Topic: curry for thought

[goncalo]

This is mostly food for thought.

When I lived in Cambridge, I used to take a lot of taxis to and from the towncenter, I lived off north of Cambridge near Milton. Most of the taxi drivers in Cambridge are bangla and they claim to have been chef (or still being chef at night time) in the past 10-20 years both in the bangladesh and in UK (particularly Cambridge).

Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.

So I asked him if he would take 100 pounds to teach me how to cook. I also added I would buy everything else needed and have a kitchen where to practice this. I just needed his help. He said "Yes, absolutely. I'll even help you making the mixes and have everything ready, the powders in the right portions, etc, so so you can cook a meal in 10-15mins.  At the time, I had no idea what real BIR cooking entailed, garabi wasn't even on my best dreams, so bear with me when I say that his comments had a big wow factor.

I was broke at the time, so I postponed the lessons. The following day, I ordered from the takeaway of his master and spoke to the chef and asked him to prepare my meal exclusively and that I had been sent by the-taxi-driver-s-name. His curries ranged from very good to very poor. He was impressive with chiekn tikka, chicken jalfrezi, chicken tikka shatkora and his bombay aloo (The best I've ever had!). His korma was horrible! On one fine day, I thought I'd ask whether Ali (the master) had any interest in teaching me how to do it and I extended the same offer. He laughed in a nice way (he was an incredibly friendly and humble chap!) and said "a lot of the tricks are in the timings and that is something I can't teach easily in one day. I've started cooking when I was 8 years old" (he sounded to be in his 50s) "but sure. Let's plan it. I can't do this week as I have a wedding, but next week  you can come in at lunch time and I'll show you how to prepare one or two dishes."; Sadly, the "It can't be this week" dragged on and on for a few weeks until I ended up not finding the time as I was moving back to Ireland by the time he called me and I had a ton of stuff to do before my departure. With that said (apologies for lengthy write-up), it makes me wonder why don't we all contribute 10-50 pounds towards clarity in the BIR taste?

I'm pretty sure there is a ton of other curry chefs from the 80s reformed and/or driving taxis who would easily take in the 100-150 pounds to teach the art. And, I know a few people have already attended courses, but what about singling out a specific chef that you know is a trusty achiever of the bir taste?

[Kashmiri Bob]

This is mostly food for thought.

When I lived in Cambridge, I used to take a lot of taxis to and from the towncenter, I lived off north of Cambridge near Milton. Most of the taxi drivers in Cambridge are bangla and they claim to have been chef (or still being chef at night time) in the past 10-20 years both in the bangladesh and in UK (particularly Cambridge).

Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.

So I asked him if he would take 100 pounds to teach me how to cook. I also added I would buy everything else needed and have a kitchen where to practice this. I just needed his help. He said "Yes, absolutely. I'll even help you making the mixes and have everything ready, the powders in the right portions, etc, so so you can cook a meal in 10-15mins.  At the time, I had no idea what real BIR cooking entailed, garabi wasn't even on my best dreams, so bear with me when I say that his comments had a big wow factor.

I was broke at the time, so I postponed the lessons. The following day, I ordered from the takeaway of his master and spoke to the chef and asked him to prepare my meal exclusively and that I had been sent by the-taxi-driver-s-name. His curries ranged from very good to very poor. He was impressive with chiekn tikka, chicken jalfrezi, chicken tikka shatkora and his bombay aloo (The best I've ever had!). His korma was horrible! On one fine day, I thought I'd ask whether Ali (the master) had any interest in teaching me how to do it and I extended the same offer. He laughed in a nice way (he was an incredibly friendly and humble chap!) and said "a lot of the tricks are in the timings and that is something I can't teach easily in one day. I've started cooking when I was 8 years old" (he sounded to be in his 50s) "but sure. Let's plan it. I can't do this week as I have a wedding, but next week  you can come in at lunch time and I'll show you how to prepare one or two dishes."; Sadly, the "It can't be this week" dragged on and on for a few weeks until I ended up not finding the time as I was moving back to Ireland by the time he called me and I had a ton of stuff to do before my departure. With that said (apologies for lengthy write-up), it makes me wonder why don't we all contribute 10-50 pounds towards clarity in the BIR taste?

I'm pretty sure there is a ton of other curry chefs from the 80s reformed and/or driving taxis who would easily take in the 100-150 pounds to teach the art. And, I know a few people have already attended courses, but what about singling out a specific chef that you know is a trusty achiever of the bir taste?

Interesting ideas gagomes.  I haven't really got to know any specific chefs really except Ali at the Kushi.  Was due to start the cookery class there 2 weeks ago, but it's been cancelled a couple of times due to the weather, etc.  The course is

[goncalo]

Oh, great Rob! Let us know how you get on with your course -- sounds like fun. I've heard about kushi a few times on this forum, but can't relate to him. Who is he and why is he so spoken of? :-)

[George]

Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.

Interesting but you lost me. Who did you tell were your favourite takeaways? Did you tell CA or the taxi driver? And is it the same person who is referred to as 'he' from there on, in your account? Perhaps you need to add some punctuation marks.

[goncalo]

Once, while on my way to tesco by taxi I was talking to a chap and he said he used to be a chef back in the late 90s in some of the "highly rated" indian restaurants in Cambridge, some of which have changed name and owners and chefs, etc. From some private exchange with CA who used to live nearby, he may have experienced meals made by this chef. So I told him which were my favourite takeaways in Cambridge and he didn't thought they were very good, he recommended another one instead. He said: the chef at this restaurant used to be my master. He knows how to infuse flavour in a curry.

Interesting but you lost me. Who did you tell were your favourite takeaways? Did you tell CA or the taxi driver? And is it the same person who is referred to as 'he' from there on, in your account? Perhaps you need to add some punctuation marks.

