Megamoo's 2012/2013 Glog

gasificada · Jan 13, 2013

DocNrock said:
I'm in full agreement about all things Indian food recently said above. I love good, HOT, Indian food. Most places are a joke. The food is sweet instead of spicy. Like Gassy said, if you walk in and the majority of the patrons are Indian, chances are it's going to be good. I recently found a little take out place that is great. Their menu gives the choice of five different heat levels. I ordered lamb vindaloo. When I ordered it as a five on the heat scale, the guy asked me if I was sure, as there are no refunds. It was really good, and fairly hot. A couple of minutes into my lunch the guy came out to check on me, lol. He asked me if it was too hot. I told him it could be hotter. He just smiled and walked away. Good stuff.

You usually get three heat levels here: mild, medium and hot. But a long time ago I discovered a secret one usually exists too: Indian hot. When trying out a new restaurant I sometimes get the "Are you sure?", Yes, "Are you positive?", Yes, and then the "How is everything? Not too hot??" during the meal, and sometimes they even stand back and spy on you while you eat it! The watching/spying thing pisses me off but I find the questioning funny. Funniest thing is, I eat food hotter than a lot of Indians here (well, the ones I know). I have Indian friends and colleagues at work that I've given Nagas and Bhuts to and they've come back and gone "WTF?? I couldn't eat that!". I've even heard them tell their friends "man, this guy eats food hotter than me!" :lol:

Another good sign of a good restaurant is when someone who doesn't eat hot food tells you they went to an Indian restaurant and the mild Butter Chicken or whatever they ordered was "still hot!". Generally in such a case it seems to be the other spices in the dish giving it the illusion of being hot. And that's what it is for me, it's not just about the chilli... well, OK, chilli is a large part of it

but it's also about the other spices. I want to take a bite and end up with a whole clove or cardamon pod or bay leaf or curry leaf in my mouth, I want to taste whole cummin seeds and I want to find whole dried chillies in there that I can suck the curry out of (ohhh man, flavour heaven!). I'm not opposed to a relatively heatless curry as long as it still has flavour (and I say relatively heatless as good use of spices will still give off a warmth). Nothing worse than ending up with something that is ultimately just chicken in turmeric-coloured cream or something!

/hijack. Sorry, moo.

Stefan_W said:
Having a good Indian place in your area is an essential part of leading a happy life.

Oh hell yeah!

Trippa · Jan 13, 2013

Sitar's at Albion do a good Vindaloo Gas. There is also a place in Birkdale that do a curry even you might find hot (the famed tindaloo!!)

The website

Menu (its meant to be a really good place for a curry according to a few mates that have been)

Again sorry Mega! :oops:

gasificada · Jan 13, 2013

Trippa said:
Sitar's at Albion do a good Vindaloo Gas. There is also a place in Birkdale that do a curry even you might find hot (the famed tindaloo!!)

The website

Menu (its meant to be a really good place for a curry according to a few mates that have been)

Again sorry Mega!

"British Indian Cuisine" :rofl:

But on the other hand, maybe not so funny at all. Didn't the Indian restaurant as we know it (and menu) come from the British Indian community??

One thing that Indian's like to tell me is that the food served in Indian restaurants is not real Indian food. "You still have restaurants that serve damn good food.... but it's not really Indian". "Some of it is close"..... but yeah, you get the point.

And I know food is different from region to region over there but all food I've had cooked for me by Indians is usually very different to what you get in a restaurant also.

Trippa · Jan 13, 2013

Britain has more Curry houses then you can shake a stick at gas.... http://www.visitbricklane.org/#/bars-restaurants/4537687686 http://www.redhotcurry.com/eating_out/2010/curry-house-anniversary.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_Mile Many of the dishes we eat today are derived from the British Raj era (ie fusion cuisine like Balti) hence why its so popular

gasificada · Jan 13, 2013

Maaan, moo is gonna be piiiiiissed at us! :lol:

megamoo · Jan 14, 2013

gasificada said:
Maaan, moo is gonna be piiiiiissed at us!

Not pissed I'm just blocking you all :hell:

Nah the hijacks are welcome.

I'm actually upset that all this talk has created a serious craving for Indian food and I won't have a chance to get any til Wednesday night. Think I'll make a point of doing a drunken chef post of making a curry from scratch.

Got nothing to post about the garden at the moment. Everyone has been suffering high temps and humidity but Perth's actually been cool and dry... until today

35 and just under 60% humidity. I know that's not as bad as QLD has regularly but I'm not used to it. Plus I'm toilet training my youngest at the moment. It's not just sticky..... its sticky with feeling. :neutral:

DocNrock · Jan 14, 2013

gasificada said:
One thing that Indian's like to tell me is that the food served in Indian restaurants is not real Indian food... but all food I've had cooked for me by Indians is usually very different to what you get in a restaurant also.

Truth. My Wife is originally from Bangladesh, and the cuisine is essentially the same. What her Mother cooks, and what she cooks is most definitely authentic. I've had nothing like it in an Indian restaurant. But she is the best critic. I might like a particular restaurant, and she'll think it's meh...Americanized.

megamoo said:
Plus I'm toilet training my youngest at the moment. It's not just sticky..... its sticky with feeling.

