Topic: a pom down under

[deerstalker36]

Hi Livo,

the majority of curries i've had in australia have no depth of flavour and no heat. a chicken vindaloo tastes the same as a chicken madras, no such thing as balti here either. Aussies also have this need to fill all of their dishes (indian, asian etc) with veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower and carrots and very little meat 

[livo]

So essentially it's heat.  Chilli.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I don't think that chilli on its own will add depth of flavour, nor (of course) will it remove unwanted vegetables from the dish, 'though it will (of course, and as you have already noted) add heat.  I suspect that if DS36 can find a little sub-continental enclave that caters primarily for its own residents and doesn't tart things up (or down) for tourists, then he may well get a better experience, but whether such enclaves exist in Australia (at least within reasonable travelling distance of his place of residence, Australia being the size that it is) I have no way of knowing ...

** Phil.

[livo]

I've not yet seen or experienced anything the makes a distinction between Indian restaurants here or there.

Balti? You only have to read your own posts Phil. You don't know if you've ever had one. So depth of flavour and heat? Hmm mm?

[Peripatetic Phil]

I've not yet seen or experienced anything th[at] makes a distinction between Indian restaurants here or there.

Well, perhaps you need to travel a little more more widely, Livo,  Australia is a remarkably large country, so I imagine that there are still a few parts that you have not yet visited, and perhaps a visit to one of those will introduce you to a style of Indian cuisine that you have not previously experienced.  Here, in a much smaller country, I can experience an enormous range of different approaches to Indian cuisine, typically without needing to travel more than 10 to 15 miles at most.

Balti? You only have to read your own posts Phil. You don't know if you've ever had one. So depth of flavour and heat? Hmm mm?

I think you may be confusing my reply with that of someone else.  I made no mention of balti because I have never experienced it and am therefore not in a position to comment.  But I have experienced curries with quite remarkable depths of flavour, and I have also experienced mind-numbingly hot ones, and the two do not necessarily go together, although they very occasionally can.

** Phil.

[chewytikka]

Well, perhaps you need to travel a little more more widely,  Australia is a remarkably large country,
** Phil.

condescending or what Livo.

[chewytikka]

The main reason why expats struggle to get the taste of UK BIR is obvious.
Historically 90% of UK BIR are Bangladeshi run, with similar kitchen systems
recipes/techniques nationwide.

Taking a snapshot online, of say Brisbane

https://www.thefork.com.au/restaurants-brisbane/indian-cuisine?partySize=2&sortBy=MostPopular&date=2019-09-21&service=Lunch

A list of popular INDIAN outlets and probably none of which are Bangladeshi. The opposite is true in the UK
I would like to try most on this list, as Im always looking for new flavours.

Last night back in the UK
Good old CTM and Pilau, Lamb Biryani and Butter Naan.



cheers Chewy

[deerstalker36]

The main reason why expats struggle to get the taste of UK BIR is obvious.
Historically 90% of UK BIR are Bangladeshi run, with similar kitchen systems
recipes/techniques nationwide.

cheers Chewy

you've hit one of the nails on the head Chewy. the majority of indians that i have met in Australia (lived in WA and Victoria so far) are Sri Lankan or from that area of india. The food is also "dumbed down" for the Australian palate. The one restaurant that i knew of and visited often had a Bangladeshi chef.

There is a group in Perth called the Northern Suburbs Curry Safari, which is a group of Poms looking for BIR equivalents, and there are a few up that way, but in strong english communities.

I'm hoping for good things in Brisbane where i'm off tonext as there is a large Pom community there as well

[livo]

I'm not widely travelled Phil, but that's fine. My main question stems from the fact that I've been cooking from this site for quite some time now, using the methods and ingredients as stipulated. I would assume from this (or hope anyway)  that I'm making BIR curry. I've also sampled quite a few different commercial curry dishes here in Australia and I have to say that in many instances there is very little difference, if any and often I prefer the restaurant / T/A dish over my own. The nationality or cultural backgrounds of the proprietors, I've never asked. Certainly the food available in Wentworthville is not made by Sri Lankans

Sri Lanka is not part of India and while there are many Sri Lankan in Australia I've not seen an Indian restaurant run by them. My wife was an exchange student to the country so we have experience with Sri Lankan people and their style of curry as well. The only Sri Lankan I've known to run a restaurant was proudly a Sri Lankan one. There's a newly promoted Goan Indian place locally that I haven't yet tried. Locally here meaning 40 km away. Most Indian restaurant's here will say Punjabi or Northern Indian in there description or other regional speciality while others offer multi regional dishes.

My favourite Japanese Tepanyaki restaurant from years ago used all Chinese chefs who spoke Mandarin, not Japanese as my girlfriend of the time found out by trying to speak Japanese to our chef.

Deerstalker, may I ask what you mean by "dumbed down"?  I don't take offence. I just wonder what you mean.  The one notable difference I've found is the thickness of the sauces. BIR to me has always seemed to be too runny and I always prefer to reduce to a much thicker consistency. AIR generally seems to be thicker than BIR.

There is a Bangladeshi community here. How involved any of them are in the food industry, I couldn't say.

Phil, my apology for the confusion.  I know you didn't mention Balti here in this thread but you have made it clear in others that you don't think you've ever had one and DS36 mentioned the absence of Balti here in Oz.  Quick replies on the tablet don't always read well.  Anyway. some places (many or even most) do sell things with the word Balti in the dish name. Who could really say if anything is or isn't a Balti? There are several different notions as to what actually constitutes a Balti and I'm yet to find a definitive answer.   DS36, you then go on to mention the excessive use of vegetables.  I only see vegetables in vegetable dishes. Meat dishes usually only have meat where I come from. Surprisingly, one of the "described characteristics of a Balti" is that it contains both meats and vegetables in the one dish.

[deerstalker36]

HI Livo

by dumbed down, i'm talking mainly around heat, but also partly around variation in flavour. coming from the west midlands we had curry houses everywhere and i got used to curries from very very mild ones to blistering arse ripping ones and each one tasted different as well as the difference in heat. When i was over in bunbury in WA no matter what i ordered, unless i asked for it to be british hot (yes the indian restaurant owners understood that term) the curry would turn out like a very bland stew. when i spoke to the chefs and asked them why, they said they adapted their recipes to what Australians wanted and preffered.

the thickness of the sauce depends on what restaurant i've been to as well, but i can say i've never had a "runny" sauce. it's always at least thick to almost dry. the only runny one ove seen is a CTM which is a uk invention anyway.

again with the veggies i have only my WA experience.

BIR is it's own unique brand, Indian cooking varies around the world catering to the local population and local ingrediants. I was friends with a large group of South Africans in WA and they cooked me some of their indian food, bunny chow etc from the Durbanite Indian community. again nothing like what i tasted back in the UK. As i said, in north Perth theres a large UK expat community and the indian restaurantsround there cater to the uk tastes, but as i was about 3 hours south of there, nipping out for a takeaway wasnt an option