Quote from: chewytikka on July 04, 2011, 02:18 PM

You must have hundreds of Handi (staff curry) recipes, do you have a nice one that you are willing
to share with the members.

cheers Chewytikka

Hi, give me a few days, I will post a recipe of which I hope you will enjoy 

thank you

Quote from: Unclefrank on July 03, 2011, 02:21 PM
If peolpe arent careful Abdul might not come on this site again and we will have lost a perfect candidate for helping and advising on what we really joined this site for in the first place.When i purchased this book he didnt even know that i was a member of this site and he still left a message on my home telephone number saying that he would help in anyway possible, just phone him.

Just wish some people would get their head from up their arse, not everybody is an expert (but some people think they are) its experienced chefs that we need to talk to, not drive them away.

Hi Abdul just to let you know that the curry i did for the local college went down a treat and there was nothing left at all, cheers Abdul.

Hi, thank you for sharing your event at the college  ;D and I am happy that things went very well, if I can be of help in any way in future events then please email me

thank you

Hi, thank you all for your posts.

I recently introduced myself to this forum and displayed my interests and purpose. I am grateful to the majority of members who accepted me at face value and believe that my interest in sharing my passion and knowledge for 'Indian' food is my priority.

I am who I am, a chef and an author, and simply stated this in my introduction.

It was obviously this statement that brought forth the volume of eager questions about the subject and this pleased me, I am very enthusiastic about sharing my knowledge and get a lot of pleasure from helping people.
My book is a tool to help achieve this, any possible financial profit is a very long way in the future, if at all. For your further information I am not a sponsored author, I have had to pay all costs for the preparation and printing of the book, in addition I have spent many unpaid hours writing and preparing recipes etc.

I am not asking anyone to buy my current book but I am happy to help and answer any question you may have regarding its content, for reasons of fairness I simply would rather not answer questions on the subject matter of future books that are yet to be published, after publication I will be happy to do so.

I look forward to being an active member of this community but would be grateful if my integrity is not questioned without foundation.

thank you

Quote from: Cory Ander on July 01, 2011, 02:10 AM
Thank you for answering my (many!) questions and clarifying Abdul.  I appreciate it 

I have a number of additional questions (please refer to question marks above), if you don't mind, notably:

• What other vegetables (besides onions) were added to "old style" curry bases?
• What sort of chicken was used (whole, parts, boned or boneless?)?
• What other masalas were used besides the whole garam masala spices?
• Was the curry base actually filtered (through some type of sieve) or were the bits manually picked out?

Once again, thank you for your forbearance, Abdul, I really appreciate you trying to clarify these things for us 

PS:  "MSG" is "monosodiumglutamate", a flavour enhancer that is (used to be) prevalent in Chinese (and, I suspect, British Indian Restaurant) cooking.

Hi Cory, thank you for your interest in the old style of gravy. I cannot answer any further questions specifically about the old style as I had mentioned earlier as it will be a key aspect in volume 2. Once it is published you can ask me as many questions you wish for you to get it correct as I have done the same as volume 1.

If you have questions for any other recipe then I will try and answer them to the best of my knowlegde.

As far as my memory serves I have not used 'MSG' in any of the dishes.

thank you

Abdul

Quote from: Cory Ander on June 30, 2011, 03:14 PM

Quote from: abdulmohed2002 on June 30, 2011, 12:40 PM
thank you, I hope have answered your questions

Thanks for your answer to my questions Abdul.

If my maths doesn't fail me, you therefore started working in British Indian Restaurants in the mid 80s?

If not all the restaurants were Bangladeshi, what were the others and how do they differ please?

Regarding the "gravy sauce", the one thing I can deduce from your reply is that they cooked a chicken in it too?  What other significant differences were there please?  For instance, did they (or do they now?):

• pre-fry the spices?
• chop the onions or boil them whole?
• add MSG?
• add any other stock?
• use cabbage, or any other unusual ingredients (compared to nowadays)?
• add pre-used ("spice infused") oil?
• filter it before use?
• etc?

You also say that chefs now "add different flavourings".  What "flavourings" do they now add now please (besides "lots of mixed veg"?)?  What do you mean by "lots of mixed veg" please?

You say that the "gravy sauce" in your book is "old style".  But, as far as I understand, it doesn't include chicken?  What is it, specifically, that makes it "old style" please?

Thank you for your forbearance Abdul.  I would really like to understand the specifics (rather than the generalisations) behind "old style" and "new style" curry bases.

I hope you can willingly oblige my questions! 

Hi Cory, there are many questions on here and I will try to answer them as best as I can  ;D


- Yes I had started working in the mid 80s and have worked with chefs who had worked during the late 70s.

-The other restaurants were pakistani and they differed by doing pot cooking and put them on display on a hot tray. As you order, they would take it from the hot tray, heat it up and serve you. They still follow the same concept today.

Bangladeshi : any restaurant you go to, they will prepare the food as you order rather than have them displayed. They also follow the same concept today.

- Chop the onions, no adding other stock, no unusual ingredients, normal oil, filtering the whole spices before blending (used to be done manually) and they did cook a chicken in it too.


- What I had meant by lots of mixed veg are: carrot, green chillies, capsicums, lemon, peeled tomatoes or coriander and these give different flavourings and different chefs have different preferences of how many they would like to use.


- The gravy sauce in volume 1 of my book is NOT old style, volume 2 will contain the old style and the new style so you should be able to see the difference.

- What makes it old style is the way the gravy is made, if you look at the paragraph I numbered '1' and compare that to paragraph '2' you can see the differences between old style and new style curry bases.

1) Old style: They would roast all the garam masalas and put it a side. When they made the gravy, they added big chunks of chopped onions; put the whole roasted masalas (example, cinamon sticks, cloves etc) into the pot with the chicken; all the other masalas and oil. Boil, then filter and blend manually.

2) New style: Chop all the onions and place into a pot, adding the vegetables and all the masalas. Boil and then once it has cooled down, you blend. You do not add chicken and all the masalas that are used are powder form.

What is 'MSG'?

I hope that I have answered all of your questions. If you have any further questions then I will try to answer them from the best of my knowledge.

thank you

Quote from: hotstuff09 on June 30, 2011, 10:50 AM
Welcome to cr0 Abdul.
Don't have any questions, But would like your opinion on this base gravy if you would please, It is from a bangladesh resturant in Bradford, To me it seems more of the old style of base, but i could be wrong.

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1894.0

HS

Hi, and thank you for asking for my opinion on the base gravy. It is the old style base
and it will turn out great, compliments to the chef.
However I feel there are a few important ingredients that are missing, but I cannot share this with you as yet because I have started on volume 2 of my book and this has the ingredients and method for the base sauce.

thank you

Quote from: Unclefrank on June 30, 2011, 10:20 AM
Hi Abdul and welcome to the forum. I also have purchased your book and have been cooking quite alot of dishes out of it. I like the Chicken Korahi recipe because this can be altered to make nearly all my favourite TA dishes.
Cheers.
Has i type this i am making the Chicken Korahi recipe and turning it into an Achari (indian pickle) curry for a  local college near me, they have asked for me personally through a friend that works there, so hope they ALL like it.

Hi, thank you for purchasing the book and let me know how it went and if you need any help then please email me.

thank you

Quote from: Cory Ander on June 30, 2011, 02:55 AM

Quote from: abdulmohed2002 on June 29, 2011, 09:26 PM
I witnessed how the gravy sauce and curries were made at that time. Comparing the way it is made now, there is a huge difference in that although having these changes may be convenient for restaurants it has however definitely altered the flavour of the BIR food.

Hi Abdul and welcome to crO.  It is great to have a pukka British Indian Restaurant (BIR) chef here to help us with our BIR curry cooking endeavours 

A couple of questions, if you don't mind:

a)  When was it that you first started as a kitchen assistant?

b)  Are the restaurants that you've worked and cooked in Bangladeshi?

c)  Regarding your comment above (which I presume is directed towards the "gravy sauce"), please could you highlight the most significant things that have changed (to the "gravy sauce") since the 70s and 80s?  Perhaps you could summarise a typical "gravy sauce" recipe from the 70s and 80s and a typical "gravy sauce" recipe from nowadays to illustrate the changes?

My question about "old style gravy sauce" is particularly pertinent to me (and many others here) because it is the curries of the 70s and 80s that I (and many others here) wish to replicate.

Thanks for your help Abdul! 

Hi,

a) I was 16 and now I am 42 (Indian Takeaway in Birmingham)

b) Not all where in Bangladeshi

c) The chefs which I had worked with were from the 70s and 80s and in the early days the way in which gravy was made was that they had placed everything (including the chicken) into the pot with all the necessary masalas and once cooked, the chicken was then seperated into portions and kept away seperately (following food safety regulations) for different dishes (seperate sauce was used for vegetarians).
Nowadays, sauces are made from the onions and different chefs add different flavourings i.e lots of mixed veg. While all the chicken are semi cooked and kept away seperately following food safety regulations.

thank you, I hope have answered your questions

Quote from: Razor on June 29, 2011, 10:47 AM
Hi Abdul and welcome to cr0.

We have often debated in the past, the ever changing flavour of BIR food, many members indicating that BIR food of the 1980's is not what we get today.  Paste's and other commercial products are being identified as the culprits.

In your opinion, what changes have you seen over the years, and what products are mainly responsible for that change?

Thanks in advance,

Ray

Hi Ray, I agree that pastes and other commercial products are responsible for the changing flavour of BIR food. I first started working at a takeaway as a kitchen assistant when I was 16 years old, I witnessed how the gravy sauce and curries were made at that time. Comparing the way it is made now, there is a huge difference in that although having these changes may be convenient for restaurants it has however definitely altered the flavour of the BIR food.

Thank You

Abdul

Quote from: parker21 on June 29, 2011, 07:05 PM
hi abdul and welcome to the forum i bought your book yesterday and now anticipating delivery, BIR stands for British Indian Restaurant but the word indian is very broad and covers Pakistani, bangladeshi and punjabi as people do not define their local takeaway/ restaurant but call it "indian"! LOL
i know what you said about vindaloo but in my opinion vinegar is best suited to this recipe having seen demonstrations by 5 different chefs in 3 restaurants and 2 kitchens only 1 used lemon juice. i thought that was supposed to be the sour element in a madras/pathia? i know personal opinions vary just my experience

kind regards
gary

Hi Gary, thank you very much for sharing your opinion, I will definitely try with the vinegar as I have worked through the UK from north to south and many restaurants have not used vinegar in a Vindaloo. Yes, the lemon juice is for the sour element in the madra, along with chilli powder and potatoes, which I believe makes a  perfect Vindaloo. 
Thank you for purchasing the book, I hope you will not be disappointed, your copy has been dispatched today. If you need any help for preparing anything from the book then please email me. A few important things, you must master the gravy and masaala and get your preperation right before you cook anything from the book.

Kind Regards

Abdul