the sour cream.

robin1234 Jul 5th 2023 3:14 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 13202104)
Recently I branched out into making naan bread too, after deciding that my "curry experience" was lacking something, and that paying Kroger $3.50 for two naan breads :blink: was absurd. I am on my third batch at the moment, and each batch is getting better - these ones are either stuffed with garlic or butter. :)

I do bake bread three or four times a week - but naan bread I always buy. I should look at recipes!

i just looked at a recipe, it has an egg in it? Interesting

Pulaski Jul 5th 2023 3:33 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by robin1234 (Post 13202110)
I do bake bread three or four times a week - but naan bread I always buy. I should look at recipes!

i just looked at a recipe, it has an egg in it? Interesting

I just edited my post above, and linked the recipe (YouTube) I used. This recipe has no egg, and comes out, for me at least, exactly like the naan bread I used to get at Indian restaurants in the UK. :)

Nutmegger Jul 5th 2023 3:33 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 13202104)
Recently I branched out into making naan bread too, after deciding that my "curry experience" was lacking something,

Your naan sounds great, but to really improve your dining experience, don't use "curry powder"! A half to full teaspoonful of each of ground coriander, cumin, and cayenne, plus a little turmeric (proportions to suit your taste), plus some salt and black pepper, produces far better results than using a generic powder. Virtually every market has these, they last a long time, and really improve your food.

Edit to add, I like Maunika Gowardhan's website and recipes. Here is her quick naan:

Garlic Naan

Pulaski Jul 5th 2023 3:38 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Nutmegger (Post 13202113)
Your naan sounds great, but to really improve your dining experience, don't use "curry powder"! A half to full teaspoonful of each of ground coriander, cumin, and cayenne, plus a little turmeric (proportions to suit your taste), plus some salt and black pepper, produces far better results than using a generic powder. Virtually every market has these, they last a long time, and really improve your food.

I have no doubt you're right, but that sounds like hard work. ;)

Steerpike Jul 5th 2023 8:30 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 13202098)
Medium-large onion - chopped, oil, half a cup of flour, boiling water, 2-4 teaspoons of curry powder depending on strength and taste, water, and mix in chopped, pre-cooked meat of choice (or fry it in the oil before adding the onion). ..... It makes me 4-6 servings, and it is my standby meal of choice when Mrs P isn't around, so when I make it I freeze the extra in individual serving sizes, and it's available to heat up in the microwave. :)

So when she iS around, do you always eat the same dish, together? My g/f is almost always on some form of a diet, so it's rare that we actually share a 'home cooked meal' together (maybe once every two weeks, we'll share a roasted salmon dish). I always ask if she'd like some of what I'm making, but she almost always declines. It's also one of the main reasons we eat out several times a week - in a restaurant, we can each choose what we want. I'm one of those people who can eat anything and everything and not put on an ounce, she's the type who will gain a few pounds just by looking at food!


Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 13202104)
... I also recommend using weights, not volume measures, for most ingredients ...

First thing I do with ANY recipe I get my hands on is to convert everything to grams or ounces; I can't stand volume measures ('a cup of flour', 'a tablespoon of powder', etc).

Pulaski Jul 5th 2023 9:04 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Steerpike (Post 13202174)
So when she iS around, do you always eat the same dish, together? ...

It is rare that we don't all eat basically the same meal if it is home prepared, except when we have a clear-out-the-fridge "leftovers night", in which case we're all eating something that we ate recently, but different from each other. Little Miss P can be a bit picky and so when Mrs P and I have haddock, little Miss P has salmon, but that's a rare example of her getting something different; I can't think of another example, mostly because I will eat almost anything, so Mrs P's cooking is a subset of things I would eat, and then little Miss P eats a subset of what Mrs P would cook. ... Little Miss P has never been a huge fan of corn-on-the-cob, and now she has braces and doesn't eat it at all, but I think that's understandable. Oh, and fairly recently I decided that I much prefer the British presentation of chili con carne, i.e. on a bed of rice, so I boil myself a handful of rice when Mrs P cooks chili.

excpomea Jul 6th 2023 1:33 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Nutmegger (Post 13202113)
Your naan sounds great, but to really improve your dining experience, don't use "curry powder"! A half to full teaspoonful of each of ground coriander, cumin, and cayenne, plus a little turmeric (proportions to suit your taste), plus some salt and black pepper, produces far better results than using a generic powder. Virtually every market has these, they last a long time, and really improve your food.

Edit to add, I like Maunika Gowardhan's website and recipes. Here is her quick naan:

Garlic Naan

Her website is a good resource.
This is our current favorite chicken curry.

Chicken Chettinad https://maunikagowardhan.co.uk/cook-...tinad-chicken/

Rete Jul 6th 2023 2:50 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Steerpike (Post 13202174)
So when she iS around, do you always eat the same dish, together? My g/f is almost always on some form of a diet, so it's rare that we actually share a 'home cooked meal' together (maybe once every two weeks, we'll share a roasted salmon dish). I always ask if she'd like some of what I'm making, but she almost always declines. It's also one of the main reasons we eat out several times a week - in a restaurant, we can each choose what we want. I'm one of those people who can eat anything and everything and not put on an ounce, she's the type who will gain a few pounds just by looking at food!


First thing I do with ANY recipe I get my hands on is to convert everything to grams or ounces; I can't stand volume measures ('a cup of flour', 'a tablespoon of powder', etc).

Perhaps you might want to join her in her meal that she has prepared once a week. Nice to sit at the table with your partner and enjoy good cooking and conversation.

Nutmegger Jul 6th 2023 4:20 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by excpomea (Post 13202259)
Her website is a good resource.
This is our current favorite chicken curry.

Chicken Chettinad https://maunikagowardhan.co.uk/cook-...tinad-chicken/

I've made that one! It's excellent. She has a new book out, Thali, that has some wonderful recipes. I borrowed it from the library, but now I'm jonesing for my own copy!

BristolUK Jul 6th 2023 5:48 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Nutmegger (Post 13202284)
...now I'm jonesing for my own copy!

Well that's a new word I learned today.

Steerpike Jul 6th 2023 5:57 am

Re: Chicken Curry
 

Originally Posted by Rete (Post 13202268)
Perhaps you might want to join her in her meal that she has prepared once a week. Nice to sit at the table with your partner and enjoy good cooking and conversation.

If she cooked at all, I'd certainly join her in it! She's a good cook and can make some great dishes, but these days she's not interested. But we do eat together at home - just not home-cooked. Typically, we go out for dinner and significantly over-order, generating lots of leftovers. Eg, we may go to an Afghan or Turkish restaurant and order extra skewers of grilled chicken. That may generate two more meals for her. Or we'll go to a Chinese or Indian restaurant, order way more food than we need (eg 3 or 4 dishes), and then bring home the leftovers and use for a couple more meals. But she stretches out the leftovers way longer than I do, so I end up cooking to fill the gaps. We're lucky to be surrounded by great quality, relatively inexpensive restaurants of all types (Asian, middle-eastern, Mexican, etc), so we take full advantage of that.


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