Topic: I went to the cooking lesson

[pete]

I arrived an hour early and the wind was freezing
I found Brick Lane easily, it?s only an eight minute walk from Aldgate East tube station.
I negotiated the area in an attempt to kill time.
Although these parts of London  have a certain earthy charm, I must admit, that I permanently felt like a potential mugging victim.
Eventually I decided to call on Bengal Cuisine , a little earlier than planned.
The restaurant has a roomy clean atmosphere.
Very pleasant.
Everything had been arranged by e mail, and I needed to meet my contact, Sharif.
Within five minutes I was eating a complimentary poppadom with four chutney accompaniments.
Soon after I was led down some steps to the basement.
This is where their kitchen is situated.
There is a long, central, stainless steel table which spans nearly the length of the room.
Vegetables, prawns and takeaway cartons are all placed here.
The gas cooker and the tandoor run parallel to the table.
I expected to see a grinder for the curry gravy, but was surprised by a  conventional jug blender instead.
I saw it used as well.
The cooker had about ten gas rings and there was newspaper sheets placed underneath them.
Probably to catch the spraying oil!
Above the cooker were many well used blackened pots, pans and woks.
On the cooker was large pot of the fabled curry gravy.
It?s dark, red oil floating on top.
The chef dropped a ladle to the bottom of it?s pot, and a bright yellow sauce broke the surface.
It was like a thin soup.
He smiled at my surprised expression.
As usual, next to the stove were the yoghurt cartons full of the curry additions.
The layout was:-
Salt, garam  masala, ground almond, curry powder, chilli powder,chopped garlic,turmeric, sliced almonds, dried fenugreek, chopped fresh coriander, sliced chilli and coconut powder.
I had asked to see curry gravy made and I wanted to see a prawn rhogan josh cooked


And so ,with several staff observing, the demonstration began!

The Onion Gravy

Ingredients:-

2 large onions sliced
1 green pepper sliced
1 medium potato sliced
3 tablespoons Garlic ginger puree
1 carrot unpeeled chopped
1 cup of vegetable oil
? cup vegetable ghee
1 desertspoon salt
2 desertspoon turmeric
2 desertspoon of Pataks Kashmiri Masala
2 green chillies chopped
2 whole tomatoes from a can
Water equal to half the volume of the above
i.e. if the above comes to half way up the pot, then add a quarter of a pot of water

Boil the above for only ten minutes.
This is until you can see the sliced onion wilting
Now add:-

2 desertspoons of curry powder (rajah)
2 desertspoons of ground almonds
2 desertspoons of coconut powder
2 tablespoons of condensed milk

Cook another five minutes and then blend
The mixture is bright yellow
Add enough hot water to make it very runny
About half it?s volume again
This doesn?t look like your finished oily curry gravy but I was told with more oil, and longer cooking, it would.
As far as the chef was concerned, we had what we wanted.


Prawn Rhogan Josh

This is made using two pans
An 8 inch pan is used for the prawn part
A 5 inch pan is used for a sauce
The sauce is poured over the prawns at the finish

Ingredients:-

3 desert spoons of oil
1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
? desertspoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon salt
1 desertspoon curry powder (rajah)
2 cups full of thawed cooked prawns

Add everything to the pan (except the prawns) in the order listed and shake vigorously and stir fry for about two minutes
Add the prawns and stir fry, shaking the pan.
The pan is kept very dry
Stir fry a couple of minutes more
Add a ladle of the curry gravy
Shake the pan
Stir fry till evaporated then add another ladle of curry gravy.
Put on simmer and stir from time to time
Total cooking time is about ten minutes.
The pan ends up being fairly dry

Five minutes from the end of the above, start cooking this sauce
This is cooked in a smaller pan (5 inch)

Ingredients 1:-

3 tablespoons of oil
1 desertspoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon salt
1 desert spoon curry powder (rajah)

Add the above to a pan and shake and stir vigorously
Cook for about two minutes then add

Ingredients 2:-

1 ladle of curry gravy
1 large tomato sliced in rings

Stir fry until the sauce dries a bit

Add another ladle of curry gravy, a pinch of dried fenugreek and some finely chopped coriander.
Simmer
Total cooking time is about five minutes.

