BIR Curry Anyone?

[RamboFB]

As most people in the UK do, I love nothing better than a good curry. British Indian Restaurant (BIR) was firmly part of British culture. I say "was" as most people have noticed BIR is sadly in decline. This man Steven Heap will explain in great detail the reasons why. Check his channel out, it is superb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFFMeH_qREE

Which leads me onto my next point, getting a decent BIR style curry these days can be tricky, depending on where you live. I think this in itself is driving more home chefs to dabble in the great unknown of BIR cooking. Please note BIR cooking is not to be confused with home style or authentic Indian cooking, which is also absolutely delicious.

I would like to talk a bit about BIR cooking, if anyone would like to share there thoughts. How did that base gravy go? Seasoned oil or not? What pans do you use? How many times did you get the rice wrong lol?

 

[RamboFB]

There was a big thread on this a few years ago iirc. Can't see it right now but from what I remember the results people posted looked delicious.

I've dabbled in the past but I've got out of the habit of making curries (love them but there's so many other things I also want to make).

Certainly sounds interesting. There is quite a few good books out now on the topic. I have had mixed results myself.

To be honest if you are doing the whole thing from scratch, making your base, ginger/garlic paste, spice blends etc it can really take a long time.

It is worth though it when you know exactly what has went in to it and you can use the best quality ingredients.

Cool, made anything good recently?

 

[RamboFB]

In he last year I've been taught how to make a proper Indian curry from scratch and it's amazing to taste a good curry at home.

Very nice. I would like to hear more. What kind of curry do you make?

 

[RamboFB]

Not sure what one it is to be honest,the women who taught me is Indian but don't know what region she is from.
The curry involves...
Onions
Chopped tomatoes
Garlic
Ginger
Turmeric
Garam masala
Chillies
And I've made the curry with...
Beef
Chicken
Pork
Goat
I cook it without chillies for my daughter and it's so tasty.

Awesome thanks for sharing. I am familiar with this style of curry. This is definitely more a home style curry and will be absolutely delicious. This simple amount of ingredients works well because you can taste each element. I have made something similar. I think a few key principles for me personally was to use a lot of oil, say 4 tbsp per 500g chicken. I feel this really gets those onions golden brown, a pinch of salt helps also. I think also using chicken on the bone would be a good way to go.

I know what you mean with children and spicy food. My younger sister is the exact same.

My partner doesn't like it too hot either but over time I have gradually turned the heat up. We are now at the stage were if it doesn't have 3 chilies in the curry, it's not hot enough.

 

[RamboFB]

I'm always cooking BIR curries at home, I can't get enough of them. I do a really good vindaloo, madras and jalfrezi. Got the taste/heat combo just right, so the latter doesn't take away from the over all taste of the dish. I use seasoned oil as I find it gives that extra layer of flavour.

I use an aluminum pan, as nothing comes close to getting that caramelized goodness around the side of the pan. I do use a wooden spoon though, as I'm not a huge fan of scraping the pan.

I've posted a few pictures of my curries on here, i'll see if I can find them.

Spoiler: Recipe

Spice Mix

Ingredients:

4 tbsp coriander powder (freshly ground seeds is best)
2 tbsp cumin powder (freshly ground seeds is best)
4 tbsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp Mild curry powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala

This will make for quite a few curries, so just mix and store.

Base

Ingredients:

- 600g Brown onions
- 25g Fresh garlic
- 15g Fresh ginger
- 40g Tomato paste
- 175g Fresh tomato
- 40g Carrot
- 40g Green capsicum (or red if you prefer)
- 20g Coriander stalks/roots
- 1 Heaped tsp curry powder (any decent mild or medium one will do)
- 3 Heaped tsp spice mix
- 1 Heaped tsp salt
- 125ml Vegetable oil (or sunflower or canola oil if you prefer)
- 1600ml Water

Method:

- Wash and coarsely chop all vegetables, tomatoes and coriander stalks/roots.
- Place all ingredients (except the coriander, spice mix and curry powder) in a large saucepan.
- Cover the pan and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Gently simmer for about 60 minutes (or until all the vegetables are soft).
- Add curry powder and spice mix.
- Simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- Add coriander stalks and allow to cool.
- Blend to a soup-like consistency when sufficiently cool.
- Use immediately, store in a fridge (for 3 days max) or freeze in suitable airtight containers.


