Topic: Setting up a restaurant/takeaway

[welshman]

As members of this forum have the knowledge to make BIR style curries, have you considered opening your own curry restaurant or takeaway.

[Edwin Catflap]

Julian voight at curry2go set up his own and did quiet well

[Curry addict bob]

I love doing the curries at my own pace! but the speed a propper chef works at under pressure would be to fast for me

CAB.

[Peripatetic Phil]

the speed a proper chef works at under pressure would be too fast for me

Having watched Chef and his team at work in the kitchen at the Westberry, I am now convinced that the secret lies in the preparation; poor/inadequate preparation and the pressure becomes unbearable; good preparation and the evening flies by as if on rails.  And the contribution of the pot-washers is not to be overlooked -- they may be bottom of the pecking order, but without them the kitchen would come to a standstill in less than an hour.

** Phil.

[Curry addict bob]

Yes well said Phil here is some of my prep work I never make a curry unless I do this stuff below first.

CAB.

[loveitspicy]

Get the prep right and the base right

and yes you can do it -

best, Rich

[JD]

Funny you should say that actually because I am toying with the idea of writing a cook book or creating an online course on how to make quick, easy, healthy Indian food. I just wondered if there is still a market for that or is it all available free on the internet now?

[Peripatetic Phil]

To be honest, I think that the market (both print and e-book) is saturated; every man and his dog has jumped on the BIR book-wagon, and there is so much useful stuff available online (both here and elsewhere) that there is very little incentive for the would-be-BIR-chef-at-home to buy something when the same or better information is available for free.  These days the only Indian cookery books I would even /consider/ buying are those written by authors from the sub-continent -- I believe that we can potentially learn a very great deal from those who have Indian food in their genes, whereas with one or two notable exceptions (Mick Crawford being one), books written by Britons tend just to trot out the same material, all of which is available online, in the guise of being new and different (which it never is).

P.S.  From a purely personal perspective, I would never buy a book that offers to teach me how to make healthy food -- a book that could teach me how to make the BIR curries that I experienced in the 60s and early 70s, on the other hand, would be an absolute God-send.

** Phil.

[JD]

Thank you Phil! Very kind of you to take the time to answer my questions and giving me detailed feedback. I do have Indian food in my genes and I think you are absolutely right that there is a difference when you have grown up surrounded by a particular cuisine - your take on it is very different. Most of the Indian recipes you see online or in cookbooks/programmes are simply never cooked in indian homes! Also a lot of authentic Indian recipes, cooked in Indian homes are essentially healthy in their very nature of being everyday family foods. The foods and recipes have also morphed into dishes which are prepared and taste quite different to teh original ones. For instance, I grew up in a household where we had Dhansak every Sunday, the equivalent of a Sunday roast, I suppose! I don't know why but the recipes you get for Dhansak and the Dhansak you get in restaurants is an entirely different dish which is absolutely nothing like the original

[Peripatetic Phil]

Well, a lamb (or mutton, or goat) dhansak is one of my favourite dishes, but for me it /has/ to be eaten with onion salad (i.e., sliced onion with a little tomato and a coriander garnish) and lime pickle -- without those two, it just doesn't work for me.  So if you were willing to share the recipe for your "Sunday roast" dhansak, I for one would be very very grateful.

** Phil.