Hey hey good lookin'...whatcha got cookin'?

Jaffna style curry powder, supermarket grade, cheap but adds a really nice deep fragrance to the dish [ main reason for adding]
Chorizo Spanish locally home made style [ wholesaler ]
Generic chilli dried flakes to get heat level as desired [ on top of the Chorizo heat ]

 

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I had an eye-opening exposure to cooking from some old roommates a long time ago, did the odd little thing here and there, decided a year ago to start looking up recipes and videos on the web and trying them out. Working as a high-end chef would actually be amazing if I could ever land a job like that, but I'm not so excited about the long road leading to that point, and I have a lot more to learn about getting things done quickly if I were ever to have a snowball's chance in hell of making money off it. All that said, I've got a few friends who've been brainstorming and throwing around the idea of starting up a cafe for some time now, could be an exciting opportunity...

 

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Thanks, QQ. I'll see if I can find the curry.

In the meantime, here's a very good recipe for garam masala:

I can attest to this mixture being vastly better than anything I've found on store shelves. I've lost touch with TJ, but this I keep close.

Garam masala is most typically used as a vegetable spice, but I have (somewhere) a recipe for a roast chicken that makes very good use of the flavors, stuffed with rice, fruit and savory stuff. I'll see if I can find it.

 

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Yes... I had two brothers (now deceased) that were qualified Chefs, and the techniques were more about speed [ after chemistry ] to produce high quality products in a time effective/efficient manner. ( so I observed any way )

Also the strong tendency to specialize in particular fields of cooking seems to allow for those economies...

 

Thanks for that, I'll copy & paste it into my data files for safe keeping... (rainy day)

 

I'm part Middle Eastern, and learning to make new dishes, as of late. But, much of the time, my recipes fall flat because I can't quite get the hang of the spice balance.

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It's a gift, I think.

I visited my local Middle Eastern market today and bought Lahme Bi Ajeen, aka ''meat pies.'' They are literally...perfection.

Found a good recipe, that one of these rainy days, I plan to try.

 

The old wisdom re spices... less is good... until u figure it out.
Lovev M.E food but hard to find good cooks. A bit tricky i guess...

 

Some of my relatives on my dad's side were born with the gene, but not me.

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Practice makes perfect?

 

Guess so... learning from mistakes is a big part of it. As long as you are prepared to make them and learn you will get a great combo in the end... imo

 

What is your fav cuisine to eat? what is your fav. cuisine to cook?

 

Have been trying the canned sardine challenge.
Trying to make home brand sardines tastier... (minimal cost)
Any ideas welcome.

 

oil is king

what cuts the oil ?
paprika
chilli
curry
fats
mint
citrus

i doubt many would want mint flavoured sardines so i guess we can rule out various oils... mint being one of them

lemon oil(been done to death)
orange oil (most people would not cope with orange flavoured sardines.)

onions ...
& green chilli goes well, it infuses a plant based over tone.

though if your basing things on cost, you wont want to start pending more money on added extras to change the flavour.
unless your basing your cost on amino acids & omega 3,6 & 9 (bio-availibility) in which case sardines and mackerel are great money saving ideas.

i have never experimented with the Thai(Cambodian & Vietnamese) green spice range & oily fish, though im sure if you grill the fish you may be able to massively increase the flavour balance.

 

I'd say falafel, shwarma and that meat pie above, are my fave dishes. I've been making an Iranian salad lately (I'm part Iranian/Syrian) and it's super easy. Some dishes are quite easy, and much of the cuisine in these regions is very simple. Like for example, unleavened pita bread toasted with some apricot jam and goat cheese is considered a common breakfast.

As far as sardines go, hmm...lol Not really a fan. I'd probably add them to a salad with slivers of a mild cheese to even the saltiness?

 

Thanks...
Tried,
Fried seseme seeds with cracked pepper.
Drained sardines from can.
Coated with cooked sesame seeds and heated through... not bad but more to go...
Nutty....with pepercorn heat.
The idea is to make the most of an inexpensive cheap product.
And u seem to know what you are doing....

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I have a Persian asylum seeker as a tennant. His cooking is amazing but very limited in variety.

How do you get top falafel? Whats the key?

 

im thinking...
gently pan fried with garlic shoots & green chilli, crushed cashew nuts & a tiny squeeze of lime juice... then browned under the grill on top of white rice

something like that maybe with a spring onion garnish
with a tiny moat of coconut cream around the rice

 

I don't eat falafel often, as it's pretty high in carbs/calories per piece, but it's a great to indulge in, or for the holidays. I'd say the key is not over frying them, or burning them. Like you want the coating to be light, and not thick and dry. I think you need a special fryer for it, to be honest.

 

What about charring ? Tried it. Canned sardine has slight skin... had potential i thought.

 

So deep fry temp important?
Type of oil?

 

never char
charring turns the material into carbon
that carbon causes cancer

burnt meat is 100% carcinogenic

if you are craving charcoal, eat some charcoal
but make sure it is charcoal sold for eating

people who charr meat are _ucking idiots as far as im concerned

https://www.gq.com/story/health-myth-does-burnt-meat-cause-cancer

When meat—be it beef, pork, fish, or poultry—is cooked at high temperatures, it forms heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). According to the National Cancer Institute, HCAs and PCAs cause cancer in animal models (think: lab rats). So far it's unclear if humans sprout cancer growths after exposure to HCAs and PHAs, but we aren't volunteering for any trials to find out for sure.


Eating Burnt/charred meat is like walking into a massive rave dance party and shouting out "can someone give me some pills?" and then eating what is handed to you by a stranger.

does that sound sane and logical ?