Quote from: paast10 on August 23, 2005, 10:04 AM
I appreciate that response but if that could even be remotely true, then a vegetarian should never go there.? Honestly, I am frustrated here that I cant find "real" indian food.? The Derby place was good food - but not traditional.? Now I understand why the menus here have a list of ingredients and then you pick what curry you want with it.? I have never seen such thing in the US or malaysia or Singapore or Canada.? Those are the only other countries I have had indian food in.? I dont think people in england would even like traditional food because it doesnt have curries and no rich flavor like the BIR here.? I am waiting to try the Bombay palace in London just to see if it follows the same cookbook as the other ones across the world or if it has been adjusted to suit Brits.
Does anyone cook lentils at all?? Thay can be very very tasty and not at all heavy - thats where curry leaves come in handy oftentimes.

With regard to your question about lentils, I use them regularly in cooking (not just in curries but in soups and stuff too). If you have any recipes for daal ( authentic or otherwise) I would be appreciative.

Thanks, Dylan

Will do that this week..possibly tomorrow...mostly we cook yellow lentils (known as Toor, or Arhaar dal) but I have some recipes with the red lentil which most people may use in soups and the such.  They cook the quickest.

Payal

Payal, I  look forward to trying your recipes, they sound very good. Thanks!    (They seem like the sort of thing my children will enjoy too - yes my kids are also curry freaks!).

hi payal
there is a recipe for onion gravy from my local RAJVER which is posted on this site. i have made it on a regular basis (at least once every two weeks) and had some fab curries. mainly vindaloos.but the reason i make it so oftten is becuase it takes only 1 hour to cook. however i do recommend using bruce edwards' curry house cookery base and recipes. again we all know that bir cuuries are far from authentic but we are all so lucky to be able to have a mystery like this to challenge all of us, to be a "holy grail" & to be passionate about trying everything to recreate the aroma, texture and THE TASTE

life before i discovered the bir curry was abit dull the only curries i ever eaten before were either from the local chinese or an attempt by my mum( bless her). i'm not a lover of mixing fruit with my savoury.so was horrified one day to discover, after i had put the 1st huge forkful of home made curry for the 1st taste i got was not curry in my chicken curry but apple in in chcken curry and an awful powdery taste. guess that was growing up in 70's & 80's. and the lack of bir's. oh no i can taste a vesta( good memory for recollecting taste from my past) feeling quite sick, so it's lucky i cooked a chicken vinadloo lastnight and oops cooked too much so feeling much better now

well i hope that i have been no help at all
regards gary

Thanks woodpecker.....no use at all right enough, but it does bring back memories

Have you tried a Vesta 'Beef' Curry with a spoonful of chillies.........it is actually not a bad change from all these rich BIR jobs and reminds of your dear old mum

Oh the horror of 'curries' from the 70's!? ? I have quite a large collection of cookbooks and the curry recipes in the older ones (50's -late 70's) are usually chopped apple and sultanas, teaspoon of Branston Pickle and half teaspoon of curry powder!? It's a miracle we ever took to the stuff.

Tend to agree... Bruce Edwards or Pete's base sauce seems to be the way to begin any assimilation of the BIR taste....use this as the basis and experiment ! The quest continues !

Quote from: Nessa on August 26, 2005, 05:37 PM
Oh the horror of 'curries' from the 70's! ...It's a miracle we ever took to the stuff.

I remember the 1970s quite well and I'm sure the BIR curries were almost as good then, as now. I say 'almost' because I'm not sure that CTM had arrived. But most towns had several BIRs - it felt like almost as many as now -  and the 'taste' was most certainly there, with the same basic menu, except Balti items, which I have never liked anyway.

I love those British curries with apples and sultanas and things. They're a different animal, like BIR curries, authentic Indian curries, Thai curries, chinese curries, etc, etc.

Don't knock the 70s!

Regards
George

dear george and others

i wasn't knocking the 70's man( after all i did grow up in them) i was merely recollecting that vesta curries then well tasted like the box they came in with curry powder sprinkled on, at the age of 7 or 8 if think that was a pretty good observation imo
but i have no recollection of any bir curry of any sort didn't know of any in our area  a reminiscing sadnesss maybe.
anyway

has anyone tried the onion gravy base i have posted from rajver yet coz i haven't seen any postings and it is suitable for veggies. as i have said many times i have had very good results with it using the bruce edwards methods of cooking.
heat the oil until hot but not smoking add the salt, rest masala, chilli powder,tom puree or paste mix well DONOT BURN.then add ladle of base, evap down then after a couple of mins add 2-3 ladles of base allow to start to bubble before adding either cooked or un-cooked meat. then cook till it has well cooked or heated through before adding any further ingredients such as coconut,  almonds, coriander, cream etc,etc....garnishing with coriander.

well thats enuff from me
regards
gary

Quote from: woodpecker21 on August 29, 2005, 05:50 PM
i wasn't knocking the 70's man( after all i did grow up in them) i was merely recollecting that vesta curries then well tasted like the box they came in with curry powder sprinkled on..
but i have no recollection of any bir curry of any sort didn't know of any in our area 

It sounds like you missed out in your area. In Portsmouth and surrounding area, where I grew up, I'm sure there were almost as many curry houses in the 1970s as now - loads to choose from. I enjoyed Vesta Beef curries as a highlight of Inter-Rail trips around Europe. We took a few Vesta packs with us, to cook on a Calor gas stove on camp sites. For what they were, I always enjoyed them.

Regards
George