Curry

Ingredients:

- 300g Skinless chicken breast (chopped into approximately 1 inch cubes)
- 75 ml (4 - 5 tbsp) Vegetable oil
- 2 tsp Fresh garlic (puréed)
- 0.5 tsp Fresh ginger (puréed)
- 1.5 tbsp Tomato paste (diluted to a purée with 5 tbsp water)
- 300ml Curry base
- 1 tsp Spice mix
- 1 tsp Curry powder (any decent mild or medium one, or paste, will do)
- 2 tsp Chilli powder (or more to taste)
- 0.25 tsp Milled black peppercorns
- 0.5 tsp Salt (or to taste)
- 2 tsp Sugar (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp Vinegar (or to taste, again optional)
- Fresh chopped coriander (to taste)
- 1 Par-cooked potato (halved) - optional
- 1 tsp Fresh chillies (finely chopped) - optional


Method:

- Heat oil in suitable pan until almost smoking.
- Add garlic and ginger (and fresh chillies, if using) and fry, for a minute or so, with continuous stirring (do not burn!).
- Remove from heat and add chilli powder, black pepper, spice mix, curry powder (or paste) and tandoori masala (if using).
- Immediately add tomato purée, stirring continually.
- Fry for 30 seconds or so, on high heat, with continuous stirring (do not burn!).
- Add a ladle of curry base and stir.
- Add chicken and stir in, coating it.
- Continue to add the curry base, a ladle at a time, stirring occasionally as the water evaporates and the sauce thickens.
- Add salt, sugar and vinegar to taste and stir.
- Add par-cooked potato (if using).
- Continue to simmer, on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the oil begins to separate (5 to 10 minutes).
- Add fresh coriander to taste.
- Serve.

So where did you buy this curry from, lol? Honestly looks amazing, lovely color and the oil floats are a good sign for me.

You mentioned that you use a seasoned oil, although did you mention how you achieve this? Fry the onion bhajis route?

I don't use aluminum pans, yet!!!! I found them hard to get a hold of so I settled for stainless steel pan that has an aluminum filling. The only thing I have noticed is that the pan is a little too heavy to throw about but my results have been decent.

Your base and mix powder looks good, I may well try out one day.

Thanks for sharing.

Anyone who likes to cook BIR curries needs this book

https://www.worldofbooks.com/the-mo...zwE36zavfWupngKDpl5JY4e8x8axZa1BoC2LwQAvD_BwE

I have it and the recipes are spot on. The chicken tikka recipe, done on the barbie, is exquisite. For the price of it, you need this book in your life. Gives you recipes for all the spice mixes and gravies too.

Thanks for the tip.

The books I have to date are:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Tha...8&qid=1529430821&sr=8-3&keywords=julian+voigt

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Tha...8&qid=1529430821&sr=8-2&keywords=julian+voigt

https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-In...TF8&qid=1529430857&sr=1-4&keywords=dan+toombs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indian-Coo...id=1529430879&sr=1-6&keywords=indian+cookbook

I tried this once. I did a big batch of base sauce and did a chicken masala (to keep the mrs happy)

It was great apart from I used 3 tablespoons of I think turmeric instead of 3 teaspoons, which gave the whole thing a strange metallic undertone that was hard to ignore

unfortunately it was in the base sauce, so I ended up just binning it all. It was a LOT of effort, so I've not had the motivation to try again, but I think perhaps now is the time, as it tasted pretty legit apart from that one issue.

I was shocked by the amount of vegetable oil and cream in it :O

Tumeric is a bad one to overdo, it will ruin the curry. I hope you give it another go.

BIR cooking does use a lot of oil. It make sense though when you analyse the food science.

I've fairly recently started cooking BIR curries, using recipes from Al's Kitchen on YouTube.

I had tried cooking curries before without using base gravy and it just wasn't anything like from a restaurant.

So I cooked a batch of base gravy, got my spices from an apparent decent source and use an aluminium pan and they're so much better and taste as good, if not better than from a restaurant.

