Topic: Hi from (creepy) Crawley!

[Inductive]

Hello all, just joined this forum as part of my quest to make great BIR curries. Lots of great advice here - been busy reading as much as I can in the day or so since I joined.

I started this quest maybe 20 years ago but never really took it much further with the normal problems of time and other constraints... The Bible for me was Kris Dhillon's "The Curry Secret" and whilst the results were reasonable, there was also the realisation that there were other secrets that the book didn't mention!

The result was we gravitated away from trying and started having more and more takeaways delivered from the many takeaways dotted about the town. Some were good, very good, others were either poor or very poor. I'm sure this is a common story.

Fast Forward to 2015 - yet another bland offering from our local that in the past had been quite good and getting fed-up I suggested to my wife (who is a serious curry-head), I should renew the curry cooking and start again. She eagerly agreed!

Found Julian's "Curry Secrets" book and tried one or two of his video recipes that were amazing enough to make me purchase the e-books. It was a good buy, loads of stuff in those - particularly techniques and we have been enjoying plenty of curries from that. The e-book led me to Dave Loyden's "Undercover Curry" which has loads of great stuff in it. (His Pilau Rice method just works perfectly IMHO). Somehow I found this forum and I am seeing the same sort of techniques, secret busting and enthusiasm that I got through those books!

In case anyone wonders, my username is because we use Induction cooking almost entirely and I think I'm probably in a minority. I am interested in the opinions of others who use Induction cooking. For me it is a superb method, heat wise and power wise and only surpassed by big gas burners. Downsides, yes, aluminium doesn't work but a thin steel wok will do absolute wonders with easier cleaning up after . Very pleased to advise others about Induction too., if this subject hasn't been covered.

Sorry for the long post! I only meant to say hello!

 

[Garp]

Hello and welcome 

[Onions]

Yeah that's a good post like a seekh kebab, the longer the better  greetz!

[fried]

Welcome from another induction user. Not sure I wouldn't prefer gas, but fine once you get used to it cooking directly from the bottom.

[George]

Hello all, just joined this forum as part of my quest to make great BIR curries.

Welcome to the forum. Your post is like a breath of fresh air, I must say.  By that, I mean I prefer posts like yours with something interesting to report, rather than brief chat room type natter.

Does your thread title indicate that you're based in Crawley, Sussex? If so, I visited two or three Indian restaurants there last year and I was very disappointed. I'd be keen to know which establishments you rate as good or very good in the town, in case I go back.
 
I agree with you that Kris Dhillon's first book was a breakthrough but, now I know how to make a few dishes, I also know that either her restaurant served relatively tasteless food (even worse than the places I visited in Crawley) or, as I think you suggest, she must have left out certain ingredients on purpose.

Many thanks for your pointer towards the Undercover pilau rice, which I must now try.

I have an induction hob as a sort of backup spare but I hardly ever use it. Perhaps I should, given your obvious enthusiasm.

What are your favourite dishes? Mine is chicken dhansak, and that's what I ordered in each of the Crawley BIRs which I visited.

[chewytikka]

Hello and welcome ;D

You need Gas and Fire, good BIR is primitive cooking.
Induction and a thin wok doesn't come near.
But you have to make the best of what you've got.

Most blokes are up against it, as they have to cook in the wifes kitchen anyhoo... ;D ;D
cheers chewy

[Inductive]

Hello all, just joined this forum as part of my quest to make great BIR curries.

Welcome to the forum. Your post is like a breath of fresh air, I must say.  By that, I mean I prefer posts like yours with something interesting to report, rather than brief chat room type natter.

Does your thread title indicate that you're based in Crawley, Sussex? If so, I visited two or three Indian restaurants there last year and I was very disappointed. I'd be keen to know which establishments you rate as good or very good in the town, in case I go back.

Hi George, thanks for the kind words. Yes I am in Crawley, born and bred here. We rarely go out for a sit-down curry anywhere but I'd recommend the Taj Mahal in the High street. Zari, in Ifield a mile or two away has a good reputation, too. I could not recommend a good takeaway as it changes from one day to another...
 
