1970s Chicken Dansak (Dhansak) for 4 people.

[livo]

Thank you, George. There's some very useful information there.  Yes, you are correct that my geographical location and lack of ever experiencing the real thing, does limit my understanding of what I'm striving to achieve.  This has never deterred me from attempting to emulate BIR from afar.  I still know when I've cracked a good curry though.  Once again, I can only assume that if I'm following the same instructions, using the same ingredients, as you guys are, I must be achieving the same dishes in the end.

This is where it is useful for chaps, such as yourself, to prepare and sample the new recipes, provide feedback as to how good or bad they are in relation to dishes you've actually eaten and use as benchmarks.

[Secret Santa]

I was just referring to the fact that Chef Din appears to be demonstrating the way they cooked it back in the 1970s restaurant.

Ah,ok. The thread title should have given me a clue. D'uh!

No! I won't put pineapple or other crapifiers (is that a real word) in it.  I do like it on pizza with ham and prawns though.

Ok, full disclosure. I do on occasion put pineapple in it myself now. In the past when no-one put pineapple in, it seemed like sacrilege to do so. But it does add a little extra treat and the pineapple juice certainly does no harm to the overall flavour.

I'm now keen to try adding some smokiness.

Yup, the USP of dhansak is (or at least was in days of yore) the delicious smokiness. It's what kept me coming back for more.

Edit:  The dish I've prepared using the dhungar smoking method is Yemeni Chicken Mandi (Arabian Biryani).

I can't really imagine a smoky biryani. How did you rate it?

[livo]

Thanks Santa.  The Yemeni Mandi I really liked the first time I made it, and the smokiness was great.  The second time I tried it, the charcoal sort of fizzed out and the smokiness failed and tasted like a bad fire.  Well, it wasn't that bad, but the first time was far better.

https://www.archanaskitchen.com/arabian-chicken-mandi-recipe-yemeni-style-rice-chicken

[livo]

I made this dish again last night.  While it is a fair bit of work (well over an hour) it is well worth it.  My daughter's partner is a somewhat fussy eater and he described it as "Don't forget how to make this one!".

The wife and I are going on a trip in 2 weeks with her family (Rock and Blues Festival) and we intend on providing curry dinner for everybody on one night.  We are going to make dishes in advance and freeze them to be thawed and reheated.  The Chicken Dhansak is on the list, as well as a couple of Vegan dishes to cater for the brother-in-law and his Mrs.  I've just experimented with a Vegan Rajma Masala which turned out pretty well and I've bought a packet of Okra to do a Bhindi Curry.

Off topic note:  When we found out at the last minute that the daughter and her partner would be here, I quickly whipped up a Butter Chicken using the Maharajah's Choice Butter Chicken paste.  It is his favourite dish, and this was the first time with this paste and method.  So quick and easy for really quite good results.