Topic: Sylheti recipes

[Unclefrank]

Just done a search and found this by JerryM http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,4333.0.html
Just wanted to know if you cracked it.
Thanks.

[JerryM]

Unclefrank,

No - still not cracked this one. the link is as far as i've got.

i've not seen much info on this dish anywhere.

i have it in mind to work on this year. i'm going to use h4appy-chris garlic chicken as the starting point. i think it needs a bhuna putting into it.

any thoughts by anyone much appreciated.

this is a fantastic dish and one i'd love to crack.

[Unclefrank]

Yeah i couldn't find hardly anything on this dish too.
So it's a little like a Garlic Chicken but with a Bhuna incorporated into it, is that right?
With lemon or not.

[Malc.]

Jerry i've just had a quick scoot around the interweb thingy and read a few forums, many of them foreign speaking so was hard to get Google to translate, but several things seemed to come up alot.

Firstly the dish appears to be a bhuna style dish. Turmeric was mentioned more than any other, followed by a heavy use of garlic paste 50g in one recipe I read! I don't think it was a mistake either, they mentioned two heads of garlic. The other was the use of cloves and also garam masala.

Hope this helps.

[Unclefrank]

That's the same recipe i have written down, going to try and make this dish over the next few weeks.

Only two local TA's that make Sylhet

Spice Barrel http://www.just-eat.co.uk/restaurants-spicebarrel-dy4/menu
Balti Nite http://baltinite.co.uk/menu.html

[JerryM]

Axe, Unclefrank

many thanks.

the place i have the dish is the Dilshad in Oldswinford (I mention only because i think Unclefrank is sort of nearby albeit more towards wolverhampton).

the menu gives: cooked in aromatic spices with yogurt, fresh chillies, green peppers and chopped onions in a slightly hot sauce. i go for the garlic tikka version

the dish is quite dark. hence my feeling of the bhuna base. it has quite a lot of garlic in. it's not like the Zaal or garlic slither effect so i think it goes in at the start of the dish (possibly as paste as there are no lumps or bits of garlic).

it certainly has some well cooked onion "strings" that have either been pre cooked to caramelise or done so via the bhuna.

it also contains onion that melts into the sauce - either chopped pre cooked or done through the bhuna.

i no longer think it contains chilli sauce (this is part of the conversion to bahar).

there is a sweetness but who knows what.

this is a very difficult dish to describe. i've not found it in the North West. there seems very few ingredients yet a very moorish curry.

looking through Franks links: the bahar combination is a very different dish - i see it as a bahar with extra garlic.

[curryhell]

Whatever is in it, it sounds right tasty Jerry.  I hope you can get to the bottom of it then you can share it with the rest of us  ;D

[Unclefrank]

I knew i had something about this dish filed away somewhere on my laptop, then searched and found the site.
Here it is not really ground breaking but may be a starting point or not....

http://thecurrysauce.com/article/birrecipes/2011/03/13/restaurant-style-naga-sylhet/

[Malc.]

Well we know that Indians often use tobacco onions i.e. pre-fried crispy onion that is simply added to the curry presumably at the end, something that I do at home and really like.

I tend to agree that the darker colour probably comes from the bhuna style cooking, but have you considered it may also come from bunjara? Which if you think about it, will also account for the sweetness in the dish you mention. Of course the latter may also come from a good pinch of sugar too.

I'd also lean towards the dish having a good measure of garam masala in it to give it that aromatic spice, especially given the mention of clove I have seen.

The slightly hot sauce must come from the fresh chilli. Is it usually halved or whole?

[JerryM]

Unclefrank,

it's certainly a starting point. i think it will be a slow add 1 off ingredient in at a time jobby.

Axe,

i use bunjarra in every dish (1 htbsp). in fact i'm fast becoming addicted - i used all my 560g onion batch up in the last 10 off curries over the last 9 days.

i am pretty sure the bhuna gives most of the flavour. i bought some of those pre cooked onion a good while ago and never fathomed how to use - it could well play a part (the onion strings - although at the Dilshad i am sure they are fresh - they look it). They could even be spanish onion as the strings are quite long.

i'm quite sensitive to gm. it could well be a factor but just a very slight pinch/hint.

you can't see the chilli in the dish. they do put slices of the fat squat green chillies on the top as garnish but has no effect on the dish taste.