Spoke to a takeaway manager last night

[Curry King]

Had a curry last night from a place id never been to before in Brighton.? It was only a takeaway and not a restaurant but my chicken vindaloo was superb.

He didn't give to much away but told us that they put carrots, peppers, peeled tomatoes, tomatoe puree, lots of oil and lots of onions in the gravy, they had what looked like a big pot of it on the go which must have been for the next day as it was nearing closing time.? ?He said that they put lots of "spices" in it but he wouldn't say exactly what?

He did say that they mainly use ghee for cooking the currys themselves but depending on the curry, a few they use oil for.? Another intersting thing he said was that they use Pataks paste's quite a lot and for all of there balti sauces!!? This I think is definitely true as I had a chicken balti a while ago from somewhere else and I could have sworn it had some sort of Patak paste in it.? He said that they only buy Pataks and wouldn't use anything else as there not good enough.?

I will be going back there soon and will grill him some more, hopefully for a vindaloo recipe ;D

cK

[Muttley]

CK, are you prepared to join my quest to rid the world of chicken vindaloo?

[Curry King]

I could eat Vindaloo for breakfast, dinner and tea, in fact I think I have done a couple of times 

[Muttley]

Same here, but not, I must admit, all on the same day.

[jockman]

Hello all, new member here,
Interesting to note the use of Patak  paste, I use it myself, NOT in the quantaties listed on the jar, but just enough(?), I blend it with other spices, seems to get good, consistent results.  Also, I have noticed a lot of Indian shops sell huge catering jars of these products, seems a lot of resturants use it.

Jon

[Yousef]

Heres a link to Pataks for everyone

http://www.pataks.co.uk/

Enjo

[Curry King]

Hi Jockman,

A while ago on in2curry someone suggested that some restaurants mix Patak tandoori paste with natural yogurt and oil and use a couple of spoons of that in their currys. ?I tried it myself and its ok but not something I continued to do, although I still use them as part of a marinade.

cK

[Rama]

O.K. having gained entry to our local Takeaway?s Kitchen I can give you some hard facts.  Nearly all the dishes I have seen them cook (Normal type curry?s not masala) they start with 2 tbs of veg oil, they then add to this chopped onion, garlic, tomato puree then fry on high heat for 60 secs . Then Pataks curry paste and a small amount of dried crushed leaves.  I have not worked out if these leaves are Bay leaves, methi or curry leaves.  I suppose they must be curry leaves.  They then add a small amount of curry sauce, boil rapidly then add meat other spices depending on dish followed by more sauce.  The different dishes spices are not to different, only the quantities. There curry sauce is almost like water.  Hope to get more info.  Have told them I want to be trained as Indian chef.  I can but hope!