Topic: Do BIRs make every dish to order?

[SteveAUS]

Do BIRs make every individual plate to order or do they have their more popular dishes in a big pot slowly bubbling away waiting? From reading over the past few days (and more recently curr2gos shortcut thread) I get the impression that every individual order is made there and then as a one off. That would be a hell of a lot of work. Hats off to the chefs if thats the case. The few restaurants that ive been to down here, and the ones where you can actually see into the kitchen where everything is prepared all the dishes are taken from big pans that are slowly simmering away. For example, the vindaloo that I get from my favourite TA (one of which I thoroughly enjoyed last night for dinner) uses chicken thighs that you can tell has been cooking for a long time as it just falls apart.
Cheers
Steve

[Geezah]

Once the kitchen has the pot of gravy and other various additions such as pre cooked meat & bunjara made up, then yes, making a dish from scratch is 5-6 minutes cooking time.

Once you know your regular turnover of dishes, you can start cooking certain meats in advance, or pressure cook the meat with a masalla ready for the final dish.

[emin-j]

From my visits to BIR kitchens the base gravy sits on the hob ready to go,the meats are pre cooked as is rice,Bombay aloo,onion bhaji's, sauces etc,anything that can be prepared in advance is  :

[Peripatetic Phil]

From my visits to BIR kitchens the base gravy sits on the hob ready to go,the meats are pre cooked as is rice,Bombay aloo,onion bhaji's, sauces etc,anything that can be prepared in advance is  :

So how are the Bombay aloo and onion bhajis re-heated, Emin-J ?  You could just about get away with microwaving the former (but in my experience the discerning customer would recognise if this had been done), but not the onion bhajis.  And what exactly do you mean by "the sauces" ?  If they have base at the ready, they surely wouldn't also have pots of Madras sauce, Vindaloo sauce, Ceylon sauce, etc., ready as well.  Or would they ?  Confused !

** Phil.

[jb]

From my visits to BIR kitchens the base gravy sits on the hob ready to go,the meats are pre cooked as is rice,Bombay aloo,onion bhaji's, sauces etc,anything that can be prepared in advance is  :

So how are the Bombay aloo and onion bhajis re-heated, Emin-J ?  You could just about get away with microwaving the former (but in my experience the discerning customer would recognise if this had been done), but not the onion bhajis.  And what exactly do you mean by "the sauces" ?  If they have base at the ready, they surely wouldn't also have pots of Madras sauce, Vindaloo sauce, Ceylon sauce, etc., ready as well.  Or would they ?  Confused !

** Phil.

I'm not sure if you can call re-frying onion bhajis re-heating but that's exactly what I've seen chefs do.They're cooked once and then when an order arrives they're re-fried to crisp them up.I've also seen large trays of bombay potato pre-cooked,when an order arrives a portion is put in a pan with some gravy.I've never seen pre-made sauces such as madras etc in a kitchen.

[beachbum]

Australian Indian Restaurants use different gravies for the different "families" of curries, so there will be a butter gravy, a nut gravy (cashews or almonds), a vindaloo gravy and a standard onion gravy.

Perhaps what Steve is also referring to is that Aussie restaurants nearly all have an all you can eat buffet night once or twice a week for $20 or more where they will have 8 or more curries set out in a bain marie with accompaniments, sweets, chappatis, bhajis, raitas, Naan pieces etc. You just serve yourself and when a bain marie section runs low they just top it up out the back and replace (or at one place I know they just bring out a ghee bucket full and pour that straight in  )

Edit: and the Vindaloo usually has a warning on it.  ;D

The Indian stalls in the Shopping Mall food courts are also set out like that. However for takeaway or table menu service on the non buffet nights they always seem take around 20 mins so I expect they are cooked individually.

[chewytikka]

Perhaps what Steve is also referring to is that Aussie restaurants nearly all have an all you can eat buffet night once or twice a week for $20 or more where they will have 8 or more curries set out in a bain marie with accompaniments, sweets, chappatis, bhajis, raitas, Naan pieces etc. You just serve yourself and when a bain marie section runs low they just top it up out the back and replace (or at one place I know they just bring out a ghee bucket full and pour that straight in  )

Edit: and the Vindaloo usually has a warning on it.  ;D

The Indian stalls in the Shopping Mall food courts are also set out like that. However for takeaway or table menu service on the non buffet nights they always seem take around 20 mins so I expect they are cooked individually.

It's just the same in the UK, but the majority of buffet style restaurants are Pakistani/Punjabi run not Bengali.

This local restaurant is pure Punjabi and uses more than one base gravy and loads of Whole Spices and Garam Masala.
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=8732.msg77866#msg77866

The second curry is a good example of a Punjabi Kadhi from scratch

Cheers chewy

[emin-j]

From my visits to BIR kitchens the base gravy sits on the hob ready to go,the meats are pre cooked as is rice,Bombay aloo,onion bhaji's, sauces etc,anything that can be prepared in advance is  :

So how are the Bombay aloo and onion bhajis re-heated, Emin-J ?  You could just about get away with microwaving the former (but in my experience the discerning customer would recognise if this had been done), but not the onion bhajis.  And what exactly do you mean by "the sauces" ?  If they have base at the ready, they surely wouldn't also have pots of Madras sauce, Vindaloo sauce, Ceylon sauce, etc., ready as well.  Or would they ?  Confused !

** Phil.

Hi Phil, Onion Bhaji's were pre made and given a second  quick fry when ordered,Bombay aloo was pre made and given a given a quick fry with a bit more gravy when ordered,sauce as in massala sauce for the CTM's etc. 

[Secret Santa]

I'va always wondered, but never really got a straight answer, as to how the bits and pieces in a Thali are made. When I've had these there are sometimes six or seven curries included and in minute portions.

How do they do that? Do they really cook those tiny portions from scratch?