Topic: curry for thought

[emin-j]

gagomes, all Indian cooking lessons are educational but there are some restaurants which serve 'traditional' Indian food which is completely different than BIR t/a food just confirm which style you will be learning.

[goncalo]

gagomes, all Indian cooking lessons are educational but there are some restaurants which serve 'traditional' Indian food which is completely different than BIR t/a food just confirm which style you will be learning.

Thank emin-j! The cookery course may or may not cover "BIR". This is what I was able to get off from the school

Hi Goncalo

 The course will cover spices, how to cook/roast them, meat/fish/vegetarian dishes, how to adjust flavours and will give a good general knowledge of Indian cookery.

The chef running the course does work in a famous indian restaurant in London, but to be quite honest, I don't expect "BIR" coming from the Michellin route

[Peripatetic Phil]

The chef running the course does work in a famous indian restaurant in London, but to be quite honest, I don't expect "BIR" coming from the Michellin route

As famous as (say) Veeraswamys, or somewhere not quite as famous would you say ?
** Phil.

[goncalo]

The chef running the course does work in a famous indian restaurant in London, but to be quite honest, I don't expect "BIR" coming from the Michellin route

As famous as (say) Veeraswamys, or somewhere not quite as famous would you say ?
** Phil.

Not sure what veeraswamys. Here is a link to the reviews:
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d720660-Reviews-Tamarind-London_England.html

"Ranked #939 of 10,938 restaurants in London" (at TripAdvisor)

463 reviews at google:
https://plus.google.com/116296165691032227030/about?hl=en

[Peripatetic Phil]

Not sure what veeraswamys.

This one.  Also in the top 1000.
** Phil.

[spiceyokooko]

Thank emin-j! The cookery course may or may not cover "BIR". This is what I was able to get off from the school

I'm not sure you'll learn much about BIR style cookery from anyone working at one of Atul Kochar's restaurants. It's more kind of Michelin Starred Traditional Indian Cuisine than BIR. You know the stuff, fancy plates, small portions, intense flavours, not a bit of floating oil in sight!

I was very fortunate in my younger years to be a regular diner at the Star of India in Brompton Road, London, which was one of the very first Indian Restaurants to have opened in this country. Either just after or just before Veerswamy that Phil mentioned.

Oddly, Reza Muhammed, now a celebrity chef http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530626 was a small boy when I started going there, his parents owned and ran it.

The very best Indian food I've ever had. Their Tandoori Chicken, (not the same at all as the Tandoori chicken you're probably familiar with) came to the table as a whole chicken with a web of fine coconut over it and I've never found the same ever again or a recipe for cooking it.

[goncalo]

Thank emin-j! The cookery course may or may not cover "BIR". This is what I was able to get off from the school

I'm not sure you'll learn much about BIR style cookery from anyone working at one of Atul Kochar's restaurants. It's more kind of Michelin Starred Traditional Indian Cuisine than BIR. You know the stuff, fancy plates, small portions, intense flavours, not a bit of floating oil in sight!

I was very fortunate in my younger years to be a regular diner at the Star of India in Brompton Road, London, which was one of the very first Indian Restaurants to have opened in this country. Either just after or just before Veerswamy that Phil mentioned.

Oddly, Reza Muhammed, now a celebrity chef http://uktv.co.uk/food/chef/aid/530626 was a small boy when I started going there, his parents owned and ran it.

The very best Indian food I've ever had. Their Tandoori Chicken, (not the same at all as the Tandoori chicken you're probably familiar with) came to the table as a whole chicken with a web of fine coconut over it and I've never found the same ever again or a recipe for cooking it.

Well, as I don't just want to learn BIR, but rather how to cook properly and in a variety of styles, how to intensify the flavors in food, I think his teachings can be useful. I am a fairly beginner cook (I cooked the first time around May 2009) I am hoping the learning can help me get more confident. If out of it I can have a decent meal and/or learn a few things, I don't think the 70 euro will be totally lost

[curryhell]

   Totally agree with you Gagomes.  If you think you're going to get something out of it, go for it. I remember the ribbing some of us took for paying for the Zaal experience.  Those that attended also know of the benefit it has been to the site in terms of underlining what was already here but ignored or under-estimated.
Don't pay too much attention to certain individuals.  They have too big an ego and will gain nothing from this site.  Because they know all there is to know already.  That's why they are here :

[goncalo]

  Totally agree with you Gagomes.  If you think you're going to get something out of it, go for it. I remember the ribbing some of us took for paying for the Zaal experience.  Those that attended also know of the benefit it has been to the site in terms of unlining what was already here but ignored or under-estimated.
Don't pay too much attention to certain individuals.  They have too big an ego and will gain nothing from this site.  Because they know all there is to know already.  That's why they are here :

Out of curiosity, how much did the zaal experience cost and how much would you say it was worth?

I've looked at the video for making the base (which appears to be incomplete) and I noticed that the chef and the assistant disagree that garlic and ginger should be 60 (i.e one says garlic, the other says ginger. the odd thing is the assistant does justify why, i.e "garlic can be overpowering") so I've sort of looked past it

[solarsplace]

Hi gagomes

Hope Dave won't mind too much me answering on his behalf:

FYI, the assistant is actually the main head chef at Zaal. Az mainly does front of house these days and usually only cooks when the restaurant is uber busy.

As far as I recall the cost was 60 pounds for the session. For that we received around 4 hours really intensive tutoring and then sat down for a late lunch and sampled all the food we cooked plus a couple of extra masalas that Az cooked.

Do I consider it good value for money and time well spent? - would I go again next week if there was another session? - too flipping right mate - in the drop of a hat!

Look around - you will struggle to get guitar lessons for less than 15 pounds an hour! someone offers you a deal like that go for it!

Training in anything is not cheap these days. Just finished a SQL Server performance tuning course for work - that was 2 thousand pounds for a weeks course! something like 70 pounds an hour! time is money

Cheers