I'd be very surprised if Patak (or any other commercial brand) pastes were commonly used by BIRs prior to the early 1990's.

In my opinion, it is one good reason why BIR curries have "changed" since then.

I'd also be very surprised if "commercial scale" pastes are designed to differ from "domesic scale" pastes (whatever the brand).

A beautifully put together website Ajoy; great photos, great step-by-step instructions and interesting narrative 

I found your blog comments on traditional Indian cooking techniques (bhunao, frying spices, caramelising garlic, etc) particularly interesting 

It would be interesting to hear your views on typical British Indian Restaurant practices (such as using a pre-prepared curry base, meats, spice mixes, etc) to, indeed, produce those "curries-in-a-hurry"?

Great video showing all the basic building blocks of ingredients used in a typical BIR 

Quote from: chriswg on August 03, 2012, 11:44 AM
My idea is to attach a pizza stone into the lid of a webber type BBQ. When the lid is closed the stone is diectly over the flames. Once hot enough, remove the lid, stick on the Naan dough then replace it hoping that the dough is sticky enough to defy gravity. This will give the hot ceramic cooked crispy base to the naan along with a real blast of heat from the charcoal right in it's face.

Actually, you might be OK with this, assuming that the pizza stone is slowly pre-warmed and isn't too close to the coals/flames....good idea.

I guess it wouldn't be too disimilar to the heating rates and proximity to heat source that occurs to a pizza stone in a pizza maker.

I generally crack my pizza stones when the heating is too fast or liquid oozes from the naan onto it (e.g. when making keema naans)

As you stay, your bigger challenge might be keeping the naan stuck to the pizza stone.

Quote from: chriswg on August 08, 2012, 03:49 PM
If it does crack it's covered by a 3 year warranty so what's the risk?

It's covered by a 3 year (not 3 second?) warranty if it goes from ambient to 200C in 10 seconds?  Then I say "go for it"......(but I'd certainly be reading the small print!).

Quote from: chriswg on August 08, 2012, 02:28 PM
Most will crack but not these bad boys.

I sort of get fed up with this, but here goes:

A pizza stone is a ceramic material and WILL crack if it is subjected to rapid heating and/or significant temperature differentials.  This, in my opinion, will also apply to these "bad boys" (unless there is something significantly different about their composition?).

But, at 40 quid a shot (?), go for it....but I wouldn't! 

But I do quite like the idea of a chimnea with a "tilting/hinged" chimney

Quote from: Clive77 on August 08, 2012, 11:17 AM
When you say tomato paste, are we talking concentrate or straight tom paste.

Hi Clive77,

Double (or triple) concentrated tomato paste.

Is that how bad BIR curries typically are (or look) now?   

It looks like total stodge to me 

If you told me that was bolognese sauce, I would probably have believed you! 

Quote from: Razor on July 20, 2012, 08:30 AM
Just one question if I may; do these puris stay puffed up or will they flattern if pierced? 

Hi Ray,

They fairly rapidly deflate (with or without piercing) as shown in the video that HC posted.

Cheers,

George,

Why don't you just send the guy (or girl) a personal message to that effect rather than clutter the forum with such trivia?  It seems to me that you just want to make yourself look clever (or important, or both?)? Their post was made over 3 weeks ago!  :