Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: natterjak on September 13, 2012, 08:46 AM
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0096X3S4M/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_ask_ypCIE.0RG48BY (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0096X3S4M/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_ask_ypCIE.0RG48BY)
Anyone read this, care to add a review here.? Just wondering if it's worth getting. Would be interested to know if the recipes are distinctly different to anything published on the forums.
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Here is his website http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/ (http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/)
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Thanks for the tip. I bought this and will let you know what I think of it personally once I get a chance to take a look at it (currently at work).
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Is there a base gravy recipe in his book, seen a video of his making a curry and the base looked really thick, not soup like consistency as most recommend.
Thanks
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Yes, there's a "Curry Base Sauce" in the book. It looks similar to most other base sauces (judging by the ingredients). Notable "oddities" would be the inclusion of some cabbage and red/green capsicum.
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Cabbage is a feature of chewy's base.
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Yes, there are some others that feature cabbage, too, I was just saying what's "special" about it (in some way).
Having now read most of the book I guess I can comment on it - even if I'm nowhere near the expert as others on this forum.
Ok, here's my little mini-review:
You can tell that the book was written over a period of time because for some chapters the author will say something like "here are 4 recipes" but then there are 6 included. He also changes the story about how things (such as how Vindaloo) came to be multiple times - the story's a bit different if it's a Chicken Vindaloo, Lamb Vindaloo and so on. But those are just details. Too bad, though, because I usually enjoy the background stories the most and they seem inconsistent.
The recipes mostly appear to be proper BIR style, even though some ingredients may be more typical for traditional Indian cuisine (such as Asafoetida). In general I'd call the book a mix of Traditional and real BIR recipes - the author points out the same in the foreword, too.
I personally enjoyed reading the starters, pickles and fish curry recipes most - simply because I don't have many recipes for that sort of stuff yet. One chapter that did not seem very good (judging by the pictures) is the "Breads" one - none of them look very good except for the Dosas, which are most interesting to me, anyway. The recipes and the methods in the "rice" chapter also seem very familiar, but I guess there are only a certain amount of ways to do something.
There are some little tips hidden in between the recipes. For example, the author's kids loved the poppadom dip in one of their local restaurants very much and he couldn't figure out what it was. On a slow day, the chef invited him to the kitchen to make a Patia curry (which he hadn't had before) and it turns out that it's the Patia sauce his kids were having the whole time.
One of the things I picked up from the book is that Amchoor (mango powder) is often used as a souring agent (instead of lemon juice, for example) - I think this might be a good ingredient for Vindaloo then. Not sure how BIR that is, though ...
All in all - without trying any of the recipes yet - I find this book a pretty solid BIR collection, but I wouldn't say that there are any new "revelations" in it per se. So far, I'd rate along with C2G's or CBM's books (which are both pretty good!)
For what it's worth - here's the table of contents. If anyone's interested I can probably post a recipe or two as teasers but the book's cheap enough to just buy it, in my humble opinion.
Since I currently don't have any more curry base prepared and don't feel like shopping I will either make a channa or the tandoori aloo recipe from this (or another book) for dinner.
About This Book
Curry Essentials
Purchasing Ingredients
A Word About Spices
Dry Spice Checklist
Fresh Ingredients checklist
Garlic, Ginger and Chili Pastes
Curry Powder
Tandoori Masala
Garam Masala
The Basic Curry Sauce
Onion Sauce
Pre-cooked chicken
Pre-cooked meat
Essential Blends
Garlic, Ginger and Fresh Chili Pastes
Curry Powder (spice mix)
Tandoori Masala (spice mix)
Garam Masala
How To Make My BIR Curry Sauce
ONION SAUCE
Pre-Cooked Chicken & Meat
Starters
Homemade Poppadams
Onion Bhajis
Fish Pakora
Lamb Samosas
Crab Samosas
Prawn Puris
Seekh Kebabs
Dhals
Moong Dhal
Chana Dhal
Tarka Dhal
Black Lentil Dhal
Pickles and Chutneys
Lime Pickle
Mango Pickle
Tamarind Chutney
Coriander Chutney
Onion Chutney
Tandoori Dishes
Tandoori Chicken
Tandoori Sea Bass
Tandoori Cod
Tandoori Salmon
Tandoori Lamb Patties
Tandoori Aloo (Potatoes)
CHICKEN CURRY RECIPES
Chicken Chilli Garlic
Chicken Dhansak
Chicken Do Piazza
Chicken Jalfrezi
Chicken Korma
Chicken Madras
Chicken Patia
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Saagwala
LAMB CURRY RECIPES
Lamb Bhuna
Lamb and Chickpea
Lamb Do Piazza
Lamb Madras
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb Saagwala
Lamb Vindaloo
Lamb Keema
Mutton or Lamb Biryani
FISH AND SHELLFISH
Monkfish Curry
Prawn Bhuna
Prawn Jalfrezi
White Fish Jalfrezi
VEGETABLE DISHES
Saag Paneer
Saag Aloo
Bombay Aloo
Stuffed Brinjal Masala
BREAD RECIPES
Chapati Breads
Puris
Pan Cooked Naans
Baked Naans
Dosas
RICE RECIPES
Perfect White Rice
Lemon and Saffron Rice
Rice Pilau
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Thanks Stonecut. Does the dhansak have pineapple in it?
