Back in the days when I was still fascinated by BIR cooking (last night's dinner was egg-and-anchovy sandwiches — that shows you how far I have fallen !), I commented on this forum that "back in the good old days" one could tell a good BIR from a bad one by ordering a lamb curry — if the lamb curry came with a lamb-flavoured curry sauce, it was a good one — if it came with a generic or chicken-flavoured curry sauce, it was less so.  I don't think that that observation any any way refutes the suggestion that "in the good old days", a chicken carcase would be added to the base, but I think that in the "better" BIRs they might instead have put lamb (more likely mutton or goat) bones in the base intended for lamb curries ...

Excellent info., Livo — many thanks.
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** Phil.

But he was a Northerner, wasn't he ?  In which case he knew no better ... !

Quote from: Kashmiri Bob on December 24, 2024, 12:34 PM
Not sure whether to go with boiled rice or crinkle cuts.

D@mn your eyes, Sir — may you rot in hell for all eternity for even considering the idea of contaminating an old-school BIR chicken Madras with potato chips !  P.S., Merry Christmas !

As I have a fair amount of pre-cooked cull yaw to use up, and as I wanted a change from cull yaw biriani, I though I would attempt to make a cull yaw dhansak.  As far as I can tell there are no dedicated recipes for either lamb or mutton dhansak on the forum, so I decided to try Richard Sayce's version, which calls for "pre-cooked dhal".  And serendepitously, when I was in Farmfoods yesterday, I noticed that they had 300gm packs of Laila dal tadka which I thought might (a) fit the bill, and (b) cut down on preparation.  So a simple question, "does anyone have experience of Laila dal tadka ?", and if so "what do you think of it, and do you think it would work well in Richard's recipe ?  And I suppose I should ask at the same time "does anyone think that there is a better dhansak recipe than Richard's on which I should base my attempt ?".
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** Phil.

Good Lord, I see I was quite creative in those days !  How tempus fugit.

Oddly enough I have just today ordered a four-pound McSweeen's haggis from a butcher in Wadebridge (Cornwall).

Yes, certainly agree that Lahore (I forget whether Lahore One or Two) in Commercial Road does superb kebabs, and has hand-washing facilities within the restaurant (i.e., not in the toilets) indicating that they attract a significant number of Muslim diners.  For me, their pièce de résistance is their kebabs :  I have almost zero experience of their other dishes (apart from their chapati, of course !).
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** Phil.

Unless you want your curry made with chicken tikka, best to avoid all chicken "chef's specials", IMHO.
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** Phil.

Of course, if you can manage to get down to Cornwall, I can give a 100%-confidence recommendation for the chicken curry in Moonlight Tandoori, Lostwithiel.  That really is just like going back to the 70's — sheer perfection (and a very friendly, older-generation, run establishment to boot).  BYOB, as the owners are Muslims and therefore do not serve (but permit) alcohol.