Topic: Best day ever!

[Secret Santa]

I've just had the best day out ever

I met up with an ex girlfiend, she's asian and a looker, and we went shopping in a local store that supplies about forty local restaurants. It's not a massive shop but it has absolutely everything. They had a freezer full of Indian fish, there were some massive king fish in there.

Strangely they were out of fresh methi because apparently the season has changed or something like that and they now have to source it from Cyprus. I chewed on some fresh, raw, curry leaf and it reminded me of privet hedge (don't ask!). It's just like an Alladin's cave of Indian goodies, just brilliant. I asked the owner what is the best basmati rice and he recommended tilda or white pearl. I could have spent the whole afternoon in there no problem, but we had gone out intending to go for a curry buffet so we moved on.

We arrived at the curry house, it was the usual fare, several tureens full of about 10 different curries and some starters with salad raitha etc.We tucked into the curry, it was nothing spectacular but palatable and having some of the taste and smell I miss from the old days. Any way, as the waiter cam back to ask if we needed more drink I just decided on the spot to chance my arm and ask to see the kitchens. It was a quiet time, only me and the friend there and one other couple otherwise I wouldn't have asked. To be frank I wouldn't have asked at all if my ex hadn't been with me as I look a bit thugish and I don't think they'd have entertained my request if I'd been on my own. She was my ace in the hole so to speak.

So the waiter said he'd have to ask the chef if it was OK and off he went, meanwhile leaving me turning a bright shade of crimson and made all the worse by my ex loudly procaiming my embarassed state. But holy of holys the waiter returned and said no problem, I said "shall I go now" and he said "yes straight through the door over there" and he followed closely behind and introduced me to the chef. I was glad, first of all, to find that the chef's English was pretty good so I didn't have that hurdle to cross. Initially my brain couldn't keep up with my eyes as I tried to take in as much as possible because I didn't know if I'd get to ask questions. I spied the tandoor in the corner and said "is that the tandoor oven?", "yes" he said "do you want to look indside?" "Oh that'd be great" I said and I relaxed a bit then as he seemed friendly and willing to talk. The oven was gas powered but it had blackened stones about the size of snooker balls in a pan at the bottom, I asked if it was charcoal but he said "no, it's stones"  He then said "it turns up like this", he tweaked a control and the flames increased under and around the pan. "Can I put my hand in?" I asked, he grinned (devilishly I thought) and said "yes go ahead". I stuck my arm in, keeping away from the sides, up to about the elbow and rapidly withdrew it as my hand got hot very quickly. "You do it like this" he said and nonchalantly stuck his whole arm in and just held it there for about five seconds. Despite my wimpish behaviour I couldn't help feeling that I'd undergone some sort of initiation ritual not too far removed from what that chap does on Kung Fu when he picks up a cauldron of hot coals with his bare forearms. I asked him if he seasons his tandoor, he said he does with sugar water when required.

Next to the tandoor was the shelf with his dry spices on. "These are the spices?" I asked somewhat stupidly. "Yes" he replied and started to name them in English, and after each one I said the Indian name. Realising that I knew my stuff he reverted to the Indian names about half way along the shelf and I then repeated the English name. It was like some sort of Euro-Asian comedy double act. I put it down to nerves but he seemed quite amused by it.

The strange thing is that I can't remember all the spices now, there were about ten, but suffice to say that there was nothing there out of the ordinary. Well there was one that doesn't get mentioned here often and that's mix powder. Actually I think we call it restaurant spice mix or something like that on this forum. Well I thought nothing ventured nothing gained and asked "oh, so what's that then?" He said "it's just a mix of other spices" to which I said "ahh I see, it's a secret". He looked a little uncomfortable but he said with a small shrug of the shoulders "no not really" and he proceeded to tell me the mix.

It was

2 parts coriander
2 parts cumin
3 parts Rajah curry powder
4 parts paprika
5 parts turmeric

He was keen to point out that the turmeric and paprika were really only for colour. I asked him which powder is best and he said he preferred Rajah but East End or any other curry powder would do. The funny part was when I asked him what he mixes it up in, expecting him to show me a small tupperware dish or something like that. He strode across the kitchen and picked up a huge yellow bucket, "we fill this" he said with a grin.

I had a quick look aound again and said "is that the curry sauce?" pointing to the single large pot of curry base sitting on the hob. "Yes" he said "we use that in every curry" and he gave it a quick sir. It was a light brown colour with a thin film of red oil on the top. "What's in that?" I asked. He reeled off the standard ingredients: onions, carrot, red and green pepper, fresh coriander, and then we got distracted somehow so that's all I got really.

At leg height next to the cooker were several shelves of precooked ingredients. The meat and chicken was clearly in a thickish curry sauce that it had been cooked in and hadn't been removed from it. There was precooked mushroom again in curry sauce and what I thought was precooked onion, but this turned out to be the balti paste. He got a jar of Pataks balti paste off the shelf and pointing to it said "we use this and add something else to make that".

His pans were well used, long handled, aluminium types and the cooker rings had what looked like three concentric circles, he turned one fully up and it wasn't as high as I'd expected it to be.

At that point I remembered that my ex was waiting alone in the restaurant and reluctantly bade him farewell, shook his hand which was wet because he'd just been stirring a vat of pink prawns as we spoke, and went back.

I think if I learned anything from this it's to pick a quiet day to ask to see their kitchen and take a good looking asian lady with you The chef was very willing to talk and was a pleasant guy.

My Best Day Ever!

The End.

[haldi]

Hi Secret Santa
               A briliant post
Very similar to things I have seen as well
I've never come across precooked mushrooms though (there's always something new)
I'm glad you got the spice mix breakdown
Although I've been told before, I somehow doubted it.
The stones you mentioned for the tandoor, get superheated.
I think they can be used on gas powered barbeques too
Nobody seems to use charcoal tandoors anymore
Thanks for the post!

[Graeme]

Hi,

Secret Santa it sounds like a nice chill out day.

[Yousef]

Hi Secret Santa,

What an amazing post , i really enjoyed reading that.
If you don't mind i will post that spice mix in the supplementry recipes section for all to enjoy.

I am yet to pluck up the courage to actually get into a kitchen but respect to you for doing and thanks for posting the findings here.

Cheers,
Stew

[Jeera]

Santa, That was more interesting than the first episode of Lost

Great stuff... I need to pluck up the courage to get behind the scenes too.

Well done !!

[Secret Santa]

I've never come across precooked mushrooms though (there's always something new)

Hi haldi

they were cooked in the same manner as the chicken and meat(lamb) in that they were still in the sauce/curry that they had been cooked in. I've seen this on several programmes on telly so i think it's a pretty common practice. In other words they don't precook the ingredients and then remove them from the cooking sauce, it's just left as is and this has got to influence the final flavour of the curry.

[Secret Santa]

If you don't mind i will post that spice mix in the supplementry recipes section for all to enjoy.

No problem Stew. I think it's pretty much like the other spice mixes we have though. The point that was significant was that it's called "mix powder" by the chefs, again this is something I've seen on numerous TV progs.

[Secret Santa]

Thanks jeera.

I just wished I had more time with the chef, in total it was probably less than five minutes. When I got home and thought about the experience I could have kicked myself for all the questions I could have asked but just didn't think of or didn't have time for. Maybe next time.

[mike travis]

Nice one Santa,  looks like you are in there my friend. Maybe next time he might let you watch him cook something, or even let you have a go... ;D

[Curry King]

Great post and backs up a lot of what is already on the site.  It's always good to get a first hand look, it changed my curry making for the better even though like yourself I struggled to remember exact details.

Great stuff