I would love to go but it's a long flight from Oz for a lesson....unless there's a bevvy after it  ;D

Sounds good tho'

Quote from: haldi on July 23, 2009, 08:06 AM
I am concerned that achieving the "taste" may be extremely unhealthy

Hehe maybe that's why the chefs are not forthcoming with the secret ingredient 

They also made their own pastes that they used as a mix and match to achieve the desired taste with different meals, a bit of this and a some of that. They never used brand curry powder but they made a spice mix for either bhuna dishes or rogan josh??? wish I could remember. Pataks Tandoori and tikka pastes were used for marinading along with some other spices they added to enhance the flavour of the tandoori dishes.

Hi all

Haldi me thinks you have nailed it. A long time ago, I had a whisky filled conversation with an Indian restaurant owner/chef after the restaurant had closed  who also liked his whisky, about Indian restaurant cooking and the elusive "secret ingredient".

We were sitting in the kitchen and after looking around I basically said, I have more spices in my kitchen than you have in the restaurant so I know the "S I" is not a spice, what is it that gives the food that wonderful smell and taste?

His reply after waffling for a while about the smells on the walls the furniture etc, which I said I wasn't buying into, was....

Burnt Oil....They use it in the gravy (he wouldn't call it a base sauce)
and in the curry dishes.

I don't know (can't remember a lot that night  :) if they used the oil from pakoras and bhajis but remember him saying that they changed the oil for them quite regularly as it would make them to dark. He liked them a golden colour.

I wish I had elaborated on the acquisition and the use of the burnt oil now.

Excellent post.
Both dishes look fantastic.

I haven't been able to produce a descent madras yet so looking forward to reading your conclusions on the head to head...head

Quote from: Panpot on January 05, 2009, 04:50 PM


Rallim since you have been at the Johnstone site you may wish to pay a wee visit to the TA at Kilmacolm where the set up is mostly open plan and the chefs will blether with you if they are not too busy, the food is good and reasonably priced.

Hi Panpot I wish I could, but now that I'm living down under would be a wee bit difficult. Hoping to get back over within the next year or so...

Quote from: Stephen Lindsay on January 04, 2009, 05:59 PM

The Ashoka is nothing like Brewer's Fayre, I have always had excellent curries from the Dundee one, both a la carte and takeaway, my main criticism would be that it tends to be a bit pricey compared to other curry houses locally.

Yes would agree with you. The Ashoka in Johnstone was excellent but it too was expensive compared to others around that area.

Quote from: Panpot on January 02, 2009, 08:36 AM
Cheers Rallim,where are you in Oz?

Hi Panpot

I'm in the Sunshine State Queensland residing in Brisbane. Nothing sunny about their restaurant Indian curries though 

Decided to have a Xmas Bar-b this year instead of a traditional in Oz. So part of the bar-b foods was chicken kebabs and used the Ashoka tikka recipe. While they were marinading I thought why not make the Ashoka massala sauce as well. It was like eating a meal from my favourite Indian restaurant in Scotland. The Aussies who were at the bar-b had never tasted anything like it, they absolutely loved the chicken tikka in the massala sauce. A big thank you to panpot for getting the recipes from the Ashoka  ;D

Quote from: Cory Ander on December 21, 2008, 11:18 PM

Quote from: haldi on December 20, 2008, 05:38 PM
I achieved 100% but using their oil in my base

OUR FOCUS needs to be on replicating the BIR oil (though I accept that you think it can't be replicated on a domestic scale). 

I think a separate thread on replicating the BIR oil is warranted?

When I asked an owner/chef from an Indian restaurant, along with the spices how did he achieve the taste in his dishes he replied burnt oil. He used it his base sauce as well but wouldn't elaborate on it???

This could be something else that contributes to the BIR taste?...what ever he meant???
Maybe worth investigating...