Regional curry strengths

geordieindevon

Had my brother in law and sister in law down at the weekend and Saturday night we had a curry from our local take away...
All good but he found his Chicken Jalfrezi a little too hot compared to his local curryhouse in kent :oops: poor lad was sweating away but of course had to finish it as he had treated us all to the meal

So the question is how do curry strengths compare across the country? Is a Madras in London the same as Birmingham?

I do remember tucking into a Madras in the Black country once and i nearly blew my head off...my regular curry house in somerset was much easier on the tastebuds!!

By the way I had a Chicken Chilli Garlic Chicken and it was lush!!

whyamihere

The West Midlands is pretty much the hottest really. I hate curry here, far too hot, but I'll eat it elsewhere just fine.

guilliano

I remember going for a curry in Aylesbury..... beef madras. It was basically like eating pure chilli in brown water form with lumps of tasteless rubber. There was no flavour at all, just heat. I really should teach that Indian restaurant how to make a curry

hopper1

I used to hate Indian food... Couldn't see the point in eating something that made you sweat buckets, and need to keep your toilet rolls in the fridge!
In '06 I got a job in India. Half way there, I suddenly thought 'sh!t!!' What am I going to eat for the next 5 weeks...
Obviously there is European food available, but after a while and some encouragement from others, I gave the local dishes a go...
Beautiful, just so tasty, without blowing your head off!
The excessive heat is driven by the British 'taste'.
I loved it over there, but still wont touch it here.
Mind you, I like PizzaHut pizza's in the UK. Whilst in Northern India, I saw a Pizza Hut, so in I went and bought a pizza... Yeuch!!! :shock: They make it to their taste, so was covered in Coriander, chuffin' awful!

Alinshearah

Rupali in Newcastle Bigg market is meant to be the hottest curry in the world. I've never been brave enough to try one though :twisted:

http://www.curryhell.com/#/rupali-curry-hell/4533703288

rick_chasey

Sheffield's quite hot.

I like it like that though.

(I have been known to walk around with Cholula hot sauce and tabasco in case I have to buy lunch out).

iain_j

The hotter the better. If, after a few fork-fulls, I'm thinking "sheesh, I'm not going to make it through this one", then it's about right for me

Stewie Griffin

hopper1 wrote:

I used to hate Indian food... Couldn't see the point in eating something that made you sweat buckets, and need to keep your toilet rolls in the fridge!
In '06 I got a job in India. Half way there, I suddenly thought 'sh!t!!' What am I going to eat for the next 5 weeks...
Obviously there is European food available, but after a while and some encouragement from others, I gave the local dishes a go...
Beautiful, just so tasty, without blowing your head off!
The excessive heat is driven by the British 'taste'.
I loved it over there, but still wont touch it here.
Mind you, I like PizzaHut pizza's in the UK. Whilst in Northern India, I saw a Pizza Hut, so in I went and bought a pizza... Yeuch!!! :shock: They make it to their taste, so was covered in Coriander, chuffin' awful!

+1, I work in Wembley which has a huge Asian community and is wall to wall no frills cheap but excellent Indian restaurants and none of it as hot as out in the provinces. An Indian mate at work has bought in his Families left overs and its never once made my nose or eyes run :shock:

guilliano

Heat is nice, but it's nothing if you can't taste the spices

rick_chasey

Stewie Griffin wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

I used to hate Indian food... Couldn't see the point in eating something that made you sweat buckets, and need to keep your toilet rolls in the fridge!
In '06 I got a job in India. Half way there, I suddenly thought 'sh!t!!' What am I going to eat for the next 5 weeks...
Obviously there is European food available, but after a while and some encouragement from others, I gave the local dishes a go...
Beautiful, just so tasty, without blowing your head off!
The excessive heat is driven by the British 'taste'.
I loved it over there, but still wont touch it here.
Mind you, I like PizzaHut pizza's in the UK. Whilst in Northern India, I saw a Pizza Hut, so in I went and bought a pizza... Yeuch!!! :shock: They make it to their taste, so was covered in Coriander, chuffin' awful!

+1, I work in Wembley which has a huge Asian community and is wall to wall no frills cheap but excellent Indian restaurants and none of it as hot as out in the provinces. An Indian mate at work has bought in his Families left overs and its never once made my nose or eyes run :shock:

It varies on where in India the curry comes from.

