Topic: www.currynationuk.co.uk

[www.currynationuk.co.uk]

hello everyone

we are a greater manchester based company.  we are an online directory for the indian restaurant industry.  what makes us different to other directories is that we offer discounted curries to all our curry nation uk card holders.

offers range from 2 for 1 on main meals to free bottles of wine or starters.  Theres something for everyone and our card only costs ?15.00 per year.

theres also recipes, a forum and cookery lessons

would be good to hear some feedback

the site is www.currynationuk.co.uk


many thanks

Lee

[Razor]

Hi Currynation,

Ok, so I've visited the site and become a member.  Activity in the forum seems a bit slow, and nobody has of yet posted any recipes.  How long have you been up and running?

What was of interest was the cooking lessons.  Typically, what would it cost for the 1/2 day and full day course?  As an incentive, perhaps you could negotiate a discounted price for members of both cr0 and Currynation?

Ray

[www.currynationuk.co.uk]

hi razor thanks for joining our forum, weve been running for a year now.

with regards to the cookery lessons we are running they are 2.5 hours long and take place on a saturday at 11.30am.  Lessons usually cost ?49.00.  We are giving away a free curry nation uk discount card worth ?15.00 with every booking OR ?5.00 off the price of the lesson (?44.00)

the choice is yours!

[Razor]

Hi CN,

with regards to the cookery lessons we are running they are 2.5 hours long and take place on a saturday at 11.30am.

Doesn't seem very long?  What would we be taught to cook in that time? for instance, I am interested in learning how to do a genuine restaurant base gravy, and the usual classics of Madras, Vindaloo, Jal frezi, Korma, CTM Bhuna, Dupiaza, Dhansak and so on.

It seems only time enough to cook maybe one or two "traditional" style dishes, which is not what most of us on this forum are looking for! British Indian Restaurant (BIR) fayre is what we are trying to achieve here, including the shortcuts, cheats and tricks of the trades.

I am really interested, even if it may look like I'm not I just want to be sure that if I'm gonna shell out almost 50 notes of my hard earned, it's gonna be of value to me.

Ray

[www.currynationuk.co.uk]

hi razor, we have found that the 2.5 hours works well and there are different levels depending on your cookery experience


heres a little more info which may be of use.  any more questions please ask:

Our Indian cookery courses are a journey through Southern Asia where your taste buds will tingle with excitement! Indian cuisine is so fascinating how from region to region the ingredients and flavour of the food changes.

You will go away from these classes that are hands-on with the confidence to make great tasting Indian food at home.  Be the chef you want to be!  Cook the food you love and impress your friends.

With three class choices available, you will have the chance to fully develop your knowledge of Indian cooking;

Introduction to Indian Cooking (standard class)- This introductory class is a must for those wanting to learn the essentials of Indian cooking. Preparing two dishes, one from the North and one from the South of India, you will learn the differences in regional Indian cuisine as well as getting an insight into how the huge range of spices and flavourings come together to build layers of exciting tastes.  The 2 dishes you will make are;


Tikka Lababdar- from the North State of Punjab, Chicken Tikka or Paneer is cooked in creamy tomato, onion gravy, flavoured with ginger, spices, fresh coriander and finished off with a hint of honey.
Kozi Chettinad- from Chettinad in South India, meat or mushroom and baby corn are cooked with onions, tomatoes, coconut milk and crushed peppercorn, finished off with lemon juice and fresh coriander.

Starters from India (coming soon)- For those wanting to make exciting Indian starters and dinner party food, this is the class for you.  Learn and prepare three of the most popular starters in Indian cuisine, combining the perfect mix of spices to create small dishes perfect for any situation. The three dishes you will make are some of the most popular in Indian cuisine;

Indian Lamb Cutlets
Onion Bhajis
Fried Fish Indian style

Indian Masterclass (coming soon)- Think you're ready for the next level of Indian cooking?  Learn two exciting award winning dishes, famous across India. These dishes may not be the typical Tikka Massala or Vindallo, but they are guaranteed to impress anyone they are made for.  So are you ready to become a curry master?  The three dishes you will cook are;

