Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: welshman on July 20, 2016, 10:09 AM
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As members of this forum have the knowledge to make BIR style curries, have you considered opening your own curry restaurant or takeaway.
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Julian voight at curry2go set up his own and did quiet well
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I love doing the curries at my own pace! but the speed a propper chef works at under pressure would be to fast for me
CAB.
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the speed a proper chef works at under pressure would be too fast for me
Having watched Chef and his team at work in the kitchen at the Westberry, I am now convinced that the secret lies in the preparation; poor/inadequate preparation and the pressure becomes unbearable; good preparation and the evening flies by as if on rails. And the contribution of the pot-washers is not to be overlooked -- they may be bottom of the pecking order, but without them the kitchen would come to a standstill in less than an hour.
** Phil.
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Yes well said Phil here is some of my prep work I never make a curry unless I do this stuff below first.
CAB.
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Get the prep right and the base right
and yes you can do it -
best, Rich
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Funny you should say that actually because I am toying with the idea of writing a cook book or creating an online course on how to make quick, easy, healthy Indian food. I just wondered if there is still a market for that or is it all available free on the internet now?
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To be honest, I think that the market (both print and e-book) is saturated; every man and his dog has jumped on the BIR book-wagon, and there is so much useful stuff available online (both here and elsewhere) that there is very little incentive for the would-be-BIR-chef-at-home to buy something when the same or better information is available for free. These days the only Indian cookery books I would even /consider/ buying are those written by authors from the sub-continent -- I believe that we can potentially learn a very great deal from those who have Indian food in their genes, whereas with one or two notable exceptions (Mick Crawford being one), books written by Britons tend just to trot out the same material, all of which is available online, in the guise of being new and different (which it never is).
P.S. From a purely personal perspective, I would never buy a book that offers to teach me how to make healthy food -- a book that could teach me how to make the BIR curries that I experienced in the 60s and early 70s, on the other hand, would be an absolute God-send.
** Phil.
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Thank you Phil! Very kind of you to take the time to answer my questions and giving me detailed feedback. I do have Indian food in my genes and I think you are absolutely right that there is a difference when you have grown up surrounded by a particular cuisine - your take on it is very different. Most of the Indian recipes you see online or in cookbooks/programmes are simply never cooked in indian homes! Also a lot of authentic Indian recipes, cooked in Indian homes are essentially healthy in their very nature of being everyday family foods. The foods and recipes have also morphed into dishes which are prepared and taste quite different to teh original ones. For instance, I grew up in a household where we had Dhansak every Sunday, the equivalent of a Sunday roast, I suppose! I don't know why but the recipes you get for Dhansak and the Dhansak you get in restaurants is an entirely different dish which is absolutely nothing like the original
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Well, a lamb (or mutton, or goat) dhansak is one of my favourite dishes, but for me it /has/ to be eaten with onion salad (i.e., sliced onion with a little tomato and a coriander garnish) and lime pickle -- without those two, it just doesn't work for me. So if you were willing to share the recipe for your "Sunday roast" dhansak, I for one would be very very grateful.
** Phil.
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a book that could teach me how to make the BIR curries that I experienced in the 60s and early 70s, on the other hand, would be an absolute God-send.
** Phil.
Do you think the curries back then really were better, Phil? Or is it just memories from times when you were younger and happy times etc. Not having a go...it's a serious question. I sometimes think we look back on times when we were younger and carefree with little responsibilities and everything seems better looking back :)
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Not only am I convinced that they were better then, Garp, I am also certain that they were better where I live only eight years ago. When I first reviewed my local BIR shortly after moving here, I commented on the unbelievable depth and complexity of flavour that they achieved; sadly that ceased to be the case a few years ago, and I can only agree with the reviewers who now comment "mediocre and nothing special". But this is not restricted to my local -- I genuinely can't remember the last time I had a meal in an Indian restaurant and thought "this is how it used to be, and how it ought to be". I am afraid that our government's short-sighted policy on immigration now prevents the majority of BIRs from hiring those who genuinely understand what is needed, and instead they are forced to employ former waiters (etc) who think they have learned enough to be a BIR chef but who lack the real insights that are the hallmark of a true chef worthy of the title.
** Phil.
P.S. I simply cannot remember the last time I had a "real" chicken bhuna or a "real" chicken chat; these dishes still appear on menus everywhere, but any resemblance between what is served today and what was served in the 60s/70s is purely co-incidental.
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I fully agree with Phil. I first sampled BIR in the late seventies and the dishes served up were banging with flavour, and heat if you wanted it. Over the years the dishes have mellowed, I believe, to become more palatable to a greater number of people.
Every restaurant seems to serve up the same old gloop with no individuality.
And what is this with the same orange coloured chicken in every dish and in every TA?