Oooo, this has been a long time coming. Its the ROOT of the plant "the white bit" at base of stem as it joins the root. Also the ROOT. If I can ...I buy it on the root these days. Wash off any soil. So, now you know. If you have root, don't discard it. Cut it fine. Use it.

Yes, I understand (cos I've had it!) that some BIRs use relatively cheap "processed chicken" (this is why I'm sceptical/scornful when members claim that BIRs ONLY use chicken breast...inferring to me, maybe wrongly, that they use ONLY top quality chicken meat). 

I understand that this "processed chicken" contains quite a large amount of water and is probably what this guy is referring to (he will no doubt buy it like this rather than inject it with water himself).  Aside from possibly marinating it, I'd be surprised if many BIRs further treat their chicken (e.g. "velveting") to tenderise it.

Having said that, velveting is common practice in Chinese cooking (to prevent the chicken from drying out) so is well worth a go too.

Hi Cory, At no point do I say BIR's velvet their chicken. If you read my prev posts on this thread ,what I was meaning was that velveting is ONE way to create a silky outer feel. Its not something I do when making a curry. It's something I have done when making chinese dishes.  I was in fact replying to the title thread.
My main point of reply was to make meat tender ..... You can soak / marinate it just in water with bicarb for a few hours.
One second point , and others here make the same observation , is ..... During the process of 'velveting' the meat is heated till its outer turns pale.
So ... not velveting , BUT, just preheating chicken very gently for less than a minute ( no coating or marinating ) then let it cool for several minutes .... then some time soon after that cook it as normal , will see you with tender chicken.
Some chefs call this cooling period "resting" . ( not the resting thats often done with stake AFTER cooking but before serving ) . This is 'resting' before the meat is cooked fully.
Of course seperate to all of the above is 'seasoning' by there and then method or by marinating prior to cooking.

I should also point out that while I have tried all these methods , most of the time I don't do any .I just buy chicken breast meat , boil it up with a little chilly ( yes boil ) slowish  ,  Then add it to my curry base as I cook in another pan .

Note: The finished base in the pan after blending and topping up with water to his "soft mushy pea consistency , will run off a tilted spoon", was 2/3rds full in the pan.

It was CHILLI , Not curry powder.
I asked him was it spices in the base , he said NO .
When he said "Chilli Powder " I repeated it to him and he said yes Chilli Powder.
Im'e quite clear on that.
When we moved ove to the gas rings:
I asked him more than once " do you use mixed spices ? "  He said no.
All his spices are in seperate tubs just above the gas rings. inc sugar and salt.
Other stuff is in a tall glass fronted freezer next to the gas rings ( err - well it is a small area ) I saw in there , Coriander, Cream, Yogurt, Tomato's, Green Peppers and other stuff , Ill have another look and ask him next time.
Im'e going in there with the video camera . Don't worry I havn't done in there yet.
I'll check up on the measures too , and that spoon . I'll video it and put something for reference next to it.
Theres about 6 men in there + delivery driver + a pizza man ( English guy ).
All the Asians are from Pakistan and live in Huddersfield , so they have about 3/4 hr drive every day to get to work.

Spice-as-Nice,

Very interesting read. Two teaspoons each of cumin and coriander in the final curry would be consistent with a lightly spiced base. As for the chicken curry recipe, I suppose one could add some tomato paste, chilli, and a little lemon juice to make it a Madras.

I was going to have a go at scaling down the recipe to fit in a domestic size pot. Once I started that, I was wondering about the size of the chef's spoon. You mentioned that 4 chef's spoons seemed to be about 2.5 cups. Are you sure? Or is that the total estimated volume for the chilli, salt, tomato and oil?

Great stuff. As Jerry suggests, if he is as accommodating as he seems, ask him to join cr0!

I'd love to join you at the restaurant, but alas, I am many thousands of miles away from Yorkshire!

-- Josh

The total volume of the chefs spoon was 4 of them = 2.5 cups ( thats a fine china cup or as we would describe as a lady's cup )