Topic: Chat with a waiter

[Edwin Catflap]

Went for a sneaky curry the other night at West Bars Tandoori Chesterfield. I had a Madras, plain rice, keema naan, the mrs had fish tikka, chicken korma and cauli bhaji.....lovely it was. But what made the night so great was there was a waiter who has done 15 years in the kitchen and once I mentioned that I cooked my own he couldn't stop chatting, it was great.

Here's a few tips that came out for this restaurant were:

They use a little celery in their base
They use a little potato in their base
They don't use cabbage
They just use cheap onions
They don't pre cook service onions just chop the peppers and onion finely so it cooks quick
They don't use Kashmiri chilli just normal powder - usually Rajah brand
Their garlic/ginger paste is 30/70 for curries
They cook there bhajis the night before and then zap them in oil to re heat
He loves using their bhaji oil
He recommends for home use pre cook your chicken in the base you are about to use then pour it in the pan once the g/g, powders etc have cooked out
They use fresh mint in their tikka

Ed

[Onions]

Great stuff EC. Reckon he might go into even more detail...?

[Madrasandy]

I hope you tipped him well for next time you visit 

[Unclefrank]

I have been getting the same info too, one thing i did notice was that their base (Alok) is very runny, like JB's new base he posted, also i have noticed a lot of Pataks catering sized tubs, Balti, Kashmiri, Tandoori and Tikka, asked in Alok http://alokonline.co.uk/
how they made a Katmandu, waiter said base, poppy seeds, kashmiri paste, tomato puree, yoghurt, coconut block and mix powder.
Saw the base on the cooker bubbling away very thin indeed.

[Edwin Catflap]

Forgot one or two

He said they use fresh tomato in the base
They didn't use coconut in the base
He said popadoms were the worst things to cook, have to be very quick or they burn
He said the secret to sag aloo is the pouring the tarka on the top at the end, garlic and onions
I said how hard it was to get Tej patta and he said it was easy to get hold of, so i said bring me one thinking it would be European, no it was proper Tej patta with the three veins and he said these were cheap as chips in India

Tipped him a

[Onions]

We'll all tip him a fiver!!!

[curryhell]

Great snippets of info there Ed. Keep us updated

[Madrasandy]

With the garlic/ginger ratio been 30/70 for the final dish it would be interesting to know what the ratio is for their base gravy Ed ?

[commis]

Hi
Thanks Ed for your efforts.
Regards

[Secret Santa]

I had a Madras...They don't use Kashmiri chilli just normal powder - usually Rajah brand

What? A good Madras made without Kasmiri chilli...is that even possible?  ;D