Bombay Aloo

[Natterjak]

This Bombay aloo arrived to my door from the Monihar Tandoori in Slough and was a very pleasant surprise indeed. The flavour was probably the best of any Bombay aloo I've had in the past 10 years. People talk about "the taste", well this modest looking side dish had the taste in spades. Rich, savoury moorish flavours and a couple of surprises in the shape of a small piece of cinnamon (not cassia bark) and some very well cooked (blackened) European bay leaves (not asian bay).

This was the first time I ordered food from this place but I will certainly repeat the experience as a good BIR is very hard to find these days.

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[Cory Ander]

Thanks for posting these photos NJ; I think they are invaluable as visual benchmarks.

Interesting that you say this dish had "the taste...in spades". It looks quite dry. Did it have any curry base (sauce) in it? If not, I'm curious to know where you think "the taste" comes from?

[Natterjak]

It is dry but had certainly been prepared with base sauce which clings to the potato as a thick paste. As for the origin of "the taste" I know this has been hotly debated in the past and I don't claim to have answers but I believe it's from a combination of spiced oil prepared in the right way, together with well fried onions and whole spices. The big surprise to me was that European bay and cinnamon were clearly in evidence so I don't think this taste can rely on the use of cassia bark and asian bay.

The bay leaf I pulled out of this dish was dark, almost black on the outside, deep ruby red inside when snapped in half, and smelled completely divine. Pure essence of BIR curry. I don't know what they do to get it in this state but I bet there must be some kind of bunjarra stage involving the bay leaves, onions and cinnamon which then flavours the precooked potatoes. You wouldn't anticipate that in making a Bombay aloo the chef would actively add bay leaf and cinnamon. I'm betting they made it into this dish because they were already clinging to the precooked potatoes as they were scooped up to make the Bombay aloo. So, you asked where I think the BIR taste comes from, I think it's in the way in which a precooked onion and whole spice (cinnamon, bay leaf, others?) preparation is made with the use of spiced oil and that these flavours then make their way into other dishes as the various precooked ingredients are added at the final cook.

BIR seems to me to be about layers of flavour and I'm sure the extensive pre cooking and use of one precooked preparation in the next builds the flavours. Since most of us who've made it into BIR kitchens arrive just in time to see the final dish being put together, we miss these details of just how the precooked potatoes were prepared, or where the oil comes from, etc. so anyway, that would be my working theory. But I think I'm a little off topic now, this is a photo thread!