1st Annual Little Steven Memorial Cook Thread

caliking

Color-wise, I think Indian/Pakistani food can look unappetizing. Until you taste it

I think the coloring part of the recipe you're following is a tad wonky.  Rogan josh is usually claimed as a Kashmiri recipe, and yes, red color is typically imparted from Kashmiri pepper, but also from cockscomb flowers. It sounds like the recipe you're using is trying to sub alkanet for the cockscomb. Most recipes these days skip the cockscomb flowers because they are hard to source for most people. 

I'll be visiting a friend in Seattle next month who has cockscomb in his garden. I'm going to see if I can convince him to let me have a flower to cook with!

Having said that, taste still trumps appearance.

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Pulled out the Darth Maul Party cup for the evening round of cooks. Pretty sure this was put into service at the Salado eggfest LS attended (and curried up my egg). @caliking is this they way you remember it? 

That cup has haunted me for years. In a good way though. Reminds me of happy, good times. 

That cup has seen some good stuff IIRC. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Happy Birthday to one of the greats. I got my egg all curried up for you again. Rogan Josh from cali’s recipe above. Homemade naan in the Roccbox, lemon rice and Courgette Koftas (zucchini “pancakes” with spicy tomato gravy). TFJ did all the heavy lifting while I did the heavy drinking . Looks like daddy is doing the drunk dishes tonight (dangit). 

The food was incredible and remembering Steve’s good nature and antics was even better. Here’s to you, pal. I hope your family finds some comfort and humor in all of this. I know I did. Thanks to all who shared a story or a cook. Thanks to Stike who was sharing behind the scenes and most of all, thanks to Steve for being such a good dude to so many of us on here. 

Garam Masala from scratch: 






Naan in the Roccbox:







The lamb broth with smoky bones (amazing):





The feast:





Rogan Josh tacos . 

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Happy Birthday to one of the greats. I got my egg all curried up for you again. Rogan Josh from cali’s recipe above. Homemade naan in the Roccbox, lemon rice and Courgette Koftas (zucchini “pancakes” with spicy tomato gravy). TFJ did all the heavy lifting while I did the heavy drinking . Looks like daddy is doing the drunk dishes tonight (dangit). 

The food was incredible and remembering Steve’s good nature and antics was even better. Here’s to you, pal. I hope your family finds some comfort and humor in all of this. I know I did. Thanks to all who shared a story or a cook. Thanks to Stike who was sharing behind the scenes and most of all, thanks to Steve for being such a good dude to so many of us on here. 

Well said. And well done. Y'all know how to throw down some Indian grub. 

And thanks for bringing us all together again, LS. Happy birthday, buddy. Raised a few bevvies in your honor tonight.

Rounding things off with a chicken korma kind of thing tonight. Shooting from the hip, but it smells awesome. 

Canugghead

@The Cen-Tex Smoker  Wow, you've outdone yourself, every dish looks amazing. Naan looks more authentic than some Indian restaurants. Care to share your garam masala recipe please? (Confession: I've bought commercial prepacked garam masala mix and reverse engineered to individual ingredients, still tweaking  )

I guess you have to send the winner's prize of this thread to yourself!

Canugghead

Cheers Steven!  I'm ashamed to post this following OP's cook above 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Canugghead said:

@The Cen-Tex Smoker  Wow, you've outdone yourself, every dish looks amazing. Naan looks more authentic than some Indian restaurants. Care to share your garam masala recipe please? (Confession: I've bought commercial prepacked garam masala mix and reverse engineered to individual ingredients, still tweaking  )

I guess you have to send the winner's prize of this thread to yourself!

TFJ makes it but I’ll get it from her and post here. 

bgebrent

The blue bottle is the exclamation.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Canugghead said:

@The Cen-Tex Smoker  Wow, you've outdone yourself, every dish looks amazing. Naan looks more authentic than some Indian restaurants. Care to share your garam masala recipe please? (Confession: I've bought commercial prepacked garam masala mix and reverse engineered to individual ingredients, still tweaking  )

I guess you have to send the winner's prize of this thread to yourself!

TFJ makes it but I’ll get it from her and post here. 

Garam masala 

Credit Shefali Ravula

¼ cup coriander seeds

2 tbsp.cumin seeds (black or regular)

3 tbsp. green cardamom pods, lightly smashed

2 cinnamon sticks, each 3 inches long, broken

2 tbsp. whole cloves

2 tsp. black peppercorns

7-8 tej patta (Indian bay leaf)

Heat large cast iron over medium heat and add spices. Toast for just a few minutes, stirring frequently. When the aroma of the spice is released, it is time to remove the pan form the heat. Move spices to a cool plate. When completely cool, grind into powder.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Canugghead said:

Cheers Steven!  I'm ashamed to post this following OP's cook above 

You mean OP’s wife (Op’s Wife coooked all of that- for hours). OP did nothing but talk sh!t and take credit as always

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Canugghead said:

@The Cen-Tex Smoker  Wow, you've outdone yourself, every dish looks amazing. Naan looks more authentic than some Indian restaurants. Care to share your garam masala recipe please? (Confession: I've bought commercial prepacked garam masala mix and reverse engineered to individual ingredients, still tweaking  )

I guess you have to send the winner's prize of this thread to yourself!

TFJ makes it but I’ll get it from her and post here. 

Garam masala 

Credit Shefali Ravula

¼ cup coriander seeds

2 tbsp.cumin seeds (black or regular)

3 tbsp. green cardamom pods, lightly smashed

2 cinnamon sticks, each 3 inches long, broken

2 tbsp. whole cloves

2 tsp. black peppercorns

7-8 tej patta (Indian bay leaf)

Heat large cast iron over medium heat and add spices. Toast for just a few minutes, stirring frequently. When the aroma of the spice is released, it is time to remove the pan form the heat. Move spices to a cool plate. When completely cool, grind into powder.

