Curry Recipes Online
Curry Chat => Lets Talk Curry => Topic started by: tempest63 on September 14, 2016, 04:46 AM
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So who influenced you into the wonderful world of curry?
When I got the bug many years ago I subscribed to the Curry Club, got the magazines and bought all of Pat Chapmans books. I never successfully made a decent BIR so looked further afield and found Kris Dillon; again not much success, even after two books.
Then came the traditional curries which I found that I preferred to BIR. Madhur Jaffrey, Julie Sahni, Camellia Panjabi, Gulam Noon and then came the modern Chefs like Atul Kochar, Vivek Singh and Cyrus Todiwala etc.
Of them all Madhur Jaffrey is the one I return to. Her recipes, though adapted to suit my tastes, are very reliable and always turn out right. And despite all of her books that I have bought over the years it is always the one that accompanied her first BBC series about thirty years ago that I turn to first when the urge to rattle some pots and pans descends.
T63
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I almost forgot the late Rafi Fernandez. I used to meet her regularly in her spice shop, Rafi's Spicebox, in Sudbury, Suffolk. She produced a wonderful little book for Sainsburys about the cooking of Southern India back in the day.
http://www.spicebox.co.uk/
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Oh! And another one
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The Taj Restaurant, Church St., Altrincham 1963. Fantastic curries - owned / run by an ex Gurkha. sadly closed in the late 70s.
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back in about 1988 taken to what was called the "Corner Cafe" somewhere in Leeds, maybe Chapeltown?, now being from a predomininently anglo-saxon city (Naaaaridge), seeing alot of chaps in white robes and caps was still a novelty,
As was seeing copious amounts of mainly meat-free dishes being shoved through a serving hatch from a kitchen area.
Nothing like a BIR, Not at all. You had to visit the off-licence next door for anything other than tap-water.
Never been anywhere like it since.
I do hope I have said nothing here that is to be considered improper, but this event , with a mix of cultures, tastes, sights and aromas was an eye-opener.
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She produced a wonderful little book for Sainsburys about the cooking of Southern India back in the day.
Does anyone else recall the recipe books that Sainsbury commissioned back in the 80's? Ismail Merchant was another author the store used to write an Indian recipe book. These were great little books; I don't believe their current offerings are a patch on them.
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I almost forgot the late Rafi Fernandez. I used to meet her regularly in her spice shop, Rafi's Spicebox, in Sudbury, Suffolk. She produced a wonderful little book for Sainsburys about the cooking of Southern India back in the day.
http://www.spicebox.co.uk/
And you can still get hold of it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Southern-India-Sainsbury-cookbook/dp/B000GRDEKA
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It is worth adding to a good curry library
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Yes I have gone through most of the same books as you tempest63 in the early days. I found Pat Chapman very difficult to follow and long winded.
Also the Kris Dillon which I thought was a little easier to follow but the curries were pretty boring. I like the Camellia Panjabi but these are more traditional recipes.
From the British Indian Restaurant point of view my big breakthrough was
when I was able to gain entry to a couple of local restaurant kitchens and become friends with the chefs.
Using the simple technique from a good base gravy is where I made great inroads into the quality of my Curries.
And also since I discovered this particular forum where I have found a lot of videos that are easy to follow, also YouTube where we can view some good chefs
producing some good recipes.
CAB.
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She produced a wonderful little book for Sainsburys about the cooking of Southern India back in the day.
Does anyone else recall the recipe books that Sainsbury commissioned back in the 80's? Ismail Merchant was another author the store used to write an Indian recipe book. These were great little books; I don't believe their current offerings are a patch on them.
just bought this book from Amazon
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hi tempest what is your favourite maddhur book
ed
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hi tempest what is your favourite maddhur book
The one I always return to is the original that accompanied her first BBC to series way back in the day
https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F51w-cFpsK-L._SX350_BO1%2C204%2C203%2C200_.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FMadhur-Jaffreys-Indian-Cookery-Jaffrey%2Fdp%2FB000JXGYOO&docid=YYf8PnpUFHDynM&tbnid=DY-5GMKpM85E8M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjjkqbAgpLVAhXnJ8AKHYwwBzMQMwg3KAEwAQ..i&w=352&h=499&hl=en-gb&client=safari&bih=905&biw=768&q=madhur%20jaffrey%20books&ved=0ahUKEwjjkqbAgpLVAhXnJ8AKHYwwBzMQMwg3KAEwAQ&iact=mrc&uact=8
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The one I always return to is the original that accompanied her first BBC to series way back in the day [...]
Or if you prefer shorter URLs, https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000JXGYOO (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000JXGYOO)
** Phil.
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Thanks Phil, I really only wanted to add the picture of the cover but being a complete Luddite...
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Hey, I have that one too. I think it was the first curry book I ever bought and still have it.
Multiple curry stains on the most used pages :)
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I picked up a good second hand copy a couple of years back as my original is completely splattered and dog eared. That one goes into the kitchen to suffer a little more whilst the later copy is the one I peruse when waiting for inspiration to strike.
I must admit I also bought the illustrated hardback edition when it came out only a few years back. Some sort of OCD I reckon!
T63
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It was Pat’s NCB that set me on the road to developing a deep love of cooking Indian food. Until a friend purchased it for me I was making either bland, or totally over spiced, curries. There are still some recipes in there I use to this day. I’ve also enjoyed recipe’s from Camellia Panjabi’s ’50 Great Curries of India’. I’m afraid to say that Madhur’s recipes have always fallen flat for me, I’ve always wanted to like her food as she’s such a loveable character from my childhood.
As far as TV goes, 'Rhodes Across India’ that aired about 10 years ago got me totally fired up. Remove Gary from the equation (sorry Gary, you’re really annoying in this series) and you have some incredible (non-BIR) dishes being cooked by unsung masters of the cuisine. I highly recommend watching it online! I’m also a huge fan of Rick Stein, so his series will always hold dear to me. His passion for curry is evident throughout, and the Biryani recipe is one of the best I’ve tried.
Whilst on the subject…what are people’s thoughts on ‘The Curry Guy’? He clearly knows a thing or 2, but I’ve often found his recipes don’t live up to the BIR hype.
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I bought the Curry Guy book from Tesco this weekend as it was only
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I've only tried Dan Toombs's naan recipe and it was pretty awful.
An American teaching BIR doesn't really work in my book ;)
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An American teaching BIR doesn't really work in my book ;)
I'll put an inscription in the book and direct him here.
T63
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Not a "curry influence" per se but definitely worth acquiring and reading : Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking : the Science and Lore of the Kitchen. One quote should suffice to explain why (the author is himself quoting Dr Samuel Johnson) :
I could write a better book of cookery than has ever yet been written; it should be a book upon philosophical principles. Pharmacy is now made much more simple. Cookery may be made so too. A prescription which is now compounded of five ingredients, had formerly fifty in it. So in cookery, if the nature of the ingredients be well known, much fewer will do.
** Phil.
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An American teaching BIR doesn't really work in my book ;)
I'll put an inscription in the book and direct him here.
T63
From looking at his website I doubt he would have anything to offer here. And I also doubt he'd be bothered being here anyway. He's far too busy monetising his AmeriBIR style.
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From looking at his website I doubt he would have anything to offer here. And I also doubt he'd be bothered being here anyway. He's far too busy monetising his AmeriBIR style.
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I was thinking more of the lad I am gifting the book to. I will direct him here to learn from you BIR Guys.