Has anyone else got this book yet?  Mentioned in a thread recently; cant remember which one.  My copy (signed) arrived today.  Just having a quick peruse. Whilst fairly new to cooking I suspect the book will interest many on here.  In fact, I would put money on it.  My first impression is this looks top quality (and authentic) BIR (indian/bangladeshi) cuisine.  Things that have got my attention so far include a two-stage yogurt mint dip recipe, involving 13 ingredients, one of which is worcester sauce.  A recipe for chicken tikka including green masala sauce, and the chefs own mix powders (medium curry powder and abduls kasa masala).  The shami kebab recipe with optional egg batter (happy days!).  Macher Bora (fish patties). Sylheti Chicken Salan (an extra hot dish).  I think there are only a few dishes made with base gravy; quite a few are dry type fish recipes anyway; plenty of whole spices in use. Interestingly, the actual recipe for the base emphasizes the importance of skimming as pivotal to the outcome. Reckon I will be spending some time with this book.  Its nicely put together, well written (an occasional typo) with mainly very good quality photos.  Reading the intro Abdul has worked in the restaurant trade since 1962.

Rob 

There are no recipes using pre-cooked meats (except CTM) so most of the recipes prep/cooking times are inconsistent with BIR cooking, I suppose. Very happy with the book so far though.  Giving me lots of ideas.  Looking forward to giving the chicken tikka a go to start with, and the aloo methi.

Rob   

Quote from: jb on January 09, 2013, 06:09 PM
I got the book today,it's ok but not the best one I've got.There's certainly some unusual dishes in the book,not the sort you would see in your average BIR(spicy pasta anyone?).No madras,no balti,no pathia etc.I was really looking forward to the rezalla recipe but I'm afraid it resembles nothing like I'm used to.Indeed from what I've seen a lot of the dishes don't involve base gravy,they seem to be adapted for home use and designed for four people.A couple of things caught my eye though.He uses vegetable margarine in the gravy,first time I've seen this since the Ashoka method.Also he uses two different garam massalas,one roasted and ground whereas the other is just ground and not roasted at all.

What are your thoughts on the chicken tikka recipe jb?  Mixing in mustard oil after cooking.  Not something I have seen before. I have I read that right?

Rob 

Just going through the Abdul Spice restaurant menu.  Very extensive and not overly pricey. I might get over there when the days get a bit longer. Wish the book had included recipes for the shatkora and methi gosht dishes.  The sylheti chicken salan looks a winner though. I like the idea of marinating mixed breast, thigh and leg meat first.  This is going to be a seriously hot curry.  Its even garnished with chopped and fried red bird eye chilli, and a whole one popped on top for good measure.

Rob 

The author of this book has started a YouTube channel about 6 months ago.  So far only 50 odd subscribers (now including me) and his videos have only been viewed in relatively small numbers so far.  I watched a few of his videos this morning and a few have immediately made it to my to do list.  There probably isn't a great deal of new information and no "Secrets" but it is a yet another enlightening view into the BIR method.

Base Gravy, Balti Lamb, Chicken Madras (with base gravy and without base gravy method explained), pickle spice masala and Naga Pickle (could be applied to any chilli variety). The ones I want to try immediately are the Raan (baked leg of lamb) and the Staff Curry (Lamb or Mutton).

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1XWL9B2zuJLS70H_boN3FA/videos