Some areas have very hot curries. Others don't.

Stewie Griffin

Rick Chasey wrote:

Stewie Griffin wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

I used to hate Indian food... Couldn't see the point in eating something that made you sweat buckets, and need to keep your toilet rolls in the fridge!
In '06 I got a job in India. Half way there, I suddenly thought 'sh!t!!' What am I going to eat for the next 5 weeks...
Obviously there is European food available, but after a while and some encouragement from others, I gave the local dishes a go...
Beautiful, just so tasty, without blowing your head off!
The excessive heat is driven by the British 'taste'.
I loved it over there, but still wont touch it here.
Mind you, I like PizzaHut pizza's in the UK. Whilst in Northern India, I saw a Pizza Hut, so in I went and bought a pizza... Yeuch!!! :shock: They make it to their taste, so was covered in Coriander, chuffin' awful!

+1, I work in Wembley which has a huge Asian community and is wall to wall no frills cheap but excellent Indian restaurants and none of it as hot as out in the provinces. An Indian mate at work has bought in his Families left overs and its never once made my nose or eyes run :shock:

It varies on where in India the curry comes from.

Some areas have very hot curries. Others don't.

Just as in England then

rick_chasey

Stewie Griffin wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Stewie Griffin wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

I used to hate Indian food... Couldn't see the point in eating something that made you sweat buckets, and need to keep your toilet rolls in the fridge!
In '06 I got a job in India. Half way there, I suddenly thought 'sh!t!!' What am I going to eat for the next 5 weeks...
Obviously there is European food available, but after a while and some encouragement from others, I gave the local dishes a go...
Beautiful, just so tasty, without blowing your head off!
The excessive heat is driven by the British 'taste'.
I loved it over there, but still wont touch it here.
Mind you, I like PizzaHut pizza's in the UK. Whilst in Northern India, I saw a Pizza Hut, so in I went and bought a pizza... Yeuch!!! :shock: They make it to their taste, so was covered in Coriander, chuffin' awful!

+1, I work in Wembley which has a huge Asian community and is wall to wall no frills cheap but excellent Indian restaurants and none of it as hot as out in the provinces. An Indian mate at work has bought in his Families left overs and its never once made my nose or eyes run :shock:

It varies on where in India the curry comes from.

Some areas have very hot curries. Others don't.

Just as in England then

I'd imagine that the two are probably linked.

Total guess, but it would not surprise me if people from similar areas in India who moved to England tended to move to similar areas to each other in the UK.

If that makes sense.

cycologist

Many years ago I travelled around India for couple of months. To start with I found some of the curries a bit on the warm side but by the end of the trip I was eating dishes that had lots of fresh green chillies in. These days when I go for a curry I often ask for green chillies to be added to dishes, even in Lye (Black Country balti belt)

alfablue

Chillis were apparently an 18th century export from Portugal to India (particularly Goa) so are not a natural ingredient in a lot of authentic Indian food. British Indian restaurants are largely based upon Bangladeshi (not Indian) chefs and the cuisine is peculiar to the UK. Authentic Indian food tastes under-spiced to the taste buds of those brought up on UK "Indian" restaurants.

Me, I am pretty much addicted to the endorphin rush chillis give me :shock:

cycologist

alfablue wrote:

Chillis were apparently an 18th century export from Portugal to India (particularly Goa)

Yep, no surprise there.The particular dish I had in mind was a prawn curry (main ingredients being prawns, onions and green chillies) which I had several times in Goa.

alfablue

and Chicken (or anything) Tikka Masala (Britain's national dish) is an entirely British invention, as is Balti.

Lagavulin

They differ from restaurant to restaurant never mind regionally in my experience.

Going out on a works night out a couple of years ago I thought I'd play it safe with a Jalfrezi (colleagues ordering Madrases, Sri Lankas etc.). The day arrives, a couple of pre-meal beers with lads in the nearby pub. We all get settled and out comes my main meal a Jalfrezi loaded with freshly chopped green chillis. It was well hot.

