Curry Recipes Online
British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => BIR Main Dishes Chat => Topic started by: JohnSmith4 on January 14, 2016, 11:26 PM
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I hope this is the right section.
So I was perusing an online Asian supermarket, and noticed they do their own range of ready made curry kits, supposedly restaurant style. Has anybody tried them before? I'm tempted as a cheat to try one or two.
http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/u-cook-curry-kits-1-c.asp
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I've not tried them, John, but I like the write-up from their chef which strikes me as being genuine : http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/blog/2013/12/02/spicesindianfoodrecipeschickendhansak/. I may give one a go ...
** Phil.
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I'm going to put an order in with them Monday or Tuesday. I'll get a couple of their ready made kits, and I'll report back on the verdict in the near future.
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I've not tried them, John, but I like the write-up from their chef which strikes me as being genuine : http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/blog/2013/12/02/spicesindianfoodrecipeschickendhansak/. I may give one a go ...
I disagree. The nature of the recipe strikes me as nothing like a BIR dhansak. For a start, there's no use of base sauce. Secondly, he cooks raw chicken in the sauce for 20 minutes, releasing loads of chicken stock to kill any normal BIR dhansak flavour. What a con - marketing for the gullible.
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It's easy to criticise a recipe from its write-up, George (just as it's easy -- far too easy -- to praise a curry on the basis of a photograph or two), but the proof of the pudding is in the eating : have you tried following the recipe to see if it yields a dhansak that you enjoy, or are you "dissing" it simply because it does not conform to your idea of how a BIR dhansak recipe should read ?
** Phil.
P.S. When I wrote "I like the write-up from their chef, which strikes me as being genuine", I was referring specifically to the write-up (the personal part) rather than the recipe included.
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I'd be interested to see what they are like. Fenwicks new food court near to me have a Raffi's Spicebox Counter, www.spicebox.co.uk (http://www.spicebox.co.uk), and I very nearly purchased one to try if it had'nt been for the missus hurrying me up (its usually the other way round). Quite a few people buying them though.
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My order came today, including the U-cook garlic chicken and a jalfrezzi.
Easy as pie to make, just add hot water, simmer, add pre-cooked meat, simmer a bit more. I must say I was impressed with it (I made the garlic chicken this evening). It was lovely, and very much restaurant style, in my eyes. They say 4-6 portions, but I got 3 healthy 'man-size' (read, greedy) portions out of it. For ease of use and quality it's really good, probably better than anything I could make myself, I can't speak for others' culinary abilities.
Hope that helps.
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Excellent news, John. In the meantime I have made sure that I have /all/ the ingredients for the Chicken Dhansak previously referred to, and will be cooking that as soon as (a) I have time, and (b) I have eaten up all the other items that are still awaiting my attention (inc. a /very/ large piece of beef reduced from circa GBP 27-00 to circa GBP 17-00, and a Waitrose Chinese goody-bag reduced from GBP 10-00 to just under GBP 6-00).
** Phil.
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Well done John
Not even 10 posts under your belt and you have reached your curry goal :)
I'm gutted all that prepping and all I needed to do is boil some water :'(
Cheers MT
Where did it all go wrong
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Thanks for taking the time to report back on these kits John Smith. I think with a bit more practice and time spent here you should be able to at least equal the results. And with time and more practice surpass them easily :) Reasonable price till the p&p went on. I can get a curry and rice for less and I know it will taste pretty damn good with no effort from me required. Time you add in cost of meat, TA is a more economical option unless the TA's round your way are that dire :-\
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Well actually it doesn't work out too bad for price. I get bulk chicken from musclefood.com, works out ?5/kilo (quality fillets too). Plus the kit at ?3.95. That's ?8.95 for 3 good portions, or 4 sensible portions. That's ?2.24/portion. That's excluding postage, which'll vary depending how much meat and kits you get per order.
I think my maths is about right.
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I have had the jalfrezi one,it tasted like the jalfrezi from iceland which is only ?1.50,i prefer my own but they are ok if you do not have the time to cook.
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So tonight I made the chicken dhansak (http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/blog/2013/12/02/spicesindianfoodrecipeschickendhansak/) from the recipe cited earlier. Made exactly to spec. (zero deviations) but had to cook it for 50 minutes rather than 20 in order to achieve the desired consistency. As my chicken breasts were from one of Mr Leckford's more senior birds, the chicken came to no harm. Analysis ? Well, it was most certainly a chicken dhansak, and like all dhansaks benefited from the addition of red onion and tomato salad with lime pickle, but for me the lack of pineapple chunks meant that it was not quite to my taste. It could also have used a little extra jaggery goor, I felt.
** Phil.
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I wonder how that compares to their kit version.
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I live local to a Rafi's spicebox store. I've tried quite a few of the mixtures over the past few years and whilst they are nice, I wouldn't really say that they are a shortcut to BIR food. As with many paste based methods, I find that there is always a similar taste lurking in the background no matter what the curry you are making.
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Yes I once tried them pretty average stuff really!
I prefer these tradional ones I've been having these for years and I agree it's always best to try them before shooting them down in flames
http://spicebox.co.uk/
Ps yes Dave I agree the paste type curries eg Rafi or pataks do have similarities in
Tastes whatever curries you make but I still use them from time to time