I'm not too far from Boondall so could give Maharani's a try to see how they compare.

It seems that they way a lot of the restaurants get going is that originally there were a couple of restaurants who employed Indian students. The students then leave and start their own restaurants taking with them what they have learnt. In the end most Aussie restaurants are fairly similar, but seem to be very different to what BIR is though I've never had BIR, but in looking at how it is done it is different.

I've worked with 3 different chefs from different restaurants, all of them use multiple gravies 'curry mixing' is what they call it, and all of them scoff at only using one gravy. Yet BIR seems to only use one gravy and maybe a masala or two and BIR people swear by it.

What I see as the major difference is that with 'curry mixing' nothing, well, very little is fried at dish cooking time so that toffee aroma that most people are looking for is not something that is dominant in the Aussie curries. What would be interesting is to bring BIR to Australia and see how that fares with the locals.

We are in the middle of setting up a new restaurant just outside Brisbane CBD at the moment, once that is finished I shall let you know.

Hi Beachbum,

Yes it is used in dishes in restaurants. I work part time in a restaurant here in Brisbane making the gravies.

Blended cashews go into the butter gravy which is akin to the Zaal Masala paste, and it also goes into the Korma gravy, or nut gravy as well.

Combinations of gravies are put together to make the final dishes and will hence end up with different amounts of cashew in it.

For example a meat korma dish is as follows:

1.5 chef spoon onion gravy
1.0 chef spoon korma gravy
pre-cooked meat and stock
big pinch garam masala
big pinch pepper
pinch salt
pinch methi
100ml cream
1 tbsp coconut milk powder
sugar

The cashews are soaked in boiling water for a good 15-30mins and then ground to a smooth paste. They are then added to the base gravies once the rest of the ingredients are done and are cooked for another 30-60mins in the gravy until the oil rises.

Cheers,
Mark

Hey Aussie Mick,

Welcome from another Aussie, the forums great and you will learn a whole lot.

I'm in Brisbane and have been in a number of Indian restaurant kitchens here but it seems that what we Aussie's know as Indian Restaurant curries are quite different to the British style and fall far short from it.

What part of Oz are you in?

Cheers,
Mark

Thanks Solarsplace, greatly appreciated, and thoroughly enjoyed.

When you watch the videos you pick little things up, the subtle differences that you don't always get when reading a recipe.

If there's any more of the base, or masala paste making or tikka vids as CH mentioned they too would be great when you have time, I'm still a little unsure about a couple of bits which the vids may help clear up.

In any case, just wanted to say thanks again.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi Guys,

I just thought I'd check in to see if there are going to be any further uploads of videos from the sessions with Az?.

Each day I wake in anticipation looking forward to perhaps more videos from the sessions (yes it's a sad state being a curry addict!)

I wasn't sure if perhaps a decision had been made to not upload any more and if I'd missed it, hopefully that's not the case.

I'm still trying to workout how I can justify a trip to the UK from Australia to attend a session myself!

Best regards,
Mark

Hi Natterjak,

In regards to the onions, here at the restaurant in Australia, when serving in house, the onion chunks and green pepper chunks are flash fried, all this means is that for a dish with the large pieces in it, they are quickly deep fried and added to the dish near the end of the process rather then at the start.

This is done for two reasons, firstly as you mention they remain a little crunchy and secondly they maintain(the peppers) a nice color as well.

[EDIT] Sorry, seen this has been answered in the masala paste thread, thanks guys!
I too am hoping for some more info on the masala paste as well, hopefully over the weekend someone will be able to answer a few questions, and perhaps even a video of the last stage too would be great. Same too with the base and how the bagaar part is done.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi ELW,

We make a similar paste here in the restaurant except it is called butter gravy, no butter in it though. I often bring some home from the restaurant and put portion sized amounts in little plastic zip lock bags and put them in the freezer.

When making butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, rogan josh, it is just a matter of taking a bag of it out, along with a bag of onion gravy paste and defrosting.

Due to the lower water content, they unfreeze much quicker as well.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi All,

Last night I was given the task of using the tandoor at the restaurant and making the naan breads, of which I have done neither before at the restaurant. I got to make the naan dough and then do the cooking and was completely amazed at how they turned out having been the one who made them.

