What Preps are you doing this week? Part 7.

[diamond lil]

Well I went for the real serious preps this week. The booze. To see me though brexit and the coming shambles.
Chambord, Cointreau, Port (husband), and Pernod

[Yorkshire Andy]

Well I went for the real serious preps this week. The booze. To see me though brexit and the coming shambles.
Chambord, Cointreau, Port (husband), and Pernod

So that's you sorted to January 2nd then what ?


Got the car cleaned out today inside and out car given a coat of "wax" windows treated with rain X , inside vacced out.. battery put on a smart charger for a few hours to boost it back up quick kick of the tyres , levels checked and engine bay and under body washed (easier to spot any leaks or issues if it's kept clean (and nicer to work on)

[GillyBee]

I have converted some of my dried tomato powder, dried onion powder and spices into a batch of "just add water" generic curry sauce mix. The big benefit to me is that I know know how many meals I can get out of a kilo of tomato powder as "curry".
We eat a lot of home cooked curry so I was rather pleased to get the seal of approval for every day use from the rest of the family who were unable to tell it wasn't the regular recipe.

[Lemne]

I have converted some of my dried tomato powder, dried onion powder and spices into a batch of "just add water" generic curry sauce mix. The big benefit to me is that I know know how many meals I can get out of a kilo of tomato powder as "curry".
We eat a lot of home cooked curry so I was rather pleased to get the seal of approval for every day use from the rest of the family who were unable to tell it wasn't the regular recipe.

Powders are next on my list to do. I have a couple of mixed ones but want to do some single item ones. My dehydrator is going to be going like the clappers this week. Lidl have red peppers at 29p each and mushrooms on offer. Will do mushroom powder this time I think.

[Medusa]

GillyBee please would you be willing to share your curry spice recipe? Completely understand if it's a "secret family recipe" of course

[jennyjj01]

GillyBee please would you be willing to share your curry spice recipe? Completely understand if it's a "secret family recipe" of course

Seconded. I'm also interested in how best to get a LOT of powdered tomato cheaply? Home grown?

[jansman]

GillyBee please would you be willing to share your curry spice recipe? Completely understand if it's a "secret family recipe" of course

Seconded. I'm also interested in how best to get a LOT of powdered tomato cheaply? Home grown?

I think you are probably best to buy tomatoes from a greengrocer in bulk if you are serious about dehydrating on that scale.I'll tell you why: I grow a lot of tomatoes each year , and dehydrate the majority.I grow around 3 dozen plants ,indoor and out. The finished product ends up in standard size jam jars.8 of them! If I powdered them,Ill bet it would fill two?

Chuck in the time and care needed to grow those plants,and it makes buying them in,on the scale you are planning,to make more economic sense IMHO.

[GillyBee]

This is the blend i have put together. The quantities were worked out by making a single 4 person curry and weighing eveything added in great detail.

I came to the same conclusion as Jansman. Tomatoes are 90% water so I would have to dehydrate 10 Kg tomatoes to get 1Kg of powder. Unless you can get tomatoes for less than £1 a kilo it isn't cost or time effective. I now just dehydrate small numbers of tomatoes as sliced "artisan sundried tomatoes" from the garden surplus for pasta and pizza. Onions are simply too smelly for dehydrating in our flat.

GillyBee Madras style Curry Sauce Blend

For 40 portions

500g Tomato Powder
300g Onion Powder
50g garlic powder
50g Chilli powder
50g ground ginger
50g turmeric
50g garam masala
50g ground coriander
50g ground cumin

Blend well together and store in an air tight container. I needed to use a food processor to bust up the lumpy (rather old) tomato powder and it is still trying to clump but not as badly as before.

Use 25-30g per person (about 2 tablespoons) Blend with enough water to make the sauce as thick as you like and add to precooked meat/veg/beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes before serving as raw dried spices don't taste as good and have also been implicated in some food poisoning outbreaks.

Notes
1) Add some lemon juice/tamarind/vinegar/citric acid to beans recipes to give them a bit more oomph. (I use lemon but any of these options would work)
2) Coconut powder can be added to the basic mix to make this a creamier blend and change the flavour up.
3) Divide the recipe by 10 to get a single 4 person meal - at which point you are adding 1-2 tsp of each spice if you want to compare the spice levels to your usual recipes.
4) If you do not like hot curries then I would recommend leaving the chilli powder out and adding it to taste. Once you know how much you like, you can weigh it and add it into the mix.
5) Feel free to adjust any other spices or leave them out if you don't like them or add in others you do like.

The tomato powder and onion powder both came from the big river.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01 ... UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01 ... UTF8&psc=1
The spices came from our local "Asian" grocery but are also available cheaply online in bulk as is the coconut milk powder.

[ForgeCorvus]

GillyBee please would you be willing to share your curry spice recipe? Completely understand if it's a "secret family recipe" of course

Seconded. I'm also interested in how best to get a LOT of powdered tomato cheaply? Home grown?

10kgs? £79.95 Ebay.... You'd be hard pushed to buy and dry enough tommies to beat that price. (I have no link to this seller, not even as a customer. So I can't vouch for them.)

[GillyBee]

That is a good price when bought in bulk. I don't think I can squeak anything more into the flat though. I have already had to agree to start using things up in the New Year whatever happens to clear a bit of space.