I've only made Korma, Tikka Masala & Pasanda, both me and my wife aren't massive lovers of heat and we prefer creamy curries.

I am glad you have had some success, here are a few other channels I would strongly recommend

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcC3gqh4wEnHnHno4I8urmg

https://www.youtube.com/user/MistyRicardo

https://www.youtube.com/user/leviteish

 

[RamboFB]

has that guy owned any indian restaurants? has he ever been to india?

where is his citation for 80% of restaurants in india and the UK are owned by Bangladeshi's? that is complete BS. anyway the video is 30 mins long and full of waffling so i stopped listening after that.

the reason for the decline is many;

all you can eat buffets. this is what the market wants. because it's cheap and all you can eat. buffets need a high turnover of seats to work so on quiet days you make huge losses. buffets have killed it. because if you don't do buffet you get phone calls all the time asking do you do a buffet. if you say no then no booking. the main market is buffets which is basically crap food. so if you cater to the masses. you end up losing the high end clientele who want a decent indian which hasn't been lying in a lukewarm waterbath for 5+ hours. because it's hard to do both correctly. your a la carte dishes suffer as you cater mainly for buffet. also when a lot of people see the prices on a la carte then see buffet for 9.99 they say we will just take the buffet. a la carte is where the real money is.

there is also another factor. 80% of kitchen staff 10 years ago and before that were all illegal. there has been a huge crackdown on this in the past 10 years. if you are caught now you get fined like 20K per illegal worker. so now you need to employ british chefs. simply none of which are willing to work for the wages so then wages had to increase. also there simply isn't enough british indian chefs to cater for all the british indian restaurants. india has 1 billion indians in it. the UK maybe like what 0.5 million if even that? of which a handful will be chefs. also it's usually 99% of the time male chefs. mainly due to how backwards india is and this progresses through into indian business's. so you can count out most females from taking up a job in the kitchen even though they will be 99% of the time doing the authentic indian cooking at home. so increase in wage bill, lack of quality chef's due to crackdown on illegals.

also the lack of authenticity. BIR is an abomination. it's disgusting and quite frankly easy to replicate by people with little cooking skills. the only part which isn't is the tandoor oven. where the naan's are made. you can easily make a tikka on a grill, bbq, etc now. however naan can only be done right with a tandoor or similar hot stone oven. if you tried proper authentic curries you would realise how much more tastier they are. people would then be willing to pay for this as it's hard to replicate. however they ruined it for themselves going for the bland BIR market with your kormas, chasni's and tikka masalas. they have all been replicated now by the likes of asda, etc.

these 3 IMO have been the biggest factors. there are others. the recession. people do more shopping online so they don't go out as much any more, whereas before they may have stopped after a shopping spree to have a meal they don't go out at all. peoples disposable income is less, etc.

to cook a proper indian needs fresh spices. not the big bags of crap you buy in shops these days. it's also a lot more than just garam masala, turmeric and chilli powder. coriander seed, jeera, mustard seeds, plus many many more. theres up to 30 different ones you could use stuff like methi, cardamom, clove, cassia bark, fenugreek, saffron, etc. my mother law makes all hers fresh from the raw ingredients. using a coffee been grinder to grind them up. it's 100 times better than the crap you get in the shops.

He worked in one. I am not sure if he lived in India but I am sure he lived in Asia for some time, how long? Not sure.

I am not sure where he is getting his information from and I have no information to support or deny that claim.

I think cheap food has always been available to the customer, if its good quality or not. I am not sure if BIR restaurants can use this one as surely all restaurants will have been affected by this then? If the food is good and well priced customers will come. Will it be packed every night, who knows?? But if you have a theory or principle and you believe in it and follow then success must be possible.

Steven touched on this point in the video so it's disapointing you didn't give it a try.

I disagree with your comment about BIR being disgusting, just my opinion. If BIR is done right and care is taken, BIR can be one the best restaurant experiences around, again just my opinion. I also do not agree that no skill is involved. I agree that a restaurant that is happy throwing out any old rubbish because they believe the dumb customer will not know the difference may not use much skill, if any. This style of restaurant may survive in a small community for many years without competition. I am sure this happens all over the country. This is only one side of the coin though, there are plenty of restaurant's out there that are prepared to work hard and make special food for their customers. The skill involved is these places is breathtaking.

