Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: jb on March 13, 2012, 11:05 AM
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Found this....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005GLEQDU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_g351_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1AT5ZSMN4FFVZM78K2YG&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005GLEQDU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_g351_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1AT5ZSMN4FFVZM78K2YG&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294)
Probably nothing new but then again I think the wife will moan if I get yet another curry book!!
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Hi JB
Read a couple of reviews, and it unfortunately does not sound very promising :(
Quote from one reviewer:
I made the Tikka Masala and followed it to the letter. The main problem with this book is lack of any base curry sauce which is essential in BIR curry. Instead most use a puree of onion. I was sceptical but carried on with an open mind. Unfortunately the curry was extremely dry as you would expect without any sauce and just spices.
Cheers
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I bought it as it was cheap, but the processes were different to what we all associate with BIR so haven't made anything :(
That's not to say the results don't taste good though :)
W
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Read a couple of reviews, and it unfortunately does not sound very promising :(
Quote from one reviewer:
I made the Tikka Masala and followed it to the letter. The main problem with this book is lack of any base curry sauce which is essential in BIR curry. Instead most use a puree of onion. I was sceptical but carried on with an open mind. Unfortunately the curry was extremely dry as you would expect without any sauce and just spices.
I'm sorry to say it's what I've come to expect of you - a near total distortion and misrepresentation of the apparent facts. Amazon shows 10 reviews on 5 stars, 1 on 4 stars and 1 on 2 stars. So you took a quote from the one on 2 stars!
POST CHECKLIST:
Could this post be construed as negative? - yes - pass
Is it potentially helpful? - yes - pass
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Read a couple of reviews, and it unfortunately does not sound very promising :(
Quote from one reviewer:
I made the Tikka Masala and followed it to the letter. The main problem with this book is lack of any base curry sauce which is essential in BIR curry. Instead most use a puree of onion. I was sceptical but carried on with an open mind. Unfortunately the curry was extremely dry as you would expect without any sauce and just spices.
I'm sorry to say it's what I've come to expect of you - a near total distortion and misrepresentation of the apparent facts. Amazon shows 10 reviews on 5 stars, 1 on 4 stars and 1 on 2 stars. So you took a quote from the one on 2 stars!
POST CHECKLIST:
Could this post be construed as negative? - yes - pass
Is it potentially helpful? - yes - pass
Stop bullying me George.
This is not your forum.
You have gone out of your way to troll in this instance. You were actively looking for a way to attack me.
Leave me alone now.
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I bought it as it was cheap, but the processes were different to what we all associate with BIR so haven't made anything :(
That's not to say the results don't taste good though :)
W
Thirty years ago I'd have bought this without thinking!
I'm not one to put something down until I've tried it - but I've already been down the onion puree road many years ago and it didn't lead to a very pleasant place (for me, anyway).
Not to say that there's no place for it; indeed, many traditional Indian dishes call for either a boiled or fried onion paste (some require both), but this will just be part of a recipe that produces a curry with a gravy (either yogurt based, for the likes of korma and pasanda, or tomato based, for basic lamb and chicken curries).
Still, as you say, Whandsy, it's cheap (77p for the Kindle version), so worth checking out.
Let us know how you get on with it. Often useful gems of information can come when you least expect them.
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Would the Kindle edition be readable by a Sony e-reader?
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Read a couple of reviews, and it unfortunately does not sound very promising :(
Quote from one reviewer:
I made the Tikka Masala and followed it to the letter. The main problem with this book is lack of any base curry sauce which is essential in BIR curry. Instead most use a puree of onion. I was sceptical but carried on with an open mind. Unfortunately the curry was extremely dry as you would expect without any sauce and just spices.
I'm sorry to say it's what I've come to expect of you - a near total distortion and misrepresentation of the apparent facts. Amazon shows 10 reviews on 5 stars, 1 on 4 stars and 1 on 2 stars. So you took a quote from the one on 2 stars!
POST CHECKLIST:
Could this post be construed as negative? - yes - pass
Is it potentially helpful? - yes - pass
As I assume you knew that the important part of Solars quote was the bit about using an onion puree as opposed to a base sauce. Assuming the guy has >10 friends there is a good chance a lot of the 5 star reviews are from them. The negative reviews usually give a lot more useful information than positive ones.
