I've completely missed this book
Is it any good?
Does it use a curry gravy/base?

Really glad that it worked out
I couldn't give it full attention, but I half saw a puri being made
The chef rolled out a disc of dough to about seven inch diameter
This was dropped into a deep pan fryer on a fairly low setting
Meanwhile a simple small vegetable curry was prepared in a wok
This was a standard recipe using curry gravy,spice,garlic ginger,precooked veg.
When the dough was cooked it puffed up considerably
Then was moulded into a small foil container (side order size)
Chef flattened the dough to the base and pulled it up the sides quite easily
Then the vegetable curry was poured into this mould and the tops of the dough were folded over the top of the curry
Sorry that the description is a bit vague

Hi CQ
     I hope you check in here!
I tried your recipe last night
It was one of my most successful curries
Thanks a lot, I will make this again
One question:-
Should there be any garlic ginger in the recipe?

Quote from: Chris303 on February 16, 2008, 10:42 PM
Anytime I heat one of my cast iron baltis up till they are smoking hot and I pour my just cooked curry in and everything is sizzling and smoking ---- I get the SMELL and when I taste the curry I just poured in -- i get the TASTE.
There is no secret ingredient... Its is all bout high tempratures, smoking and sizzling.

I've got to try that
Somebody bought me some balti bowls for a present
Unfortunately they got those awful stainless steel ones
They can't be heated the same
I'll have to get some cast iron baltis
Where did you get yours from?

Hi CA
      Yes I think you're right
BIR's use european bay leaves
I checked two commercial brands (East End & Natco) and they are the European leaf
I'm going to keep looking for the indian variety
I had no idea they were from a cassia tree
I would love to try it
How about that, two different but great flavours from one plant?
I guess it's a bit like coriander leaves and seeds

OK, now I am really confused
This is the first time, I have ever seen, an Indian Bay Leaf
If you look at my uploaded picture, you will see what you call "European Bay Leaves"
and these are from an East End spice pack
They make the spices used in lots of BIR's
So do BIR use European bay leaves?
I'll have a good look next time I'm in an Asian supermarket to see if I can find any Indian Bay leaves
Where did you get yours, CA ?
Was it sold loose or bagged?

Is this quite small, or do you climb inside to use?
Just joking
I use a coffee grinder but I always feel it's going to break the plastic case.
Very noisy, but it's an amazing aroma after use!!
Do you make up your own garam masala then?
Or is it for coriander and cummin seeds?

Hi Ian
      I am intrigued by your recipe
Where did you get the idea to use Tandoori powder?
It's in the base and finished curry
Is this something you have seen?
I guess it's the amount of garlic used, that makes this a rhogan josh
I've seen three rhogan josh recipes cooked
All of them involved ,adding a healthy dose of garlic, at the very end of cooking
Thanks for the post, have you got any other recipes?

This is the only place that, I have come across, to use this spice mix
I had an Asian friend who used to drive where I work
He swore by the stuff
He said it was all you needed to cook with
If you visit the Asian supermarkets round here, there are huge commercial bags of it (as well as smaller ones as pictured)
I think it's this spice mix that makes this takeaways curries so special
I reckon this spice is behind some of the old stle BIR flavour/aroma
It's out on it's own
The spice feels almost greasy
Everybody calls it "Basaar" but I think that name is printed fairly small on the packaging
The ceylon curry is described  as "cooked with chillie", but I must admit I thought coconut should be in

Hi
  I managed to see a vegetable ceylon cooked
It's a curry that has intrigued me a long time
Essentially it seems very similar to any hot curry (phaal etc)
It took about a quarter of an hour to cook
The trouble is, that this place makes a curry base, so yummy that the finished dish can only succeed, if you have made a base of equal yummyness
(I think I just invented that word)
They also use no garlic ginger in the finished curry
The hot spice mix is bassaar
Another point worth mentioning is to do with the curry gravy pot
We were recently discussing whether or not the pot is kept constantly heated
This one was definitely off
I was the only curry customer in during an hour interval
Perhaps if it goes extra quiet they turn it off?
Anyhow here's the recipe:-

Vegetable Ceylon                                       

3 desertspoons curry gravy oil
2 desertspoon white tower tomato puree straight from the can
(no dilution, I asked)
2 desertspoon chilli powder
half a dessertspoon hot restaurant spice mix
precooked ingredients (this was veg)
half a teaspoon of salt (only used if making a veg curry)
1 dessertspoon  precooked mushrooms
1 dessertspoon  of canned chick peas
1 desertspoon (chopped in rings) thin chillies with seeds
a pinch of cumin
a pinch of coriander
2 pinches of dried fenugreek
About 2 ladles of curry gravy (maybe 250 ml)

Heat the oil for about a minute on a high gas  (flames come up about four inches)
Add the tomato puree, chilli powder and hot spice mix and stir together for about thirty seconds
Then add a good splash of curry gravy. Sufficient to just spread over the base of the pan
Give this a good continuous stir for about four minutes
Add the fresh chillies and a little more curry gravy , to keep everything fluid, then turn the heat down low, and leave for five minutes. Don?t stir
Add the precooked ingredients,mushrooms & chick peas (if making veg you need the extra salt in the recipe)
Add the rest of the curry gravy to make a good sauce, raise the heat to high to get it boiling again, then turn right down
Leave on low for another five minutes, occasionally stirring
Turn the heat up full
Add the coriander, cumin and dried fenugreek
Stir in, then serve

Why's it called a ceylon anyhow?