Fat content of a curry revealed

A single Indian takeaway can contain more saturated fat than the recommended daily amount, new research has shown.

It might be time to rule out the lazy nights in on the sofa, stuffing down chicken tikka and naan bread after consumer group Which? tested the calorie, sugar and saturated fat content in Chinese, Indian and pizza takeaways. They found the average Indian curry contained 23.2g of saturated fat - 3.2g more than a woman's recommended intake.

The report showed that Chinese takeaways didn't do much better. Although the meal is lower in saturated fats, it has three times as much sugar as an Indian takeaway. One portion contained over 19 teaspoons of sugar.

Neil Fowler, Editor of Which? commented: 'We don't want to be killjoys when it comes to takeaways, but we would like people to be aware of just how much of their daily food intake comes in just one meal.'

Takeaway shops are not legally bound to provide nutritional content for their food, making it harder for consumers to know how many calories or how much salt the food contains.

Source : MarieClaire

Full Recipe for Chicken Chasni

Apparently it doesn’t taste like an Indian curry. The taste is sweet and sour most probably due to the fact that the two main ingredients are mango chutney and tomato ketchup. However, India may already lay claim to this kind of curry as they have concocted their own hybrid in so called Chinese restaurants up and down major Indian cities. The fusion is known as ‘Chinjabi’ cuisine. But let’s hear it for Scotland’s Chasni which may perhaps be the first of its kind in the UK.

If you can’t get down to Glasgow, do have a go at making one at home. My recipe is below which uses the key ingredients for a Chicken Chasni. I’ll let you decide whether you think the CTM will always be flavour of the month or whether the Chasni is just a flash in the pan.

Chicken Chasni, Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
5cm/2 in piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chilli powder
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 125g each, cut into bite-sized pieces
100g mango chutney
100g tomato sauce or ketchup
5-6 fresh mint leaves, washed and chopped
1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a saucepan or wok over a medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry, stirring frequently, for 5-7 minutes until they are light brown.

Tip in the coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and stir around for one minute. Stir in the chicken pieces and continue frying, stirring for 5 minutes until the chicken changes colour. Add the mango chutney and tomato sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Tip in 200ml of just boiled water and simmer for a further 3-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Stir in the mint leaves and lemon juice and serve with plain basmati rice.

Source : Manjumalhi.co.uk

Sangam II - Didsbury

T 0161 446 1155

A 762 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2DR
E enquiries@sangam.co.uk
W http://www.sangam.co.uk/RestaurantsDidsbury.shtml

Visit arranged by: Gary Jordan
Review by: Martin Noble

The May curry was held at the Sangam II restaurant in Didsbury (Manchester), partner to the Sangam III in Heald Green.


7 members of the Curry Council duly arrived (Winfield was AWOL) and parked in the car pack behind the Co-Op. Poor signage had some council members worried that their car's may be clamped. Thankfully, this was not the case.

The restaurant was bright and modern. It's a large venue that can cater for parties of up to 120 people. However, the vast restaurant lacks intemacy due to the sheer size of the place.

Gary Jordan, the organisor of the May curry, had read about the Sangam's "Executive Party Banquet". He promised the Curry Council "a meal fit for a king". Expectations were therefore running high.

The Executive Party Banquet was chosen by all. This offered poppodums with chutney, a mixed shared starter (consisting of Chicken Pakora, Seek Kebab, Onion Bhaji and Fish Tikka), a choice of any main course, rice, a selection of differrnt nan breads, ice cream desert and coffee. This was all offered at a very reasonable price of £15.90 per person.

A regular discussion point for some of our Curry Council members is the old dilemma of "quantity versus quality". The more refined council members are prepared to pay a few extra £'s for the extra quality of meat and food preperation. Other members of the group want as much food as possible at the lowest possible cost.

The Sangam II 'Executive Party Banquet' was the proof of the pudding. The Curry Council have recently experienced great meals at both Shimla Pinks in town and the Jalfrezi Indian Food Bar in Bramhall. Both of which cost a little bit more than the Sangam deal. The extra cost was justified due to the quality of the said meals. Could the Sangam II live up to the high standards delivered so far on our travels in 2008 ?

The poppodums were served and were of a good standard. The chutney & dips portion sizes were very small and quickly disappeared. After prompting, the waiters did regularly offer to top these up.