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Would the Kindle edition be readable by a Sony e-reader?
I just downloaded the free Kindle reader for PC from amazon.co.uk and it seems to work well. I then paid 77p for the Indian book and have just had a first glimpse. The author's writing style is quite pleasant and the recipes are a fair bit different to any on here, so I don't know what that tells us. Perhaps the 2 star review was the most objective, after all!
All I know is that for 77p one can't go far wrong, which is probably the strategy behind the book. I may get my money's worth from various tips and ideas, rather than from any one recipe.
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As I assume you knew that the important part of Solars quote was the bit about using an onion puree as opposed to a base sauce. Assuming the guy has >10 friends there is a good chance a lot of the 5 star reviews are from them. The negative reviews usually give a lot more useful information than positive ones.
You might be right. Perhaps I was in too much of a hurry to 'get my own back' on SS. Indeed, most of the recipes do rely on cooking one or two onions for a while and then pureeing it to form something like the expected texture of a BIR curry. It means non-use of garlic, ginger, green pepper or any other ingredients commonly found in BIR base sauces. I often make a 'one dish' base sauce myself, at the time of cooking the meal, but I add in the garlic, ginger, green pepper, etc before pureeing it. I'm not confident that using only an onion would be anywhere near as good. The author seems to know a bit about BIR cooking but why/how would he get it so wrong, if indeed he has.
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Perhaps I was in too much of a hurry to 'get my own back' on SS.
Then I would think an apology should be forthcoming to SS George, don't you ;D
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Perhaps I was in too much of a hurry to 'get my own back' on SS.
Then I would think an apology should be forthcoming to SS George, don't you ;D
Mmm :o
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Probably nothing new but then again I think the wife will moan if I get yet another curry book!!
How mean can either or both of you get, given that it costs only 77p and, being in electronic format, doesn't occupy one iota of space on your bookshelf.
Before getting to the recipes, there's the normal introductory material. It includes the following bizarre statement:
"Each recipe will always include simple measures e.g. a teaspoon of this or a dessertspoon of that. I have used dessertspoon measures as the old tablespoon often gets confused with a dessertspoon and proper tablespoons have been neglected in recent times."
What is it about Indian recipe books which attracts oddball authors? A while back we had Undercover Dave with his chef spoon dip measures. Nearly all conventional cookery books use tsp, dsp and tbls measures and they usually confirm they mean level measures of 5ml. 10ml and 15ml respectively. What's wrong with sticking to that convention? The Kindle author doesn't even confirm the ml equivalent of his dessertspoon.
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Maybe me and Az should write a proper BIR book. There still seems to be a gap in the market for a decent one!
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Maybe me and Az should write a proper BIR book. There still seems to be a gap in the market for a decent one!
Wouldn't bother wasting your time,there's bound to be someone on here who would just rip the whole thing to shreds.
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Hi Chris,
Go for it, there'd be many that would buy it, me for one. As you saw from the lessons, many people can't get to them unfortunately and it would be the next best thing.
Do the book and a DVD/video series making the dishes and the gravies, masala's etc
There is a market for it for sure as there is nothing as yet that shows exactly how it should be done.
Cheers,
Mark
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Hi Chris,
Go for it, there'd be many that would buy it, me for one. As you saw from the lessons, many people can't get to them unfortunately and it would be the next best thing.
Do the book and a DVD/video series making the dishes and the gravies, masala's etc
There is a market for it for sure as there is nothing as yet that shows exactly how it should be done.
Cheers,
Mark
I have to agree. That is a tremendous idea. He has quite a performers personality and would be very video friendly I think. I wonder whether he would consider it?
