Indian take aways - how much oil do you like?

Zab

I've always been a big fan of Indian cuisine and I've been getting it from take-aways for years when I'm too lazy to cook some myself (which is far too often).

I came across the Bombay Pantry when they opened in Rathmines and to be honest I've rarely had reason to look back. They have their own issues, but comparatively they're in a class of their own, in my opinion. However, I do tend to try pretty much anywhere that will deliver to me when I get bored with the Pantry's menu.

These places are frequently pretty dull with what they serve, and I don't get that as a lot of them are new. Why open an uninteresting take-away in a fairly competitive market? Perhaps the profit margins are higher than I realise. Anyway, the one thing I've noticed with pretty much all of them is that they use copious amounts of palm oil or other oils, far more than I personally would ever want on my plate. I really don't need half a cm of oil sitting on top of my curry. Am I the only one that thinks this?

I will admit that I've noticed too little oil often doesn't work in Indian cooking, but these places go far beyond what's necessary.

foodaholic

I hate oily curries yuck, puts me right off. Are you sure its palm oil there using traditionally its ghee that is used in indian cookery.

I have Anjum Anand's recipe books and its amazing you really can make low cal tasty indian dishes. My fav is here chicken and spinach dish (I love saag)

Zab

Well, the fact that it's usually palm oil is something that I've "always" known, so take it for what it's worth. I've never actually verified it and always assumed that palm oil was cheaper than ghee, although I've never bought palm oil.

I'll check out Anjum. He isn't too light weight but vahchef is pretty good, although his actual website is a mess.

Perhaps I should have made this into a poll. Really I'm wondering why take-aways do this, whether I'm one of the few who don't like it or if they're doing it out of a misguided notion of what's wanted.

the beer revolu

While chatting to an Indian guy who was a chef, I mentioned my dislike for really oily curries. He maintained that it is a cultural 'treat' thing. The example he gave was that a visitor in an Indian house would get extra oily food as a sign of respect and to spoil them. It is also seen as a sign of wealth to have lots of fat.

Chinasea

Tell them the food is too oily - perhaps nobody gave them feedback

Best Indian Takeawy in Dublin is : Spice Cottage Sallynoggin

Curry Addict

there is huge varience in quality from indian takeaways. ive often had good and bad curries from the same place. the balance of ingredients involved in making a curry is fairly critical but not enuf attention is taken by the chefs.
its also a matter of taste as to which takeaway u prefer in general.

the oil issue is simply a necessary part of the cooking process. a large amount of oil goes into the base sauce and also a good 50ml is added to the pan at the start of making a curry. this is so curries can be cooked fast (5mins) and the flavours are extracted fully and also the texture. it is not possible to get the same flavours using less oil. its essentially a medium deep fried food. u can spoon off the oil after cooking but u will lose flavour. even if it appears that there isnt much oil in a curry u can be sure there is still way more than u would like!

its also not palm oil its simple vegetable oil.

im experienced in making resturant style indian curries and i would say that they are very very bad for you. I wouldnt eat more than one in a week.

Kerikosan

Went to the curry mile in Manchester a few years back, literally 100's of Indian restaurants for as far as the eye can see..

I had a lovely meal hear but it is quite common to have a cm or more of oil like a layer ontop of the curry.

the stuffed naan bread and side dishes were amazing though

I asked the waiter for a small bowl fo spoon the oil off, he was nice about it and did mention that the oil is there for flavour and to try it, so i did i put 2 tbsp back in and it was very nice 1st time I've had a curry with allot of oil in it but it was amazing!

Still I wouldn't recommend eating it too often.

dudara

Not overly a fan of the Bombay Pantry - yes they're good, they're not great. The spice layers in their curries are flat - to my tastebuds.

My overall problem with Indian good in Ireland is the cost. You can have a fantastic curry in England (particularly Leeds/Bradford/Birmingham etc) for a fraction of what you pay here. AND Indian takeaways often charge extra (on top of already expensive prices) for rice/naan etc.

I just don't get the pricing differences between them and Chinese or other takeaways.

BaZmO*

I've been cooking a lot of dishes from the Curry Secret book over the last while, (it shows you how to cook Indian food in the same way restaurants do) and there does seem to be an awful lot of oil used in the cooking process.

Restaurants tend to start with a base curry sauce, although it's more an onion/garlic/ginger/tomato mix. And this is used in conjunction with a lot of oil to start with and then the different spices, etc. Apparently the amount of oil is needed to bring out the flavour in the spices. You're talking 4 to 5 tblsps for dish that serves 4.

When done this way it certainly gives you the authentic restaurant/takeaway taste/texture but it's not something you'd have everyday. There are other ways to cook Indian food that's a lot healthier, and a lot easier to do tbh.

dudara wrote: »

My overall problem with Indian good in Ireland is the cost. You can have a fantastic curry in England (particularly Leeds/Bradford/Birmingham etc) for a fraction of what you pay here. AND Indian takeaways often charge extra (on top of already expensive prices) for rice/naan etc.

I just don't get the pricing differences between them and Chinese or other takeaways.

Yeah that's something that really annoys me too. It can be almost twice the price in some cases. Charging extra for rice is ridiculous.

Zab

dudara wrote: »

Not overly a fan of the Bombay Pantry - yet they're good, they're not great.

...

I just don't get the pricing differences between them and Chinese or other takeaways.

Let's hear your take-away suggestion then! I keep coming back to them after disappointments elsewhere.

The price differential is noteworthy I agree. Perhaps it actually is that the margins are currently high and we'll see more and more places open up until they drop. That said, it could also be that they're using better ingredients. I don't rate 99% of the Chinese take-aways that I've been to.

Curry Addict wrote: »

its also not palm oil its simple vegetable oil.

I asked a couple of places and you're right. Just more received wisdom proved wrong.

The thing is, most of the best curries I've had were in India, and while for the most part I wouldn't call them low-fat they generally didn't have as much oil as I see in a lot of places here. I've always accepted that oil is necessary for the taste, I just think they're being sloppy and adding too much for fear of adding too little.

Bazmo, these places have considerably more than 1tbsp per portion. I'm going to check out Curry Secret though.

edit: Just wanted to be clear that it's the oily taste that I have a problem with. I'm not actually talking about health here, although that's obviously a concern too.

BaZmO*

Zab wrote: »

Bazmo, these places have considerably more than 1tbsp per portion. I'm going to check out Curry Secret though.

You'd be surprised at how much 60 to 75ml of oil looks like when preparing a dish. You have to remember as well, it's that amount of oil at the end of the preparation so it looks like an awful lot.

dubber

dudara wrote: »

Not overly a fan of the Bombay Pantry - yes they're good, they're not great. The spice layers in their curries are flat - to my tastebuds.

When they first opened in Fairview they were fantastic (best curry in Ireland level!), then had one or two so-so curries about a year or so ago and haven't been back since.

Curry Addict

its more like 80ml per portion from experience of seeing curry chefs making curries and making them myself.

Derfil

I wouldn't trust any of the Indian takeaways in this country at all... I've had more than one bad experience and know off hand of 4 restraints/takeaways closed down in this area due to very poor standards. So poor in fact I'd say the standards were criminal.

Icould go in to examples but I don't want to turn anyones stomach.

the beer revolu

Derfil wrote: »

I wouldn't trust any of the Indian takeaways in this country at all... I've had more than one bad experience and know off hand of 4 restraints/takeaways closed down in this area due to very poor standards. So poor in fact I'd say the standards were criminal.

Icould go in to examples but I don't want to turn anyones stomach.

So if an 'Irish' take away was cited for health breaches would you loose trust of all 'Irish' takeaways in Ireland??