The chef cooked the first couple showing me how it is done in the tandoor and asked me to taste them. I said they tasted great, and he replied "that is your dough" and it hit me that it was.

The recipe is very simple and again probably not too different from what is already known here, but perhaps some of the ways in which it was done technique wise may be.

It makes about 18 naan dough balls.

Restaurant Naan Dough Recipe

Ingredients
1 litre container flour
1 tbsp kalonji
200ml container sugar
2 tbsp salt (slightly rounded) The tbsp is the dessert spoon you would eat breakfast with, not a measuring spoon.
1 tbsp baking powder (slightly rounded)
0.5 pkt yeast (7 gram packet)
750 ml warm wtaer
6 tbsp yogurt (very large heaped, greek yogurt)
oil (perhaps 2 tbsp)

Method
1. Place flour and kalonji in bowl, mix together
2. In a separate bowl, add water, yogurt, sugar, salt, baking powder and yeast, mix together
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add liquid, small amount at a time, mixing through
4. Knead the dough until it is soft, and free from any lumps, some extra water may be required, it will be quite sticky for a while
5. Once it is nice and smooth, it should be kneaded until it no longer sticks to the edges of the bowl, additional small amount of flour may be be added
6. Using fists, push the dough down into the bowl for a minute or so
7. Cover with oil, a fair amount(I usually add maybe a tsp if that, this was perhaps 1-2tbsp squirted over) and repeat the push the dough down again, flip it over in the bowl and cover with oil again if needed
8. Remove from bowl and give a quick knead on the bench rolling into long thick roll, fold it in on itself and knead again
9. Return it to the bowl, push down and cover the dough with cling wrap. The cling wrap should be on the dough, not on the top of the bowl.
10. Leave to sit for 1-2 hours


Making the naan dough balls
1. Pull a big handful piece of dough and using both hands push the dough up from underneath with the fingers until a smooth round ball is formed, tuck the edges in underneath and twist and remove the excess
2. Drop the ball down onto a floured surface and gently cover with flour
3. Repeat the process for the remaining dough
4. Cover with towl for an hour or so, or place covered in fridge for up to 3 days

The ball process may be a bit hard to visualize, I'll see if I can find a video on the web that shows the process as it is different to what I have always tried at home.

They went into the tandoor on the pillow, sprinkled with a little water to help stick, and pulled out after a minute or so. Brushed with butter/garlic butter, sliced and served.

It was all very simple really, couldn't believe how hot the tandoor was though. Was grateful for the tip of turning it down before putting the breads in and then adjusting the heat. I was scared stiff at first when the chef told me to try putting my hand in there, the heat was incredible.

Cheers,
Mark

Hi,

Here we add whole spices to the base gravies, they are very rarely ever added to a finished dish.

As an example, Butter gravy has green card, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves. Onion Gravy has cloves, black cardamom, cinamon sticks, and sometimes star anise if no big cards available.

Don't get added to the final dishes as no one really wants to bit into a whole spice, if they are noticed when going into the final dish then they are removed, sometimes we miss them though.

Regards,
Mark

Hi Jerry,

Couple of things to add to the discussion so far.

In terms of the chef's being able to recreate gravies at home and in smaller quantity, they can. The chef I work with at times does a market stall on the weekends. For this he knocks up a gravy at home the night before, he lives in a small apartment with well less then restaurant standard equipment. You can taste no difference in what he has made at home to what made in the restaurant.

Further to this, at the market stall he makes the buffet dishes ( he will make 3-4 curries for sale ) in an electric fry pan, and again they taste as good as if made in the restaurant. One time he had none of the whole spices to go in and it still tasted fantastic.

So certainly for Aussie indian curry style of things it is possible to do at home.

Now here is the big secret, and unfortunately it is not what we want to hear.

When he makes the gravy and the final dishes, he tastes it, and he knows what is missing or needed to fix it. He may have used a different brand of tomato puree which is more sour, or bottled garlic instead of fresh, or the cumin powder might have been roasted and is stronger etc.

Same with the onions, they might be stronger in flavor etc, but he with his expertise/experience knows what to do to correct it.

Unfortunately that is something that only comes with years of experience, I still have to get him to taste the gravies that I make following exactly the same recipe each time, but at times he will adjust things.

Hope that doesn't put too much of a dampener on things.

Cheers,
Mark