Quote from: Mark J on January 16, 2005, 10:09 AM

Enough lamb for 2 (200-400g) precooked (I used Waitrose loin fillet, its was the most tender lamb I have ever had but its bloody expensive ?22/Kg)

?22 is more than most farmers get for the whole beast

I believe the Cinnamon Club has been touted as the top UK Indian restaurant, it is certainly the most expensive. Others such as The Bombay Brasserie, Veeraswamy, Chutney Mary and those in the Blue Elephant chain provide a welcome alternative to the usual BIR.
However as they claim to provide authentic or home style dishes it is unlikely that you would get a Chicken Tikka Patia in any of these restaurants.
I must admit that although I prefer the food in those restaurants listed above, I do still visit the common or garden BIR and enjoy the food served up in them, saying that, I also love the food that is served up in the eateries of the East End or Southall that cater for the local Asian populations. I am told that food is also "authentic" but it bears no resemblance to the "authentic" stuff served in the Cinnamon Club or Veeraswamy.

After seeing a number of posts on ukfdi giving links to Camellia Panjabi recipes I followed them and compared the recipes to those posted in her original 50 great curries of India. Although there are no major changes the recipes that she has posted to some sites differ from those in the book. Usually it is removing an ingredient, using more of something or using less of something. I thought that maybe these were improvements to the original recipes so I checked out the new release of the same book and found the recipes in the two books were identical.

Why is this I wonder?

The "The new curry bible" is not a new publication but a re-release of the earler "The curry bible". The name was changed, I believe, because the book went out of publication and before it was republished Maddhur Jaffrey published her version of a "Curry Bible". But that should not distract from the book and how good it is. Personally I don't go for the restaurant style versions of curries but prefer the Authentic style dishes that Pat has in the book.

Pat will answer any sensible questions that you ask of him, he has done for me a couple of times, and he can be contacted from his website http://www.patchapman.co.uk/

It is worth looking at the "Pat Chapmans Balti Bible" also.

The aforementioned Maddhur Jaffrey Curry Bible is also well worth having, especially if you get it for Christmas as I did.

Quote from: Mark J on December 27, 2004, 10:28 AM
Anyone know a good place to get kashmiri chillies?

I just bought Camelia Punjabis 50 great indian curries and fancy the parsee red chicken!

There appears to be a discrepancy with the amount of fluid (coconut milk) used in the recipe.
Let us know how you get on with it.

She says that more and more people are looking for authentic food in pleasant surroundings and the number of people looking for curry house style food is waning. She also points out that the fresh chilled and frozen curries are improving dramatically and more and more people are happy to eat these at home, whereas once you would have had to go to a restaurant or take-away.

By the way, does anyone remember the old Vesta boil in a bag curries?
They seem a million years away now.

A friends son works in a local hostelry, one of a chain that is nationwide and sells cheap beer and food. He bought a deep fat fryer and constantly re-used the oil. I told him of the dangers of this and he showed me how they determine if the oil is good in the pub kitchen.
They take a wine-glass full out of their fryers and if you can see through it, it is fine. If you can't they chuck it. Hence my reservations about eating in such a place have been permanently re-inforced.

I have never tried this recipe that I got off the web some time ago.
If you do try it let us know how it turned out.

4    chicken breasts 
50ml sunflower oil 
1/2    teaspoon turmeric powder 
Salt 
3    tablespoons onions, julienned 
3    tablespoons red capsicums, julienned 
4    tablespoons tomatoes, julienned 
1    teaspoon chaat masala   
1/2    teaspoon red chili powder 
1    tablespoon fresh lemon juice   

Simmer the chicken breasts with salt and turmeric powder for 15 minutes.
Drain the chicken and when cool enough to handle shred the chicken.
Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan and saute the julienned onion, capsicum and tomatoes for 5 minutes.
Add the shredded chicken.
Add the chaat masala and chili powder and toss to mix well.
Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.

I got it as well from Lordy...thank you very much...I have not had an opportunity to look at it yet though.

I have just read "The Star Of India" by Jo someone or other which charts the history of Indian food here in the UK.
She states that the curry as we know it has evolved over the years and folk are now looking for something authentic, hence the rise in some of the better restaurants such as "The Bombay Brasserie", "The Cinnamon Club" and various others.
She also says that a number of people still hanker for the Indian restaurant taste for sentimental or other rerasons.
Personally I love the authentic food and the great difference in the various dishes which are not all conjured from the same base sauce, but I still hit the high street restaurants and take-aways at least once a week and could not do without my cheap curry fix.

The author of the book feels that the Indian restaurant scene as we know it today will probably not be sustained as demand for the high street restaurant curry falls off, and the authentic restaurants will shut their doors before the pubs empty, a lot of places will probably shut down.

However she makes the valid point that a large portion of the curry eating public will not be prepared to pay upwards of ?50 per head for a curry, or some may not know of the difference, these people will still use the high street curry house and may sustain one or two per highstreet, but the days of four or five curry houses on a modest high street will possibly be coming to an end.