So what makes you think BIR restaurants don't use fresh spices and all the other spices that you have mentioned?

My point in summary is not all places are the same. Some restaurants have done nothing to change and complain and look for excuses when their business no longer takes the profits it used to. There are other restaurants though that have adopted and moved forward with the times, these are the places that get my respect.

 

[RamboFB]

I just noticed you are in Glasgow.

What places would you say are decent?

I can name 2 in the city centre, 2 in the south side and 1 in East Dunbartonshire.

Problem is consistency. I have been to one in the city centre 4 times within say 6 months and had 2 outstanding meals and 2 I wouldn't have bothered going in for. But I have very high standards.

As for fresh spices most places if not all will simply just buy in from a wholesaler. its a lot of work and there is no way they would want to do that week in week out when they can grab a 2kg bag from their suppliers.

My favourite place to eat from at the moment is curry pot on Dumbarton Road, west end. Funny thing is I hadn't really bothered with Indian food for years because like yourself because the food just wasn't up to par and I had given up. One night I was driving past the place with the window down and someone opened the door to the place and I could smell something marvelous. I made a mental note to try it. It's actually a very small restaurant, it only sits about 12 so I normally takeaway. The food is amazing I have yet to try a place that has beaten it. My partner and I go out sometimes to try Indian food etc and we always look at each other and "No it doesn't beat curry pot" lol. Their chicken tikka masala is so complex in flavour, I have tried many times to replicate it but failed but each time I get 1% closer. If you know it great, if you don't try it.

A few more worthy mentions, chaakoo bombay cafe, obsession of india and the dhabba.

Where do you like to eat?

I don't know I have quite a bit of experience with spices and asian food and know to get the best results, using the freshest spices does make a big difference, cant see why restaurants wouldn't take advantage of this. Also whole spices are roughly the same price if not cheaper than ground. It's simply a case of using there staff to prepare which does take longer but why cook food to take short cuts, unless you have no intention of pleasing your customers.

 

[RamboFB]

When you make the base you can skim some of the oil off the top before blending.

As for base sauce, the last one I made I added 2 stalks of celery and it was the best base sauce I have made to date. You don't often see celery in online recipes and I'm not even sure where I got the recipe from now, i'll have to have a look to see if I still have it.

I also make my own curry powder by buying whole spices, toasting them in a hot pan and then grinding them into powder. Including bay leavers, cinamon bark etc. So much better than shop bought powder, even the good stuff like Natco etc. Also smells AMAZING when you're toasting all the spices.

So for seasoned oil I use Steven heap's seasoned oil. I would say this was a major step forward for me. The curries I have made have been so much better. Before using it I would say I was about 40% there, this took me to %70. Also what I do is use the seasoned oil for the base, then skim extra oil at the end, this is effectively double seasoned oil.

It makes sense when you think about it. Restaurant or takeaways don't like to waste anything, waste = money so that's a fact. BIR restaurant's are setup to make money, so everything on that menu is chosen to make profit, nothing wrong with at all, just good business. So all the pakoras, onion bhajis and whatever else require spices to make them tasty. Now spices cost money. So the oil that this is all getting fried in has now lots of spiced flavour infused. What to do with it, throw it away? If think not, oil is also expensive but more than that you have deeply infused flavour right there. So I think its a fact that most places will re use this oil to make there base and curries so that there not wasting precious oil and using less spice in the final dish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxydx87kpas

All this talk of recipes and no one has posted any. Come on lets see some favorite base sauces and overall curries. I tend to just wing it when making curries, see what spices ive got, usually start with some blended up onion and a tin of chopped tomatoes and go from there.
My main flavors tend to be the actual fresh chilies i use, be it scotch bonnet or naga.

Some restaurants i find using the base sauce approach just all taste the same, just hotter versions of each other. My wife was particularly fond of a karahi but since closing down have never found one like it. It was rather sweet and dark, others tried since just taste like a typical bhuna or generic tomato flavored curry.

So this was best base gravy I ever made.