Pour this sauce over the prawn curry cooked previously and serve.

Conclusion:-

This was a really worthwhile experience, and if I lived closer, I would do this again, very soon.
I have seen Kashmiri Masala on a few curry house shelves, but never heard of it being used in the curry gravy
That was a real eye opener
Dylan has used potato in his curry base, he was right!
I have never tried using ground almonds or coconut powder, either.
The curry gravy I saw made had a much fresher flavour to it.
I prefer the old ?boiled for hours? taste but I don?t think that comment would have been understood.
The curry itself, ironically lacked ?the flavour? we talk of, and had a home made feel.
I believe that this again, is down to the curry base being too fresh.
I have had this before in restaurants
You get it sometimes if you buy a curry on a Sunday when the main Curry gravy has only just been prepared.
Conversation is also very limited, due to language problems.
Two people speak English very well, but not the chef.
His English is minimal
So, fine cooking details, are not easy to clarify.
But you can see it done, and that does more than any words!
Everybody involved was extremely helpful and pleasant.
I would recommend anyone to go.
If you know very little, then it will help you.
If you know a lot, then you will know more.
Could ayone else that goes add to this thread, so we can build up some genuine recipes?
It's well worth ?25

[Curry King]

Hi Pete,

Would you say that it was a better curry than you made before using your own gravy etc...?

cK

[Mark J]

Superb Pete, well done

I should be viewing the chef at my local restaurant this week so I will report back anything I find.

How was the prawn rogan josh?

[Mark J]

Hi Pete,

Some more questions:

About the sauce:

When you say cup was this a rough measure or 250ml ?
Sure it was vegetable ghee and not animal ghee (vegetable ghee smells foul!)


About the prawn rhogan josh:

Was the oil off the curry gravy?
When the first ladle was evaporated did he get rid of absolutely all the moisture added ?

cheers!

[Yousef]

Pete,

Excellent post the best so far.
I will make this a sticky so people can add to it as we build up more real life experience.

Here are the details if anyone else fancies a go;
BENGAL CUISINE
12 Brick Lane London, E1 6RF
Reservation: 020 7377 8405
www..bengalcuisine.net

[curryqueen]

Hi Pete

Well done again!  Did they have recipes all typed out for you and if not, did they mind you copying down as you went.  I must say though, it might have been easier to have chosen maybe a vindaloo to check out it authenticity (restaurant flavour)  I will certainly try this one though   

[pete]

Replies:-
CK :
It was a better all round curry from a composition point of view.
But I felt it lacked  "the" flavour
I think that was because the base was too new and they hadn't browned garlic ginger puree at the start of making it.
Mark:
See above. A cup was probably about 200ml.
He said it was vegetable ghee but his english was limited.
Maybe it was butter ghee.
The oil was NOT from the top of the curry gravy.
It was from an old ghee container balanced on the stove.
If he had used the old curry gravy and oil from it, I am sure it would have been a better curry.
When he fried with the curry gravy he evaporated just about all of it.
Curryqueen:
They offered a clipboard with A4 sheets for notes, but I had a book of my own.
They expect you to take notes
They give no typed notes

[curryqueen]

Hi Pete,   I am going to have a go at this, but, I am going to use the gravy from the Tandoori magazine seeing as I have just made a batch end of last week.  I am sure that "the flavour" will be there if the oil from the gravy is used, I can almost smell it now.

How many tablespoons do you think made up their ladle they used? 

[pete]

Hi Pete, I am going to have a go at this, but, I am going to use the gravy from the Tandoori magazine seeing as I have just made a batch end of last week. I am sure that "the flavour" will be there if the oil from the gravy is used, I can almost smell it now.

How many tablespoons do you think made up their ladle they used?

Probably about four tablespoons.
If that's too much, you can always pour a bit away at the end.

[curryqueen]

Another question Pete.

During the cooking process did they tip the pan and set light to the oil?  If you were to go again to the Bengali, just out of interest, what would your next dish be cook?  I think I would have to try the "vindaloo" one of my fave's!