The £80 curry taking India by storm

If the price of what might be the world's most expensive takeaway chicken curry seems somewhat unlikely, then so too are the ingredients.

This is no ordinary butter chicken. In addition to the usual Indian spices and grilled chicken, comes Danish butter, Italian extra virgin olive oil, Evian mineral water, imported tomato paste and flakes of real gold. A portion for two costs a suitably princely 6,000 rupees (£80).

The recipe for the so-called Anaarkali chicken, launched last month in Hyderabad, was a full eight years in the making. "It all started when we were living in Noida (a satellite city of Delhi). There was a place around the corner from us that did really great butter chicken but when the chef left, the food changed," said Iran Bharat Saxena, an IT professional and food lover who is behind the project. "That was when we started experimenting to make it ourselves. What we found was that the best quality ingredients really made a difference."

Mr Saxena is promoting the dish in cities around India and said that by the end of the year it should be available in Delhi and Mumbai, as well as Hyderabad. Customers have to order online and give 24 hours notice for a home delivery. So far, however, there has yet to be an order – something he said, was the result of a lack of promotion rather than the pricing. "Whenever you're in business you have to be cost conscious but when you're making something for yourself you just want it to be the best," he said.

A Facebook page dedicated to butter chicken, in which the poultry is cooked in a tomato gravy enriched with butter, suggests the product has triggered considerable interest among lovers of Indian cuisine. Narendra Shenoy, from Mumbai, who sampled the dish for free, wrote that it was the best butter chicken he had ever tasted. "But is it worth 6,000 rupees?" he added. "The answer, dear reader, is a resounding yes. Provided, of course, that it is somebody else's 6,000 rupees."

But the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi's Old City, where the dish is said to have been perfected in the late 1960s, poured scorn on the gourmet version. Restaurant owner Vinod Chadha, told the Mint newspaper: "I would never eat this butter chicken, the ingredients are all wrong. And why would I spend that much money?"

Source: Independent

Curry banquet to raise funds for charity

Northwich Mayor Clr Helen Burder hosts an Indian banquet at the Cheshire Tandoori, Chester Road, Castle, on Monday, September 28, at 7pm.


The funds raised will go to the Mayor’s two charities – Age Concern Cheshire’s Appeal for Castle and Winnington Old Friends Club and Vale Royal Playscheme Association.

Tickets are £15. Contact Arthur Neil at aneil@vavaleroyal.org.uk or call him on 01606 723182.

The Fastest Tandoor in the North West

The Indian Ocean Restaurant announces plans for a Guinness World Record Attempt.

Ashton Under Lyne’s Indian Ocean restaurant has announced plans for a Guinness World Record challenge on Tuesday 29th September to celebrate the Tameside Food and Drink Festival.

The Fastest Tandoor in the West

The saying ‘if you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen’ certainly doesn’t apply to the chefs at the Indian Ocean, and they’re going to prove it. To break the world record for the most amount of nan breads cooked in an hour, they will repeatedly reach into a tandoor oven as hot as a furnace to try to bake over 400 nans. A traditional challenge among Tandoori bakers in Pakistan, it will take all the skill, expertise and knowledge of the Indian Ocean’s expert tandoori chefs – not to mention bravery.


The charity night will include a sumptuous 5 course Indian meal and entertainment from their resident DJ. With a prize raffle of gifts from local businesses, come and join them for a great party and all in aid of a fantastic cause – Tameside’s Willow Wood Hospice which care for people with life threatening illnesses. The fresh nans will then be donated to local homeless charities and hostels, along with curry for 300 people.

Head Chef Nahim Aslam said, “This is a great opportunity to show how to prepare healthy, fresh food, and show our support for the local community at the same time. We have been involved with Tameside Food Festival since it started five years ago, but this is our first time raising money for the Willow Wood Hospice. It’ll be a fun evening and hopefully a world record breaking one too!”

Tickets for the night are £14.95 per person and can be purchased in the restaurant or over the phone (don't forget to tell them that the currycouncil sent you) or you can contact them using their website at www.indianocean.co.uk.

A currycouncil review of the Indian Ocean can be found HERE

Distinctly British passion for curry still evolving

Food lovers, celebrities and restaurateurs feted the British passion for curry on Wednesday at the launch of the Brick Lane Curry Festival.

The tiny street in the east end of London is often called the "curry mile" and is home to more than 50 restaurants serving the mostly Bangladeshi-inspired versions of what Britons commonly refer to as curry or "Indian food" in reference to its origins in South Asia.

More than 30 restaurants in the lane served up spicy chicken, lamb, sweet-smelling sauces and rice alongside steaming vegetable dishes, fiery red tandooris and the indigenous chicken korma under a marquee in the street to judges attempting to choose the best Brick Lane curry.

