Some time ago i purchased a Puri Tandoor which is heated by charcoal placed in the base.  i had some success but couldn't really get it hot enough.  i decided to try to convert it to gas and it worked brill (see pic).

I used a gas ring placed in the bottom then placed a steel mesh on a stand above and added a couple of kgs of lava rock.  Connected to a LPG bottle and fired up - a little tuning of the the air valve to get blue flame and wallah!!

I am going to strip it down later to improve the mesh stand, i will get some pics of the set up and post.

just checked it out and that's it.

Would they do that in a restaurant or would they use maybe smoked paprika / black cardamom / some other spice / special technique?

really intrigued! 

Hi,

An Indian restaurant described its curry flavor as smokey, so I checked this out and found that this flavor addition is common practice at some Asian homes. 

One method is to insert a small steel bowl in the center of the finished curry and add a 'live' coal or charcoal in the bowl.  Add a knob of Ghee (the melted ghee gives off the smoke) and then cover the pan for about 10 minuets.  Remove bowl and serve.  I tried it three times but couldn't really get any appreciable difference??

Anybody got experience of this?

Also would the same effect come from smoked paprika (which i was told never to use in an Indian curry dish !!) or maybe Moti elaichi?

Thoughts / advice please.

Cheers Sam

Cheers Baj,

Will do, though got more questions than answers.
r. Sam

Hi, I've only now discovered this site and well impressed with the passion and knowledge of the members about our favorite food.
I have been making curries (or trying to) for nearly 50 years and I am still not satisfied with my best effort (and probably never will be!) 
Over the years I have thrown away many of my experimental failed curries, but not deterred I've kept at it. I once did a repair job for a TA and rather than charge them I asked them to show me how to cook a curry from scratch, but they did a standard quick curry and not their BIR version - disappointed. A few years later I supplied some pumps to a Restaurant for the same deal and they did exactly the same thing - mega disappointed. Finally, I paid for for a curry course at a BIR restaurant just outside Leicester and that was really good.
I have been to Goa three times and just got back from Candolim, Goa yesterday.  I was able to get 3 recipes from the restaurants who were only to happy to help.  I will try them out over the next week.
Hopefully i will be able to contribute to this site and pass on some of the better tips i have learned over the years and i will be asking lots of questions as i want to keep on improving my skills and technique for this God's gift to mankind  - the awesome curry!! 

Sam