Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: jb on June 07, 2010, 11:16 AM
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Just browsing through my local paper (I live in Grays in Essex by the way) and I found a very interesting advert..........
"Learn to cook in the comfort of your own kitchen.Authentic indian restaurant or traditional Bangladeshi style.Call Abdul on 07545 478 502.Or visit...
http://learn2cook.vpweb.co.uk/ (http://learn2cook.vpweb.co.uk/)
What to do you guys think??? Very tempted to get him round!!!
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That looks very interesting. I'd be tempted to get him round too if I lived in Essex. You would have to explain to him that you already know the basics so what you are looking for is an advanced lesson. I assume most of his customers wouldn't know what a base is.
Let us know if you decide to go through with it.
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This is the message I have sent.....
Hello,I found your advert in this week's edition of the Yellow Advertiser.I live in Grays in Essex and am really interested in some Indian Restaurant cookery lessons.
Can you tell me what sort of recipes/techniques you are willing to show me??? I have tried many times to reproduce the sort of basic take-away/restaurant meals I enjoy but there is always something missing and my local take-away chef is unable or unwilling to me.
I know that restaurants use a basic base sauce that goes into almost every dish and I have a few recipes for this but I would love to get a real chef to show me exactly how it is done.Also how to make the basic curry house recipes,i.e madras,tikka massala,bombay aloo etc.
many thanks!!!!!!!!!
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This is the message I have sent.....
Your message looks good and I hope he responds. This must be worth taking advantage of, not least because he might wind the business up as quickly as it started, if general take up is low from his point of view.
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I'm in the wrong country! :-\
I'd do it. Sounds like a good deal and you can learn just so long as he tells you exactly what is going into what?
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the ashoka in glasgow does curry lessons for ?25 per head , its in the kitchen, i would make sure he is doing it all from scratch before booking and seeing every ingredient he uses and the makes , sounds good
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Very curious if this is the business. Nice one jb.
Anyone else Essex way thinking of trying it out?
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Perhaps if you get a response the forum can fund the money for the lesson though some donations?
Stew
ps - as long as you take photos and report back ;D
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Hi everyone just an email back...
hi jason, thank you very much for your e-mail, could you kindly forward your contact number please so i can call and take 15 minutes of your time to respond to your questions. look forward to hearing from you
thank you
abdul
amohed
Off to work now but I will try and get in touch with him later on today.I guess he's been thrown a bit by me mentioning the fact that I know about base sauce....I'm just thinking about the questions he may ask,and also questions I am going to ask him(base sauce,spiced oil,high heat when cooking etc).I don't think I will mention the forum,I'm not sure whether it might perhaps scare him off.
ps Don't worry if it does happen(I really hope it does!!)there will be plenty of pictures and recipes!!
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Hi jb ;)
I reckon if he's got any business sense he's not going to tell you much at all on over-the-phone questioning, he's wanting to get your brass before he coughs up I reckon ;D but you'll get to know what he's offering exactly :)
Good luck and fingers crossed! :)
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It will be interesting to see what he has to say. I would suggest that you don't offer anything else about what you know, until it becomes prudent to do so. That way he is providing the information not simply responding to your questions and you will be able to judge what he says better. Just a thought.
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Hi
Looking at the chefs past he could be a fine dining Traditional Indian, possibly a no baser! So to speak.
Regards
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Could be a disgruntled chef or second chef looking for a few quid on the side, most places will not give up there secrets or allow their chef to. On the other hand it could be someone who's read a pat chapman book and thinks they can cash in on desperate curry lovers ;D
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Hi
Curry King, he states that he trains chefs.
Regards
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Hi
Curry King, he states that he trains chefs.
Regards
Yes quite right, that will teach me to reply without looking at the posted link first! I will just keep quiet until the OP has spoken to him ;D
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Sorry to go off topic! Bloody hell cK where have you been?! I bet you've got some decent new recipes, eh? I reckon it's not just this chef who needs to be spilling his guts...C'mon cK...whaddaya know? ;D
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Hi
Domi, you noticed to that old friends seem to be popping up?
Regards
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Indeed commis :) and they're old names that do bloody good curries! ;D I hope they stick around :P CAn we get a gate up? lol
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Sorry to go off topic! Bloody hell cK where have you been?! I bet you've got some decent new recipes, eh? I reckon it's not just this chef who needs to be spilling his guts...C'mon cK...whaddaya know? ;D
Unfortunately I have no new recipes, I have just been away from the curry scene (is there even such a thing) for a while. Still making them but just seemed to drift away from the quest, I am fairly sure I have reached my peak as far as reproducing BIR at home but you never know!
To keep on topic I have just had a decent read of this chef's site and it does sound promising, if he was slightly closer to me I would be tempted.
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This looks very promising ;D. I look forward to reading your subsequent posts on this topic! Good luck, BB.
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It looks genuine and promising to me but, even if a builder seemed genuine and promising, any sensible person would still take references and check the person out. There are so many lies, misrepresentations and cons on eBay (for BIR style recipes) that I suggest you can never be too careful. Did he really work in BIRs? Was he any more than a junior doing menial support tasks, and does he really know how to produce divine flavours?
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hey jb
i think this all sounds very promising. this is just what this forum needs at the moment to hopefully inspire us all on our quest to find the "Holy Grail"
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This looks like a promising thread and I agree that the forum could do with a really strong thread just now - I hope this enquiry pays dividends.