I agree with you that Kris Dhillon's first book was a breakthrough but, now I know how to make a few dishes, I also know that either her restaurant served relatively tasteless food (even worse than the places I visited in Crawley) or, as I think you suggest, she must have left out certain ingredients on purpose.

I'd agree with that. It was the first time that I realised that all the curries had a common "ish" base, but that one part of wisdom was not enough to satisfy my curiosity into getting the "secrets". I gave up and did other things. This was about 15 years ago! 

Many thanks for your pointer towards the Undercover pilau rice, which I must now try.

Nothing amazing, just rice really, but it is in itself the bedrock and a good pilau rice leads to other things...

I have an induction hob as a sort of backup spare but I hardly ever use it. Perhaps I should, given your obvious enthusiasm.

We were building an extension and had no kitchen. Lidl had a single burner model, maybe like yours even. It worked brilliantly and we were sold on the idea! Since then, the LIDL portable hob has been used for parties and general outside cooking.

What are your favourite dishes? Mine is chicken dhansak, and that's what I ordered in each of the Crawley BIRs which I visited.

Sorry but my least favourite dish is Dhansak! I love Dhal though. My tastes are madras/vindaloo style but the Lamb Rogan  Josh I made from one of Julian's recipes has made me think again

[Inductive]

Hello and welcome ;D

You need Gas and Fire, good BIR is primitive cooking.
Induction and a thin wok doesn't come near.
But you have to make the best of what you've got.

Most blokes are up against it, as they have to cook in the wifes kitchen anyhoo... ;D ;D
cheers chewy

Chewy, yes I know! But I maintain that induction cooking is second best to big gas!  I chose it!

[Inductive]

Welcome from another induction user. Not sure I wouldn't prefer gas, but fine once you get used to it cooking directly from the bottom.

Hi fried, yes I wouldn't consider induction to be even comparable with gas from a big burner but it has its merits over traditional gas cooking where a burner is underpowered as is often the case. 

[Inductive]

Hello all, just joined this forum as part of my quest to make great BIR curries.

Welcome to the forum. Your post is like a breath of fresh air, I must say.  By that, I mean I prefer posts like yours with something interesting to report, rather than brief chat room type natter.

Does your thread title indicate that you're based in Crawley, Sussex? If so, I visited two or three Indian restaurants there last year and I was very disappointed. I'd be keen to know which establishments you rate as good or very good in the town, in case I go back.

Hi George, thanks for the kind words. Yes I am in Crawley, born and bred here. We rarely go out for a sit-down curry anywhere but I'd recommend the Taj Mahal in the High street. Zari, in Ifield a mile or two away has a good reputation, too. I could not recommend a good takeaway as it changes from one day to another...
 
I agree with you that Kris Dhillon's first book was a breakthrough but, now I know how to make a few dishes, I also know that either her restaurant served relatively tasteless food (even worse than the places I visited in Crawley) or, as I think you suggest, she must have left out certain ingredients on purpose.

I'd agree with that. It was the first time that I realised that all the curries had a common "ish" base, but that one part of wisdom was not enough to satisfy my curiosity into getting the "secrets". I gave up and did other things. This was about 15 years ago! 

Many thanks for your pointer towards the Undercover pilau rice, which I must now try.

Nothing amazing, just rice really, but it is in itself the bedrock and a good pilau rice leads to other things...

I have an induction hob as a sort of backup spare but I hardly ever use it. Perhaps I should, given your obvious enthusiasm.

We were building an extension and had no kitchen. Lidl had a single burner model, maybe like yours even. It worked brilliantly and we were sold on the idea! Since then, the LIDL portable hob has been used for parties and general outside cooking.

What are your favourite dishes? Mine is chicken dhansak, and that's what I ordered in each of the Crawley BIRs which I visited.

Sorry but my least favourite dish is Dhansak! I love Dhal though. My tastes are madras/vindaloo style but the Lamb Rogan  Josh I made from one of Julian's recipes has made me think again