Curry Recipes Online
Beginners Guide => Trainee Chefs / Beginners Questions => Topic started by: goncalo on January 23, 2013, 04:36 PM
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This is mostly food for thought.
When I lived in Cambridge, I used to take a lot of taxis to and from the towncenter, I lived off north of Cambridge near Milton. Most of the taxi drivers in Cambridge are bangla and they claim to have been chef (or still being chef at night time) in the past 10-20 years both in the bangladesh and in UK (particularly Cambridge).
Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.
So I asked him if he would take 100 pounds to teach me how to cook. I also added I would buy everything else needed and have a kitchen where to practice this. I just needed his help. He said "Yes, absolutely. I'll even help you making the mixes and have everything ready, the powders in the right portions, etc, so so you can cook a meal in 10-15mins. At the time, I had no idea what real BIR cooking entailed, garabi wasn't even on my best dreams, so bear with me when I say that his comments had a big wow factor.
I was broke at the time, so I postponed the lessons. The following day, I ordered from the takeaway of his master and spoke to the chef and asked him to prepare my meal exclusively and that I had been sent by the-taxi-driver-s-name. His curries ranged from very good to very poor. He was impressive with chiekn tikka, chicken jalfrezi, chicken tikka shatkora and his bombay aloo (The best I've ever had!). His korma was horrible! On one fine day, I thought I'd ask whether Ali (the master) had any interest in teaching me how to do it and I extended the same offer. He laughed in a nice way (he was an incredibly friendly and humble chap!) and said "a lot of the tricks are in the timings and that is something I can't teach easily in one day. I've started cooking when I was 8 years old" (he sounded to be in his 50s) "but sure. Let's plan it. I can't do this week as I have a wedding, but next week you can come in at lunch time and I'll show you how to prepare one or two dishes."; Sadly, the "It can't be this week" dragged on and on for a few weeks until I ended up not finding the time as I was moving back to Ireland by the time he called me and I had a ton of stuff to do before my departure. With that said (apologies for lengthy write-up), it makes me wonder why don't we all contribute 10-50 pounds towards clarity in the BIR taste?
I'm pretty sure there is a ton of other curry chefs from the 80s reformed and/or driving taxis who would easily take in the 100-150 pounds to teach the art. And, I know a few people have already attended courses, but what about singling out a specific chef that you know is a trusty achiever of the bir taste?
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This is mostly food for thought.
When I lived in Cambridge, I used to take a lot of taxis to and from the towncenter, I lived off north of Cambridge near Milton. Most of the taxi drivers in Cambridge are bangla and they claim to have been chef (or still being chef at night time) in the past 10-20 years both in the bangladesh and in UK (particularly Cambridge).
Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.
So I asked him if he would take 100 pounds to teach me how to cook. I also added I would buy everything else needed and have a kitchen where to practice this. I just needed his help. He said "Yes, absolutely. I'll even help you making the mixes and have everything ready, the powders in the right portions, etc, so so you can cook a meal in 10-15mins. At the time, I had no idea what real BIR cooking entailed, garabi wasn't even on my best dreams, so bear with me when I say that his comments had a big wow factor.
I was broke at the time, so I postponed the lessons. The following day, I ordered from the takeaway of his master and spoke to the chef and asked him to prepare my meal exclusively and that I had been sent by the-taxi-driver-s-name. His curries ranged from very good to very poor. He was impressive with chiekn tikka, chicken jalfrezi, chicken tikka shatkora and his bombay aloo (The best I've ever had!). His korma was horrible! On one fine day, I thought I'd ask whether Ali (the master) had any interest in teaching me how to do it and I extended the same offer. He laughed in a nice way (he was an incredibly friendly and humble chap!) and said "a lot of the tricks are in the timings and that is something I can't teach easily in one day. I've started cooking when I was 8 years old" (he sounded to be in his 50s) "but sure. Let's plan it. I can't do this week as I have a wedding, but next week you can come in at lunch time and I'll show you how to prepare one or two dishes."; Sadly, the "It can't be this week" dragged on and on for a few weeks until I ended up not finding the time as I was moving back to Ireland by the time he called me and I had a ton of stuff to do before my departure. With that said (apologies for lengthy write-up), it makes me wonder why don't we all contribute 10-50 pounds towards clarity in the BIR taste?