Ingredients:

Base veg

200ml seasoned oil, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxydx87kpas
10 chicken thighs de-boned and skinned, use the bones and skin keep the flesh for something else
Enough onions sliced to fill a 3L pot
2 carrots chopped
3 green chilies chopped
2 bay leafs
1 large stick cinnamon. (try to get cassia bark)
1 big bunch of fresh fenugreek chopped rough or methi leaves (you can get them in morrison's) if not using use 1 tbsp kasoori methi.
4 tbsp garlic/ginger paste.
Stalks of a big bunch of corriander choped rough, keep the leaves for something else or add to gravy your choice.
1 tsp salt

Spiced base

200ml seasoned oil, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxydx87kpas
seeds from 2 black cardamon
seeds from 4 green cardamon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp tumeric
4 cloves
10 black peppercorns
2 kashmiri chilies
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tin of tomatoes.

Method

Add everything from base veg section in a 3L pot cover everything water. Cook on medium heat for 1 hour, onions should be melted. Once done remove bay leaf, cinnamon, chicken bones and skin, leave with lid on to cool for 3 hours.

Grind all the spices until you have a course powder, go fine if you want. set aside.

Heat oil in a separate pan, add tomato puree cook for a few mins, add tin tomatoes, cook until well cooked and sweet, not too high heat.

Add you all your spices, keep your heat low, cook until the oil is oozing out again.

Add spiced base to base veg and bring back to boil, simmer on low heat for 30 mins. Taste it should be fairly sweet if not cook it more.

Blend to your desire.

I will add some curries I made later.

 

[RamboFB]

chakoo is the one i mentioned inconsistent. 2 times was brilliant and 2 times meh.

kebabish was amazing until it burned down. so RIP.

tuk tuk was really good the one time i went. it does street food of india and stuff you won't find anywhere else. don't order what you would normally order. it's also kind of like tapas where you want to order say 2-3 starters and 2-3 mains between 2. remember don't order what you normally would from an indian in this place. oh and it's BYOB so drinks are cheap i think there is a 50p recycling fee per drink you bring.

rasoi in lenzie again is decent but expensive. make sure you go either on their tapas night or a fri/sat, other days it isn't as busy and most likely the head chef will be off. i did hear a rumour this place went bust so i'd phone to make sure or the guy had other business's which went bust and this is okay.

dishoom in edinburgh is really good. expensive but probably the best i've had outside my own home or when cooked especially for us by chefs i know.

ranjit's kitchen has amazing reviews but when i went i felt the food was bland. like no salt or spice had been added. however everyone i know raves about it. could have been an off day for the chef. this place only does authentic cuisine and therefore it's purely vegetarian. no alcohol either. i would give this place a try if you are nearby. it's the only one which does 100% authentic however the time i went it was missing seasoning. the food was great just it could have done with chilli and salt. i would go back again to try because i feel it must have just been an off day for the chef. or maybe they are catering to British taste buds. so i would need to go back to verify.

i tend to not eat indian when i'm out because i know i can cook it 100 times better myself.

if you like dhabba then balbirs in the west end is pretty similar. it's a decent place but my standards are very high. both places never did anything for me however others rave about them.

never tried obsession of india but i've heard of it. i'll look into curry pot never heard of it.

Certainly a few more places to add on the list. Thanks.

Defo try curry pot, you will be pleased and if you can work out their chicken tikka masala curry i would be very impressed.

that guy is using extra virgin olive oil = massive fail. this should never be used to fry stuff especially curries. the guy doesn't have a clue. it's for using on salads and pizzas. idiots like jamie oliver have made everyone think it's healthy and use it wherever they can.

use ghee if you want to make a curry or to be even healthier use coconut oil. i have never used ghee. purely coconut oil for me.

if you know what you are doing you should notice the difference straight away. trust me use coconut oil and you will see what i mean.

No he isn’t, its rapeseed oil. Completely fine, in fact very recommended for curries. Totally agree no olive oil for curries, too low smoking point and strong flavour.

Well ghee can be used but i don’t think its used all the time. Dont forget India is a massive diverse country. Every region has its own preferences for choice of oils etc.

I have used coconut oil, it’s one of my favourites although probably not used much in BIR cooking.