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Well it's definitely happening!! I have just spoken to the guy,he seems quite an honest and genuine person.He works in a restaurant and tells me he is quite busy doing cookery lessons for people at home in his spare time.
I told him I am basically a curry addict,eating at least two sometimes three take-aways/sit in meals a week.I added that I have been going to the same local restaurant for about 20 years,and said that getting any recipes/info etc from the staff was like getting blood out of a stone.Most of the time I get a shrug of the shoulders and the comment 'Only the chef knows' or they tell me you simply cannot recreate restaurant standard curries at home.
He said you can definitely cook these same dishes at home using a base sauce,spice mixture etc.All it takes is a lot of preparation and a bit of practice.
I am on holiday this Friday for a week,so he is coming round to my house around the 21th June for a half hour session,basically he wants to go through exactly want I want to cook and to tell me exactly what ingredients I am going to need.He will start by demonstrating how to cook a base sauce,leave me to to have a couple of attempts on my own and then return and progress with the recipes I want to cook.It does sound very promising,I think he realises that I have done by homework already and hopefully he will tell me everything he knows.Like I said he does seem like an honest guy.
Watch this space!!!!!!!!!!!
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That does sound very promising indeed, roll on the 21st. :)
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Jb,
It's like waiting for Xmas, only 12 more sleeps haha ;D
Ray ;D
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This sounds very promising like you say the restaurants don't give to much away so this could be a foot in the door ;D, i was in my local Bir the other day and tried to get his peshwari nan filling off him he wouldn't tell me quantities but he did give me some ready made filling to take home with me to try to work it out think i know whats in it just need to get the mix right now but getting there ;D
ROLL ON THE 21st
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nice one jb :)
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Awesome.. looking forward to this one!
Do you need a lodger? ;)
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Do you know which restaurant he works for? I think he lives in Stanford-le-hope which could mean he works in either Monty's Curry Centre or Bombay Nights. It would be good to try the restaurant version to compare with the home cooked one.
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Nothing new here. This kind of business are old.
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Nothing new here. This kind of business are old.
What do you mean exactly as it is not often you find 'actual' restaurant chefs prepared to spill the beans for cash or otherwise?
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Well said curry king, i had a lesson in the ashoka kitchen but even then they are very quick and dont show you everything, i have just started a new job and my boss is indian but was raised in Glasgow, he brought in pakora the other day and it was yum, i have been asking him for recipes , he gave me the pakora and is going to ask his mum for a chicken madras recipe for me so as soon as i get it i shall be trying then posting it if its any good
Garry
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Nothing new here. This kind of business are old.
Oh yeah, happens all the time.. I've lost count of the number of these sorts of adverts in the Anglesey Chronicle ::)
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Do you know which restaurant he works for? I think he lives in Stanford-le-hope which could mean he works in either Monty's Curry Centre or Bombay Nights. It would be good to try the restaurant version to compare with the home cooked one.
Just managed to find an internet cafe(I'm still on holiday in sunny Cromer in Norfolk and I'm probably not going to be back until Tues or Wed next week now...sorry...I'm trying to arrange a meeting with the guy now hopefully on one of these days).
Must add that this is the first time I have found an authentic Indian chef whose is willing to show me how to cook Bir meals.OK he might turn out to be not as good as he seems but who knows???? I have nothing to loose!!!!
' chriswg' what makes you thing he works in Monty's or Bombay Nights?? I haven't actually asked him yet. They are just round the corner from where I live,I have had loads of takeaways and sit-it meals from these two places so if he does work in one of them I will definitely know what to expect in taste etc.
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I hope there is an update on what happened
Wasn't the lesson on Sunday 20th ?
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No I was trying to arrange something for this week,I emailed him but I am still waiting for him to reply.I just hope I haven't scared him off!!
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Did anything ever come of this or is it still in the pipeline?
Rob.
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Sadly no another false alarm I'm afraid.I emailed the guy again yesterday but he's just not responding to my emails.I don't know why,he seemed so keen when I spoke to him on the phone.He was charging ?30 for an hour's lesson,so it's not as if he's going to be out of pocket.Perhaps after I starting talking about base sauces and spice mixtures he had second thoughts about it all and realised he wasn't going to be able to pull the wool over my eyes.
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Sadly no another false alarm I'm afraid
I'm sorry to hear that, although I hope he might still contact you in due course.
I just hope the 'Undercover' book I ordered yesterday does not join the same infamous group of let-downs. If it's up to 'average' BIR standards but nothing new, I won't complain, unless it appears lifted from other sources. If it makes superb tasting dishes, the author will rise to hero status.
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maybe he's heard about the undercover book and thinks you are going trying to rip him off?
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This looks good. I tried it and it was scumptious. I also tried the Shan White Korma Curry. it was real easy to made and it has all the authentic spices. I never though I will get these spices here in the UK. I went to an online store's website <a href="http://www.ecklee.co.uk>Ecklee[/url] and initialy I had an itch to spend ?2.99 delivery charge for just ?0.65 item but later it was worth to spend the money. The outcome was delicious and my family also loved it. If you wanna ry that guys I would suggest buy Shan White Korma Chicken Curry from a store nearby you or from Ecklee at www.ecklee.co.uk (http://www.ecklee.co.uk) and try it.
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does anyone know if this is still going ahead? i thought i read it was going ahead start of august though i meant have dreamnt that lmao
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It certainly is I took the liberty of starting a new thread...
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4820.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4820.0)
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me bad - sorry lol