Topic: Bhuna and Vindaloo - Why do these not live up to expectation

[joshallen2k]

I've never had a BIR Bhuna, at least that I can remember. I usually make CK's, and find its an excellent curry, and one of my favourites.

But Vindaloo, I would agree, there is not a recipe on cr0 that matches the best I've had in a restaurant in the UK.

I'd also say that the best ones were clearly not extra hot Madrases either. More tart, more cumin, and a different sort of heat is the best I can recollect. This supports the vindaloo paste/green chilli theory possibly.

One day soon I will revisit the UK and ask members for recommendations on where to go for a top drawer Bhuna.

[haldi]

A vindaloo is a very simple recipe curry
It shows exactly how good your curry base is
That's the problem
Over the years I have been given many genuine base gravies
When you heat them, they give a BIR aroma, that home made gravies don't have

If you make a more complicated curry, with more ingredients, it hides any shortcomings of the base

[Peripatetic Phil]

... and she pulls her kite, when I suggest going for an Indian meal.

It's amazing how language varies as one moves across the country : I don't think I have ever heard of "pulling one's kite" before, although I think I can guess what it means !

I've tasted it, and I don't like it but then again, I'm not a veg lover, hence my lack of interest in topics on Saag Aloo or Bombay potato.  You never know, I just may have stumbled upon this taste by accident.

Now this is interesting, because I too am a carnivore through and through, and yet I feel reasonably confident that I could become a vegetarian if I lived on the sub-continent : Sag Aloo / Bombay Aloo, and -- best of all -- Masala Dosa, are (to my mind) wonderful dishes, and lift mere vegetables from the mundane to the sublime.

** Phil.

[Razor]

Hi Chaa,

It's amazing how language varies as one moves across the country : I don't think I have ever heard of "pulling one's kite" before, although I think I can guess what it means !

Yeah, sorry for that.  Kite is Manc rhyming slang for face, as in, Kite Race = Face, lol

Now this is interesting, because I too am a carnivore through and through, and yet I feel reasonably confident that I could become a vegetarian if I lived on the sub-continent

Again, spot on, I reckon I could cope with most veg, if it were to be given a "make over" as such.

The only Veg that I can really eat cooked on their own are, potatoes, peas and onions, anything else has to be curried, stir fried or whatever.

Ray

[Peripatetic Phil]

Kite is Manc rhyming slang for face, as in, Kite Race = Face, lol

Amazing : I didn't even know there were such things as kite races.  But I still don't understand how they can work : to get a kite aloft, you have to pull on its cord, do you not ?  So how do you then race them ?

The only Veg that I can really eat cooked on their own are, potatoes, peas and onions, anything else has to be curried, stir fried or whatever.

Much the same as me : potatoes (cooked almost anyhow, except in their skins), onions, peas (Batchelor's Processed or Mushy, fresh only on sufferance), spinach and green/red/orange/yellow peppers : the last two because they were probably the only vegetables not to be forced down my throat at primary school, so I never acquired an aversion to them !

But tell me, Ray, have you ever tried a Masala Dosa ?  These are Indian Vegetarian Cuisine to die for, in my opinion.

** Phil.

P.S. Changed my identity : "Chaa006" is a really silly thing to be called 

[Razor]

Hi PHIL ;D

But tell me, Ray, have you ever tried a Masala Dosa ?

Can't say that I have.  I have tried the Chicken Dosai in the KD2 but Im guessing that it's a different thing altogether, as is the spelling.

So how do you then race them ?

I suppose it's like kite surfing, but you race each other http://www.kiteracing.com/Home.html

Ray ;D

[Peripatetic Phil]

Can't say that I have.  I have tried the Chicken Dosai in the KD2 but Im guessing that it's a different thing altogether, as is the spelling.

I suspect they are the same : "dosai" is a more faithful transliteration of the original, and "dosa" an anglicisation (but the chef in the video below claims otherwise).  Basically a crispy rice-flour/gram-flour pancake, stuffed with savoury wonders 

http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how-to-make-dosa-dosai

** Phil.

[Razor]

Hi Phil,

Very intersting video.  I've seen this fellow plenty of time before hand.  As you are probably already aware, you can by Dosai batter mix from any Asian supermarket, so no need for the presoaking malarki.  The fillings are endles really so I wonder why they've not made it to the BIR/TA menu?  Well, not that I've ever noticed anyway.

Ray

[Peripatetic Phil]

Very interesting video.  I've seen this fellow plenty of time before hand.  As you are probably already aware, you can by Dosai batter mix from any Asian supermarket, so no need for the presoaking malarki.

Well, I've tried the Dosai batter mix, but completely failed to achieve that thin crispy texture that the chef so admirably demonstrated.  I will try again, using his slow gentle technique, but I suspect that the pre-mixed stuff is never going to adequately re-create that texture ...

The fillings are endless really so I wonder why they've not made it to the BIR/TA menu?

You almost certainly need to find a Southern Indian BIR or T/A, but I don't know whether they exist in your region.  "Darn sarf" we have plenty, and there is a Southern Indian takeway in Glasgow, but I don't know about Manchester (how close are Bolton and/or Ramsbottom ?).

** Phil.

[Razor]

Phil,

how close are Bolton and/or Ramsbottom ?).

Close enough to be classed as Greater Manchester but far enough away for them to talk with a funny accent like Peter Kay, lol,

Seriously, probably about 20 - 30 minutes away.

So they appear on the menu around your way then Phil?  I think the vast majority of TA's up here in Manchester are probably Bangladeshi, Pakistani or Punjabi.  I think there are a couple of Kerala places in town but couldn't swear to it?

Ray