Topic: So which BIR style dish have you cooked that comes closest to your local BIRs?

[spiceyokooko]

Which BIR style dish have you cooked at home that comes closest to your local BIRs equivalent?

For me strangely enough it's Saag Bhaji and Tarka Dal. Both of them are either close or equal to my local BIR takeaway in my opinion.

There's no special ingredients in either of them and strangely neither necessarily contain any base sauce, sometimes the Saag one does if I have any to hand, but frequently it doesn't. And oddly they both start with fried onions, or at least the Dal contains fried onions as part of its tempering and most of my chicken BIR main dishes do not start with fried onions. Which got me thinking.

What are other peoples experiences of dishes they've cooked at home and got really close to their local BIR?

[Stephen Lindsay]

Chicken Punjabi Masala (my recipe)
Chicken Pathia (my recipe)
Brinjal Bhaji (curryhell's recipe)

[spiceyokooko]

Stephen

Any thoughts as to why? Any common denominator between the three dishes?

[Peripatetic Phil]

Chicken Madras.  Really, that is my staple.  Although I might occasionally make a sag aloo, and even more rarely a chicken tikka or a tandoori chicken, I basically live on Chicken Madras.  Some are good; some are very good; some are pretty average (like tonight's).  On a good night, all will say it is better than my local BIR, which is in itself a good one.  One a bad night (like tonight) I will admit it is way off without anyone else needing to say anything.

Actually, I've just realised I've given the wrong answer (although all the above is true); the BIR style dish that I have cooked that comes closest to my local BIR's is pulao rice.  Comes out perfect every time, and is just a joy in its own right : all it needs is onion salad and lime pickle to make a complete meal.

** Phil.

[Stephen Lindsay]

Stephen

Any thoughts as to why? Any common denominator between the three dishes?

Well I have to thank curryhell for the brinjal recipe which my g/f says is a 100% clone of what she used to order in Northamptonshire. In that sense I got lucky on the back of CH's efforts, fine chap that he is.

As for the PJ and Pathia, it's been down to extensive and meticulous experimentation with notes taken at each stage.  By meticulous I mean changing only one ingredient each time the recipe has been revised. By extensive I mean persevering for weeks if not months until I got what I thought was as close as possible. G/F and I had a PJ and Ceylon tonight and she said the PJ was as good as any curry she's ever had. I won't argue with such praise  .

I know there's been a bit of a debate on the site about whether cookery is art or science. I tend to think it's both and that empirical process of testing, reviewing, refining and then completing this loop again and again is the science bit, which with some experience behind you can become art like due to judgement calls about what goes with what.

I play guitar and it's a bit like you have to get the technique first but when you couple that with creativity (i.e. choice of notes) then that's where music starts to happen.

I also think I've nailed the Chasni (the tartan curry as some call it) and a few others but the one's I mentioned first have become my highlights.

[spiceyokooko]

Phil

Interesting.

I agree with pilau rice, I can get mine pretty much identical to my locals as well.

I just wondered by asking this question whether a pattern might emerge. It's curious that so far 3 dishes can be cooked at home with no or little difference to the local BIR when none of them use the base sauce many people feel is one of the 'keys'.

I also agree that 'Chicken Madras' is pretty much my standard dish too, but sometimes I vary it and turn it into a dhansak with some dal (I love lentils) which strangely moves it closer to the BIR flavour I'm after.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I also agree that 'Chicken Madras' is pretty much my standard dish too, but sometimes I vary it and turn it into a dhansak with some dal (I love lentils) which strangely moves it closer to the BIR flavour I'm after.

Oddly, I /don't/ like lentils but I love dhansak (but it must be mutton, not chicken).  So what I mean by not liking lentils is that I don't like them on their own, or in just a tarka, but integrated into a dhansak they are out of this world !

** Phil.

[spiceyokooko]

Stephen

Can't say I'm a great fan of aubergines! I don't dislike them, but it wouldn't be high up on my list of dishes to make, I tend to stick with spinach.

I agree 100% with experimentation being the key to creating great tasting dishes, which is one of the reasons in my opinion many of us home curry cooks actually produce dishes that may not necessarily be exact clones of our local BIR's but in their own way taste just as good if not better.

I also think it's great fun once you've mastered the main techniques to take common ingredients and start creating unique dishes from them. I made a potato and dal dish yesterday that tasted great but you'd never find on any BIR menu!

[spiceyokooko]

Phil

I think you have to give tarka dal a good boot up the arse with some fairly robust spicing to get it tasty and spicy. The insipid sloppy watery creations you sometimes get in BIR's will put you off dal.

That could be why you prefer your lentils in dhansak where the other spices in the dish dominate them. Lentils on their own are pretty bland and many of the recipes I've seen for dal aren't heavily spiced enough for me.

[Kashmiri Bob]

CT's madras and CA's vindaloo.  Chicken, lamb, mutton, beef, king prawn, tikka, scrag end.  Makes no difference.  All better than what's on offer locally. And quite a few other dishes as well.

Rob