The mixed starters arrived heaped on two plates (presentation slightly poor). The fish tikka arrived seperately. The food was equally divided up between the group but a couple of items were missing. The Council could not be bothered to alert the waiters that some items were missing, so Mr Jordan missed out on his lamp chop and Andy missed out on his onion bhaji. Unlucky.


A variety of main courses were delivered. Dave and Jord sampled the chicken madras. The lads reported that the Madras sauce was extremely HOT and could be likened to a vindaloo !

The Mix Shaslik was also sampled. The lamb was particularly tough and lacked flavour. The chicken was of an average standard and also tasted a little overcooked.

Overall, the main courses were of an acceptable standard but did not have any qualities that stood out or challenged the tastebuds. The quality of meat and how they were cooked were dissapointing.

A mixture of Nan breads and brown pilau rice, with cloves and cumin seeds, were served. The portions were plentiful and the group were offered extra nan and rice on more than one occassion (to the credit of the waiters). You certainly will not go home hungry after a meal at the Sangam !

The Nan breads were very thin and could almost be compared to Italian style garlic bread. The nan was of an acceptable standard but the curry traditionalist (who would prefer 'good old' fluffy nan breads, the size of a third world country, dripping in butter) may have been slightly dissapointed with this offering.

The meal was finished off with an ice cream desert and coffee. The Sangam offered good value for money but the food quality was of an average standard. The Curry Council left with full stomach's but overall were slightly dissapointed with the food at the Sangam II.

Food 6/10
Service 7/10
Atmosphere 5/10
Value for money 8/10
Originality 6/10

Overall 6.4/10

Chasni curries favour over tikka

Forget deep-fried, battered Mars bars, savoury haggis and... well, Irn-Bru.

Scotland lays claim to conceiving Britain's most popular dish.

And no, its not fish and chips.

It is Chicken Tikka Masala.

Sanjay Majhu, owner of the Harlequin Chain of Indian restaurants, said the mild curry was created decades ago in a Glaswegian kitchen by Asian immigrants catering to Western palates.

He said: "What they were trying to do was knock up a quick curry, so they used tomato soup.

"And they called it a Chicken Tikka Masala, because once you added the spices to the tomato soup all of a sudden it wasn't tomato soup, it was something else."

"But it's definitely one of those dishes that didn't come from India."

The popularity of Chicken Tikka Masala shows no signs of slowing down south of the border in England and Wales.

But there is a another curry threatening to take its crown in Glasgow.

It is called Chicken Chasni and in Sanjay Majhu's chain of Indian restaurants it easily outsells Chicken Tikka Masala 10 to one.

So just what is in a Chasni?

Sanjay said: "It doesn't taste like a curry. In fact it tastes like anything but a curry.

"In fact, it is more like a sweet and sour chicken, that the Chinese have.

"But it is an absolutely beautiful dish because it has Indian spices running through this sort of sweet and sourness.

"I'm just surprised it has become a number one."

Word on the street has it, a former chef, now a restaurant owner, named Balbir created the Chasni.

I hit the streets of Glasgow to track him down.

And let's just say he was pretty easy to find.

After more than 30 years he is still in the curry trade running a restaurant called Balbir's.

He said the Chasni came from catering for people who did not think they liked Indian food.

"The Chasni that is popular in Glasgow is my recipe. I created it in 1982," he said.

"I tend to experiment a lot in the kitchen. There were people who said, 'I can't eat Indian but I like Chinese', and that's how the Chasni came about.

"I tried a few different versions but the one that became the most popular wasn't the one I liked, it was too mild for me."

Truly Scottish

Having tried the sweet and sour Chasni myself, I wondered just why Balbir's brand of unique Indian cooking is so popular with Scottish diners.

Paul, who's been a customer for years, explained its success.

He said: "Balbir is not a follower. He tends to blaze his own trail and others follow him. If you are here you should come and try one. Because afterwards, you'll try another and another and will never leave."

And while Chicken Chasni is clearly a hit in Glasgow, you would be hard pressed to find it in curry houses outside of Scotland.

So for now, if you're looking for a truly Scottish culinary experience, forget haggis, tuck into a chasni.

Source : BBC

* Click here for Chicken Chasni recipe *