I've just had the best day out ever

I met up with an ex girlfiend, she's asian and a looker, and we went shopping in a local store that supplies about forty local restaurants. It's not a massive shop but it has absolutely everything. They had a freezer full of Indian fish, there were some massive king fish in there.

Strangely they were out of fresh methi because apparently the season has changed or something like that and they now have to source it from Cyprus. I chewed on some fresh, raw, curry leaf and it reminded me of privet hedge (don't ask!). It's just like an Alladin's cave of Indian goodies, just brilliant. I asked the owner what is the best basmati rice and he recommended tilda or white pearl. I could have spent the whole afternoon in there no problem, but we had gone out intending to go for a curry buffet so we moved on.

We arrived at the curry house, it was the usual fare, several tureens full of about 10 different curries and some starters with salad raitha etc.We tucked into the curry, it was nothing spectacular but palatable and having some of the taste and smell I miss from the old days. Any way, as the waiter cam back to ask if we needed more drink I just decided on the spot to chance my arm and ask to see the kitchens. It was a quiet time, only me and the friend there and one other couple otherwise I wouldn't have asked. To be frank I wouldn't have asked at all if my ex hadn't been with me as I look a bit thugish and I don't think they'd have entertained my request if I'd been on my own. She was my ace in the hole so to speak.

So the waiter said he'd have to ask the chef if it was OK and off he went, meanwhile leaving me turning a bright shade of crimson and made all the worse by my ex loudly procaiming my embarassed state. But holy of holys the waiter returned and said no problem, I said "shall I go now" and he said "yes straight through the door over there" and he followed closely behind and introduced me to the chef. I was glad, first of all, to find that the chef's English was pretty good so I didn't have that hurdle to cross. Initially my brain couldn't keep up with my eyes as I tried to take in as much as possible because I didn't know if I'd get to ask questions. I spied the tandoor in the corner and said "is that the tandoor oven?", "yes" he said "do you want to look indside?" "Oh that'd be great" I said and I relaxed a bit then as he seemed friendly and willing to talk. The oven was gas powered but it had blackened stones about the size of snooker balls in a pan at the bottom, I asked if it was charcoal but he said "no, it's stones"  He then said "it turns up like this", he tweaked a control and the flames increased under and around the pan. "Can I put my hand in?" I asked, he grinned (devilishly I thought) and said "yes go ahead". I stuck my arm in, keeping away from the sides, up to about the elbow and rapidly withdrew it as my hand got hot very quickly. "You do it like this" he said and nonchalantly stuck his whole arm in and just held it there for about five seconds. Despite my wimpish behaviour I couldn't help feeling that I'd undergone some sort of initiation ritual not too far removed from what that chap does on Kung Fu when he picks up a cauldron of hot coals with his bare forearms. I asked him if he seasons his tandoor, he said he does with sugar water when required.

Next to the tandoor was the shelf with his dry spices on. "These are the spices?" I asked somewhat stupidly. "Yes" he replied and started to name them in English, and after each one I said the Indian name. Realising that I knew my stuff he reverted to the Indian names about half way along the shelf and I then repeated the English name. It was like some sort of Euro-Asian comedy double act. I put it down to nerves but he seemed quite amused by it.

The strange thing is that I can't remember all the spices now, there were about ten, but suffice to say that there was nothing there out of the ordinary. Well there was one that doesn't get mentioned here often and that's mix powder. Actually I think we call it restaurant spice mix or something like that on this forum. Well I thought nothing ventured nothing gained and asked "oh, so what's that then?" He said "it's just a mix of other spices" to which I said "ahh I see, it's a secret". He looked a little uncomfortable but he said with a small shrug of the shoulders "no not really" and he proceeded to tell me the mix.

It was

2 parts coriander
2 parts cumin
3 parts Rajah curry powder
4 parts paprika
5 parts turmeric

He was keen to point out that the turmeric and paprika were really only for colour. I asked him which powder is best and he said he preferred Rajah but East End or any other curry powder would do. The funny part was when I asked him what he mixes it up in, expecting him to show me a small tupperware dish or something like that. He strode across the kitchen and picked up a huge yellow bucket, "we fill this" he said with a grin.

