Curry
Balti
Balti is more a style of cooking than one particular curry. The word balti can be translated as "bucket" (i.e. a cooking pan) and some say the style of cooking
is indigenous to an area of northern Pakistan known as Baltistan. A balti pan is basically a karahi which has the shape of a Chinese wok but with 2 small round handles on either side of the
pan instead of one long handle. The balti is a stir-fried medium-hot curry containing plenty of fried green peppers and fresh coriander.
Bhuna
Bhuna is first and foremost a cooking process where spices are gently fried in plenty of oil to bring out their flavour. The dish "bhuna" is an extension of that process
where meat is added to the spices and then cooked in its own juices which results in deep strong flavours but very little sauce.
The restaurant bhuna is a well spiced curry with a thick sauce.
It is often garnished with fried green peppers and shredded onions.
Biryani
Biryani is not a curry at all but the curry connection comes from the mixed vegetable or souce curry with which it is served.
Biryani originated in Persia and, at its simplest, was rice and meat baked together in the oven. The cooks to the Moghul emperors took the biryani and transformed it into a courtly delicacy by adding
aromatic spices and other exotic ingredients.
Dhansak
A famous Parsee dish. Interestingly the dhan part of the name means rice . An authentic dhansak will be made with lamb and contain vegetables and many different types of dhal (the sak in the name).
Dopiaza
The dopiaza is a classic Indian dish dating back at least to Moghul times. The name dopiaza broadly translates as "2 onions" or "double onions". Some traditional versions of the dopiaza use twice the weight of onions compared to the weight of meat but a classic Indian dopiaza is more likely to use the onions in 2 different ways, fried and boiled, at different stages of the cooking. The restaurant version has small fried pieces of onion in the sauce and then larger chunks of lightly cooked onion are added towards the end of the cooking. Medium hot.
Jalfrezi
Jalfrezi is not a traditional Indian dish as such but, like the bhuna, is actually a method of cooking. It literally means "hot-fry" but is probably better translated as "stir-fry".
The term jalfrezi entered the English language at the time of the British Raj in India. Colonial households employed Indian cooks who would use the jalfrezi method of cooking to heat up cold roasted meat
and potatoes.
Korai
Many Indian restaurants had a balti-style curry on their menu long before the rise in popularity of balti cooking in the UK. They did not call the curry a balti but rather a korai or karahi and many
restaurants still carry one on their menu. Both the balti and korai contain stir fried meat and vegetables and both take their name from the utensil in which they are cooked.
Our korai meals, like most others, can be made to suit your taste. It can be medium or hot.
Korma
A traditional korma will have a long slow cooking time. In fact, korma is not one particular dish but rather a method of cooking similar to braising.
Because korma is a cooking method there
are a wide variety of dishes that could be described as "korma". A favourite as a mild option, it is cooked with coconut.
Madras
The Madras is a popular hot dish, a hotter version of a plain curry, just not as hot as a vindaloo. It comes with plenty of sauce and is strongly spiced .
Pasanda
Derived from a court dish of the Moghul emperors, the pasanda is traditionally made with thinly sliced and marinated lamb fillets. It is sometimes called lamb badam pasanda because the dish
contains ground almonds, the "badam" of the title. Our pasanda is quite mild and cooked in a creamy almond sauce.
Rogan Josh
Rogan josh is another all time favourite on the menu. It was originally a Kashmiri dish but is equally at home in the Punjab. Available with chicken or prawn, it is traditionally made with lamb.
Saag
Saag Gosht is a classic curry traditionally made with spinach and lamb. Saag is, strictly speaking, a general term for tender green leaves such as spinach, mustard greens and fresh fenugreek leaves.
If you were talking about spinach on its own it would be called palak.
Tikka Masala
Probably the most famous, and popular. The chicken or lamb pieces (tikka) are cooked in a mild, creamy rich almond sauce and cooked in a tandoor (clay oven).