Indian Food Perspectives part 2 - British Indian Food

Indian Food Perspectives part 2 - British Indian Food

After a night at the pub and maybe a nightclub also, the only place in the UK you used to be able to drink more at such wee hours of the morning, was at an Indian restaurant. Somehow, managing to escape Britain's previously stringent licensing laws, these high street restaurants would be packed with drunken revellers intent on satiating their hunger and the ill-fated desire for more booze.

"One lamb biryani, 4 chicken kormas, 4 pints of beer and a bottle of red wine, please".
 

How the proprietors smiled gracefully and endured us, I will never know. People asleep atop their chicken bhuna, the leeriness of drunken people looking for fights over keema naan, this is the experience for Indian restaurant patrons in many parts of the UK.

Of course, Indian Food is a huge market there and anyone who tells you British food is bland and the Brits don't like eating anything 'foreign' is extremely ill-advised. Maybe British food has been bland in the past, but that only reinforces the reasons why the British seek out food from other countries with vast amounts of flavour. Indian, Chinese and Thai food to name a few are beloved and have been for several decades. Supermarket shelves are packed with many different ready meals, the majority of which are not even from Europe.

There is a street in Manchester (Rusholme to be exact), which is called the curry mile. There are numerous restaurants lining both sides of this street, all serving food from India. The owners are no doubt from generations of Indian immigrants in the UK, (and Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc), the food is equally delicious and the menus bewilderingly long. I am sure that almost every city and town in the UK has a similar street.

Many people go here to eat at a reasonable hour, to enjoy the food without the alcohol induced haze obscuring the flavour. Pages and pages of dishes from the mild, creamy and luscious chicken korma to searingly hot vindaloo. Many choices of meat, poultry and seafood, pages of chef's specials, tikka dishes, biryani, thaals, many types of bread, rice, vegetable dishes, salads. Sometimes the mere choice is enough to make you drunk with indecision and anticipation.

All meals begin with the obligatory poppadoms with their tray of dips. Onion and mint, mango chutney (every one's favourite), coriander and some sour lime pickle which has often been compared to eating disinfectant. Although authentically Indian in essentials, many Indian dishes loved in the UK have been invented and developed in Britain. Chicken tikka masala, a gorgeous curry made with tomatoes and cream is said to have been developed in Birmingham and is apparently now also very popular in India, although many of the other 'classics' are unheard of there.

Then there are the patrons who are hell-bent on proving their masculinity through the medium of curry. Puffing out their already heart-burned chests, they proceed to order the most blisteringly hot curries that are available, as though conquering them will somehow make them stronger and more respected by their mere mortal friends who can manage nothing hotter than a lamb pasanda. They leave, red-faced and tearful, clutching their chests and antacids, happy in the knowledge that another pleasant evening was passed fine dining.

I was once challenged by a friend to eat an entire red chili at such a restaurant. I did and immediately asked the waiter for a mango lassi to try and cool the inferno in my mouth and chest. Drinking the lassi in one gulp proved to be my biggest downfall, however, as I quickly had to run to the washroom to vomit. After that though, the burning sensation in my chest and mouth completely dissipated.