it should be sued under the trades description act
Its basically beef in a mild, curry flavoured gravy
Shocking stuff
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it should be sued under the trades description act
Its basically beef in a mild, curry flavoured gravy
Shocking stuff
I've never had it, or wanted to have it, cos it just seems wrong on many levels.
What about Thai curry?
It's quite simple, if you want decent curry, go to a curry house, if you want decent chips , go to a fish and chip shop. They simply can't do both. Chinese only do chinky food any good.
(Although you would think the chips would be easy?)
Do you realise that the word "curry" merely means "sauce"
That is sometimes disputed. I think you are referring to the suggestion that it stems from the Tamil word Kari, which apparently means black pepper. This makes most sense to me as Indians flavoured their food with pepper, until chillies were imported to the sub continent (apparently!). But it is also argued that it stems from the word karahi/kadhai which is a type of cooking pot or wok, hence chicken karahi in restaurants. Another theory is that it stems from an old English word "cury" which describes "cookery" and in turn is taken from an old French word "cuire". Who knows? It may even be a mixture of all 3 but, for sure, colonialists returned to the UK speaking of "curry".
So what is balti and masala then ?
Did balti not originate in the Birmingham curry quarter ?
And is masala a dish invented for the British?
Yes the Pakistani immigrants set up cafes for the local population back in the 70s. Balti translates to bucket and is the name of the dish that it is both cooked and served in. It has a flatter bottom than similar vessels and the method of balti cooking is similar to stir fry. A real balti from Birmingham cannot be replicated outside of the area in my opinion, and can definitely not be found in South Wales. In the late 80s there were so many good balti houses both inside and outside of the Balti Triangle (an area formed by 3 roads) - Adil’s, Sher Kahn, Royal Alfaisel, Shabab’s, Shereen Kadah, Balti Paradise, Azim’s and more...
Masala means mix or spice mix. A curry powder is a spice mixture. Garam means hot so garam masala is hot spice mix.
The famous chicken tikka masala was supposedly invented when a British diner found their dish too dry and wanted sauce so a chef added a tin of tomato soup and cream. It’s very similar to butter chicken which was “invented” at the Moti Mohal in Delhi.
I had Irish curry and chips from one of the shops up here - not bad, say, six out of ten.
Pretty sure it didn’t have many of the ingredients in this recipe and I’m glad it didn’t.
https://www.irishcentral.com/culture...ry-sauce-chips
Considering Cardiff has a large bangladeshi community and quite a sizeable Pakistani one I am surprised it doesn't have more decent curry houses and indeed a curry triangle or mile like Manchester, Birmingham do
I used to live in Bradford and the Asian community is so widespread its all over the city so no real curry quarter
In Cardiff I suppose we have city road , Albany Road, Crwys Road area but thats it really
Cardiff now has some really good Indian restaurants but nowhere that does balti like Birmingham. I’ve eaten balti in Bradford and Leeds but it just doesn’t capture the Birmingham experience somehow. When I lived near Birmingham it was quite common to get a taxi to Ladypool Road at 2am and go for a balti until 3-4am. This was back in the 90s. I went to Shabab’s about 5 years ago with old colleagues and we were there until after 1am when people were still arriving!
Almost all of the Chinese / Fish shop / Pub curries are from the Bookers or Costco curry powder (just add water), supplied by Dinaclass or similar.
Yes, it takes in Balsall Heath, Sparkbrook and Sparkhill. It’s a trainable loosely formed by Stoney Lane, Ladypool Road and the Stratford Road. But “balti” has spread all over greater Birmingham and the surrounding areas since the 80s. A curry house in Bromsgrove in the late 90s did the most amazing balti dishes and was run by a chap who started as a waiter in the balti triangle. His brother was the chef.
***Sorry I was replying to a different thread when I write my original reply***
Yes, absolutely, you’d go and fetch your booze from “the outdoor” before going in. The Shereen Kadah on Moseley Road literally turned their upstairs lounge into extra seating. I remember the TV ariel cable still hanging loose on the horrid pile carpet while we were eating. Menus were underneath glass table tops and onion salad starters were just sliced raw onion in a thin chilli soup. I loved it and still do if you can find a restaurant that sticks to tradition but they are few and far between now.
The restaurant mentioned above used to do katlamas which are a challenge in themselves. They are like a naan crossed with an American pancake!