Andy Varma, a celebrity chef and director of Food for V8 Gourmet Group -- one of the biggest "Indian" restaurant groups in Britain -- told Reuters that the modern obsession for a cuisine that's become particularly British grew out of a shared imperial history.

"It's an affinity with the Raj," Varma said. "There are three generations who have already got the taste and they brought it home."

Next week the lane will open up in earnest to the public for its festival from September 27 until October 10, offering food, culture, music, dance, snake charmers and traditional snack sellers.

Curry judge and television personality Nina Wadia -- who plays a character on the long-running EastEnders television soap opera -- and whose family comes from Mumbai said curry has become part of the national psyche in Britain.


"It's part of the make-up, not just British-Asian but British culture especially in the inner city," she said.

"I love the way British people take things to their heart and make it their own."

An example of that is the chicken korma dish, which most curry chefs will tell you was invented to appeal to the British diner seeking only a gentle flirt with the spices of the East.

BUILDERS TO BUSINESSMEN

Azmal Hussain, who owns three restaurants on Brick Lane, said business has remained steady on the curry mile despite the credit crunch and recession because it's a treat that remains affordable for everyone from builders to businessmen.

"This is British curry for British people," said the 57-year-old restaurateur who has been on Brick Lane for nine years. "My dishes come from my grandparents ... we just modify."

Standing outside his Preem and Prithi restaurants, Hussain said the high concentration from 50-odd other restaurants also means dishes need to be the best in Britain to lure the customers who crowd Brick Lane after a night out in the pub.

A short walk away at the Eastern Eye Balti house, two Englishmen and a Frenchman tucking into the crispy poppadoms said they all regularly went for curry for the convenience and the variety.

"In France, in Italy and Spain, they all eat their own food," said 32-year-old Frenchman Sebastien Beaux. "But if you come to London you don't see much English food."

But the evolution of curry dishes in Britain may turn to a revolution if the young guns of the lane like Rimon Nawsad and his friend Shah Ali have their way.

They want to draw British tastes away from the korma and the chicken tikka masala to more adventurous recipes that reflect traditional Bangladeshi food, while infusing them with influences from around the world.

"Our fathers and our fathers before them tried to improve curry for the British palate and now we want to educate the British palate to know what we eat at home," said the 27-year-old Nawsad who owns Spice restaurant.

For now, having a curry remains a tradition that Britons are keen to share with each other and visitors from abroad at the end of the night or as a main evening attraction so tempting it left visiting Canadian businessman Tony Lesiak groaning.

"I got taken for a curry last night," he told Reuters. "I ate so much I couldn't even fit a beer on top of it."

Source: Reuters

Lose weight at the curry house

Our damage-limitation guide for when you're eating out

Main courses

Rogan Josh: The leanest of lamb-based meals is the healthiest sheep dip on the curry house menu. It averages around 100 calories per four tablespoons – well, you did say you'd ‘share' it with her – and has between 5g and 10g of fat. It's a tomato-based dish too – which means it's packed with lycopene, an antioxident that protects against heart disease.

Chicken jalfrezi: As long as you haven't had a skinful and can still say the word ‘skinless' beside this chicken option then it's the dish to try. Jalfrezi comes with a tomato-based sauce and offers extra vitamin C in the red and green peppers. Steer clear of the pool of oil surrounding the main dish if you're having all of its 350 cals and 20g of fat yourself. However, if that gang of vultures you're sharing a table with swoops down, you'll get about 100 calories and 5g of fat from the three of four spoonfuls that remain.

Korma dishes: The spice mix used in these contains plenty of heart-protecting garlic, cumin and turmeric, but kormas are usually made with fried meats and enriched with nuts, cream and butter. Even a modest 350g main course will mean 700 calories and over 40g of fat and probably a night banished from the marital bed.

Chicken Tikka: Much kinder to your ticker than korma, tikka is Hindi for kebab, and these chicken chunks are marinated and baked on skewers in a dry tandoori oven. It's one of the lowest-fat Indian choices around – and it doesn't come accompanied by the lank veg, lethal chilli sauce and faded photographs that you'd normally associate with the word ‘kebab'.

Biriani: Any dish named after the persina word for ‘fried' isn't going to top the list of food favoured by supermodels. The saving grace of this traditional curry, however is that it comes with pilau rice and saffron, which will reduce the effect of the fried meats to a sylph-like 140 calories and 5g of fat – per four tablespoons.

Drinks

Lagers: Not only would you sound like the doorkeeper on Noah's ark calling for two Kingfishers, two Cobras and a Tiger, these traditional Indian brews are also too heavy to go with an already heavy meal. Stick to Heineken if you prefer a lighter, cleaner drink that will cut through the strong flavours and has a good sharp contrast in taste.

