From authentic to BIR: Hello everybody!

[m0rq]

Namaste, fellow Curryholics!

I found my way into this forum after messing around with Indian cooking, and I thought I'd leave a message here to introduce myself and let you know - once again, I suppose - what road took me here.

Being from Germany, and having lived all my life in two bigger cities, I was always in a good supply of Indian restaurants and takeaways. But three years ago, a new job directed me to the far Northwest, close to the Dutch border. And let me tell you: there are no acceptable Indian restaurants in this region at all. You'd have to go all the way to Amsterdam or Cologne to get a decent curry.

That's when I decided to no longer bear the craving for curry, the desperate search for restaurants and the ever-being disappointment after finding just another tourist rip-off restaurant with mediocre quality. So I bought my first book of "Cooking Indian Curries".

You all know too well how wrong that was. At that point I didn't even know I wasn't looking for "authentic Indian cuisine", I was desperately looking for the BIR style without even knowing it.

I tried all the "authentic" ways with Vindaloos, Rogan Josh, Madras and the like, with quite satisfying results, but you guess it, completely missing that special BIR taste. Having been to London quite a few times, I knew there were especially good Indian restaurants, but still I hadn't figured out that it was this style that I was calling for.

All by accident I stumbled over the BIR ebook by Mick Crawford (CBM), which opened my eyes in an instant. I bought it and made my first base gravy this weekend, along with pre-cooked chicken, pre-cooked vegetables and mix powders.

And then.. my first Chicken Madras that tasted like I was expecting it. Okay, it was far from being perfect, but it came so close that I got really euphoric. The whole concept of preparing everything and then putting it together in a quarter of an hour blew my mind. Having quite the perfect consistency when just pouring in the base and letting it simmer for a few minutes made all the work so worthwile. And the ability to freeze the pre-cooked base and chicken gives so much opportunity to have a curry whenever I want, that's just unbelievable comparing to the effort that the "authentic" cook books demanded (quite often an 8-12 hour process including the marinades).

On further reading, I found this forum and the many many different opinions and possibilities people have already tried with BIR style cooking. I'm so eager to try them all. But I'm not even 20% through Mick's first ebook and my stomach is already revolting after three days Curries in a row. Guess you'll have to take a break inbetween, that's going to be hard :-D

Anyway, I'm glad I found out about BIR cooking, about this forum and I'm looking forward to learning and trying a lot more. Hopefully I'll come across some knowledge to share with you all.

Get out the chilli powder and have fun!

Best regards
m0rq

[Stephen Lindsay]

Welcome m0rq, you won't go far wrong following Mick's recipes, he was one time a regular on this forum and his 2 e-books are excellent. I would suggest you don't get too caught up in following the myriad of bases, spices mixes etc. on this forum. It's far better in my opinion to hone your cooking skills with the same set of reliable recipes and Mick's are as good as any.

What you will pick up here though is lots of tips contained within posts and I'd suggest that you look in every day and follow the posts. It doesn't take long and you'll internalise your knowledge in no time.

Most of all I hope your euphoria continues - Madras is an excellent choice!

[Garp]

Welcome m0rq.

That is a brilliant first post. My journey is similar to yours in that I made 'traditional' Indian curries for many years and, although they were lovely, they didn't replicate what I was eating in restaurants.

This place has been a revelation for me and there is some brilliant information available.

Look forward to seeing some photos of your creations

[Geezah]

Welcome to the site, I'm sure you will enjoy your time here.
As there are a lot of passionate chefs here you will see some fall out from time to time, but you just have to read past that and carry on with your journey.

I will offer you your first tip now that you are here....

Behold the Happy Naan's

That should compliment your next curry nicely.

[LouP]

Great post m0rk, welcome to the forum.

I am quite new here but have learned so much in just 3 months. I cook BIR food every week now and am so grateful to the forum.

Good luck and I can't wait to see some pics
Lou

[m0rq]

Hi again,

thank you all very much for your replies!

