Pilau Rice - British restaurant version

Moses said:
What rice is this, then? Link/brand?
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i cant remember the name, as i did not examine the bags, i just know it wasn't tilda. i never worked in the kitchen either so never really dealt with it directly, just paid for it, i did help out from time to time when needed to do so but never in food preparation, the chefs always did that in advance, i could cook anything if need be, but that was because all the prep work was already done before hand.

the person who took the orders over the phone from our supplier didn't speak english, and i dont have their number anymore it was stored in the phone, as said before we don't have anything to do with the restaurant anymore apart from collecting rent. it's been so long i cant remember. it was a local punjabi sikh supplier.
 
Moses said:
Someone in your family must know - ask the relevant person!

Or are you just posting about magic, unobtainable rice?
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i know the name of the company (supplier) but when i googled it, it found some restaurants and stuff down south, the company obviously doesnt have a website, it's just a local supplier.

without their phone number i cant phone and ask them, the only person who would know it for a fact is the chef who was in charge of the kitchen, who i never meet now unless at a party, there is on in 2 months time i know he will be at, i could ask him then if i remember and im sober the problem is he cant read english and barely speaks it, therefore there is a good chance he doesn't know either.

your best bet is phoning a local indian supplier who supplies most restaurants in your area and just asking them what their best rice is and ordering that.

for example i also have no idea what make the £90 box king prawns were either, i think the lorry which delivered them has "RUSKO" on the side, but again that is just what i think it is from memory.
 
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Some interesting discussion, but has anybody got something more precise than boil some rice in water and chuck in cumin and cloves? Actual measures perhaps?

I've tried ones with saffron infused to get the yellow colour. And wild rice added to get the odd coloured grains but they don't taste much different to boiled or steamed rice.

Psycho Sonny said:
for example i also have no idea what make the £90 box king prawns were either,
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Clearly Christian Dior or Versace... :D
 
Moses said:
What's the name of the company/supplier? Should be easy enough to find them in the phone book/directory enquires on the good old 'net.
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"spice of life" where the guys we used, think they are a scottish or glasgow only company, not entirely sure though, the current business owners for all i know could be using completely different suppliers now.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
wrong and as said before it's rented out, we just own the property ;)
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Well, which one do your parents own? You seem to be think you know it all about curries, and I trust this'll be a good Indian. I know my favourite ones in Glasgow, so eager to see if I've tried it.

Foxtrot, I'm always up for a curry night!
 
Moses said:
http://www.solltd.co.uk/rice.html

Which one?
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if you look at the picture, it was one which came in a plainish sort of sack, not fancy packaging, so one of the ones from the back row, no idea which one.

as you can see they do not sell tilda, funny that eh ;), tilda is just crap rice with good packaging and marketing behind it, just like maximuscle and bodybuilding supplements.
 
Ahleckz said:
Well, which one do your parents own? You seem to be think you know it all about curries, and I trust this'll be a good Indian. I know my favourite ones in Glasgow, so eager to see if I've tried it.

Foxtrot, I'm always up for a curry night!
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they don't own any, as said before we only own property atm, no commercial business's, i cant even remember when we sold the restaurant it's been that long.

if you want a good indian you really do need to know the owner/manager imo, because they will then ensure the curry is made to your taste.

for example i once went to another sikh friends house once, his dad had made lamb and it was awful, i expected a lot better especially since his dad talks a good game, especially when drunk. some of my mates liked it, but they dont really eat much indian food (coconuts), so they wouldn't know a good curry from a bad one tbh, even though they have probably ate more curries than the average person. therefore the curry was not to my taste but to a more westernised taste, i prefer authentic curries.

or if you know the chef that can be a great help too, my family know a few so we usually only eat at places where we know the owner or chef or both and they ensure the food is made to a much higher standard then their average customer gets, we usually even go and speak to the chef ourselves sometimes.

the best curry you could get is a "staff curry" imo, since the chef himself will be eating it, he will of made it to a high standard, if he is any good that is to begin with, we have employed a lot of chefs over the years, some were honestly terrible very few were worth talking about, luckily we managed to keep a hold of the good ones for as long as possible and got rid of the bad ones quickly.

also another thing to note is, you could go to a restaurant which has an amazing chef, but turn up on his day off, then you got the side chef who does the cooking, and he could be terrible as the curries are not his specialty. there is a huge difference even in the same restaurant between the head chef and the side chef.

there was one restaurant where i used to eat at where the side chef made better curries than the head chef imo.

the lorne hotel is great, but again we know the manager and owners, so we get special treatment.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
they don't own any, as said before we only own property atm, no commercial business's, i cant even remember when we sold the restaurant it's been that long.

if you want a good indian you really do need to know the owner/manager imo, because they will then ensure the curry is made to your taste.

