Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: emin-j on June 25, 2012, 08:05 PM
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Hi all, a week or so ago I was in my local T/A and whilst waiting I had a chat with the owner and asked how they get that lovely orange colour to their curry's and I mentioned orange food colouring :o No ! he said we do not use food colouring only tamarind, ??? so I mentioned I had a 'block' of tamarind and he said ' no only ground tamarind' so after a bit of research on tinternet I came to the conclusion that he was having me on ::) so on my next visit I asked if he put plenty of that orange tamarind in my curry I had ordered :D he said 'yes' so I asked if I could see this ' ground orange tamarind' and he agreed :) off he went to the kitchen and returned with the usual 2 litre sized container of ............... Turmeric ::) ' that's turmeric ' I said 'yes ' he said 'tamarind ' ::)
I went on to tell him how interested I was in making BIR style curry's and he said ' next time you come in I'll show you how to make a curry ;D great I thought !
So tonight I wandered up and although the boss wasn't there the guy who takes the money remembered what was said and invited me into the kitchen !excellent!
The Chef and two helpers were in this tiny kitchen with a 25ltr pot of gravy on the hob plus all the usual spices and a large metal butter ghee container on the back of the hob containing veg oil.
The Chef shook my hand and started the curry making process ( I had ordered 1chicken madras and 1 lamb madras as if I had ordered 2 c/m he might have made both curry's in the same pan and I wanted to have a go ;D) So this is how it went :-
Pan on hob Chef spoon of gravy added and quickly stirred (medium heat)
I asked 'you use no oil ?' No he said oil already in gravy :o
Pan off heat,about 1/2 tbs of G/G added ,chef spoon of thinned tomato paste ,1/2 tbs chili powder, NO SPICE MIX :o
I asked why no spice mix and he answered 'spice in gravy' :-\
A couple of stirrs then in with the pre cooked chicken followed by two ladles of gravy (heat turned up a bit)
'Salt' I asked, 'No he answered,salt in gravy' :-\
Bit of fresh coriander added and pan moved to another ring to simmer (quite high) stirring occasionally - done.
Into the container and a sprinkle of fresh coriander for garnish. He dipped a teaspoon into the curry and offered me a taste,'very nice' I said (what else could I say with all them sharp knives about :)) but really it was just OK.
So I said ' my turn ' and he offered me the pan but he had already added the chef spoon of gravy so I dipped the chef spoon into the oil and took about 1/2 spoon and added to the pan.
Gave a little stir as you do ;D with em all watching !off the heat dipped the chef spoon into the G/G tub and took about 1tbl spoon ' no he said too much ' but I said ' I like Garlic ' ;D then chef spoon of tom/paste ,about 1/2 tbs chili powder,and then dipped into the spice mix,'no mix powder' he said but I added about a tsp anyway ;D back on the heat,a few stirs, he added the lamb and a ladle of gravy, a few more stirs and fresh coriander and more gravy, on to the other ring to simmer - done ;D a sprinkle of coriander to garnish.
He then dipped the spoon into the curry and asked me to taste, ' my curry is better ' which got a laugh from the two helpers.
All in all a good experience (and a few surprises !)
I would say their curry's are a little under spiced as normal so in future I'll ask for extra spice ;)
I'll try to get some info on their gravy next time but I did mention what I put in my gravy and the chef said it was the same as his including a chef spoon of veg ghee, hope this might be of interest to you guys ;) ATB.
ps- I did ask if they used whole spices and they said only in their Garam Masala which they make themselves.
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;D ;D ;D Classic, i'd have loved to have seen the chef's face when you proceeded to cook your lamb madras. Pupil becomes teacher or what??? I'd be surprised if he let's you back in the kitchen again. You may have shown him up ::). But the question we all want to know the answer to is did your curry taste as good as or better than his?? And did they have the "BIR smell and taste"? Excellent report, had me smiling throughout :D. Hope he allows you back in to find out some more ;)
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Hi CH,yeh defo BIR,and yes the extra G/G + tsp of spice mix made all the difference,the family taste tested and mine was the winner ;D CRO 1 - BIR 0 ;D
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Why am i not surprised ;D. You could use the angle that you want to learn from a master to improve your technique and skills since you've demonstrated you know your way around a good curry. You never know, this could be the beginning of a very useful relationship ::) and there could be quite a bit of mileage in it for us all :). Keep us posted on any more visits to the kitchen ;)
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Will do CH ;) I did ask why they didn't add any spice mix to the curry and one of the helpers replied ' most customers don't like their curry's too spicy ::)
This is a long established BIR and to see it put in the frying pan 'all in one go' was a bit of a shocker !
On the other hand if the base has everything in the right amounts I can see the logic.