You certainly sound more of a fan of the homestyle/authentic cooking! I also love this style of cooking.

 

[RamboFB]

He says extra virgin olive oil in the video for the seasoning. Its asda extra special bottles too.

He may have said it by mistake, its not really important. What is important is that we both agree olive oil should never be used.

Are you going to share one of your recipes?

 

[RamboFB]

I know it's cheating but the spice tailor kits you can get in most supermarkets are fantastic, restaurant quality curry I'd say.

It's given me encouragement to try something closer to what you guys are discussing.

The old school curry does certainly seem to be dying off, there were loads in Nottingham but over the last 10 years they've eroded, partly as someone said due to cracking down on illegal work and I think the old owners are retiring. I'm talking about the flock wallpaper and tired carpet types!

I have tried a few things in the past such as pataks etc. You could get a decent curry I found but it was nowhere near what I would expect to pay for in BIR restaurant.

You should give it a try. The base I made will not let you down. Its a lot of work but its worth it. I am going to post some curries tonight.

I think the industry is really struggling to find talented young chefs now. Its a shame.

 

[RamboFB]

So going to have a go soon, ordered a book will then get the spices sorted and make some base sauce. Any benefit to coconut oil of rapeseed oil which i use for almost all cooking.

Got this book, its somewhere to start.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Curry-Guy-...TF8&qid=1529422196&sr=8-2&keywords=curry+guy&

Smashing stuff. I hope you get some good results.

I would prefer to use rapeseed oil, crisp and dry is a good brand to use and its cheap.

I dont think many BIR places would use coconut oil in big batches, its too expensive.

Please let us know if you get any luck with it.

I am going to be doing a base again soon.

 

[RamboFB]

the thing is coconut oil isn't really proper fat. it's medium chain triglycerides. it is used by the body like a carb. it increases good cholesterol within your system and decreases bad cholesterol. it also has a high smoking point. i use it in everything i cook and i use tonnes of it because it's one of the healthiest things you can eat. this helps when cooking curries because they need a lot of oil to cook properly.

i don't have any recipes as such. i do everything off the top of my head. i adjust it depending on whether i am making a sabjee or curry. i'll give you 2 examples below.

you make a tharka ; fry onions for a few mins and use plenty of coconut oil, add fresh chopped ginger and garlic, fry some more, plenty of stirring, constant stirring, add your fresh spices, salt, etc and i like to add my fresh green chillies at this stage too however some people do it after the tomatoes. now add chopped tomatoes after the spices have only been in the pan for maybe 5 seconds. you don't want to burn the spices. i usually just use tinned tomatoes chopped. if you aren't using fresh spices instead of chopped tomatoes use a tin of curry in a jar from the supermarket something like either of the below. this will make up for not using fresh spices otherwise it will come out bland.

https://groceries.asda.com/product/curry-cooking-sauces/sharwoods-madras-hot-curry-sauce/60086686

https://groceries.asda.com/product/...-madras-spice-simmer-curry-sauce/910001936162

now you can add pretty much whatever meat you want and let it cook on a low heat until the meat is ready.


daal - make tharka same as above. but don't add a full tin of chopped tomatoes or a jar of sauce. add just a tiny bit of chopped tomatoes. 2 large spoonfuls. then throw the tharka into a pressure cooker, add water and lentils and let it cook in pressure cooker for 30-45 minutes.


my mother in law makes all my spices for me fresh and she comes round every 2-3 months and tops up my spice rack. so i wouldn't be able to name them all as i don't buy them. i know what goes into what though. for example there are these tiny seeds that i don't use at all. the wife uses them for something. maybe making indian tea. i don't really drink tea so i've never made it.

i ran an indian restaurant for like 5 years. i knew how to cook before hand but i honed my craft there, it's why my standards are far higher. learned how to make naan breads. singed all the hair off my arms making them, etc. fresh spices transforms a dish. you can't buy what my mother in law makes anywhere. there is one thing i need to learn how to make and that is my aunts home made achaar, from big chillies. i ate like 3 jars the last time i visited her in india it was her years supply lol. i'll be visiting her daughter in canada next month so i'll try and get the recipe off her then.

most of the stuff i cook you normally won't have had.

potato and carrot sabjee
potato and califlour
multiple types of daal

here is a video showing you proper authentic cuisine, it's not a great video but i can't be bothered trying to find one right now i gotta go get ready

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjauC9ad8Wo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRwQ7n9431s

stuff like that is what is ate most of the time in india.

