Hmm, I think the option has ben turned off, admin?

Heh good old Mr Khan, yes I remember him. He did say he would come back and post the secret and his broken English did lend credence to his claim to be an Indian chef. I think he got slagged off too much as I recall

I must confess I have never cooked beef in this manner (the time I gave was from another recipe that stated 35mins for lamb and 40 for beef). However I often cook a Chinese dish (hangs head in shame) called pekenese beef stew that takes regular stewing steak and produces spectacular results.

With this dish I brown off the cubed beef for a few minutes and then add to a casserole pot with the other ingredients, I then cook it for 1 hour and 20 minutes stirring every 20 mins, the beef turns out extremely tender. I wonder if you just got a bad cut of beef (although I reckon that the BIR's will use cheap cuts of meat and get the tendernous via the cooking process)

I partially agree with Mutley, you wont find a book that gives you all the secrets, to be honest this site is the best resource for BIR cooking.

Most recipes You will tend to find on the net though are rubbish IMHO with respect to reproducing a BIR curry.

My missus now assures me that the currys I cook are as good as my local BIR, and its the best I have found 

Surely at these kind of places the base sauce is already made and you just use that?

I think I bought this a while ago, its is actually the secret of the indian chefs revealed ebook, so if you havent got it its a bargain at ?1.50 (this guy is obviously selling it illegally)

Quote from: pete on January 19, 2005, 08:07 AM
The ground spices were chilli, coriander/cummin mix,curry powder mix.

Was this a takeaway or restaurant Pete?

So they only added up to 3 sets of spices to each dish in varying quantaties:

Chilli
Cumin + Coriander mix
Curry powder mix

yes?

cheers

Quote from: curryqueen on January 17, 2005, 04:29 PM
Hi All,? Has anyone come across "The Restaurant Menu" book by Sonia Allison and "100 Best Balti Curries" by Mike Davidson and Diane Low?? Much appreciate any feedback if any!? They both look good books.? ?

Ive got the balti book and its quite good, you can get it cheap on ebay these days

Quote from: merrybaker on January 17, 2005, 06:06 PM
I wonder how many restaurants really do use all those hard-to-find ingredients.?

Bugger all I reckon, they are interested in producing the dishes as cheaply and as quickly as possible. I reckon the technique of the chef is way more important than the base ingredients

Quote from: Curry King on January 17, 2005, 10:11 AM
That looks great,? Ive never really tried making lamb currys but I think I will give it a go.

Mark, I made that Do-Piaza recipe you posted and although it didn't look the part it tasted lovely.

The only thing I did differently was not to put so much yogurt in it.? Batteries were dead in my camera so I didn't get any pictures? :-[? ? shame really as it looked fantastic when it was finished, I will be making it again so I will next time.

cK

Excellent!

Trouble with cooking a lamb curry is finding good cubed lamb at a reasonable price