This video is good - well at least the food at the end of it looks fantastic.

I went on an asian cookery course and the instructor used a pressure cooker for nearly everything in the main dish department. Still haven't bought one, perhaps I should.

Homestyle curries at restaurant speed.

Mike

Got this a while back.

GG mixed paste works equally well.

Some canned chick peas can be a bit hard, this is best slow cooked in a pot at the bottom of the oven. It can go to a sludge. That is not a bad thing. Add some tommy puree for extra flavour. And a bit of water to loosen it up.

http://www.food-nepal.com/recipe/R060.htm

Mike

Determined this and Pakistani cuisine should be heard.

Some great info for foodies in the links below:

http://www.nepalvista.com/travel/food1.html

http://www.cookitsimply.com/recipe-0010-0w2984.html

http://www.whatyouhavingforyourtea.com/2008/05/20/nepalese-chicken-curry-with-cauliflower-and-peas/

Mike

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/636415

Made by the guy that won Masterchef.

Looked good, also looks like it needs frequent stirring so I would think of doing it on the stove top myself. On the programme they took it from the oven.

Mike

Was on Good Food Channel this morning. I eat at the Karachi occasionally and it isn't BIR, but my preferred BPR. (http://www.restaurant-guide.com/uk+reviews-more.htm?restaurant=karachi-restaurant)

"So many of us try to replicate the taste of a restaurant curry and find there is something missing. Well next time try it this way" he said.

http://www.stonefisk.com/index.php/2009/05/23/recipe-rick-steinarsquo-s-lamb-and-spina

I am sure this is the recipe as he just made on the show. It is very simple, no stock base sauce and few ingredients. I have eaten it and it is wonderful.

Incidentally if you go, park in Wilton Street (70p for an hour) and cross the road to Neal Street. You will also see the Kashmir if you go that way. Only eat downstairs there. More BPR.( http://www.restaurant-guide.com/kashmir-1.htm)

And also ask for the Lamb and Spinach Karahi at the Karachi. It is the same dish as the "Rick Stein Special" on the peg menu board but a quid cheaper!

I would like if we had a NW India / Punjabi / Pakistani room on here. The focus on replicating restaurant dishes from one town in Bangladesh is very narrow. A bit like promising European cuisine and forever trying to make the perfect Swedish meatballs.

Have a nice sunny day,

Mike

http://www.pakirecipes.com/recipes/portal.php

That's what they call it. It would be culturally inappropriate for me to comment.
It would get my daughter suspended from year 1 for a start.

But she made great yorkshire puddings today, so tomorrow we make a pakirecipe and have fun with her pc teachers with the show and tell on Monday. Hope to be called off work in the afternoon!!!

That is what the site is called, what am I to do but laugh?

Some nice simple homestyle dishes at this site. The lamb jalfrezi reads and looks great -

http://www.pakirecipes.com/recipes/recipes.php?rid=37

Mike

On the bhaji thread it wandered in to a discussion on re-heating food, with people saying that they wouldn't re-heat meat. I did a bit of digging and found the health and hygiene rules.

To serve in a pub or restaurant a meal has to be raised to a temperature of 75c, as proven with a calibrated probe (thermometer) entered into the thickest part of the meat. That is true for England, in Scotland for some reason it must be 83c. At this point all potentially harmful bacteria are dead. (Source: my local food pub chefess).

For keeping food warm (think buffet or carvery) the rule is that that temperature must be maintained until consumption.

So no more all you can eat buffets for me. I don't think weedy meths lamps under a pot of Chicken Bhuna are likely to be up to the job.

Mike

I ask this because in hoping to make a curry equal to or better than our local takeout the whole concept has been homogenized; as if there is a single style to be aspired to.

Is the aim to re-create a narrow form of anglicised Bangladeshi type of food as served in a majority of UK Indian restaurants, or does the definition reach as far as the predominantly Punjabi food of Bradford? Or the South Indian Vegi fare of such as Drummond Street near Euston Station? Or Nepalese, or Balti in Birmingham?

It is almost like people are trying to design a car with no idea if they want a Bentley or a Nissan Micra. I do think that the cuisine we aim to replicate, and the restaurants we all eat in, are too varied for such a catch-all acronym as BIR.

Can you imagine an Indian website that aspired to cook authentic restaurant European food?

A little more investigation in to the origins of the chefs we aspire to copy (are they Swedish or Spanish to carry the analogy on) would give greater insight in to the sometimes subtle (often major) differences of spicing and lead us to a greater insight as to what we are looking for, and then how to cook it as we want it.

(The kid was playing me up, sorry for the rant!)

Keep on cooking

Mike

On the odd occasion my wife refuses a curry, and I insist on having one, we end up ordering her a pizza or kebab from my favourite indo/pakistani takeaway. They make sublime curries but their pizzas are rubbish, ditto kebabs and burgers. Ironically it is called "Chicago Pizza and Balti Bazaar", the pizza bit is first.

Nearly all local (West Leeds) pure takeaways (i.e no restaurant) try this which begs the questions:

Firstly why do they try and multi-task? Secondly, is it actually possible to do all these things well at all? Thirdly, is this a west Yorkshire thing or is it everywhere?

About a year ago, in a decent and well known Bradford curry house, my brother and I arrived for lunch. After the popadoms came and after we had ordered I commented to my brother that two white people in white coats and pork pie hats were in the kitchen - I had the view, he had his back to it. He turned round and said "Not good" - he works in the catering industry. 20 Minutes later we were told that there would be no food service that day by a kind waiter, and we were asked to leave.

Has anybody else been in a restaurant where Environmental Health have shut them down while they were eating??

It re-opened 2 weeks later and we ate a good lunch. It always was good before and equally so since. I wonder if EH are too zealous sometimes.

(Restaurant name deliberately omitted, don't need the liable issue!)

Bradford base required

Hi, love this site but it's got kinda big and overwhelming. I keep seeing references to certain base sauces but never seem to find the recipes. As a Bradford curry major (Kashmir and Karachi) I would love someone to point me to an appropriate base.

Got all the kit (Ahmed foods has been my friend for years and years) but always end up making good Indian / Pakistani food when what I want to make is a good Bradford curry!

Any advice gratefully received

Thanks

Mike

Hi, love this site but it's got kinda big and overwhelming. I keep seeing references to certain base sauces but never seem to find the recipes. As a Bradford curry major (Kashmir and Karachi) I would love someone to point me to an appropriate base.

Got all the kit (Ahmed foods has been my friend for years and years) but always end up making good Indian / Pakistani food when what I want to make is a good Bradford curry!

Any advice gratefully received

Thanks

Mike

Had this a number of times, usually chicken, "cooked in the pickling style". Most tasted like medium with a dollop of mixed pickle in it. Is there a BIR version that tastes a bit more - er - complicated? Thanks. Love this site