for example i once went to another sikh friends house once, his dad had made lamb and it was awful, i expected a lot better especially since his dad talks a good game, especially when drunk. some of my mates liked it, but they dont really eat much indian food (coconuts), so they wouldn't know a good curry from a bad one tbh, even though they have probably ate more curries than the average person. therefore the curry was not to my taste but to a more westernised taste, i prefer authentic curries.

or if you know the chef that can be a great help too, my family know a few so we usually only eat at places where we know the owner or chef or both and they ensure the food is made to a much higher standard then their average customer gets, we usually even go and speak to the chef ourselves sometimes.

the best curry you could get is a "staff curry" imo, since the chef himself will be eating it, he will of made it to a high standard, if he is any good that is to begin with, we have employed a lot of chefs over the years, some were honestly terrible very few were worth talking about, luckily we managed to keep a hold of the good ones for as long as possible and got rid of the bad ones quickly.

also another thing to note is, you could go to a restaurant which has an amazing chef, but turn up on his day off, then you got the side chef who does the cooking, and he could be terrible as the curries are not his specialty. there is a huge difference even in the same restaurant between the head chef and the side chef.

there was one restaurant where i used to eat at where the side chef made better curries than the head chef imo.

the lorne hotel is great, but again we know the manager and owners, so we get special treatment.
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Well Indian chefs must be the only ones who don't take pride in what they make. You're so full of crap.
 
Ahleckz said:
Well Indian chefs must be the only ones who don't take pride in what they make. You're so full of crap.
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you don't even have a clue about the industry and how it has prospered until now.

i would say the majority of kitchen staff in indian restaurants are illegally working or not even supposed to be in the country. in fact most of them couldn't even cook a curry until they came to this country and it was the only job they could get.

the ranks are dishwasher to fryer then to tandoori chef then to curry chef.

they start as a dishwasher and whilst they are doing that, on the fryers day off, they have to do the fryer as well as the dishes. on the tandoori chef's day off the fryer has to do the tandoor as well as the fryer, on the curry chef's day off the tandoori chef has to do the curries and both he and the fryer do the tandoor between them. obviously they help each other out too if they are busy.

that's basically how they work themselves up to curry chef, they are basically taught on the job. so there you have it most chef's in indian restaurants started out as dishwashers.

one of my chefs told me of how they used to come over back in the day, through pakistan, then afghanistan, but that wasn't the hard part, the forests in russia were.

so don't tell me i dont have a clue, most indian chef's up until a few years ago when the recession hit were illegal. i would say a huge majority of them, since illegals dont pay taxes, and the government need money, they have been raiding restaurants all over the country and forcing restaurants to employ british nationals.

some proof below

http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/...eld_after_Indian_restaurant_immigration_raid/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/913...ecretary-raided-by-immigration-officials.html

http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/wimbledon/9581067.Married_couple_arrested_in_immigration_raid/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...gal-kitchen-staff-held.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/c...er-illegal-workers-1.930923?referrerPath=home



so yeah, most of the chef's dont give a flying **** they are just here to make money and send it home to india, hope they dont get caught too quick, and if they do they simply run away and go work somewhere else.

i know the whole industry like the back of my hand, our restaurant when we had it was never raided, then when the recession hit, it was raided every year on the trot.

it took me 5 seconds to find those stories all of them recent, i could link you to a hundred more as well if you want.
 
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most restaraunts fry their rice but this is a good recipe.

2 servings,
i buy easy cook basmati rice, tesco, asda or veetee are good

1 cup of rice.
5 cardamon pods
5 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 cinamon stick or a couple of bits of casia bark
1 tsp of turmeric
1 tbsp of oil.

put all of the above into a pot and fry gently for 1 min.
add 2 cups of cold water.
bring to boil, stir once and cover and turn down heat.
if using Tesco or Asda rice, boil for 15 mins.
vetee rice for 12 mins.
remove from heat, and leave uncovered for 5 mins, giving it a stir with a fork every minute or so.
remove pods, cloves etc..

serve with curry :D
 
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Psycho Sonny said:
i think it's 1 cup of water per 1 cup of rice.

i have never actually cooked rice in my life. i just remember that figure being talked about.
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? Actually it's typically 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.

Annoyingly supermarkets are selling part cooked stuff which I find doesn't taste anywhere near as nice and is much harder to cook (as it isn't the same rice/water ratio)

Where do people buy their rice online?
 
I just buy my rice in the huge bags from the supermarket and put some in a jar that I use and refill from the big bag every week. I'm not sure buying online would be much cheaper once you've factored in the postage.
 
boxman2000 said:
Would this not make it more sticky than puffy? I tend to always leave the lid on for 5 mins afterwards.
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i found the oppisite,
when its finished the grains can still be a little wet, leaving the lid off lets the steam evaporate, and forking it every minute or so, dries it out more

but we all have our own ways of doing it. each to their own :)
 
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