I also mentioned I make Korma using creamed coconut block (George's recipe) and one of the helpers produced a box of creamed coconut block :o Pride make.
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That certainly was some magical/mystical spice gravy :-\
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That certainly was some magical/mystical spice gravy :-\
Hi TT, yes I was a bit shocked not using additional spice mix but on the other hand if the gravy has enough spice mix,salt etc I can see it could work.
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Funny, LOL made my night :-)
You could not make it up could you :)
do you think they were winding you up ?
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Firstly well done!!! To take control in another chef's kitchen - proud of you!!!
We experimented a long while back with an all in one gravy - to be honest we have stayed away from it - the spice taste was washed out if you know what i mean.
To achieve the best tasting curries whether bir or cooking curry you have to add the spices - after all its the spices that make the individual dish, obviously along with peppers and chilies in a Jalfrezi for example.
best, Rich
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emin-j - As with some other members here, your write up brought a smile to my face, also. It's a remarkable story. But given you called there in the first place, isn't it a BIR which you already rate quite highly for it to get your business? If so, they must be getting something right.
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emin-j - As with some other members here, your write up brought a smile to my face, also. It's a remarkable story. But given you called there in the first place, isn't it a BIR which you already rate quite highly for it to get your business? If so, they must be getting something right.
Hi George, I wouldn't say I rate them highly they are 'average' compared to other T/A in the area but they are 100 yds from my house which makes them very convenient :)
Their Naans,Bhaji's,Rice,Bombay Aloo etc are very good but the curry's to me taste a little under spiced but acceptable. I think the thing that is interesting is although their method of making a curry is 'different' to what we believe to be correct that 'BIR' something is there. :'(
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Funny, LOL made my night :-)
You could not make it up could you :)
do you think they were winding you up ?
Hi Graeme,no mate the first curry made was my Wife's Chicken Madras and the end result was as usual,hot,and not that tasty but a lovely orange colour, yellow base + red chili powder = orange curry :) ( no additional spice added ). With my Lamb Madras I added a small amount of spice mix plus extra G/G (the chef tried to knock the spice mix off the spoon but I'm 18 stone and he's about 7 and I won ;D)
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Hi Emin,
Well done you!! :)
It's always great to hear reports of other users from CR0 achieving better results than some BIR's. One of the ingredients I have increased a lot of in my dishes is the G&G or just fresh garlic, which I find when cooked out gives a further depth of flavour to the dish and adding additional spice mix to some enhances this even more.
Congratulations and keep up the great work :)
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Thanks' 976bar ;) I did notice the base although yellow in colour was more of a darkish yellow than any I make other than the curry2go base which is quite highly spiced and the curry to go base plus some additional whole spice is the closest I have ever been to that lovely savoury flavour you get from a good BIR :P
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emin-j,
well pleased and hope you manage more visits into the kitchen.
the tamerind/turmeric just shows how difficult our task is.
the method sounds like Taz although i've not used the Taz method myself.
my immediate thoughts being: what did the base taste like, what do they use the oil for and was it 100% oil (or some ghee in it).
ps made garam masala for me is chef garam
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Love it....nice write up emin-j.
Although, I haven't managed to worm my way into a kitchen here in Perth, a lot of restaurants do have "open" kitchens where you can see everything.
As an experiment a few weeks back, a mate and myself cooked up, 2 curries, and then ordered the same two curries form a very popular and highly regarded curry house, so we could compare them. We took them back home and .....well......there just wasn't any comparison. The takeaways curries were "wishy-washy" (to quote Madhur Jaffrey). There was no "body" there whatsoever.
That's the first takeaway I have ordered since discovering this site, and as far as I can see, it'll be the last.
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Love it....nice write up emin-j.
Although, I haven't managed to worm my way into a kitchen here in Perth, a lot of restaurants do have "open" kitchens where you can see everything.
As an experiment a few weeks back, a mate and myself cooked up, 2 curries, and then ordered the same two curries form a very popular and highly regarded curry house, so we could compare them. We took them back home and .....well......there just wasn't any comparison. The takeaways curries were "wishy-washy" (to quote Madhur Jaffrey). There was no "body" there whatsoever.
That's the first takeaway I have ordered since discovering this site, and as far as I can see, it'll be the last.
Well done Mick :)
Just like my daughter won't order a Korma from a restaurant anymore because she can now make better herself and the reason I got the Dinner Party order.
It just goes to prove what this forum has achieved for everyone over the years and once again a big thank you to everyone for a lot of hard work, effort and contributions :)
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great post emin-j - you've passed the interview and may next be offered an evening job there!
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great post emin-j - you've passed the interview and may next be offered an evening job there!
They'll have to make some changes then ;D ;)
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Thanks for the reply emin-j, i had to ask :-)
before anyone else suggested it.
Its a good read, thank you.