who has had a very garlicy lemony madras from a bir ?

[CurryOnRegardless]

Where are all these BIRs/TAs that stick lemon/garlic in their Madras? Not round here that's for sure. FWIW I think the addition of lemon/garlic was one of the things that marked out the better BIRs of yesteryear, the madras then being served either garnished with ground coconut or coconut chutney on the side. These days all you ever seem to get is a standard curry with extra chilli powder in it, no finesse at all.
So, for me, the combination of lemon/garlic/ginger and spices is what goes to make a good Madras, unfortunately the skills required to achieve the right result seem to be disappearing in direct proportion to the number of BIRs and TAs that are transforming into fried chicken/pizza/kebab joints.

Regards
CoR

[parker21]

hi guys just to give you my opinion, although i don't actually eat madras ( not hot enough ) i have ACTUALLY seen my madras sauce cooked and he used lemon juice(technically) it was actually ktc lemon dressing from a squeezy bottle, but he still used lemon in the sauce. but again it is regional thing or just each restaurant may or may not use it. if you read petes' prawn madras demo no lemon juice or coriander are used
anyway just an opinion of someone who has seen it being used
regards
gary

[Derek Dansak]

Interesting points made by everyone on this thread. next question : "should bir madras have a slight sweet and sour taste". for me that is a must. a mildly spiced dish with sweet toffee taste, some heat, and some sourness. what do you guys/gals think?

[JerryM]

DD,

i don't associate sour with madras - hence the comment on the lemon. pathia is quite something else and a dish hard to beat when a BIR cooks it well (it needs to be one of the chef's specials)  - i used to eat it for about 3 yrs at one TA until it was taken over. i've tried UB's recipe which is close. maybe a contender for recipe refinement for me although the list is getting bigger by the day and i intend working on my KD2 book asap.

[Derek Dansak]

Never tried a pathia. i think a visit to my local ta is in order!