I'm pretty sure there is a ton of other curry chefs from the 80s reformed and/or driving taxis who would easily take in the 100-150 pounds to teach the art. And, I know a few people have already attended courses, but what about singling out a specific chef that you know is a trusty achiever of the bir taste?
Interesting ideas gagomes. I haven't really got to know any specific chefs really except Ali at the Kushi. Was due to start the cookery class there 2 weeks ago, but it's been cancelled a couple of times due to the weather, etc. The course is
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Oh, great Rob! Let us know how you get on with your course -- sounds like fun. I've heard about kushi a few times on this forum, but can't relate to him. Who is he and why is he so spoken of? :-)
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Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.
Interesting but you lost me. Who did you tell were your favourite takeaways? Did you tell CA or the taxi driver? And is it the same person who is referred to as 'he' from there on, in your account? Perhaps you need to add some punctuation marks.
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Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.
Interesting but you lost me. Who did you tell were your favourite takeaways? Did you tell CA or the taxi driver? And is it the same person who is referred to as 'he' from there on, in your account? Perhaps you need to add some punctuation marks.
Sorry. Let me try and clarify it: The taxi driver was once the head chef in a restaurant called "curry queen" in the Mill Road in Cambridge. From speaking with CA after joining this forum, I found out that he has been to curry queen when he lived in UK.
During my taxi ride, I told the taxi driver that I used to use Renus for my regular takeaways (see my review in the recommended restaurants forum) to be one of the freshest around and all-around decent portion sizes (though, very unlikely to be the best.) He said he had the food from Renus and thought it was just a bunch of sauce and not enough separation of flavours and then he went on and recommended chef ali's (his "master") restaurant which from my vague recollections was Royal Sice (http://"http://www.just-eat.co.uk/restaurants-royalspice-cb4/menu").
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Sorry. Let me try and clarify it:
Many thanks - that's much clearer now, and very interesting. Good luck with any lessons. It sounds very promising.
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I looked around for indian cooker courses, and I came across this bio of a tutor named Atul Kochhar at the Dublin Cookery School.
Atul was the first chef to achieve a Michelin star award for Indian food while working as head chef at ?Tamarind? in London. He went on to open his own restaurant, ?Benares? of London, which also won Michelin star status along with many other awards. He has since opened a second restaurant just outside London and has most recently opened his first restaurant in Ireland ? ?Ananda? in Dundrum ? to great critical acclaim. Atul is well known to followers of TV cookery programmes such as ?Saturday Kitchen? and ?The Great British Menu?. He writes on Indian cookery and returns to India regularly, leaving him very little time to teach, but he continues to make Lynda Booth's Dublin Cookery School a regular part of his teaching schedule.
Has anyone ever heard of him or his london-based restaurants? I've never heard about his restaurant Ananda in dundrum, but I don't generally visit dundrum, which is at the south end of Dublin and not really in the way to anything or anywhere I go.
I also came across this one (http://"http://www.gumtree.ie/cp-chefs-cooks-kitchen-in-dublin/like-to-learn-indian-cookery-at-your-home-environment-442123823") on gumtree:
How it works?
1. You can choose from the list of menus from our menu list.
2. option 1: We will do shopping for you and come to your place to teach you cooking ? The rest of the ingredients you can try cooking on your own for 3 ? 4 times option 2: You can come and pick me from my place and I will bring you to the Indian shop and we will do shopping ? it will be a great experience
3. Once we cooked you can serve for 5 to 6 people its better you can invite your friends for dinner. If you are couples invite your friends ? sure it will be a great session for you. Glass for wine will make it even better.
4. For this service we don?t have any specific charges. Cooking is my passion. After tasting the food any cash rewards will be accepted. ?call now ?