Lassi: This cool Indian drink made from yoghurt and crushed ice normally comes flavoured with mango. The yoghurt contains calcium, good for strong teeth and bones, while the mango will provide you with a shot of the antioxidant beta-carotene which will help protect your lungs.

Breads and Chutneys

Chapatis: A thin bread made from a special finely ground chapatti wheat flour. Ask your waiter if you can have them minus the clarified butter that most curry houses brush them with just before serving. This way you get around 110 calories and 0.5g of fat per slice. Double this when brushed with butter.

Poppadoms: Thin, crisp wafers made from lentil flour that we just love to break up with a karate chop. Like crisps, they are fried in oil, so if you're careful about your waistline just eat one or two. Whether spicy or plain, expect around 100 cals and 6g of fat for every three you eat.

Naan bread: Since you're most likely to soak up all that oil with this it's better to stick with a plain one. Even this will set you back 538 calories and 20g of fat – but you can add an extra 150 calories if you go for the nut-filled varieties.

Chutneys: Choose wisely. While a mango version is usually made from sugar and mango with a variety of spices for flavour, an aubergine chutney can have copious amounts of oil. So while dipping your chapatti in the former will set you back 181 calories and 0.1g of fat per serving, the latter has 256 calories  and 17g of fat. Do an oil check by sticking your finger in and rubbing it on your hand. If it's slippery it'll be oiled based – and you'll know to give it a miss. Make sure you wash your hands first.

A bit on the side

Onion bhajis: With 150 calories and 12g of fat each, avoid them at all costs and go for Bombay potatoes instead. The spuds contain just 50 calories and 4g of fat for a two-tablespoons scoop. Recipes vary but all contain a spicy essence called curcumin, which has arthritis-soothing and anit-inlfammatory qualities.

Vegetable samosas: These are the suspect packages of the curry house health war. They may be packed with spiced peas and lentils but there are 130 calories and 10g of fast in each one – and even more if you opt for the meat-filled versions! Instead, ask for gobi aloo saag. Made with spinach, cauliflower, potatoes and tomato puree, it's antioxidant rich and full of metabolism-boosting goodness, thanks to chills and cayenne.

Vegetable dahl: Unlike Sophie of the same name, this is one tubby little number you may not want to share a table with. It's usually rammed ful of extra butter and oil – although the lentils have the advantage of being rich in soluble fibre, which helps keep blood cholesterol levels down.

Saffron rice: A good low-fat choice with just 0.5g of fat along with 335 calories per typical serving. Great for bulking out a meal and supplying pure carbohydrate to refuel after a workout. Pile it on!

Source: Men's Health 

Can Shilpa Shetty become the UK's curry queen?

Will the Bollywood star be able to make inroads into the UK's Indian food industry - dominated by South Asian communities and local ownership?

Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood superstar and Celebrity Big Brother winner, is turning her attention to the UK Indian food market. She and fiancé Raj Kundra have taken a 33 per cent stake - worth £6 million - in the V8 Gourmet Group which owns fast-food chain Tiffinbites, home-delivery specialist Bombay Bicycle Club and the upmarket Vama restaurant in London's King's Road.

The company have high hopes for the power of the Shetty brand to bring glamour to the UK Indian food sector and achieve market dominance. This could mean displacing traditional local curry houses with fast-food chain Tiffinbites and delivery. A new range of low-fat supermarket ready meals will be introduced, under the brand Shilpa's Gourmet Creations.

But will the power of the Shetty name be enough to infiltrate the huge British market for Indian food and change the way we eat curry?

The Indian food sector in the UK is worth £4.3 billion annually, employing some 70,000 people. But with around 9,500 Indian restaurant and takeaways already established in Britain, the marketplace is crowded.

In cities such as Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow the trade is dominated by Pakistanis, Kashmiris and some Indians; and London suburbs like Wembley and Tooting both have large Gujarati Hindu populations with their own distinctive, often vegetarian, restaurants.

A massive 95 per cent of the remaining Indian outlets are run by Bangladeshis who mostly hail from the Sylhet area in the north-east of the country (the pattern is a legacy from the time that Sylheti seamen became galley hands and cooks on British merchant ships and established cafes and tea-houses in waterfront areas when they settled in the UK).

It is a simple fact, then, that any newcomer to the Indian food scene in the UK, including Shilpa Shetty, will find the Bangladeshis and other South Asian groups very well entrenched and difficult to displace. In any case, consumers seem to be pretty content - a friend of mine in London probably speaks for many when he says "I think most people are happy with their local curry house."

The thriving supermarket trade in Indian food will be no easier to break into. Indian-born "Curry King" Sir Gulam Noon bestrides the land like a colossus. His Southall-based company, Noon Products, which employs 1300 staff, not only provides own label products but also supplies major supermarket chains like Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Budgens. His company even produces a high-end supermarket product with the Taj Hotel group's Kensington-based Bombay Brasserie's logo stamped on some very nice packaging.

