Hey folks,

My girlfriend and I discovered our love of curries at this restaurant back in 2003:

http://darbarrusholme.co.uk/index.html

We used to order the Chicken Handi (http://darbarrusholme.co.uk/menu.html#chefspecial) and I've never been able to get it anywhere else. As you can see, the description is quite vague:

Fresh breast pieces of young chicken, cooked in fresh ginger garlic and coriander and served in a clay pot, in a traditional way.

I remember it had finger chilis in it for definite.

Please give me some advice as to where I can start with this. It would be amazing to cook it for her. I'm currently using the SnS base.

Many thanks in advance

From a very hopeful Floyd 

Floyd

I'm not sure if this will help you or not but I am looking at one of my cookery books called Shezad Husain's Easy Indian Cookery. It is said to feature Balti and Haandi Recipes with Haandi referring to the cooking pot which I can best describe as a wide urn shaped clay pot with handles on the sides.

I would guess that your chicken dish might not be cooked in such a pot but you are looking to replicate that recipe.

There are several chicken dishes in this book:

• Haandi Chicken with Pineapple Chunks
• Mughlai Haandi Chicken in a Rich Sauce
• Haandi Chicken cooked in Green Spices and Herbs
• Haandi Chicken with Leeks
• Haandi Chicken with French Beans
• Haandi Chicken with Whole Fried Onions
• Haandi Chilli Spiced Chicken

I will happily reproduce them here if you think anything sounds close.

Interesting....it's the first time I've seen a menu refer to using "special oil"  (i.e. "rogan josh - the characteristics of the dish are derived from....fried in special oil")

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on February 22, 2010, 10:44 PM
Floyd

I'm not sure if this will help you or not but I am looking at one of my cookery books called Shezad Husain's Easy Indian Cookery. It is said to feature Balti and Haandi Recipes with Haandi referring to the cooking pot which I can best describe as a wide urn shaped clay pot with handles on the sides.

I would guess that your chicken dish might not be cooked in such a pot but you are looking to replicate that recipe.

There are several chicken dishes in this book:

• Haandi Chicken with Pineapple Chunks
• Mughlai Haandi Chicken in a Rich Sauce
• Haandi Chicken cooked in Green Spices and Herbs
• Haandi Chicken with Leeks
• Haandi Chicken with French Beans
• Haandi Chicken with Whole Fried Onions
• Haandi Chilli Spiced Chicken

I will happily reproduce them here if you think anything sounds close.

Hi, thanks for the info! I reckon the Chilli Spiced Chicken looks good. Is it similar to the description on the website?

Cheers

Haandi Chill Spiced Chicken

Ingredients

5 tbps oil
6 large green chillies, slit in the middle
4 fresh curry leaves
1/2 tsp onion seeds
2 onions, diced
2 tsp tamarind pulp
3 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ginger pulp
1 tsp garlic pulp
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 pint water
1kg chicken
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1 tomato diced
1tbsp sesame seeds

Method

• heat oil in pan
• add chillies, fry for 1 minute then remove from pan
• add curry leaves, onion seeds, onions to pan and cook till onions are brown
• mix tamarind, sugar, spices and salt and form into a paste with half the water
• add paste to pan and cook for 2 minutes
• add chicken, stir in, add remaining water and cook for 15-20 minutes
• when chicken is cooked add the coriander, tomato and sesame seeds

Not sure if this is any use to Floyd but let me know how you get on.