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Oh, great Rob! Let us know how you get on with your course -- sounds like fun. I've heard about kushi a few times on this forum, but can't relate to him. Who is he and why is he so spoken of? :-)
Apols forgot to reply gagomes. Unfortunately the kushi course doesn't seem to be happening for me at the minute. I did actually turn up for it twice (waited 40 mins in the snow with another lad a couple of weeks back) but Ali didn't show. Think there's been some problems texting cancellation updates. Hope to get sorted on it some point though. Ali is Mohammed Ali Haydor, owner of the kushi and author of "Authentic Balti Curry". There are several threads on the book/recipes on here.
Rob :)
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I looked around for indian cooker courses, and I came across this bio of a tutor named Atul Kochhar at the Dublin Cookery School.
Atul was the first chef to achieve a Michelin star award for Indian food while working as head chef at ?Tamarind? in London. He went on to open his own restaurant, ?Benares? of London, which also won Michelin star status along with many other awards. He has since opened a second restaurant just outside London and has most recently opened his first restaurant in Ireland ? ?Ananda? in Dundrum ? to great critical acclaim. Atul is well known to followers of TV cookery programmes such as ?Saturday Kitchen? and ?The Great British Menu?. He writes on Indian cookery and returns to India regularly, leaving him very little time to teach, but he continues to make Lynda Booth's Dublin Cookery School a regular part of his teaching schedule.
Has anyone ever heard of him or his london-based restaurants? I've never heard about his restaurant Ananda in dundrum, but I don't generally visit dundrum, which is at the south end of Dublin and not really in the way to anything or anywhere I go.
I also came across this one (http://"http://www.gumtree.ie/cp-chefs-cooks-kitchen-in-dublin/like-to-learn-indian-cookery-at-your-home-environment-442123823") on gumtree:
How it works?
1. You can choose from the list of menus from our menu list.
2. option 1: We will do shopping for you and come to your place to teach you cooking ? The rest of the ingredients you can try cooking on your own for 3 ? 4 times option 2: You can come and pick me from my place and I will bring you to the Indian shop and we will do shopping ? it will be a great experience
3. Once we cooked you can serve for 5 to 6 people its better you can invite your friends for dinner. If you are couples invite your friends ? sure it will be a great session for you. Glass for wine will make it even better.
4. For this service we don?t have any specific charges. Cooking is my passion. After tasting the food any cash rewards will be accepted. ?call now ?
Seem him on the BBC Saturday morning live food TV program a couple of times. Specializes in fish dishes I think. A month or so back he did a bunny chow (or something) recipe served up in half a loaf of white bread, hollowed out. Apparently this was done traditionally. Personally, I thought it looked pretty stupid, and would have sent it back if ordered at a restaurant. He is very famous though and I suppose a free lesson at home is not to be sneezed at.
Rob :)
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This reminds me that I got in touch with the owners of a restaurant I went to few times in Cambridge and asked whether I could get trained by their chef. The owner was very humble and just said "No problem, come over when you are in Cambridge", so I'm planning to take 2-3 days off to visit Cambridge some time in March. I wouldn't mind visiting other parts of UK if any cr0 meetups are to be held around this time?
I will likely be heading to oxford for a day trip one of these days and then spend some time in cheltenham, so the closer to one of these areas, the better!
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gagomes, all Indian cooking lessons are educational but there are some restaurants which serve 'traditional' Indian food which is completely different than BIR t/a food just confirm which style you will be learning.
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gagomes, all Indian cooking lessons are educational but there are some restaurants which serve 'traditional' Indian food which is completely different than BIR t/a food just confirm which style you will be learning.
Thank emin-j! The cookery course may or may not cover "BIR". This is what I was able to get off from the school
Hi Goncalo
The course will cover spices, how to cook/roast them, meat/fish/vegetarian dishes, how to adjust flavours and will give a good general knowledge of Indian cookery.
