Prawn Patia
I was really pleased with the result of this recipe which I followed to the letter (except I used chicken which I introduced raw after step 2). However, when I made it for six people, increasing each item arithmetically, it was not so good. My instinct is that I did not need so much water for the tamarind and jagary. Can anyone advise please?
Tamarind is a fruit, has many different qualities and it is not easy to give precise amount of water to soak it. The concentrate that I usually add in cooking is of a paste (e.g. Coleman's mustard) like consistency. As it is not my recipe, I can't change the amount of water in it without asking, but you should go ahead and make it with a lot less next time.
It is always difficult to multiply a recipe for bigger numbers. It is generally agreed that when you multiply a recipe say by 3, you don't multiply the salt and spices by 3 as well, it doesn't work. I tend to add less than 3 times, taste it, and than adjust.
Same is true of cooking times, you can't simply multiply it, you have to go by look and feel.
The calculation of a recipe works something like this; First you have to find a recipe conversion factor. For this, you divide the number of people you need the recipe for by the number of people the recipe is given for. It usually comes out in decimal points, worse luck! Now you have to multiply each ingredient with this number, to get your required amount.
I have to say that I have never used this method. What I do is this; say my recipe is for 4 people and I need it for 10. I multiply each amount with 2.5 and write it down on a piece of paper. I use this as a 'rough', not exact, guide. Mostly, it is guess work for me. Perhaps someone else here will explain better.
This site tells you how to do it using a calculator; http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/measurementsconversions/a/scaling.htm
I know this is not mush help :-(!
Mamta
Thank you so much for responding Mamta. I note your ideas and I am most grateful. Actually, I use Sainsbury's own-label Tamarind Paste! Do you know it? I think I will use less water next time. I was thinking of cooking times too, but I had not multiplied that element. I have also been wondering about the 'sell-by' dates on my spice bottles. I have recently been refreshing my collection and throwing away bottles stating 2004, 2005 and so on. They still smell and taste quite fresh and I just wonder if I am being over-fastidious? Tonight, however, I am making a pistachio and cardamom ice cream and I am using cardamom pods with a sell-by date on the bottle of 2005!
Many thanks
Howard
Howard, if the flavour is good, don't throw them away.
If you don't use them enough, store them in a fridge/freezer. This is what i do with my surplus.
Enjoy your Pista-illaichi ice-cream:-)
Mamta
but be careful not to multiply (or divide) cooking times by a factor, two 6 minute eggs still take 6 minutes to cook ;?) not twelve.
Just to go back to sell by dates on spices... if its been open since 2004, 2005 etc its been absorbing moisture since then. Its possible that the flavours won't be as strong as they should be which would make any recipe you are making slightly different from the original. If the recipe says 1 tsp (of fresh spices as used by the author) and you use 1 tsp of the same spice thats 4-5 years old it might only be like using 1/2 tsp compared to fresh.
You then have to consider that this is organic matter and could be growing moulds or anything on it !.... I'd be careful as to which you use etc... Maybe Lapis can throw some proper knowledge on this ?
Steve
I would agree with Steve about ?organisms growing if moisture was present.
All flavour chemicals in spices are volatile (or else we couldn't smell them), so unless the spices are kept in a sealed jar, in the dark and cold, some oloss could be expected. Also, some spices contain many flavour compounds which contribute to the overall flavour, like black pepper. This spice contains at least 12 recognisable smells, all of which disappear at different rates. This is why pepper is freshly ground, ground pepper in storage looses flavour, and after about 20 days, is a shadow of its former self. I have a book on food chemistry where it shows the loss of these volatilw flavours, individually over time, each is lost at a different rate.
Having said all that, I have some ground cassia which is 20 years old, and it has a different, though mellower flavour to fresh cassia. However, apart from the strongly aromatic spices, most ground spices will deteriorate within months, probably growing mold into the bargain.
Thank you very much, guys, for all that extremely interesting and helpful advice. I think I will stick to those use-by dates. Anybody know why the spice racks in the big supermarkets don't include ground cardomom?
ground cardamon? they usually have cardamon pods I don't think I've ever seen ground cardamon not even in the Asian/Indian/Turkish grocers we have near by !
Steve
Here I go again, not reading properly !
I read it cinnamon!!! You have to grind your own cardamoms I am afraid!