I had a quick look aound again and said "is that the curry sauce?" pointing to the single large pot of curry base sitting on the hob. "Yes" he said "we use that in every curry" and he gave it a quick sir. It was a light brown colour with a thin film of red oil on the top. "What's in that?" I asked. He reeled off the standard ingredients: onions, carrot, red and green pepper, fresh coriander, and then we got distracted somehow so that's all I got really.

At leg height next to the cooker were several shelves of precooked ingredients. The meat and chicken was clearly in a thickish curry sauce that it had been cooked in and hadn't been removed from it. There was precooked mushroom again in curry sauce and what I thought was precooked onion, but this turned out to be the balti paste. He got a jar of Pataks balti paste off the shelf and pointing to it said "we use this and add something else to make that".

His pans were well used, long handled, aluminium types and the cooker rings had what looked like three concentric circles, he turned one fully up and it wasn't as high as I'd expected it to be.

At that point I remembered that my ex was waiting alone in the restaurant and reluctantly bade him farewell, shook his hand which was wet because he'd just been stirring a vat of pink prawns as we spoke, and went back.

I think if I learned anything from this it's to pick a quiet day to ask to see their kitchen and take a good looking asian lady with you The chef was very willing to talk and was a pleasant guy.

My Best Day Ever!

The End.

Quote from: brum_57 on October 24, 2007, 06:39 PM
take another look at the swansea BIR video - the flames are exactly as haldi describes

You're right they are...sort of. What's actually happening is that the flames are catching the oil that's being sprayed from the curry he's cooking and that burns yellow. Otherwise the flames are a safe looking blue.

There are literally hundreds of authentic indian cooking sites, you're spoiled for choice really. Google for things like Gujerati recipes, Punjabi recipes etc.

Quote from: haldi on October 24, 2007, 05:07 PM
His flames rise maybe 6 inches up from his gas rings and are yellow
Although I am getting very strong heat, my flames are only about two inches high and blue
I can't turn the heat up anymore
Anyone understand this?

Yellow flames are quite worrying if he's on mains gas. The flames should be blue as you say. Yellow flames are an indication of incomplete burning of the gas and can produce carbon monoxide.

Your flame height is a function of the amount of gas getting to the burner and this is controlled by the regulator which will have been changed when your cooker was converted to propane. I'd get back to the people who modified it for you and see what they say, it'll probably just need an adjustment of the regulator.

Your pan is almost certainly aluminium and as far as I can tell that's what most of the BIRs seem to use too.

Quote from: Jeera on October 24, 2007, 11:57 AM
I'm going to try making a final BIR with no ground spices at all and see how this works out.

I know that some BIRs use masala pastes but I can't imagine them using no dried spices or there wouldn't be much variation in the curries.

There are some places that definitely use a red masala that not surpriisingly goes into masala curries, and some use a white/yellow paste for the kormas and pasandas and such, but I doubt that there are any that use only pastes. Or are there?

I think it might even be appropriate to make a spice paste up too instead of using dry spices. It always amazes me when I read some recipes that suggest adding dry powdered spices to unadulterated oil that's near its smoking point. The damn spices are going to burn virtually the instant they hit the pan, you don't need a degree in physics to know that. There's only three ways to prevent burnt spices (and even then you have to be careful):
1) make them into a paste as suggested
2) add them to oil which is at a low temperature
3) add them after some fluid has already been added to the pan (this can be in many forms, e.g. onion, garlic/ginger puree, masala paste etc.)

Hi Haldi, if you've now got a pro cooker you need to adjust your base to suit. I suggest you double the amount of water in whatever base sauce recipe you are using, that way it doesn't evaporate a soon as it hits the pan and you can leave it on full heat bubbling away until it gets to the consitency you require - just like the restaurants do.

Hello ANNAM

I'm just in the process of making your base sauce. A few of questions:

There's no ginger in it, is this intentional or did you just forget it?

Compared to other bases I've made there seems to be very little spicing, can you confirm that the quantities you have posted are correct please?

Is the tin of tomatoes a standard 400g tin? This would seem about right given the quantities of the other ingredients.

Is there a reason why you let the pan cool down before blending? Is this just so you don't risk splattering hot base around the kitchen?

Thanks George I'm going to do a smaller version as you suggest.

Is there a version of MarkJ's base with accurate ingredient quantities?