Topic: Hello from South Wales

[Mikeblackwood]

I'm Mike, from Blackwood,as the member name suggests  in the South Wales valleys.

Getting on a bit, and missing the Tandoori and curry of the 80's.  Why can't I smell charcoal in any restaurant, the tandoors are all gas fired now, and even more disappointing, every BIR that I try has a kitchen with shelves of Pataks catering size pastes?

Neil Kinnock once gave an interview on Radio 4 salivating over the delights of "Blackwood Tandoori" in his words "best Indian food in the UK". It's now a very poor cheap and tasteless all you can eat Chinease "restaurant"

So, after years of searching for decent food I'm trying to recapture the curries that I used to cook myself, back in the first days of the curry club, where that was the only place I could buy genuine ingredients.

I've had a good browse and there looks some promising stuff here that I'm going to try and leave my feedback.

Me and the missus are able to make decent Tikka using an halogen oven, and our own spice blend (which I'll post on here) and are looking forward to creating an authentic Bhuna in particular.

Ok, sorry to ramble, but cheers for having me  ;D

[Sverige]

Hi Mike and welcome.
Details of your spice mix and indeed any reliable recipe you've found to be worth sticking with would be appreciated if posted.

There are many who yearn for the flavours of Indian restaurants from days gone by and I'm not sure you will find the recipes posted here will fully scratch that itch, as it does seem that in the 80s BIRs were cooking with especially labour intensive recipes (making use of illegal immigrants in the kitchens perhaps) and that the modern curries all made from a single shared pot of base gravy are just not spiced as highly or uniquely.

Even so, there are some cracking recipes here which will exceed the standards of the typical modern BIR when cooked right.

[Madrasandy]

Welcome to the forum Mike, some fantastic recipes on here, the best on the web.

[Mikeblackwood]

Thanks for the welcome guys, I've spent the last few hours reading posts and watching videos, think I'm beginning to get the basic idea, and your right, there are some great recipes, hints and tips here.

We've got an Indian Wholesale shop in Newport so it's off on the weekend to pick up some new utensils 

Cheers
Mike

[Invisible Mike]

Blackwood? Do you know any of the manic street preachers? Lol. Welcome aboard. You'll learn lots here butt! 

Mike

[Ghoulie]

Seeing this post and ano on here of someone saying they have seen gas tandoors with  charcoal in them?? and having built my own tandoor using Jimmy Dohertys dustbin method as shown on tv / youtube, I decided to ask to see the tandoor oven in my local excellent Nepalese - Jai Kathmandu in Palatine Road Northenden Manchester.

The waiter here told me they have never turned it off in 20 years of being open.

Tuesday night this week, I went in to eat and asked to see the Tandoor - and was duly lead into the kitchen - to see my favourite chef by the tandoor.  he showed me with some pride his tandoor oven - took the skillet type steel lid off - revealing large lumpwood charcoal pieces glowing away - no sign of gas feed anywhere.  He confirmed it has never gone out since they opened 20 odd years ago and stressed he would only ever use charcoal - never gas.

Somewhat incredulous, I asked how they kept it going.  Just fill it up with charcoal as we leave every night - raking the ashes out when we come in on duty at 6 pm and stoking up with charcoal as required during each night.

Tandoori food here is delicious - seikh kebabs, tandoori chicken, tikkas, naan - best ever (apart from the Ravi chicken tikkas in Satwa, Dubai).

[Garp]

Does this establishment have a current fire safety certificate, goolie?

[Ghoulie]

Good question mate?  My thought was about CO emissions !

[Garp]

Good point, well presented.....

[Sverige]

Would be interesting to take a domestic CO alarm with you when you dine there, and see if it triggers..!