Nice. On that note, thread jack over.

megamoo · Jan 14, 2013

Going to spray everything down with sulphur to kill al the mite nasties in a few days so I this is a before shot

DocNrock said:
Truth. My Wife is originally from Bangladesh, and the cuisine is essentially the same. What her Mother cooks, and what she cooks is most definitely authentic. I've had nothing like it in an Indian restaurant. But she is the best critic. I might like a particular restaurant, and she'll think it's meh...Americanized.

I'll have to find an authentic recipe. I think everything I've ever eaten is the tourist version.

Took some photos just for the hell of it.
Going to spray everything down with sulphur to kill all the mite nasties in a few days so this is a before shot.

The plants under the newest section of shadecloth have bushed out and are responding with big fat leaves.

This is on 2nd Jan

This is today

All this growth is still with plain water, all food is from the soil. I'm amazed! I had thought it was leaching out of the soil and was done but they're still going nuts. Apparently the bugs enjoy it too

Pods
Jonah pods ripening

I've been checking on these ones for ages.

First Bih Jolokia pod ripening too. Have 3 plants and they are all loaded.

Scarlet Lantern pod reeel perdy

DocNrock · Jan 14, 2013

The twelve days of growth in those photos is absolutely insane! And love the Scarlet Lantern. Might have to add that one to the 2014 grow.

PaulG · Jan 14, 2013

Things are really looking good, Moo.
Your raised bed along the fence has turned out awesome!~

megamoo · Jan 14, 2013

More for the hell of it photos. Nothing particularly special or post worthy but thought I'd put them up there anyway.

Some ripe ones. I'm getting a lot of the more common pods first, I've expect this has something to do with variety stability.

Bhut Jolokia

No chew marks unexplained holes in the pod. Looks untouched

Can't wait to cut it open!

PaulG · Jan 14, 2013

Really nice looking pods, Moo! Good enough to eat!

gasificada · Jan 15, 2013

Common pods or not, they look great, moo! :cool:

Love the idea of pod shots with the pods sitting in the garden next to the plant markers too... has a nice "fresh" feel to it. Plus with your plant markers being plastic knives, it gives some perspective of the size of the pod.

Trippa · Jan 15, 2013

Right you know the rules ay moo??? First big bhut of the season has to be eaten whole

.

And on camera :rofl:

PeriPeri · Jan 15, 2013

Bhuuutiful moo!

Oh and if you ever find yourself in a UK Indian Restaurant - try a Phaal. It's like a Vindaloo made with magma. Not a lot of restaurants do it thou :cry:

Trippa · Jan 15, 2013

The tindaloo from the restaurant that I mentioned earlier is basically a phaal according to my British and south African friends that have been there. I am still to go there

megamoo · Jan 15, 2013

PaulG said:
Really nice looking pods, Moo! Good enough to eat!

Thanks Paul. I just ate a red hab tonight, chopped up and stirred through some pasta. Wasn't one from the latest harvest, it was picked earlier. I can definitely say my tolerance is higher because it made me hiccup straight away but that went away and my eyes teared slightly up and my nose ran a little but that was it. Good flavour, almost mellow compared to the orange ones. The pod itself didn't exactly look like it was dripping inside though. Have to try another one of those.

gasificada said:
Common pods or not, they look great, moo! Love the idea of pod shots with the pods sitting in the garden next to the plant markers too... has a nice "fresh" feel to it. Plus with your plant markers being plastic knives, it gives some perspective of the size of the pod.

I did that so I could identify species of pods that look similar, but it does look good doesn't it

Been thinking of something to use for scale and the best I can come up with is a golf ball... (if I start to get monster pods then maybe a tennis ball

) I assume golf balls are universally the same size? Have to steal one from the old man next time I visit. Knives will do until then.

Trippa said:
Right you know the rules ay moo??? First big bhut of the season has to be eaten whole .

And on camera

Hmmm.... I agree, but not on camera. I was going to do a film tour of the garden but its not that big really, and have no idea how to upload videos. I'm sure I could figure it out. Too shy to put myself out there. After I've had enough drinks that all changes.... I've been told.

I was going to use the bhut in an authentic indian dish made from scratch but you are right.... it deserves to be eaten whole. I will have to wuss out and deseed it first, so I don't start puking. Even then vomit is a possibility!

PeriPeri said:
Bhuuutiful moo!

Oh and if you ever find yourself in a UK Indian Restaurant - try a Phaal. It's like a Vindaloo made with magma. Not a lot of restaurants do it thou

Trippa said:
The tindaloo from the restaurant that I mentioned earlier is basically a phaal according to my British and south African friends that have been there. I am still to go there

Just to avoid confusion I should point out that in the last few pages I was not one of the people telling stories that the hottest indian dish they were served wasn't hot enough

I'll have to work myself up to the mysterious and elusive Phaal. The hottest tourist dishes they make are up there for me.

PeriPeri · Jan 15, 2013

They both sound lethally good to me. I have had a Phaal on the odd occasion and all I can say it is like sitting in a sauna with winter woollies on. You just melt lol

PIC 1 · Jan 15, 2013

Love those Jonah pods.......me can't wait for mine, probably 6 months form now to the 1st bite of a ripened one.............. :rolleyes:

Stefan_W · Jan 15, 2013

Congrats on the chew-free pods, Moo! It is all looking great, and its good to hear that you are already cooking them into meals