Indian food has always been incredibly popular in the UK. Restaurants and takeaways offering ‘Indian’ curries line our high streets, and we’re all guilty of over-ordering whether we’re eating out or getting it delivered. But it’s only relatively recently that we’ve realised the food offered in the majority of these restaurants is almost unheard of in India itself. Many of our favourite Indian dishes were in fact invented or adapted right here in the UK, by chefs looking to create something that would appeal to local tastes.
However, while chicken tikka masala or lamb madras might not be authentic, that doesn’t mean they’re not delicious – when done right. That’s why we asked legendary Indian chef Alfred Prasad to recreate some of the most popular Indian dishes found in British takeaways, and to help explain their origins. Next time you feel the need for a feast from your local takeaway, try making one of these recipes instead – it’ll certainly be healthier and, seeing as it’s from the mind of Alfred Prasad, will taste a whole lot better, too.
‘The many thousand Indian restaurants that dot the British foodscape are mostly (over 90%) owned by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. Over the decades, they have tried to understand Indian cooking whilst appealing to a local clientele, creating a unique cuisine of their own. In a way, these curries are as much (or more) British as they are Indian.
‘Supermarkets love using the word ‘authentic’ to describe their Indian ready meals. Across the board, we come across terms such as ‘Authentic Madras Curry’, ‘Authentic Rogan Josh’ or ‘Authentic Dhansak’ – they probably mean authentic ‘British-Indian Curry’. Today the UK is better educated about regional and micro-regional cuisines and also about what’s ‘authentic’ and what’s not. For example, an authentic Kashmiri Rogan Josh does not contain onions or tomatoes; an authentic Vindaloo is only ever made with pork; a single, authentic Madras curry simply does not exist and an authentic Dhansak is a far more complex dish than our curry house versions.’