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He says that most restaurants include pineapple in their dhansak - he doesn't like it but his daughter does, so he made them optional (juice and fruit).
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The recipes mostly appear to be proper BIR style, even though some ingredients may be more typical for traditional Indian cuisine (such as Asafoetida).
I' had always thought that hing ("asafoetida") had a role in BIR cuisine, although as far as I know it is normally used only in vegetable dishes (which doesn't stop me from adding a little to a chicken curry when I want that particular flavour), but on checking KD1 and Dave Loyden I see neither make any mention. KD2 (The New Curry Secret) glosses it but doesn't list it under the essentials. What do others think ?
** Phil.
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Looks like another to check out. My main concern, as with Mr Loyden's book, is the existence of recipes for chicken AND lamb Madras, though not having looked at the book they may of course be different. If not I have to say I personally hate the needless doubling up of recipes, which is a sloppy and lazy way of filling pages when a simple note to substitute lamb for chicken if so desired.
Fussy old git, I know... ;-)
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Looks like another to check out. My main concern, as with Mr Loyden's book, is the existence of recipes for chicken AND lamb Madras, though not having looked at the book they may of course be different. If not I have to say I personally hate the needless doubling up of recipes, which is a sloppy and lazy way of filling pages when a simple note to substitute lamb for chicken if so desired. Fussy old git, I know... ;-)
I completely agree. Unfortunately when I mentioned it to Dave (as my only complaint), he stopped replying; until then he had been quite helpful and chatty ...
** Phil.
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Actually looking at the list only chicken/lamb madras and dopiaza seem to be duplicates. I had a look at both the lamb madras and chicken madras and they are indeed different recipes!
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Does the fact that he uses the term BIR imply he has been on this site? Or does the term originate elsewhere?
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Does the fact that he uses the term BIR imply he has been on this site? Or does the term originate elsewhere?
Do you not think that use of the term is now ubiquitous amongst BIR aficionados, Stephen ? Google reports nearly 1000000 hits for '"BIR" curry -site:cr0.co.uk' and a mere 6500 for '"BIR" curry +site:cr0.co.uk'.
** Phil.
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Phil I've never heard anyone in my peer group use the term BIR, and books like Mick's which have it in the title are of course connected to this site via membership. My main reference for the term has been from this site so in terms of it being ubiquitous I don't really know.
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BIR _CRO_RCR only ever seen reference to it here and used by members.
cheers Chewy
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I had always thought that hing ("asafoetida") had a role in BIR cuisine.... but on checking KD1 and Dave Loyden I see neither make any mention.
Dave Loyden specifies hing as part of the base in the Undercover Curry book (page 22)
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Dave Loyden specifies hing as part of the base in the Undercover Curry book (page 22)
Well I'm d@mned : so he does. I wonder why he doesn't include it in the spice list on pp. 139--145 ?
** Phil.
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Whenever I mention "Australian Indian Restaurant cooking" to people they always go "huh?" - I mean Vindaloo and Madras and Chicken Tikka Masala are all authentic Indian Recipes aren't they, right? ;D
I would guess it's similar in the UK with the concept of BIR although it gets discussed a bit more in the UK media.
AIR uses hing extensively in vegetarian dishes, such as Aloo Ghobi and dals. It's a component of Chat Masala that also gets used a lot.
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Dan had a feature in the Mirror yesterday:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/dad-feeds-family-curry-every-1365625 (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/dad-feeds-family-curry-every-1365625)
Rob
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And a large spread in the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214164/Vinda-year-Curry-king-makes-spicy-dishes-family-365-days-year.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214164/Vinda-year-Curry-king-makes-spicy-dishes-family-365-days-year.html)
:)
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Hi All
Has anyone had a chance to try any recipes from this book yet? It gets a lot of good reviews on amazon, although I do not always think that counts for much!
barry
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I've got Dan's seafood book and really enjoy it. As does the wife as she's not the carnivore I am.
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Have I read that wrong ? Or have you eaten the book ? ;D
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I've got Dan's seafood book and really enjoy it.
Specifically, how do the results you've achieved from his BIR type recipes, compare with dishes actually served by the best BIRs? Or are they just approximations of food prepared by below-average BIRs, as so often seems to be the case?
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I've got Dan's seafood book and really enjoy it.
Specifically, how do the results you've achieved from his BIR type recipes, compare with dishes actually served by the best BIRs? Or are they just approximations of food prepared by below-average BIRs, as so often seems to be the case?
To be fair, I rarely order seafood in BIRs so a one to one comparison is difficult. And, I tend to wing it at some point during the recipe adding my own twist, but on the whole I enjoy them.
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I rarely order seafood in BIRs so a one to one comparison is difficult.
Sorry but I didn't mean just seafood. Have you tried any/many of his non-seafood recipes?
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Noble ox - very sarcastic....but also funny :)
I also was meaning his typical B.I.R recipes.
regards
barry
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I'm still on Dan's mailing list. His latest thing seems to be cheese burger recipes. Not got around to any of his books. Some interesting stuff on the website now-and-then, usually when he gets an invite to a restaurant/kitchen.
Rob :)