Sorry. Let me try and clarify it: The taxi driver was once the head chef in a restaurant called "curry queen" in the Mill Road in Cambridge. From speaking with CA after joining this forum, I found out that he has been to curry queen when he lived in UK.

During my taxi ride, I told the taxi driver that I used to use Renus for my regular takeaways (see my review in the recommended restaurants forum) to be one of the freshest around and all-around decent portion sizes (though, very unlikely to be the best.)  He said he had the food from Renus and thought it was just a bunch of sauce and not enough separation of flavours and then he went on and recommended chef ali's (his "master") restaurant which from my vague recollections was Royal Sice.

[George]

Sorry. Let me try and clarify it:

Many thanks - that's much clearer now, and very interesting. Good luck with any lessons. It sounds very promising.

[goncalo]

I looked around for indian cooker courses, and I came across this bio of a tutor named Atul Kochhar at the Dublin Cookery School.

Atul was the first chef to achieve a Michelin star award for Indian food while working as head chef at ?Tamarind? in London. He went on to open his own restaurant, ?Benares? of London, which also won Michelin star status along with many other awards. He has since opened a second restaurant just outside London and has most recently opened his first restaurant in Ireland ? ?Ananda? in Dundrum ? to great critical acclaim. Atul is well known to followers of TV cookery programmes such as ?Saturday Kitchen? and ?The Great British Menu?.  He writes on Indian cookery and returns to India regularly, leaving him very little time to teach, but he continues to make Lynda Booth's Dublin Cookery School a regular part of his teaching schedule.

Has anyone ever heard of him or his london-based restaurants? I've never heard about his restaurant Ananda in dundrum, but I don't generally visit dundrum, which is at the south end of Dublin and not really in the way to anything or anywhere I go.

I also came across this one on gumtree:

How it works?
1. You can choose from the list of menus from our menu list.
2. option 1: We will do shopping for you and come to your place to teach you cooking ? The rest of the ingredients you can try cooking on your own for 3 ? 4 times option 2: You can come and pick me from my place and I will bring you to the Indian shop and we will do shopping ? it will be a great experience
3. Once we cooked you can serve for 5 to 6 people its better you can invite your friends for dinner. If you are couples invite your friends ? sure it will be a great session for you. Glass for wine will make it even better.
4. For this service we don?t have any specific charges. Cooking is my passion. After tasting the food any cash rewards will be accepted. ?call now ?

[Kashmiri Bob]

Oh, great Rob! Let us know how you get on with your course -- sounds like fun. I've heard about kushi a few times on this forum, but can't relate to him. Who is he and why is he so spoken of? :-)

Apols forgot to reply gagomes.  Unfortunately the kushi course doesn't seem to be happening for me at the minute.  I did actually turn up for it twice (waited 40 mins in the snow with another lad a couple of weeks back) but Ali didn't show.  Think there's been some problems texting cancellation updates.  Hope to get sorted on it some point though.  Ali is Mohammed Ali Haydor, owner of the kushi and author of "Authentic Balti Curry". There are several threads on the book/recipes on here.

Rob 

[Kashmiri Bob]

I looked around for indian cooker courses, and I came across this bio of a tutor named Atul Kochhar at the Dublin Cookery School.

Atul was the first chef to achieve a Michelin star award for Indian food while working as head chef at ?Tamarind? in London. He went on to open his own restaurant, ?Benares? of London, which also won Michelin star status along with many other awards. He has since opened a second restaurant just outside London and has most recently opened his first restaurant in Ireland ? ?Ananda? in Dundrum ? to great critical acclaim. Atul is well known to followers of TV cookery programmes such as ?Saturday Kitchen? and ?The Great British Menu?.  He writes on Indian cookery and returns to India regularly, leaving him very little time to teach, but he continues to make Lynda Booth's Dublin Cookery School a regular part of his teaching schedule.

Has anyone ever heard of him or his london-based restaurants? I've never heard about his restaurant Ananda in dundrum, but I don't generally visit dundrum, which is at the south end of Dublin and not really in the way to anything or anywhere I go.

I also came across this one on gumtree:

How it works?
1. You can choose from the list of menus from our menu list.
2. option 1: We will do shopping for you and come to your place to teach you cooking ? The rest of the ingredients you can try cooking on your own for 3 ? 4 times option 2: You can come and pick me from my place and I will bring you to the Indian shop and we will do shopping ? it will be a great experience
3. Once we cooked you can serve for 5 to 6 people its better you can invite your friends for dinner. If you are couples invite your friends ? sure it will be a great session for you. Glass for wine will make it even better.
4. For this service we don?t have any specific charges. Cooking is my passion. After tasting the food any cash rewards will be accepted. ?call now ?

Seem him on the BBC Saturday morning live food TV program a couple of times.  Specializes in fish dishes I think.  A month or so back he did a bunny chow (or something) recipe served up in half a loaf of white bread, hollowed out.  Apparently this was done traditionally.  Personally, I thought it looked pretty stupid, and would have sent it back if ordered at a restaurant.  He is very famous though and I suppose a free lesson at home is not to be sneezed at.

Rob 

[goncalo]

This reminds me that I got in touch with the owners of a restaurant I went to few times in Cambridge and asked whether I could get trained by their chef. The owner was very humble and just said "No problem, come over when you are in Cambridge", so I'm planning to take 2-3 days off to visit Cambridge some time in March. I wouldn't mind visiting other parts of UK if any cr0 meetups are to be held around this time?

I will likely be heading to oxford for a day trip one of these days and then spend some time in cheltenham, so the closer to one of these areas, the better!