The restaurant was the award winning Last Days of The Raj in Low Fell, Gateshead.
Up until then I'd never experienced such a hot Jalfrezi. My sister had raved about a hot Lamb Tikka Jalfrezi from a place in Alnwick but I assumed she was just soft. I'd had Jalfrezis on numerous ocassions from establishments in Okehampton, London, Settle, South Shields and Newcastle.

finchy

The best thing to do is find a restaurant with a large selection of chef's specials - always much better, and more authentic, than the standard fare.

john-e-big-guns

The best in the North West...from our local Take-Away "The Ring Of Fire"

Gadge

Don't eat the curry in the Lake District.
It is pants compared to a London curry.

Radioactiveman

Gadge wrote:

Don't eat the curry in the Lake District.
It is pants compared to a London curry.

As always everything in london is better ...... My Arse

PS have you eaten in every curry house in the lake district ?

attica

I heard that in India the strength of a curry relates to the climate of the region - The hotter the region the hotter the curry.

The reason for this? The hotter a curry is the more it hides the fact that the meat is on the turn.

Still like those really hot currys folks?

EKIMIKE

I think i'm in the same boat as alfablue - addicted to the endorfin rush from chillies.

Madras or Pathia for me. Had a Vindaloo the other week. Nice and hot as expected. There is a limit though. When the chillies overpower the spices it's a bit of a waste.

Another thing - only lamb with hot curries. Chicken jus don't cut it for me in a hot one.

cycologist

Just cooking a Rogan Josh at the moment. Very tasty but not too hot at the moment. Will probably add some fresh chillies later to give it a bit of a kick. My son will probably moan if it's not hot enough. My wife will moan if it's too hot. I'll do a hot one so there is more for me and the lad when she complains.

Ollieda

As my Dad is Sri Lankan I've always grown up eating curry. People who eat it all their life tend to look for it not to be too hot but full of flavor, however as your mouth gets used to the flavor you need more spices to reach that same level of flavor again. So when I get a curry I look for something I consider to be not too hot and with good flavour, I normally end up with a Vindaloo because thats what I find mild in England.

I think the problem has occured from first time curry eaters traveling to curry eating nations and being served what the locals consider mild, finding it incredibly hot and then thinking that's what curry is all about. Add to that a desire between many blokes to be better and stronger than their mates and you get the situation where people think the hotter the better!

As for regional differences I think it's more a case of just differences in chefs. For most resturants there aren't set levels of spice (i.e. for this curry add 2 teaspoons.....) and its done on feel and taste dependant on the chef. Obviously if you get one chef who likes it hot and all the locals flood to that curry house then the other nearby curry houses will probably make there's hotter to get the crowds back.

What I find most interesting about English curries is the huge range compared to if you go to India, so many curry types have been made in the UK. Chicken tika masala is meant to be one of the most popular dishes and it comes from Glasgow. When ever I've been to Sri Lanka you only get a few curry options on the menu, chicken, fish, lamb or beef, no fancy names there!

My freind once mentioned to me that a "Phall" is ment to be the hottest curry in england, tempted to try it but no where near me tends to serve it.

jc4lab

Anyone remernber the Plaza in UpperBrook street Manchester.??The same curry different strengths.."Killer""Suicide" and "Kamikazee" options .+ a.Pint of water..

stratcat

jc4lab wrote:

Anyone remernber the Plaza in UpperBrook street Manchester.??The same curry different strengths.."Killer""Suicide" and "Kamikazee" options .+ a.Pint of water..

I've heard lots of stories but never went myself. Didn't they used to do t shirts with "I survived a killer at the plaza" on them, or something?

potters1863

Think it just depends on the individual curry house no matter which part of the country it is in.

I have a local favourite but this is quite hot for a chicken dansak but very good but the best one ever was the place that used to be at the same address where it was not very hot at all but the flavours were brilliant.

Just because it's hot doesn't make it better, is the actual flavour that is important.

Slapshot

We had a meal in our officers mess one evening that had been completely prepared by some chefs from a Ghurka Regiment, incredible food, some of the hottest stuff i've ever tasted but despite the heat you could taste everything.

Gadge

"As always everything in london is better ...... My ars*

PS have you eaten in every curry house in the lake district ?"


Belated reply ....

YES.


Doh ....I haven't really and was generalizing based solely on Keswick.

Anyway, everything in London is not better.
Our Mountains and hill walking leave a great deal to be desired.... as do the manners of the locals ;-)

cornerblock

Belated? :shock: Just a bit, more than 3 years to reply! Have you been in a korma? :oops: