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51
Lets Talk Curry / Re: Anyone consistently making restaurant-quality dishes w. "the taste"? If so, how?
« Last post by tempest63 on February 14, 2025, 03:11 PM »
Quote from: Robbo141 on January 25, 2025, 11:38 PM
Even now, British restaurant curry is better than home cooked of course but it’s a bit expensive to fly across the Atlantic for that vindaloo hit I crave…
Robbo

I beg to differ, but we have all but given up on BIR curries and did so a lot of years ago. The inconsistency you can get from one outlet is bad enough, but when you look at any one dish, madras, Dhansak, etc., from a number of restaurants in the same area no two will ever taste the same. And regional differences seem to compound the problem.
I fail to see how someone can replicate a BIR dish at home when there is no consistency as to how they taste in a restaurant?
I would suggest that there was a lot more consistency in taste across the restaurants in the 70’s and early 80’s when Pat Chapman attempted to teach us to capture the taste at home, I’m not sure when Bruce Edwards started on his crusade? I’m pretty sure Bruce Edwards did have an article printed in the Curry Club Magazine back in the day.
We cook traditional style at home so no two curries we prepare ever taste the same when put side by side as they don’t have a common base.
We have friends and relations forever looking for an invite to one of our curryfests, and I know that work colleagues who have had a curry night at ours have told other colleagues how good it is.
If I venture into a BIR these days I will stick to a mixed grill or a platter of starters with chapati or roti to accompany.
52
Lets Talk Curry / Re: Anyone consistently making restaurant-quality dishes w. "the taste"? If so, how?
« Last post by Kashmiri Bob on February 14, 2025, 01:05 PM »
Quote from: Robbo141 on January 25, 2025, 11:38 PM
Even now, British restaurant curry is better than home cooked of course but it’s a bit expensive to fly across the Atlantic for that vindaloo hit I crave….
Robbo

This comment is debatable Robbo. It seems the vast majority of BIR establishments here now are, at best, producing very average dishes, countrywide. Old school curry is a rarity.

Rob
53
Starters and Side Dishes Chat / Doner kebab
« Last post by Kashmiri Bob on February 14, 2025, 12:31 PM »
Farm foods LA Diner meat pimped with random Blue Dragon stir fry sauces. Home made garlic butter and cayenne pepper sauce. Pickled chillies to serve. Very comforting.



Rob

 
54
Pictures of Your Curries / Re: Chicken vindaloo
« Last post by Kashmiri Bob on February 08, 2025, 03:14 PM »
Quote from: Robbo141 on February 06, 2025, 02:08 PM
Lovely. 8am and now I’m craving my favorite dish.
Recipe please?

Robbo

Yes, a recipe.  It's coming.  Ever so simple. Erm, some balti juice will come in handy.

Rob
55
Pictures of Your Curries / Re: Chicken Ceylon
« Last post by Kashmiri Bob on February 08, 2025, 02:46 PM »
Sounds familiar in a way Phil. In the past I found that coconut block, powder, etc., was often hard to notice in a hot curry, unless lots was used.  The milk flour works a treat. Makes a lovely smooth paste bursting with flavour. I do like coconut though. The paste tastes like the inside of a Bounty, but a lot sweeter and creamy. Yummy!

Rob
56
Pictures of Your Curries / Balti chicken (Aphrodisiac) / Balti chicken & mushroom (Rogan Vitalion)
« Last post by Kashmiri Bob on February 08, 2025, 02:28 PM »
Last night's delights.  Apols for poor presentation and photos.

Balti chicken (Aphrodisiac)



Leftovers. Only a little. Sublime. Lime pickle accompaniament. This was my starter.


Balti chicken & mushroom (Rogan Vitalion)



Mind boggling.  Mango chutney accompaniament.  Main. Definitely a keeper. Possibly crinkle cuts next time.

Rob




57
Lets Talk Curry / Re: How do you stop your curries all tasting too similar?
« Last post by livo on February 07, 2025, 05:51 AM »
My understanding of Deggi Mirch is a that it is indeed a blended product, using selected and controlled varieties of chilli to produce a very consistent and reproducible powder for market under the MDH brand.  I just found the dishes I made using it the other night didn't just have chilli heat, but a very pleasant and enjoyable flavour associated directly to the chilli. To me it really stood out as a noticeable difference when compared to just using say KRCP or Mild CP.
58
Lets Talk Curry / Re: How do you stop your curries all tasting too similar?
« Last post by peshwarinaan on February 07, 2025, 04:43 AM »
A few other thoughts: I had a "real" (takeaway) bhuna tonight for the first time in a while and I was pretty shocked at the difference between it and my recent home-made curries.

The takeaway bhuna was thinner and wetter than I make my own. Not too much floating oil, but the container was stained plenty well which probably means there was lots of oil mixed in with the base.

The taste was the real interesting part. Compared to my own version it was much less rich in flavour. Instead there was a pronounced kind of sourness and a kind of sharp, tangy feeling to it. Not quite like lemon juice, but almost. My own curries definitely don't have this sourness. I'm thinking the key difference was maybe tomatoes. I tend to use tomatoes straight from the tin. Maybe I should be blending them with plenty of water and perhaps try adding methi and garlic like I've seen Latif's Inspired (YouTube) do.

The smell of the curry was also less rich than my own - dare I say mine might even smell better than this one did - however there's definitely still something missing from my own which I still can't identify. You know when you get poppadoms and the bag is all oily? There's a smell to the bag (or that oil) which I think I can also detect in the curry. Maybe they're using reclaimed fryer oil which they've previously used to fry the poppadoms. We all know that onion bhaji and pakora oil is used in a lot of curries but this smelled different. I would love to know what takeaways do with the "regular" fryer oil (chips etc.) - I can't believe they all just chuck it out.
59
Lets Talk Curry / Re: How do you stop your curries all tasting too similar?
« Last post by peshwarinaan on February 07, 2025, 04:30 AM »
Quote from: livo on February 06, 2025, 08:10 AM
They probably use a very bland base gravy
You're right. I've asked for a portion of base gravy from my local and it tasted really very bland, just like a basic vegetable soup. Hardly a trace of spice or anything else. It was also very light yellow in colour which I imagine means it goes into all curries including the mildest.

Quote from: livo on February 06, 2025, 08:10 AM
I make mixed powder, but I'm finding that I use less and less of it
Interestingly I've always found mixed powder a bit of a questionable ingredient. I'm in Scotland and I believe there's a theory that Scottish BIR doesn't use any mixed powder at all - or at least uses it sparingly. From my personal experience recreating dishes I would say that's true. Scottish BIR more heavily on richness from fat and condiments (and food colouring).

Quote from: livo on February 06, 2025, 08:10 AM
I have just found the delight of Deghi Mirch
I thought it was just like a mixture of paprika and regular chilli powder, no? Does it taste noticeably different?

Quote from: livo on February 06, 2025, 08:10 AM
Hotel style uses up to 7 different gravies
I've seen many videos of hotel style cooking but have yet to try any because of the amount of prep. The yellow gravy does look very close to a regular BIR base gravy . The makhani gravy and chop masala I could see being used in BIR places, but again maybe not Scottish ones?

The YouTube channel "Travels in India, London & the UK" has plenty of videos of London restaurants using Indian-style gravies, though.

Quote from: Peripatetic Phil on February 06, 2025, 11:01 AM
One thing you might like to try, however, is to use Bassar curry masala where a recipe calls for hot chilli powder

I remember trying it years ago and finding it too overpowering, but maybe I used too much. I could definitely see how it would provide a different, poignant taste though.
60
Pictures of Your Curries / Re: Chicken Ceylon
« Last post by Peripatetic Phil on February 06, 2025, 04:44 PM »
Quote from: Kashmiri Bob on February 06, 2025, 01:41 PM
Chicken Ceylon. Very hot. Coconut milk powder (976bar) is best, imo.

Now that is interesting, Rob — way back in my 20's, Chicken Ceylon was one of my favourite curries, until I discovered that it had coconut in it, at which point I lost all interest (I loathe coconut, as indeed I loathe nuts in general).  But until I discovered that it contained coconut, I could not (or did not) detect its presence at all.  But once I knew that chicken Ceylon contained coconut, it leapt out at me.  Until today, when I now learn that it may have contained nothing more than coconut milk, of which I have no dislike whatsoever.  Ah well, only 50 years of potential chicken-Ceylon-eating wasted  :smile:
--
** Phil.
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