Quote from: curryhell on October 05, 2013, 09:04 PM

Quote from: jb on October 05, 2013, 08:40 PM
Anyway guys dreadful hangover from last night's beer and curry...there's nothing for it must be more beer and a take-away!!

Another Spices special last night no doubt jb and a few Stellas to boot  :  Just finished cooking a Zaal phall for a little later and cracked open a  Grimbergen.  Enjoy mate and i'll be in touch soon.

Yep Spices Take-away last night...a very nice balti Rezala with loads of green chillies.I actually went to their other place in Romford on Friday and had the same thing!! very nice indeed.

ps hope Mick stays on the forum,we don't really want to lose another well informed member.

Quote from: Secret Santa on October 05, 2013, 07:36 PM

Quote from: jb on October 05, 2013, 07:22 PM
It's just this spiced oil and gravy ingredient that's still bugging me,I hope I'm not going to be disappointed.

Well we know there's no secret to the spiced oil. The method might differ slightly, e.g. it might just be literally oil that has had spices fried in it, or it might be that recovered from pre-cooked ingredients such as chicken, veg etc., but spiced oil is spiced oil and we've been discussing it here for years before any of the BIR books came along.

The gravy paste that Chris says is the secret is, I'm sure, just down to Chris's naiivety regarding BIR curries. Pre-cooked spice pastes have been used in many bases, so they're nothing new at all.

You're right,spiced oil has been discussed ever since this forum was started.However(correct me if I'm wrong) but I don't think anyone has posted a genuine BIR recipe for producing purpose made spiced oil,as opposed to recoverd oil from other scources.Chris is adamant that the gravy paste is like nothing like we've seen before(although to me it does indeed look like a bhagar of some sort),I really hope he proves me wrong.

Anyway guys dreadful hangover from last night's beer and curry...there's nothing for it must be more beer and a take-away!!

I think at the end of the day we'll just have to wait until the ebook is (finally) released to pass judgment.It would be nice if it was closer to me so I could actually taste his food.He does look like he runs a successful business though so unless his punters are wrong then he must be a competent BIR chef.If the book comes out and it's rubbish then I will certainly say so.

I agree the videos,although enjoyable show nothing we haven't seen before,it's a shame the book wasn't promoted better without all the silly stuff that's gone with it.It's just this spiced oil and gravy ingredient that's still bugging me,I hope I'm not going to be disappointed.

Quote from: Secret Santa on October 05, 2013, 04:50 PM

Quote from: Garp on October 05, 2013, 04:16 PM
In defence of Sam, I've never known asafoetida to be called hing. I don't know if Chris explained it to him (or indeed if Chris knew) it was the same thing.

If he had never heard of asafoetida, I'd doubt his credentials, but hing, na.

This was my point Garp but it clearly flew over the heads of most respondents. Sam had never heard of it before as hing or asafoetida. He was talking about cowpats in his native Bangladesh at one point so perhaps if he'd been asked if he knew what devil's dung was he'd then have recognised it!

How much would you trust your car mechanic to fix your car if he'd never heard of a torque wrench?

And the notion that BIRs don't use asafoetida is laughable. They may not all use it but many do.

Secret Santa,I'm intrigued as to how you know many BIR chefs definitely use asafoetida as an ingredient.Have you been told this or have you seen it in a BIR kitchen?I brought some a couple of years ago after seeing it in my local Indian Supermarket assuming that it's widely used,but I'm still not convinced.Sam says he doesn't use it,Chef Az also said this on our group cooking lesson as did the Chef from the Preem take-away where I had a lesson a couple of years ago.Abdul,with whom I had ten hour's worth of lessons in my kitchen had also never heard of it.The only two people I have ever seen mention it is Julian and Dave Loyden from the Undercover Curry Book.I'd love to be proved wrong but I really think it's a red herring as far as BIR is concerned.

Very interesting indeed.It was actually me who asked about the gravy/paste.Ok,Sam sort of sidestepped it a little but he did confirm that he has a technique different to other places which will be shown in the book.A very nice chap who's willing to share his experience over the years.

Thanks guys,the recipe I still use is here....

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,4934.0.html

It's the one I was shown by Abdul when I had my home lessons.I've tried quite a few different recipes but I still think it's top notch restaurant quality.The marinade does come out a bit thick so I usually do thin it out with a little splash of water.Maybe this is because it's a scaled down recipe used in a restaurant and the quantities were a bit out but it certainly looks and tastes like genuine BIR tandoori/tikka chicken.

Haven't cooked anything for absolutely ages,thought I'd have a change from normal roast chicken on a Sunday.Coooked a whole tandoori spiced chicken instead.I was going to cook it in my tandoori oven but ran out of time,I cooked it in my conventional oven instead.Still delicious,as good if not better than a lot of take-aways/restaurants near me!!

Quote from: Phil [Chaa006] on September 05, 2013, 03:07 PM

Quote from: Bengali Bob on September 05, 2013, 12:36 PM
I think the video(s) are nice.  However as yet I'm not particularly inspired to try any of the recipes out; nothing grabbing me as being particularly interesting, or new.  A competent chef making for the most part standard curries.  This is not a criticism. As I say, very nice.

To be fair to Chris, a competent chef making standard curries is exactly what I would want to see.  I have no interest in (e.g.,) "Mongolian yak mussaman"; I want to see the basic BIR repertoire being prepared and cooked from start to finish, because if I could master that it would give me far more confidence that I could master the more esoteric dishes.  Biryani, Bhuna, Bombay,  Dhansak, Madras, Vindaloo, and some basic side dishes (Bombay aloo, mushroom bhaji, onion bhaji, sag aloo) -- get those ten under your belt and the rest should be (relatively) easy.  Oh, and add chapati and keema naan -- take it up to a round dozen

** Phil.

I have to agree with you there Phil.I'm glad I spotted the link to Sam's takeaway menu.It does feature a few speciality dishes but for me the fact that he covers the classic BIR dishes is important.These are the dishes that I (and I guess a lot of members on here) are interested in replicating 100%.If I can get them right I will be a happy man.I also agree with you Bob,the videos themselves are very nice in themselves,nothing particularly new but I do enjoy watching them nonetheless.The ingredients are nothing unusual,so the magic surely must be in Sam's gravy and spiced oil which will be covered in the forthcoming book.Come on Chris,the wait is getting painful!!

Thanks for posting that Chris,he seems to be a nice chap (and a very busy one as well!)

To me it looked like a straight forward dupiaza recipe,and then that 'magic' oil came into play...very  very interesting indeed.

Actually I always found peshwari naan breads particularly difficult to master.In just about every video I've seen the filling is put in the middle of the dough in a big round ball and the edges are lifted up and the thing is rolled out.However I always found mine tended to split and the contents split out doing it this way.It's only since using this method ie spreading the content evenly and thinly over the surface that my peshwari naan's have been a success.Maybee that's the answer?? Still think it's something to do with the chef shaking the flour off though...