The Curry Guy - How to make British Indian Restaurant (BIR) Style Curries

[Kashmiri Bob]

Dans chicken madras recipe.  Made this many times with Mick Crawfords and Julians base and its wonderful.  Quite a lot of mango chutney in there and it works a treat I think.  With Jalpur gm added at the end its awesome.

http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2012/01/22/how-to-make-chicken-madras-a-curry-house-favourite/

He is from the USA.  I have no idea why I thought he was an Aussie.

Mango chutney and GM added at the end...definitely not typical BIR madras.

Theres no tomato in the recipe either, but its very nice with the mango.  I added some fresh curry leaves at the start and my own mix powder, and the gm at the end finished it off nicely.  Perhaps it should have a name of its own?  the TA/BIRs near me also do a madras that could do with new name as well. Honest some of them are totally rank.  Theres a new one opened recently that I havent checked out yet though.  Can't make up my mind if its worth the effort.  Thing is they do a "Stuffed and Puffed" deep fried naan main (stuffed with your fav curry).  Now that sounds like another wrong un to me. Although it would be quite filling I suppose. But.  Any suggestions for a proper bir madras Santa?  I'm thinking about trying 976s recipe.  Rob. 

[Secret Santa]

Any suggestions for a proper bir madras Santa?  I'm thinking about trying 976s recipe.  Rob. 

Honestly, no.

A proper BIR madras is the kind (in my opinion) that was available everywhere in the early eighties and that appears to be available no more. None of the recipes on this site match it and my own version, which is little different to those, doesn't matches it either.

In general though I think a madras should be very simple. It has to be more tomatoey than a vindaloo (that'll conflict straight away with other opinions) so it needs some tomato puree. Then it's just some mix powder, a decent amount of chilli, a bit of methi, all purpose seasoning, g/g paste, base sauce and spiced oil and a few wedges of tomato at the end. Definitely no souring agent such as lemon, lemon dressing or worcester sauce. All of those take a madras a million miles from those I knew in the eighties and again, in my opinion, make it (a lot) worse for it. And, as with any basic, savoury curry, no sugar should be added as any sweetness should come from the base sauce. Chicken stock is optional but definitely adds to the savoury flavour.

Oh, and the GM added at the end is an absolute no-no. That's an authentically Indian way to spice a curry but it gives it a very 'flowery' overtone that is just not natural in old style BIR curries. If you use GM then don't overdo it and make it part of the mix powder so that it gets added at the start and has time to mellow.