That all looks fantastic, and the nan is amazing - was it done in a tandoor?

Hi Phil,

perhaps this varies from region to region, country to country. Most places I've tried in the UK (Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Sussex, South Wales) tend to serve a vegetable curry sauce to accompany the rice dish. However, I think I once ate one in Manchester (Rusholme) in 1994 which wasn't accompanied by any veg curry. In France, restaurants also tend to serve the biryani without any sauce at all.

Quote from: Naga on October 09, 2012, 08:13 PM

Birianis don't appear to have much of a following on this forum, which is a pity as the dish is a good alternative to the mainstream curries.

All suggestions for improvement are welcome - and if you have a "silver bullet" of a biriani recipe, then I'm all ears!

Hi Naga, I'd also like to see more discussion of the noble biryani - I'm very partial to a biryani with vindaloo sauce. I've tried cooking a chicken biryani several times - using Dipuraja's recipe and also curry 2 go. The curry2go recipe had the edge, but was still far from a BIR biryani. I suspect this was probably to do with my cooking method than anything else. I don't have a wok or gas cooker at home.

The last time I had a BIR biryani I also noticed there were several cardamons and fennel seeds in the rice (which are not always included in recipes).

Thanks very much to everyone for the tips, I'll be trying both the block and the Maggi!

Quote from: chewytikka on October 03, 2012, 07:44 PM

Quote from: vinders on October 03, 2012, 06:17 PM
Good question. I'm not sure. On the TA webcam the chef seemed to use two thinnish slices of creamed coconut that he'd carved off with his chef spoon.

Hi vinders
Are you sure it was Coconut Cream you saw added?  (Because BIR rarely use it directly in a Curry). In my experience.

cheers Chewy

Hi Chewy,

Many thanks for the links.

I can't be 100% sure what it was, but I think creamed coconut block is a good guess as I didn't see anything white and powdery going into the CTM or Korma.

It looks like I'll now be experimenting with both the creamed coconut and then Maggie Coconut Milk powder

BTW how much does Maggie Coconut Milk powder cost?

Thanks

Quote from: 976bar on October 03, 2012, 07:36 PM
Have you guy's ever used, Maggi coconut milk powder for Korma's and CTM's?

This gives the perfect coconutty taste with the smoothness required for the dish. I find coconut block ok, but not as smooth as the Maggi powder. It is quite expensive as opposed to coconut block but the flavour is so much different....

I've never used coconut milk powder, but this seems worth a try too. Thanks for the tip

Geezah, that looks a mighty fine curry!

Quote from: Achille17 on October 03, 2012, 05:44 PM
If you had to use 2 Tbsp of coconut flour, how many grams of coconut block would you use instead?

Good question. I'm not sure. On the TA webcam the chef seemed to use two thinnish slices of creamed coconut that he'd carved off with his chef spoon.

Thanks very much for all your feedback. I'm definitely going to give the creamed coconut block ago for both the state and texture reasons you've all outlined.

I mainly cook the korma and CTM for my girlfriend but have tasted enough to know that I prefer a smoother sauce. The coconut flour is better than dessicated coconut but it still shows in the texture.

I'm interested to hear that Geezah. I made a CTM a week ago using coconut flour - the taste was fine, though I didn't like the substance of the sauce. Funnily enough that doesn't seem to bother me when I've use coconut flour for a korma