The chef running the course does work in a famous indian restaurant in London, but to be quite honest, I don't expect "BIR" coming from the Michellin route
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The chef running the course does work in a famous indian restaurant in London, but to be quite honest, I don't expect "BIR" coming from the Michellin route
As famous as (say) Veeraswamys, or somewhere not quite as famous would you say ?
** Phil.
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The chef running the course does work in a famous indian restaurant in London, but to be quite honest, I don't expect "BIR" coming from the Michellin route
As famous as (say) Veeraswamys, or somewhere not quite as famous would you say ?
** Phil.
Not sure what veeraswamys. Here is a link to the reviews:
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d720660-Reviews-Tamarind-London_England.html (http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d720660-Reviews-Tamarind-London_England.html)
"Ranked #939 of 10,938 restaurants in London" (at TripAdvisor)
463 reviews at google:
https://plus.google.com/116296165691032227030/about?hl=en (https://plus.google.com/116296165691032227030/about?hl=en)
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Not sure what veeraswamys.
This (http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d720880-Reviews-Veeraswamy-London_England.html) one. Also in the top 1000.
** Phil.
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Thank emin-j! The cookery course may or may not cover "BIR". This is what I was able to get off from the school
I'm not sure you'll learn much about BIR style cookery from anyone working at one of Atul Kochar's restaurants. It's more kind of Michelin Starred Traditional Indian Cuisine than BIR. You know the stuff, fancy plates, small portions, intense flavours, not a bit of floating oil in sight!
I was very fortunate in my younger years to be a regular diner at the Star of India in Brompton Road, London, which was one of the very first Indian Restaurants to have opened in this country. Either just after or just before Veerswamy that Phil mentioned.
Oddly, Reza Muhammed, now a celebrity chef http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530626 (http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530626) was a small boy when I started going there, his parents owned and ran it.
The very best Indian food I've ever had. Their Tandoori Chicken, (not the same at all as the Tandoori chicken you're probably familiar with) came to the table as a whole chicken with a web of fine coconut over it and I've never found the same ever again or a recipe for cooking it.
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Thank emin-j! The cookery course may or may not cover "BIR". This is what I was able to get off from the school
I'm not sure you'll learn much about BIR style cookery from anyone working at one of Atul Kochar's restaurants. It's more kind of Michelin Starred Traditional Indian Cuisine than BIR. You know the stuff, fancy plates, small portions, intense flavours, not a bit of floating oil in sight!
I was very fortunate in my younger years to be a regular diner at the Star of India in Brompton Road, London, which was one of the very first Indian Restaurants to have opened in this country. Either just after or just before Veerswamy that Phil mentioned.
Oddly, Reza Muhammed, now a celebrity chef http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530626 (http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530626) was a small boy when I started going there, his parents owned and ran it.
The very best Indian food I've ever had. Their Tandoori Chicken, (not the same at all as the Tandoori chicken you're probably familiar with) came to the table as a whole chicken with a web of fine coconut over it and I've never found the same ever again or a recipe for cooking it.
Well, as I don't just want to learn BIR, but rather how to cook properly and in a variety of styles, how to intensify the flavors in food, I think his teachings can be useful. I am a fairly beginner cook (I cooked the first time around May 2009) I am hoping the learning can help me get more confident. If out of it I can have a decent meal and/or learn a few things, I don't think the 70 euro will be totally lost :)
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;) Totally agree with you Gagomes. If you think you're going to get something out of it, go for it. I remember the ribbing some of us took for paying for the Zaal experience. Those that attended also know of the benefit it has been to the site in terms of underlining what was already here but ignored or under-estimated.
Don't pay too much attention to certain individuals. They have too big an ego and will gain nothing from this site. Because they know all there is to know already. That's why they are here ??? ::)
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;) Totally agree with you Gagomes. If you think you're going to get something out of it, go for it. I remember the ribbing some of us took for paying for the Zaal experience. Those that attended also know of the benefit it has been to the site in terms of unlining what was already here but ignored or under-estimated.