@Stephen Lindsay: You're right, I will try to work with Mick's base for some time now to see if I can get the results to my liking. A lot of testing with different dishes will be necessary, and I'm not complaining. It's just good to know there are so many possibilities to try, even if it takes years. That's the journey for the perfect curry, and how do they say: the journey is the best reward. Euphoria is a clean licked Karahi ;-)

@Garp: I'd guessed that on this forum would be many people with a journey to find the perfect curry similar to mine. That's really funny and on the other hand I'm glad that I don't need to become desperate over possible "curry secrets never revealed". It will need time to absorb all this information, this forum is such a valuable resource. Oh and yes, I'll try to post some photos of my curries, this is indeed a piece of art we should share.

@Geezah: thank you for the link! Indeed, I was thinking about making my own Naan's for some time, while I'm still using the supermarket ones that can be reheated in the oven. Of course they cannot compare to restaurant Naan's or selfmade ones. But Naan's are an absolute must. My top three essential side dishes to a curry are: Mixed Pickels (vegetable and chilli), Mango Lassi (to better celebrate the ups and downs of hot chilli flavor) and Naan bread (preferably the ones with green chilli and garlic baked in them, or just the plain ones). I'll definitely save your link for later and will try it!

@LOUP: So you're three months ahead of me, I will need to catch up quickly. I'm really eager to see what my curries taste like after a few months more practise and knowledge.

Again, thank you for your replies, I'm looking forward to making many more curries and sides and hope I get something to share with you!

Have a good time!

m0rq

[Tim.C]

Hi m0rq and servus,

what you might find in Germany (or generally outside the UK) is the fact you can't get self-raising flour, which is called for in some recipes, and also that the German baking powder is, ime,  "weaker" then UK baking powder. I think the Germans put (more) flour in it as well. So you might need to experiment there.
There are some suggestions for making up your own SR -flour as well, either here or elsewhere on the Net, but it seems to be a very hit and miss thing with very variable amounts. Again, trial and error.
I'll be doing a few trials in a couple of weeks when I get time, on some of the the yeast-free naan bread recipes, and will try some home-made self-raising mixes.

[m0rq]

Hi Tim.C,

thank you for your welcome and your message. By the way, "Servus" is Bavarian, I prefer the northern "Moin Moin"! :-D

Yes indeed, there are some differences in what's on the market in the UK and here in Germany. I have not yet tried to make Naans myself, but I have seen many different (international) types of flour in my local Asian shop. That doesn't seem to be the biggest problem. I also wanted to try to make Onion Bhajis, so I'll give it a shot some time soon.

The biggest problem I had so far - don't laugh - is to get "Mint Sauce" here in Germany. People in the local shops (not Asian) look at me like I'm asking for alien technology. "Are you looking for this?" <hands me a can of "Pesto Sauce">

No mint sauce in any supermarket. I got some "mint chutney" in an Asian store, but that doesn't seem to be the real deal either. I'm needing it because some of the recipes in CBMs ebooks ask for it. I found some that can be ordered from Amazon from the UK, that's what I will do now.

That's the only ingredient that I'm missing so far.. everything else is working out so fine. Last week I made a Madras, Vindaloo and Bhuna with the new base gravy, and it was already much better than anything I tried before. Now I'm trying to work on the Naan's and some sides. :-)

[Gav Iscon]

Mint sauce is easy to make being just sugar, vinegar and mint. Theres loads of recipes on the internet. Heres one picked at random

3 lg Handfuls of chopped fresh mint leaves(stems removed) - or 4 TB dried Mint leaves
4-5 TB  Granulated sugar
1/2 cup  White Wine vinegar

Bring vinegar to a simmer in a small saucepan [or microwave in a small glass measuring cup for just under a minute, add sugar and chopped leaves. Let sit for about 10 minutes, then stir and heat again for 30-60 seconds. Let sit another 10 minutes to infuse. Add more sugar or add a little water to taste, depending on how strong or how sweet you want the sauce. (I add no extra water or sugar to this recipe, but you may prefer yours a little less potent.)

Store in bottle with a lid.
Vinegar has natural preservative qualities, and mint sauce should keep for 2 to 3 months in cold storage or for 6 to 8 months in the refrigerator.

[m0rq]

Hi Gav!

Wow, thanks a lot for the hint! That sounds easy enough for me to try. I even have all the ingredients already at home, at least dried mint, but it will be no problem to buy fresh mint leaves too.

I'll try it out this evening! Again, thank you!