Topic: Chicken biryani from a take away

[George]

Here are a couple more photos of a BIR chicken biryani from yet another take away. I'm posting these as an idea of what to aim for. Actually, it got me thinking: "why am I wasting ?6.50 on this stuff, apart from watching the chef make it, and to pick it apart a bit when I get home?"

The overall meal rice+sauce was pleasant enough, but nothing special (again) if I'm honest. The rice/chicken bit, in particular, had very little flavour. It was just pleasant. If I'd made this - what with my sense of smell dulled by the cooking process - then I would almost certainly have thought I'd failed! i.e that it wasn't as good as from a BIR. But this was from a BIR!

I'd used the take away before about 5 years ago but the management has changed since then, they told me.

Once more, I found it impossible to follow exactly what was going on, with so many bits of this and that being added. General observations were:
- that the chef used less oil than the previous place I tried, and it showed in the curry sauce, too
- he added small quantities of base sauce 3-4 times, rather than a larger quantity in one go

Then the owner distracted me with conversation when he might have guessed I was watching too closely!

Regards
George

[extrahotchillie]

Like I said you can make better, because you have pride in your cooking, look no more, just cook it and enjoy. :

[George]

Like I said you can make better, because you have pride in your cooking, look no more, just cook it and enjoy. :

ehc

I think you might be right. We should be able to do much better with this particular dish than any of the 3 BIR take-aways I've now tried, recently. Ordering the same dish, night after night, in so short a time period, from different places, has let me decide that they do vary quite a bit - more than I previously believed - in flavour and oil level, etc. The thing they all share is that common BIR 'taste', and that this really is junk food, taste wise, health wise, any wise. They were all an abomination of what a proper biryani should be like.

Here are some photos of the chicken biryani I had last night. This place had a door on the kitchen so I couldn't see.

- the rice/chicken had more flavour
- the veg sauce was back to being very oily
- the chunks of vegetables were bigger than before
- they added a whole hard-boiled egg to the rice
- it cost ?1 less than the previous place - only ?5.50 here - and they also threw in some welcome extras, making it much better value.

Regards
George

[DARTHPHALL]

Holey Toledo !!!!
Look at all that Oil  .
I will endeavor to take a photo of my locals Biryani in the next month or so, as it tastes great & looks nice.
I have to admit all the Oil in the Curry would put me right off,my local manages to make smashing curries without 60 litres of Oil per portion,if you ever come to Cornwall George give http://www.maharajah-restaurant.co.uk/  a go.
I remember you saying its all the Oil that puts you off from buying Take-aways i don't blame you is the Biryani Castrol or BP ? ;D

Yours .....DARTHPHALL.....

[Curry King]

where in country are you George as I wouldn't even get a chicken vindaloo for ?5.50 where I am let alone all the gubbins you got with it 

[George]

CK

The take-aways I use are in south Hertfordshire, not far from the north edge of the M25. The last place I tried, which gave me the free extras, would charge ?3.95 for a chicken vindaloo and ?1.70 for pilau rice. My 'analysis' of their oily vegetable sauce showed that it was also packed with vegetables, at least compared to the first place I tried (and placed photos on another thread), which had very few vegetables in the sauce.

If anyone else feels like trying a chicken biryani, not least so they can place some photos here, that would be great.

Regards
George



 

[DARTHPHALL]

I'm going to have another Biryani soon George, i will definitely post some picies.
Would that not be a good idea !!
Why don't we have a BIR Curry analysis section, were we buy different dishes then analyze the ingredients etc..etc..it could give us some insight into the BIR mystery ( yikes !!! If it wasn't for those pesky kids i would have found the taste & started my own BIR & took over the world muhahahahahaaaa !!!) Skooby dooooooo!!!!!  ;D

[George]

Why don't we have a BIR Curry analysis section, were we buy different dishes then analyze the ingredients etc..etc..it could give us some insight into the BIR mystery...

Darth

Good idea. A slightly more methodical approach, harnessing the efforts of quite a large team, must produce better results, more quickly. I must get down to Newquay to try your M restaurant, before much longer, too. Perhaps in the summer. If I visit, I'll let you know in advance and perhaps we can meet there.

Regards
George

[DARTHPHALL]

Definitely George give me an E-mail before you visit,the whole Resteraunt is closed for a full on re-fit at the mo,check the site for full info (its getting bigger) & they're adding more dishes to their Menu,hope it doesn't change the overall flavor.