[Fast Eddie]

Hello,

Can anyone give me a good recipe for chicken or lamb fahl (I don't know if that is how it is spelt) I've been told that this is the hottest Indian dish. Is this true? If so, what is it that makes it so hot, is it just an abundance of chillis?

Thanks very much

FE

p.s. I tried to post this in the recipes section but it wouldn't let me. Apologies if I've done this incorrectly.

Edited by Fast Eddie, 30 January 2007 - 06:03 PM.

[jyotirmoy]

Sorry Eddie I haven't heard of this. Are you sure it is an Indian dish? What I feel is that you might have meant Falfal, this is middle eastern Asia cuisine & means Red Chily.

[Fast Eddie]

 jyotirmoy, on Jan 31 2007, 05:04 AM, said:

Sorry Eddie I haven't heard of this. Are you sure it is an Indian dish? What I feel is that you might have meant Falfal, this is middle eastern Asia cuisine & means Red Chily.

Maybe it is called that. I'm not sure. A friend of mine had it in an Indian restaurant near where I live and he said it was super spicy. He said the chef came out when he'd finished it all to congratulate him!  

[iwanttogoback]

as i have discovered, indian restaurants outside india sometimes invent dishes and names that are indian in style, but no one here can help with a recipe!

any idea what was in it? or how it was cooked or presented?

[jyotirmoy]

Falfal means red chily. It is meat cooked with a lot of chilies. Many chefs deseed the chillies. I have come accross Falfal topping for pizza too !!!!

[webswami]

 Fast Eddie, on Jan 31 2007, 10:15 AM, said:

Maybe it is called that. I'm not sure. A friend of mine had it in an Indian restaurant near where I live and he said it was super spicy. He said the chef came out when he'd finished it all to congratulate him!  

First of all the following does sound like I am descriminating but I think when it come to food it is personal choice.
PHAL-
In UK Some Bangladeshi restaurants serve this, it is made up dish for the "lager louts" to see who can eat the hottest dish after 10 pints of lager in the pub and then abuse the waiters in these restaurants. Remember this sketch
I am not saying you are one of these for mentioning this dish fast eddie but this is a dish with lots of red chilly powder/pepper/garam masala, and in my opinion it really is not Indian any way.
There are more Bengali restaurants than "True Indian" in UK, even in places like Southall it is hard to find Indian Restaurants, majority here are Pakistanies.
Brick Lane, mostly Bangladeshi
this is from web- note how they mention Indian, Again most of these are Non Indians
This distinctively Asian district, Manchester's "Curry Mile", is situated about 3 miles south of the city centre, down Oxford Road-Wilmslow Road and past the University campus, the Royal Infirmary and Whitworth Art Gallery. At any one time there are between 30 and 40 "Indian" Restaurants on this short stretch of Wilmslow Road, all lying within Rusholme, Manchester M13.
So how can you tell if the restaurant is "Indian"
watch out for staff, what they look like (turbans, mustaches )
Menu- spelling of dishes like mosalla (masala), more fish dishes, Bangla beers!, note also some of the pakistani restaurants dont serve alcohol but will let you bring drinks in.
Name of the restaurant- Abdul's etc
Most Pakistani and Bengali food that I have had is full of oil and I personally don't like them. (over 30 years of loving/eating/cooking curry in UK)

Edited by webswami, 31 January 2007 - 04:39 PM.

[jyotirmoy]

On my first visit to London to participate in a technical conference my co-writer & his wife took me to an "Indian" restaurant for dinner. I made feeble attempt to dissuade them but they assured me that the food is "out of the world". And believe me it was! I was served the speciality of that day Balti Curry. So far my idea of a balti(Bucket) was the one in the bathroom. Having taken one mouthful I requested for a "darshan" of the genius who cooked it. On intimate probing I came to know that he hailed from Bangladesh, worked as a deck hand & had jumped ship.
Ofcourse later on I had the chance to eat very authentic & very high quality Indian food courtsey one of my friends. I myself couldn't have afforded it nor I would have got a table reservation, but that's another story.

[webswami]

 jyotirmoy, on Jan 31 2007, 11:24 AM, said:

nor I would have got a table reservation, but that's another story.

You have got me at the edge of my seat more please....

[jyotirmoy]

Swami, the restaurants I am refering to are very choosy about guests & very difficult to get a reservation. My friend a great foodie himself had been a friend of one of the promoters so I had a few windfalls!!!!

[gautam]

I read a beautiful description today of Tex-Mex food that may also be applied, with some modifications, to the several types of Indian influenced cuisines, including curry house cuisine evolving in the UK.

“Tex-Mex isn’t Mexican food,” said Mr. Walsh. “It is an American regional cuisine. So why do we have to apologize to Mexico for it?”

Mr. Walsh said the late food writer Waverley Root got it right when he described Tex-Mex as “native foreign food.”

“It is native, for it does not exist elsewhere; it was born on this soil,” Root wrote in “Eating in America: A History”(William Morrow & Co., 1976), with Richard de Rochemont. “But it is foreign in that its inspiration came from an alien cuisine.”

http://www.nytimes.c...amp;oref=slogin

I believe Eddie will find many of his questions on British curry house recipes answered in the books by Pat Chapman. A most useful site of experts and enthusiasts of this genre who will help him with Phal, that contains some mango pulp, is

http://www.realcurryrecipes.co.uk/

101 Balti Curries is another excellent book for the home enthusiast.

Eddie, please let us know if you found what you were searching for. If not, we can try elsewhere.