Home Lamb Curry- Chef Mohamad Naeem?s signature, award winning dish.  You won't find this lamb curry on any old Indian restaurants menu.  Cooked all across India, this is a mouth watering dish, highlighting the impressive combination of ingredients India has to offer.
Fish Malvani- Malvani cuisine is the standard cuisine of the Konkan region of Maharashtra and Goa, and some northern parts of West Karnataka.  Due to the coastal location, fish dishes dominate the Malvani cuisine. The fiery fish curries are traditionally fiery, but are equally popular made milder.
Cumin Rice- Often the perfect rice to accompany your main dish is the hardest of all!  Receive a hands on demonstration into how the perfect rice is made.
All our classes involve the following;

Authentic ingredients are so important; learn the art of mixing your own spices and flavourings.
Learn the cooking techniques for making a number of authentic dishes
Learn the secrets on how to make restaurant quality Indian food
You will have fun and be inspired among fellow foodies
Sit down at the end to eat the food you've made or take it home with you and impress your friends
You will be given a gift bag containing a Recipe Pack, step by step instructions on what you have learnt and other goodies.

The class will take place at Dilli, an award winning restaurant, and will be lead by their Head Chef Mohamed Naeem.

[976bar]

Don't want to put a damper on anyones endeavour's here, but have you ever seen anyone of those items on a BIR menu apart from the Onion Bhajis?

I did a one day course at "The Safron House" in Rickmansworth Herts last year which was quite expensive for the day.

Don't get me wrong, you learn all about spices (see my earlier posts about this, god knows where they will be stored on this site now), but they taught me nothing about BIR style cooking. No base sauce, no Madras, No Vindaloo etc etc.... or how to blend such spices to make these dishes.

How will they accomplish this in 2.5 hours?

We made some vegetable Bhajis which were very nice indeed but traditional Indian cooking, not BIR

I did ask about the mint yoghurt sauce that you have with Lamb Tikka etc and the tutor did tell me how to make that which is simple enough, but BIR? NO.

Make sure you know what you are signing up for before you part with your cash. It might be totally different to what you are expecting.......

[Razor]

Hi CN,

Thankyou very much indeed for that, sounds great and whilst I'm more interested in cooking BIR style, I may still sign up for one of these classes.

I am aware of the latest trend in Indian restaurant cuisine, being that it is cooked in a very authentic and traditional way, I think Zook in Manchester being very typical of this style.  But there is something magical about the BIR style of food. 

I would think that most genuine Indian chef's would probably look down their noses at BIR food but for people of a certain age (40's/50's/60's) traditional/authentic Indian cuisine wasn't really an option back in the day, so BIR is the food that we know and love.

Replicating the BIR taste (and it does exist) is our holy grail ;D

The journey of making your prep ingredients, to completing your final dish, is very very rewarding.  Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's really really good, and then, just sometimes, it's absolutely on the money.

Whole areas of major cities have made names for themselves built around BIR style cuisine, Curry Mile (Manchester) Balti Triangle (Birmingham) Brick Lane (London) and so on..and yet there still exists a mystery about it.

Maybe I will wait until the starters classes get up and running before I sign up for one, although, I have to admit, I'm tempted to sign up for a class now, lol

Thanks for clarifying the class format,

Ray

[Bobby Bhuna]

Our Indian cookery courses are a journey through Southern Asia where your taste buds will tingle with excitement! Indian cuisine is so fascinating how from region to region the ingredients and flavour of the food changes.

I'm afraid that what most of us are after is a journey into the kitchen of our favourite local takeaway! The good recipe books and lessons on traditional Indian cooking are found easily.

[www.currynationuk.co.uk]

thank you for your comments

the feedback we get from people like you is so important to what we are doing

whilst dilli is more geared towards the traditional, authentic aspect of indian cusine you may be pleased to hear that we are in the process of setting up another cookery class at another manchester restaurant which will teach you how to make classic BIR dishes like madras, vindaloo, jalfrezi etc

i have a meeting with the restaurant this evening to discuss which dishes are to be taught.

anyone any suggestions in this regard?

[solarsplace]

Hi

I expect, that you would need to see how popular the courses are before being able to comment, but do you think that in the future you would be able to organize any courses closer to the south east of England? However, I am sure that if the feed back is good and the content covers some of the staple recipes from our favorite BIR's then many people, myself included would travel many miles to attend.

Would like to suggest Base sauce, Vindaloo, Jalfrezi and Danzak to be included on the course agenda please

Thanks