Hi all, a week or so ago I was in my local T/A and whilst waiting I had a chat with the owner and asked how they get that lovely orange colour to their curry's and I mentioned orange food colouring
No ! he said we do not use food colouring only tamarind,
so I mentioned I had a 'block' of tamarind and he said ' no only ground tamarind' so after a bit of research on tinternet I came to the conclusion that he was having me on :
so on my next visit I asked if he put plenty of that orange tamarind in my curry I had ordered
he said 'yes' so I asked if I could see this ' ground orange tamarind' and he agreed
off he went to the kitchen and returned with the usual 2 litre sized container of ............... Turmeric :
' that's turmeric ' I said 'yes ' he said 'tamarind ' :
I went on to tell him how interested I was in making BIR style curry's and he said ' next time you come in I'll show you how to make a curry ;D great I thought !
So tonight I wandered up and although the boss wasn't there the guy who takes the money remembered what was said and invited me into the kitchen !excellent!
The Chef and two helpers were in this tiny kitchen with a 25ltr pot of gravy on the hob plus all the usual spices and a large metal butter ghee container on the back of the hob containing veg oil.
The Chef shook my hand and started the curry making process ( I had ordered 1chicken madras and 1 lamb madras as if I had ordered 2 c/m he might have made both curry's in the same pan and I wanted to have a go ;D) So this is how it went :-
Pan on hob Chef spoon of gravy added and quickly stirred (medium heat)
I asked 'you use no oil ?' No he said oil already in gravy
Pan off heat,about 1/2 tbs of G/G added ,chef spoon of thinned tomato paste ,1/2 tbs chili powder, NO SPICE MIX
I asked why no spice mix and he answered 'spice in gravy'
A couple of stirrs then in with the pre cooked chicken followed by two ladles of gravy (heat turned up a bit)
'Salt' I asked, 'No he answered,salt in gravy'
Bit of fresh coriander added and pan moved to another ring to simmer (quite high) stirring occasionally - done.
Into the container and a sprinkle of fresh coriander for garnish. He dipped a teaspoon into the curry and offered me a taste,'very nice' I said (what else could I say with all them sharp knives about
) but really it was just OK.
So I said ' my turn ' and he offered me the pan but he had already added the chef spoon of gravy so I dipped the chef spoon into the oil and took about 1/2 spoon and added to the pan.
Gave a little stir as you do ;D with em all watching !off the heat dipped the chef spoon into the G/G tub and took about 1tbl spoon ' no he said too much ' but I said ' I like Garlic ' ;D then chef spoon of tom/paste ,about 1/2 tbs chili powder,and then dipped into the spice mix,'no mix powder' he said but I added about a tsp anyway ;D back on the heat,a few stirs, he added the lamb and a ladle of gravy, a few more stirs and fresh coriander and more gravy, on to the other ring to simmer - done ;D a sprinkle of coriander to garnish.
He then dipped the spoon into the curry and asked me to taste, ' my curry is better ' which got a laugh from the two helpers.
All in all a good experience (and a few surprises !)
I would say their curry's are a little under spiced as normal so in future I'll ask for extra spice
I'll try to get some info on their gravy next time but I did mention what I put in my gravy and the chef said it was the same as his including a chef spoon of veg ghee, hope this might be of interest to you guys
ATB.
ps- I did ask if they used whole spices and they said only in their Garam Masala which they make themselves.
Topic: Showing my local T/A how to do it !! (Read 6399 times)
