Topic: Inferior 'gravy' based curries...

[chilli chopper]

Hi all,

Having a look around the forum, it seems one of the most popular topics is the subject of curry 'gravy' recipes.
Whilst I agree that gravy based curries can be nice in some restaurants, I find that in most they tend to be a bland oily slop with no real depth of flavour.

A restaurant local to me has for the last few years started to move away from these gravy curries and now push their 'from scratch' curries which they call 'Handis'. They are cooked from basic ingredients in large clay pots (hence the name Handi) and do not use gravy.

They use better cuts of meat such as real lamb instead of mutton (that a lot of restaurants pass off as lamb), as well as more unusual meats (for BIR anyway) such as pheasant and veal. As you can image, a Lamb Handi, at ?11.95, is more expensive than your average Chicken Balti, but....

...my god, the flavour and aroma of the curry is unbelievably gorgeous! It is by far and away superior to any gravy curry I have ever had, and I've eaten in numerous BIRs. These Handis are simply fantastic and I am sure that anybody who tries one would agree.

Speaking to the chef at this restaurant, he tells me it is impossible to make a gravy curry taste as good as their Handis, after all, the whole concept of the curry gravy was developed purely to be able to dish out curries one after the other at a rapid rate as opposed to for taste reasons.

My quest now has changed from finding the best gravy recipe to trying to replicate on of these Handi curries!

Is there anybody else on here who has come to a similar conclusion to me?

I have been cooking home style curry for a number of years, but I still can't get the same sauce consistency and flavour that I find in these Handi curries. Of course, the restaurant won't reveal the recipes!

[Unclefrank]

You can buy the Handi Mix from here http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Indian-Food-Shan-Chicken-Handi-Mix.html

 Handi http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tableware-Bowls-Indian-Cuisine-Diameter/dp/B002ZWNJ5Y

As for the recipes you could do a search on google.

I am not too sure but think that  traditional recipes would be ok.

You cant go wrong with starting here http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?board=8.0
Hope this helps.

[ELW]

I stopped splitting hairs over gravies a while back chilli chopper, I now leave sweetness of onions etc to experienced chefs, where it is their business to split hairs. I've listened to Jamie Oliver  go into similar detail  about cherry tomatoes. I personally prefer base gravies with a lower oil content, alot of my local places don't seem to be swimming in oil. In fact some of the dishes have almost a 'matt' look to them. But bir is bir & thats what I'm after on this forum. True, local place has a large desi section on the menu, waiter keeps telling me to try the homestyle karahi, they also do handi, as does alot of other Punjabi places here. Green /black peppercorns & garam masala in the handi dishes here. Not ventured into them yet

There is also a few  'Authentic Indian' restaurants open in the city centre, with menu's barely recognisable to the typical  bir customer. "not a piece of red chicken in sight" came from The Dhabba in Glasgow. I haven't been yet, but I have heard the food from there & another round the corner from it(names slips my mind), really does put some of the best bir stuff in the city in the shade 
I can only resist it so much longer then I'll have to check this out 

ELW

[PaulP]

There are fairly recent handi (or staff) curries posted by ifindforu, chewytikka and Abdul Mohed on this forum.

I noticed the big posh eastZeast restaurant (Liverpool and Manchester) has a handi menu section so maybe it's becoming "trendy".

I'm quite happy to use a base sauce most of the time. I like the food and don't see a problem with it.

Cheers,

Paul

[chilli chopper]

Thanks for the recipe links, will check them out.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking gravy curries for the sake of it, in fact I'm not knocking good ones at all, but once I tasted a real Handi, the difference was unmissable.

I've also seen some restaurants label certain curries on their specials menu as 'Handi' or 'Clay Pot Chicken' for example, but in fact they don't cook them from scratch in real clay pots. So if people try these they may think they are no better than regular gravy curries since they probably use the same gravy.

ELW - I reckon you should go for it and try a dish from one of your local 'Authentic Indian' restaurants, and quiz them about the cooking process etc.

I was wondering if anyone else on here had moved towards preferring real Handi type curries over gravy ones?

That said, I feel like making some curry gravy tonight since I haven't made some for ages now!

[ELW]

I'll need to give it a go, he told me the homestyle karahi takes 45min to prep & cook. Homestyle bhoonas(spring lamb) he says are much 'better'. I'm not sure what he meant by that. Seems to be plenty of yoghurt in the homecooked stuff. I suspect reproducing this at home will be as tricky as the bir stuff.

Dum Pukht is another style of cuisine advertised in certain places

ELW

[jb]

I brought this a while ago,very interesting read...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prashad-Cooking-Masters-J-Kalra/dp/8170230063

Covers handi,tawa and even dum pukht cooking.

Not BIR,although it does include items on onion paste and several different types of gravies.

[gary]

the whole concept of the curry gravy was developed purely to be able to dish out curries one after the other at a rapid rate as opposed to for taste reasons.

I'm not sure we need to look at curry gravies as a matter of pure expediency as opposed to 'taste'.

Gary

[ELW]

Flicked through the Prashad with the viewer on Amazon, looks like a decent book, some techniques in there that could maybe add to our own creations. These seem to be being revived somewhat in some restaurants, whether as a unique selling point or on merit. I still feel restaurant desi won't be real homecooked desi.

If I don't like the taste of a gravy on it's own, I'll like it even less once reduced in the dish. Not keen on coconut in a base, but other than that alot of bases are much of a muchness to me. I'm finding statement about a gravy 'adding bulk & liquid to a curry' looking more & more likely

[emin-j]

Definitely a fan of Authentic Curry's  even had two lessons in a local restaurant who only cooks Authentic.