Cheers
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Its is a great idea guys - but you may be too late - Julian at curry2go's ebook is nearly finished and he has exclusive videos for the book only - you may or may not have missed the boat as they say
There will always be a space for a good book and vids
Lets face it all the celebrity chefs that went to India (most of them) have only put out authentic traditional style dishes - not even considering the bir taste - and to be honest they have spent too much time looking at it with designers - the nicey nicey pictures and the posed up one shrimp or whatever they are making
I did watch old Gordon Ramsay and he had a go making some dishes his way - however when he has returned his articles have been the usual posed stuff - ie vine ripened tomatoes etc etc - whats wrong with tomatoes
anyhow
a book would be great
best, Rich
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Its is a great idea guys - but you may be too late - Julian at curry2go's ebook is nearly finished and he has exclusive videos for the book only - you may or may not have missed the boat as they say
There will always be a space for a good book and vids
Lets face it all the celebrity chefs that went to India (most of them) have only put out authentic traditional style dishes - not even considering the bir taste - and to be honest they have spent too much time looking at it with designers - the nicey nicey pictures and the posed up one shrimp or whatever they are making
I did watch old Gordon Ramsay and he had a go making some dishes his way - however when he has returned his articles have been the usual posed stuff - ie vine ripened tomatoes etc etc - whats wrong with tomatoes
anyhow
a book would be great
best, Rich
I'm really looking forward to Julian's forthcoming book,his videos(and website) are certainly very good.Hopefully when I print the book I'll find a bit of space on my book shelf for it.Let's also hope that any future threads on his book are not hijacked in any way.
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Maybe me and Az should write a proper BIR book. There still seems to be a gap in the market for a decent one!
Go for it. I think the key word here is "decent" as in delivering high quality results, and reflecting what REALLY goes on in the kitchen of a good quality BIR. Perhaps the Kushi Balti book has got closest so far. What makes me laugh is that every book on the market claims there's a gap and they've filled it. Just don't make that mistake, whilst failing to really deliver. Plug the gap for good, without waffle and padding such as geographic descriptions of Indian cities and regions, or home cooking style recipes which you'd hardly ever see or buy in a BIR.
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chriswg if your intention is to spread the word by writing such a book with az then I am like the others on here - I would buy it.
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Maybe me and Az should write a proper BIR book. There still seems to be a gap in the market for a decent one!
Wouldn't bother wasting your time,there's bound to be someone on here who would just rip the whole thing to shreds.
What do you mean exactly? If Chris and Az write a book at least as good as the Kushi Balti book, then why should anyone criticise it? Why are you effectively voting against Chris's idea?
I tried making a chicken dhansak from the Kindle book this evening. It tasted lacklustre and nowhere near as good as found at most BIRs, but perhaps some of my spices could be fresher.
UPDATE - I now see one reason why my Dhansak lacked much flavour. I didn't add any salt. None was mentioned in the recipe, although salt is included for most recipes in the Kindle book, as you might expect. The omission of salt must be a typo. Not a good start.
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Guys just found another one!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Curry-Indian-Restaurant-ebook/dp/B004AYDJCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331847902&sr=1-3#_ (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Curry-Indian-Restaurant-ebook/dp/B004AYDJCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331847902&sr=1-3#_)
Reading the description this does sound a bit more like it.
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Guys just found another one!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Curry-Indian-Restaurant-ebook/dp/B004AYDJCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331847902&sr=1-3#_ (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Curry-Indian-Restaurant-ebook/dp/B004AYDJCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331847902&sr=1-3#_)
Reading the description this does sound a bit more like it.
Good find jb, the preview of that book reads very well, I use my ipad all the time, I'm on it now typing this and am very tempted to press buy as i have the kindle app installed :)
Might just wait, however, to see if any forum members already have it and have an opinion ;)
W
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Guys just found another one!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Curry-Indian-Restaurant-ebook/dp/B004AYDJCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331847902&sr=1-3#_ (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Curry-Indian-Restaurant-ebook/dp/B004AYDJCI/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331847902&sr=1-3#_)
Reading the description this does sound a bit more like it.
Couldn't resist I brought this today.Good value for just over three quid,although nothing in it that can't be found within our forum.The guy certainly has a background in BIR cooking,although reading the book he may well have been having a sneaky look at some of our posts!!(only joking).Not sure about the CTM though,his recipe was a basic curry with some tomato puree and the dreaded tomato soup chucked in.