WHAT’S HOT on your menu?

CURRY FAVOUR WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS – PUT CURRY ON THE MENU

Sizzle up your winter menu with curry-based dishes and watch the customers flock in.

Curry is used in the cuisine of almost every country and can be incorporated into many dishes or even drinks. Curry powder itself is not a single spice, but a blend of different spices and can be mild or hot. This golden colored spice is one of the oldest spice mixes and is most often associated with Indian cuisine.

Curry has a long history – in fact there is evidence of curry dishes in Mesopotamia in 1700 BC. A form of curry was eaten in England as early as the 1300s and probably even earlier. It is mentioned in the first book written on English cooking, during the reign of Richard II (late 1300s).

The word  ‘curry’ is of English origin, based on the Tamil word ‘Kari’ meaning black pepper, and is a term used to denote all kinds of Indian dishes, particularly those with sauce. Interestingly enough, ‘curry’ has a different meaning from the English term in India.

In India, ‘curry’ refers to a gravy or stew dish. Typically these dishes contain the Indian spice mix garam masala, together with ginger, chilli, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and sometimes onion and garlic. Different regions have different curry ingredients and spice mixes.  So, Indian dishes are named either for the combinations of spices used (eg: rogan josh), for the cooking method (korma, biryani, do piaza), or for the main ingredients (saag, aloo gobi).

The British taste for curry is attributed to the British Raj whose personnel acquired a taste for the spicy foods when stationed there. The Indian cooks of the British Empire, urged on by their memsahibs, learned to make cakes, yeasted bread and ‘curries’, which were more suited to the British palate.

The British enthusiasm for curry gained a second kick along with the migration to the UK of Indians and Pakistanis from the 1960s onwards, exposing the Brits to more authentic curry dishes.

Curry is a welcome component of the Australian menu. It is a proven winter warming favourite in many Australian pubs. Because of its long history and its adaptation into many different cuisines, curry presents in a wide variety of tastes and colours. It can be mild or fiery hot and come in many colours reflecting its ingredients. But no matter what spices you mix in your curry – it’s guaranteed to always be exotic and tasty!

BISTRO spoke to three venues about their use of curry as a customer pleaser.

“We seat approximately sixty-five people and generally both curry nights are booked out in advance,” says Kevin Gregg, owner of the Exeter Hotel in Adelaide.

The Grace Hotel in Sydney, a finalist in 2009 AHA Awards for Excellence, featured a June Curry Special to attract new business and keep the regulars  happy. “We have one or two curry dishes on the menu, plus a daily special,” says Colin Yee, Executive Chef from the Grace Hotel.

“People love curries. The most popular would be either a Malaysian or Indian-based dish”.

Matso’s Restaurant at Matso’s Broome Brewery, in Broome, WA, have taken the curry theme even further, with the Curry Hut, open from Friday to Tuesday. Twenty-nine year old Indian chef, Depesh Pallai, brings his experience of working for the Oberoi Group of hotels and resorts.

“Depesh cooks three different curries each night, each of which is served with a different type of rice preparation, yogurt salad, mixed pickle and pappadum,” says Chris Lane, GM of Matzo’s Brewery.

MAKE THE MOST OF LESSER
MEAT CUTS WITH CURRY

Curry is a winner on the menu because it can make non-prime cuts of meat and poultry tasty and tender. Historically, the British Raj cooks were trained to cater for the western palate. Often, the grand meals would have consisted of game and poultry, which was of poor quality and quite tough, so the cooks would have to improvise.

Australian meat quality is much better than in the days of the Raj, but non-prime cuts can star in curries.

“We use cuts as in beef topside, lamb shoulder, chicken thigh or whole pieces, or a selection of mixed seafood,” says the Grace Hotel’s Colin Yee. “This enables us to have a variety on a daily basis; the choice is endless.”

Chris Lane, Venue manager from Matso’s, is a big fan of using local produce: “We buy special meats for our curries; some of the stuff we get locally and some from Perth. We always try to support local businesses.”

And here is a tip from the Indian chef Depesh: “Generally we use most of the thigh part for making our curries as we know that the thigh is more juicy and hold its shape while cooking. We use fish like Spanish Mackerel and Swordfish for our cooking because of their oily texture.”

“With curry being such a versatile dish it is easy to keep everyone happy,” says Kevin Gregg of the Exeter Hotel. “There are always five different curries on both nights. We always have two meat curries – lamb, beef, pork or venison – plus a chicken, seafood and vegetarian.”

All three chefs were reasonably happy with their profit margin on their curries.  It would be interesting to know how Matso’s Brewery produces a ‘healthy’ 72% GP!

GET ORGANISED FOR PERFECT CURRIES

The curry preparations vary in the three different kitchens, but all the chefs agree it’s important to get organised in advance.

In the Grace Hotel kitchen the meats are marinated overnight, using market products. Then the herbs and spices are mixed in-house to produce the curry base. “The most labour-heavy component would be making the curry base, with the particular spices and herbs,” says Colin Yee.  “But pre-mixing and cooking the dry spices does not produce much wastage.

“The common mistakes are adding too much or too little of certain spices, making the dish too hot or very chilli. The solution is to get a good recipe and follow it carefully.”

He says the shelf life of a curry dish is good, and cooking in bulk is very handy. “Sometimes, we pre-portion our curries and vacuum seal in bags. This gives us instantly ready meals to serve, just reheat in boiling water or microwave. But I prefer to cook fresh using what ingredients we have – this eliminates any wastage.”

At Matso’s, Depesh prepares his own curry pastes every day. Each day he prepares for the evening service and next day he starts fresh, because most of the time his curries sell out.

“He is also creative,” Chris Lane says. “After working in Melbourne for almost three years, he has an idea about Australian people liking different food. He started doing spinach lamb and kangaroo curry, which has been very popular. But with that, he also thinks Australians like their food to be as authentic as possible.”

AUSTRALIAN CURRIES COMPARED WITH INDIAN

We asked Depesh Pallai about differences between ‘our’ curries and authentic Indian.

“The only difference between the curries in India and the dishes we get in Australia is that we get very limited varieties over here, because Australians know only a few popular Indian dishes. The menu replicated in most restaurants is a tiny section of the Indian cuisine.  Back in India we have a lot more dishes on the menu.

“Australian people like authentic cuisines. I try to keep the variations in terms of the spice levels so that it can suit everyone’s palate and altogether makes a full experience. I am going to start a Tandoori Night very soon; we will have different kebabs coming out of the tandoor. There are many more dishes, waiting to be discovered for Australia!”

Popularity: 4% [?]