Welcome on board, be warned though, this forum is addictive!  ;D

Quote from: Vindaloo-crazy on March 27, 2010, 12:08 PM
Well it's a lot less hassle Axe. I did think about putting bits under a grill to crisp them but the taste was so good the entire lot had gone before I made my mind up.
I like to think that ground beef is making up for the chicken lips and anal tissue you normally get in a donner! :
The sliced bits can be grilled, easily, on a barbie or a grill.

For sure, I don't eat Donner anymore, especially now you can't tell whether its got chicken lips in it or not. I used to love donner but it changed so much over the years, its not even tasty anymore. 

I'm gonna have a go at this but make a smaller portion me thinks.

emin-j yes I do mean Pataks. Perhaps its my miss-conception of what BIR means, before I arrived on this site, I had never heard the term BIR.

Forgive me if i'm wrong but I understand BIR to mean restaurants that cook Indian Cuisine in a way associated to a typical British Indian Restaurant. This is far different to a restaurant cooking Indian Cuisine in a Traditional way, or TIR for want of an abbreviation.

So on that basis, I divide BIR into two categories, old school and new wave. The latter lending themselves to commercially available pre-made alternatives such Pataks Paste etc.

Just a thought, but rather than bake in an oven for an hour, could you grill it until brown and then slice the top off, grill again and slice and so on. this would replicate the process in a kebab shop maybe?

I also noted the addition of beef.

VC, we've misunderstood each other, as I believe we are saying the same thing but in different ways. That is to say, a good base is needed to make BIR but is not the defining  ingredient, would you agree?

I think what I am trying to add to this is that a good base could only come about from a careful balance of the added flavours. Which is why I think using just boiled onion in water would not provide enough consistency in the end result.

If the dish tastes as good as it looks, i shall be trying this sometime soon. Method is quite different to the BIR I know but none the less, it look very, very good in the pictures.

It certainly look very colourful.

I know chocolate is added to a good Chilli Con Carne so I imagine it works well here too.

Quote from: Cory Ander on March 27, 2010, 12:41 AM
Axe, have you asked him why he adds potato and if they have always done it that way?  If not, can you please?

I did express my surprise at the use of the potato too which they replied simply. They add just a very small amount of potato to help make the bhaji crispy and give that essential consistency to the centre.

When I return, I will ask how long they have been making them like that. Though I expect the answer will be 35 years. They were very insistent that they make everything in-house and that they had been doing this for the 35 years they have been in BIR.

I am surprised that they even bother with potato considering how little goes in, but they are the finest Onion Bhaji I have ever eaten. I can't therefore question it, now I have seen it for my own eyes.

Jerry, the spice mix is something that surprised me too, more so as to the way it is made.  It was explained to me that the only reason the Paprika is used, is for colour. He then added a proportion of each spice to a dish and mixed it through. Not happy with the colour he added a little more paprika until he was happy. He must have thought I didn't believe him so he took the mix to his main tub of mix and said 'look, i'll add this to the tub now'. Afterwhich, I decided to take him at his word, especially as it was exactly the same .

VC,

I think Ray's topic below best answers your comment. I would agree to the extent that there are many very good bases on here and really, as long as you use one of them, you'll have very good results.

In a quest for that something extra, should we not strive to replicate the base as close as we can. Something I have recently started realising is that if I use Base A with Spice Mix B, I won't be able to create dish C. Because Dish C is made using base C and Spice Mix C.

Jerry, texture was mentioned by the IG Chef. He pointed out how 'thin' his base was. A fact he continued to add, was very important to him. He made such a passionate statement about his base that I can't simply help but feel that the journey starts here.

Jerry, i'm with you on this, I want nothing more than to be able to reproduce the food that comes from my favourite restaurant.

I have formulated an opinion whilst being here, that curry falls into two brackets.

Old School which is, as I consider, the top notch food you mention. Perhaps following the more traditional Bangladesh style of restaurants.

New Wave which is now the generalised cook from a paste modern take on cooking TA.

Would you consider this as an appropriate statement?