It certainly sounds like you know your authentic cooking well. As I have previously said I also really like this style of food and can understand why you have a passion for it.

The techniques you have described are what I would expect from someone who cooks the more authentic indian food we have spoken about.

Wow, if you ran a restaurant then you must be very experienced. What kind of food did your restaurant do? Was it more authentic style food.

Yes i have made plenty of daals and potato curries with cauliflower. I can post some actual recipes tonight.

 

[RamboFB]

Went to the market and got the rest of the spices and supplies i was missing.
Made a batch of garlic and ginger and put it in the freezer in 2tbsp portions. Tomorrow i will make a batch of Garam Masala and Mixed Powder.

Then maybe Monday will be having a go at Chicken Jalfrezi.

Only thing i couldn't find was dried methi, but i got some fresh instead.

Sounds good, hope you got a good price for everything?

I would like to hear how this turns out for you.

To be honest the fresh methi is better and then make dried methi from there. Plenty of guides on google of how to do this.

 

[RamboFB]

Has anyone ever experimented with magic sauce or sometimes called tikka masala sauce? It could maybe even be called red gravy in some places. For anyone who doesn't know what it is, it is a highly seasoned sauce that would typically be classed as a finishing item. It generally will be heavy on the big spices cumin, coriander and fenugreek. I think fenugreek is a big one in this sauce, almost like an msg type effect, very potent. Yoghurt, vinegar and mint will also be big in this sauce. I made one myself but I was disappointed simply because the recipe I used contained pataks paste. I could smell and taste it in the final sauce which I didn't like. I always intended to make the sauce again and wondered if anyone had any success?

 

[RamboFB]

Went to the market and got the rest of the spices and supplies i was missing.
Made a batch of garlic and ginger and put it in the freezer in 2tbsp portions. Tomorrow i will make a batch of Garam Masala and Mixed Powder.

Then maybe Monday will be having a go at Chicken Jalfrezi.

Only thing i couldn't find was dried methi, but i got some fresh instead.

Get any luck with the curry?

 

[RamboFB]

Yes it was okay, not quite what I was expecting but better than most recipes I have tried for jalfrezi.

So was everything from the Dan Toombs book? To be honest I have his first book and I didn't rate it at all.

What was it lacking?

 

[RamboFB]

Not sure exactly.
Need to find another book to try then.

This is my fav book! Learned a lot. This guy actually ran a successful takeaway.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Tha...8&qid=1530220502&sr=8-3&keywords=julian+voigt

 

[RamboFB]

This is one of my many efforts, not done one in a while though. Time to get going again.

Have a watch of Misty Ricardo https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyxfA87wXcZ-Ky_JCJVr9yw and Al's Kitchen https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC95tDLezE8WD3p3tBRBVjfw

Looks very nice. Looks thick and just enough sauce to coat the meat. What are you calling this creation?

I know them both well. I really like Steven Heap.

 

[RamboFB]

I've done a ton of research into BIR Naan, made a load of recipes from other websites that claim to be Naan... bbc etc and they've all failed.

If you're doing home BIR, and want a top naan then this is your only video (guys voice is amusing but stay with it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nypVcrfz6dk

I also like this guys channel. I feel this is closer to what I am looking for from my curries. He certainly has the inside knowledge on his side. I was a bit annoyed when he showed the recipe for his base gravy and then added "something" that he didn't explain what it was.

I think in general to get that flavour we are looking for its a combination of certain things all added together. I think seasoned oil play's a big part in the flavour and of course the base. Then I think technique is massive. If you watch you few videos on youtube of inside Indian restaurants you can see a couple of things that they are doing. They always seem to cook on aggressively high heat which in turns producing the "flaming" affect in which the oil catches fire. This creates the smokey taste you get from some BIR curries, but also the high heat really helps to caramelize the ingredients creating the intense flavour required.