Don't pay too much attention to certain individuals. They have too big an ego and will gain nothing from this site. Because they know all there is to know already. That's why they are here ??? ::)
Out of curiosity, how much did the zaal experience cost and how much would you say it was worth?
I've looked at the video for making the base (which appears to be incomplete) and I noticed that the chef and the assistant disagree that garlic and ginger should be 60 (i.e one says garlic, the other says ginger. the odd thing is the assistant does justify why, i.e "garlic can be overpowering") so I've sort of looked past it :)
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Hi gagomes
Hope Dave won't mind too much me answering on his behalf:
FYI, the assistant is actually the main head chef at Zaal. Az mainly does front of house these days and usually only cooks when the restaurant is uber busy.
As far as I recall the cost was 60 pounds for the session. For that we received around 4 hours really intensive tutoring and then sat down for a late lunch and sampled all the food we cooked plus a couple of extra masalas that Az cooked.
Do I consider it good value for money and time well spent? - would I go again next week if there was another session? - too flipping right mate - in the drop of a hat!
Look around - you will struggle to get guitar lessons for less than 15 pounds an hour! someone offers you a deal like that go for it!
Training in anything is not cheap these days. Just finished a SQL Server performance tuning course for work - that was 2 thousand pounds for a weeks course! something like 70 pounds an hour! time is money ;)
Cheers
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Hi gagomes
Hope Dave won't mind too much me answering on his behalf:
FYI, the assistant is actually the main head chef at Zaal. Az mainly does front of house these days and usually only cooks when the restaurant is uber busy.
As far as I recall the cost was 60 pounds for the session. For that we received around 4 hours really intensive tutoring and then sat down for a late lunch and sampled all the food we cooked plus a couple of extra masalas that Az cooked.
Do I consider it good value for money and time well spent? - would I go again next week if there was another session? - too flipping right mate - in the drop of a hat!
Look around - you will struggle to get guitar lessons for less than 15 pounds an hour! someone offers you a deal like that go for it!
Training in anything is not cheap these days. Just finished a SQL Server performance tuning course for work - that was 2 thousand pounds for a weeks course! something like 70 pounds an hour! time is money ;)
Cheers
Thanks for your insider information solarspace!
I am familiar with training costs and you are right, especially as you get to eat some of food while at it, so that's a good deal.
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Do I consider it good value for money and time well spent? - would I go again next week if there was another session? - too flipping right mate - in the drop of a hat!
Definitely echo those remarks Russ. I think we'd all be up for a reunion :D
Re. the garlic/ginger ratio mix up, Az mis-heard what i said. He thought i meant a 60/40 ratio in favour of ginger. Both chefs were adamant - more ginger.
Re. the base video, there are two vids covering the two processes:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,8198.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,8198.0.html)
And Solarsplace has posted the full method including pics here for everybody's benefit:
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,8871.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,8871.0.html)
It was a hectic 4 hours for all of us, and the guys did the vids in between getting involved in the activities that were going on. The footage taken by Solarsplace, Natterjak and JB was a good supplement to JB's write-up of the day's events and recipes. It certainly sparked a hive of activity on the site for all the right reasons, the like of which, sadly has not been seen since, but for all the wrong reasons :(.
A year ago last weekend, how time flies ::)
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the only place i would go to would be Az's. i been well impressed not only with Az himself but all the learning that came form the visit along with the kindness of sharing it.
would i pay elsewhere - No. the info on the site gets up way behold. if time and money is at a premium then ackers might shorten the path.
(ps - not even for another book - i might just get curr2go's 2nd though - the one intended to go into more BIR recipes)
real reason for the post is the thought of why some chefs do well at some dishes but not at others - it's something i've experienced a lot (both in the northwest and the midlands). i've put it down to the extent of "passed down" knowledge but i've also thought it might be down to what they like to cook. my fav restaurant in the midlands now does at lot of work on recipe improvement (from competing in the national curry awards) so things may well change in the future.
i am (in hope) pretty sure it's not down to the ingredients or condiments so to speak - time will tell.