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The "heat" in curries is mostly down to two spices chilli powder and a spice called garam masala which translated means hot spice. The rest mostly give flavour other than the peppers and chillies.

Controling the amount of these two leathal substances messes with the heat in any curry.

If by mistake it gets too hot add extra salt that takes off some of the edge and could save the dish. But then there is also a danger of making it too salty.

Another thing is avoid contact with the tip of your toungue, thats where the receptors for sweet, salty and hot are located ( I think ). You can let a raw chilli roll around in the back of your mouth without getting too scalded

   

Pataks. The rest is just powder and dodgy stuff.

   

Most curries we buy are rated 1 through 5, with 1 being very mild. it has a very mild flavour and no heat at all. Many Japanese curries are like this and as I mentioned before they often put some sweet fruits in with the meat and vegetables. I enjoy up to a 3, but after that the heat just detracts from the flavour. I have quite a few Indian friends that can't eat the same level of spice as their parents and recent arrivals from India. I remember having dinner at one friends house and him yelling at his mom not to let his grandmother(visiting from India) put too much of the brown boy shit on his food.

   

Pataks is a bit too Indian for me, yes there is a difference
Ingredients vary from location to location. Some of their stuff is good. Got two jars lying in the fridge. A good non hassle way of cooking. Just take your meat or whatever and dump in the jar.

Problem is there is too much prep work involved in curries. chopping, dicing, peeling, crushing etc etc.

In the old days everything was done by hand including grinding all the spices and a preparing a meal usually kept a couple of people in the household busy the whole day. Some people still prefer it this way. Including me, just as long as I'm not doing the prep work !

   

The owner of the halal Pakistani/Indian restaurant we frequent has all of his stuff shipped in. He says he doesn't like the east Asian curries . As I said before, he serves a few curries(meat, potatoes, onion and some other root veggies) wrapped in a chapati, which he calls a Punjabi taco.. is that common fare in pakistan?

   

I remember the curry bar in KAF...

   

Nah the Punjabi Taco looks to be a new invention and might catch on ?
Sometimes in rural areas people will dump some curry on a bit roti/nan and eat it like that, avoiding the hassle of plates and dishes. But no wrap in up like a taco or sandwich.

Although across the gulf countries as you know there are millions of sub continatal expats. There are tons of small cafeterias and small resturants opened up by south indian expats. And these are for the average joe mostly the hard working labour class.

They have invented "sandwiches" by wrapping whatever curry is available to put some in the middle of a south indian parahta ( Type of nan ) and wrapping it up like a sandwich.

Most popular one is a basic omlette wrapped in a paratha. This with a tea makes for a meal in itself. You can also get meat curry wrapped up like this aswell.

Also that majority of the Indians are hindus and while many are non veg now but were in the past veggies. So most of there food is veggie based and does not contain dairy products like cream.

Northern dishes ( Punjabi/Pushtoon )are more rich for there use of creams, yougurts and milk and more tomato sauce based and have just a couple of spices ( mostly the ones I mentioned earlier )and meat based. All the kebabs, tikkas and stuff are also mostly northen affair. The eastern and south are more veg and lentil based and a lot more spices are used.

Personaly thats why I don't like them too much as the flavour of spices overwelhems the taste of what you are actually eating and sometimes just too darn spicy.

   

Most Brits prefer the Indian varieties of curry. We even had a half-decent chicken curry in our combat rations. Ahh the good old days of compo rats!

I used to make a curry from scratch until the local Halal guy told me I was nuts and to buy Pataks!

I don't mind some of the Asian curries but the Indians have the right blend for me. I'm also a big fan of fresh coriander/cilantro leaves in a ruby murray. Love the taste!

   

I had some chicken biryani for lunch and it was served with a side of cucumbers and tomatoes in a yogurt sauce.

   

Thats called a Raita, sometimes there is also onions and or some parsley in it aswell.

   

I get lazy sometimes and buy curries from "Kitchens of India".
Pindi Chana, Dal bukhara... Good stuff.

   

   

I was taught to do that with sugar.

Also, when you feel like you burnt your mouth because it is too spicy, eat a tea spoon of sugar, don't drink water or beer.

   

Oh ! I've also tried adding a teaspoon or two of sugar into the curry and that also works infact works better than salt

   

Dunno how that is since we don't get that paticular brand here. But after having tried quite a few brands found only a very few these ready to eat stuff is actually good or tastes close to what it says on the box it is.

Pindi channa is a whole and sole Pakistani/Punjabi dish, name derived from the city of Rawal-pindi so can't go wrong on that. Dal Bukhara is also a "royal" dish as mostly eaten in the past by the Maharaja's etc etc

   

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