Furthermore, Shetty should also be aware that some experts have recently warned of a significant threat to the dominance of the Indian restaurant sector in the UK.

A report presented to the Royal Geographical Society described a significant change affecting the famous Curry Mile in Manchester, as 20 Middle Eastern restaurants now nestle alongside 45 Indian and Pakistani ones. Professor David McEvoy, involved in the study, said: "At this rate, some time in the next 20 years, we might see a majority of Middle Eastern restaurants on Curry Mile."

This comment caused one Guardian journalist to speculate that the ultimate redoubt of the British curry trade, London's Brick Lane, might also fall to an oncoming wave of falafel houses. Having conducted extensive research in the area over many years I think that the threat is much exaggerated.

Most Bangladeshi restaurants in Brick Lane, home to 46 cafes and restaurants (up from 10 in 1997), have survived the economic downturn and are busy gearing up for the annual curry festival which this year runs from 27 September to 10 October. They are more concerned with promoting Brick Lane during the Olympics in 2012 than with the threat of Middle Eastern restaurants.

So, in this vibrant corner of east London, the Indian and Bangladeshi food sector continues to thrive. News spreads quickly on Brick Lane, and everyone knows about Shetty's plans for the UK's Indian restaurant sector. They are unconvinced about her ability to make major inroads. "Shilpa Shetty is a very good dancer," one owner told me as he scanned the street for customers from the doorway of his restaurant. "But what does she know about Indian food?"

Source : newstatesmen.com

Indian curry, Italian spaghetti now Britain's favourite dishes

An increasing number of British people are dumping national dishes in favour of Indian and Italian foods.

The survey conducted by tourism website iknow-uk.com showed that Britons are giving up English dishes like Welsh rarebit, toad in the hole, or bangers and mash for curry, pizzas and pastas.

Almost four in 10 people said they love eating spaghetti bolognese, 24 per cent chose chili con carne, and a fifth named lasagne.

More than 90 per cent of the respondents said they eat Indian and Italian foods like curry, pizza and pasta at least once a week.

Shepherd's pie, a roast dinner or an English breakfast were mentioned by two per cent of the people surveyed.

"It's a huge shame that British dishes seem to be fading into obscurity," the Daily Express quoted Marcus Simmons of iknow-uk as saying.


SOURCE: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Indian-curry-now-Britains-favourite-dish/articleshow/5018176.cms

Brick Lane Curry Festival - Curry Competition

The gloves are coming off next week as Brick Lane chefs go head-to-head in a curry cook-off.

The Best Curry Competition will kick-off next Wednesday in Britain's `curry capital' when chefs from across the area will battle it out for the winning title of Chef of the Year: Banglatown '09.

They will prepare and cook their dishes in an outdoor kitchen for food connoisseurs and passers-by to taste, before a winner is picked from a panel of judges.

The competition is taking place in the run-up to the two-week Brick Lane Curry Festival which will get underway on Sunday September 27.

Owners of the curry houses are expecting around 60,000 visitors on the opening day of the annual event as Brick Lane and Osbourne Street are closed off and filled with stalls, entertainers, live music and DJs.

CurryCouncil CreditCrunch Survival Guide - Hot Deals!

We are pleased to announce a new section on our website.

Introducing ... The CurryCouncil CreditCrunch Survival Guide.

During these difficult financial times the currycouncil are on the prowl for super money saving offers available to our visitors.

The offers listed on our website have been sampled by the currycouncil.com to ensure it's legitimacy.

This months offer is brought to you by the Kushoom Koly.

This superb 5-course special banquet is available for only £8.90 per person. Simply print this webpage and present to your waiter or simply mention currycouncil.com during booking.

Please note this offer is only available on Wednesday evenings (all night) or Monday or Tuesday before 7pm.

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Papadoms and relishes

Sam's Special Platter Starter

Choice of any dish (excluding king prawn, fish and steak dishes)
served with pilau rice or nan bread

Followed by peach melba or vanila ice cream

Coffee and chocolate mints

ONLY £8.90 per person

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Cinnamon Tree (Heald Green) - Review Coming Soon

The currycouncil will be visiting the Cinnamon Tree Indian Restaurant (Heald Green, Cheadle) for the September 2009 curry.


The restaurant opened in November 2008 and offers a mixture of traditional Indian and Nepalese food. Occupying two floors at their premises on Finney Lane, the popular restaurant can seat up to 70 customers. It is in the centre of Heald Green, just 300 metres from Heald Green Railway Station.

The Cinnamon Tree has a sister restaurant in Knutsford called the Shamoli.


Watch this space for a full review of the Cinnamon Tree.