Dude... big ups to you and TFJ. For measuring cinnamon in inches (like any brown cook worth their salt) and listing an ingredient as "tej patta" ! Love it.

Patta means leaf, btw. There. Taught you some Hindi too  

caliking

And fvck. That rogan josh looks fabulous. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

caliking said:

And fvck. That rogan josh looks fabulous. 

It was. TFJ is out of her mind with these cooks. I am left in the dust as a Simple grill cook/bbq guy. 

bgebrent

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

caliking said:

And fvck. That rogan josh looks fabulous. 

It was. TFJ is out of her mind with these cooks. I am left in the dust as a Simple grill cook/bbq guy. 

Me too.

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

caliking said:

And fvck. That rogan josh looks fabulous. 

It was. TFJ is out of her mind with these cooks. I am left in the dust as a Simple grill cook/bbq guy. 

After the Chana Masala y’all brought to our last shindig, caliqueen dared anyone to close their eyes and say that a brown aunty hadn’t made it.  

No joke. 

Canugghead

Please convey my thanks to TFJ.

FWIW, this is the recipe I reverse engineered from a commercial pack, literally separated and weighed each ingredient    Have been omitting Nagkeshar and Clove leaves since I have no luck finding them.

Why bother mixing my own? I prefer to roast and grind small batches as needed, for maximum aroma and freshness.

Garam Masala recipe         Weight in Grams Full 1/2 1/3 1/4 Coriander seeds 41.2 20.6 13.7 10.3 Cumin seeds 24.0 12.0 8.0 6.0 Black Peppercorns 14.5 7.3 4.8 3.6 Cinnamon Bark 33.6 16.8 11.2 8.4 Cloves 18.5 9.3 6.2 4.6 Anistar 16.7 8.4 5.6 4.2 Black Cardamon 16.7 8.4 5.6 4.2 Fennel Seeds 6.0 3.0 2.0 1.5 Mace 6.7 3.4 2.2 1.7 Nagkeshar 3.6 1.8 1.2 0.9 Bay Leaves 16.2 8.1 5.4 4.1 Clove Leaves 4.4 2.2 1.5 1.1

The Cen-Tex Smoker

caliking said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

caliking said:

And fvck. That rogan josh looks fabulous. 

It was. TFJ is out of her mind with these cooks. I am left in the dust as a Simple grill cook/bbq guy. 

After the Chana Masala y’all brought to our last shindig, caliqueen dared anyone to close their eyes and say that a brown aunty hadn’t made it.  

No joke. 

Too kind. We like it but don’t have anything to compare it to. 

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

caliking said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

caliking said:

And fvck. That rogan josh looks fabulous. 

It was. TFJ is out of her mind with these cooks. I am left in the dust as a Simple grill cook/bbq guy. 

After the Chana Masala y’all brought to our last shindig, caliqueen dared anyone to close their eyes and say that a brown aunty hadn’t made it.  

No joke. 

Too kind. We like it but don’t have anything to compare it to. 

No need to compare. Yours is one of the best home versions we've had, across the board. 

caliking

@canugghead - props to you for that endeavour. Never heard of Nagkesar (translates to cobra saffron?) but now I want to know what it tastes like. 

Garam masala is what you want it to be. Like "curry powder". I love seeing what variations folks use.  I've been making a version of Madhur Jaffrey's, that is pretty simple, and has a fair bit of cardamom. Black cumin makes a noticeable difference IMO. 

And you're absolutely right that making it in small batches is the way to go. 

Canugghead

@caliking we've tried different recipes and commercial whole-grain packs, this one is our favourite so I figured it was worth the painstaking divide and copy! Have to remember to try black cumin seeds next time.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Canugghead said:

@caliking we've tried different recipes and commercial whole-grain packs, this one is our favourite so I figured it was worth the painstaking divide and copy! Have to remember to try black cumin seeds next time.

Love the ful/half/third/quarter measurements.  thanks!

Canugghead

@The Cen-Tex Smoker you need a drug dealer's scale though 

Cashfan

I'm a little late to the party, but I didn't have time or energy to cook last week. I wanted to contribute to Steven's thread because of all he did for fellow eggheads. I take a lot from this site, from people like Steven.

Couple of T-bones, caveman style. Forgot how good t-bones were, haven't had one for quite a while. They are win-win for The Grizz (Grizzly) and I; he gets the bone, I get the meat!!!

JohnInCarolina

Some great cooks here.

caliking

@Cashfan not late to the party - just extending the rolling of the smoke in honor of an all around good guy. 

Caveman style is the best way I can  grill a steak. Good eats ya got there

The Cen-Tex Smoker

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Steve left us. This time of year (Cinco De Mayo) was always one of his favorites so we chose it to celebrate the man, the myth, and the legend. If you are cooking this weekend, or not, raise a glass to Steve and all the joy he brought to those around him. If you are so inclined to share a story or a cook in his honor, feel free to post it here or start your own thread. I will be traveling all weekend but I'll find a way to honour (Canadian spelling for my fallen friend) Steve in a way that is befitting a legendary Canadian raccoon eggfest cooler diver.

Have a great weekend everyone!

northGAcock

To Little Steven.....

JohnInCarolina

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2428709#Comment_2428709

At least do him justice old man:

DoubleEgger

lousubcap

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/2428707#Comment_2428707

Thank you for posting this as his birthday is May 7th. I will be cooking something in his honour that evening and pound a few Canadian beers while doing so.