|
 LONDON: Indian cooks in Britain have spiced up the traditional Christmas dinner with a new dish - turkey tikka !
"The traditional Christmas dinner is so boring, so we decided to add some spice to the bland ingredients," says Tommy Miah of the Raj restaurant in Edinburgh.
Another cook adding a dash of Indian flavour is award winning chef Mohammed Haydor, who owns the Kushi restaurant in Birmingham.
"My friends and regulars wanted me to add an Asian flavour to the traditional Christmas dinner, but I thought how can I create something delicious out of something so tasteless.
"Turkey is dry meat, so I set about making it more succulent," Haydor says.
With a touch of spice he has created dishes like brussel sprout pakora , turkey tikka , leek and broccoli saffron masala and even mince pie naan breads.
He is thought to be the first curry chef in the West Midlands to ever offer the bizarre concoctions.
He explains his new dish: "I decided to put a Bengali twist to the food to make the turkey more tender and tasty. I added chilli, masala , cumin, ginger, garlic and some other spices and left the meat to marinate for a few hours.
"I diced the turkey and added some traditional Bengali spice. I then cooked it in a clay oven, tandoori style, and added the pureed vegetables and made it into a curry."
Haydor has also come up with a version of mince pies, which has become increasingly popular with the Brummies - short for residents of Birmingham.
"Customers particularly like my mince pies, which are made by stuffing a plain naan with sweet mince meat. I sold six or seven dozen in one night last week," Haydor says.
In Edinburgh, Tommy Miah says he wanted to give something back to the local people by creating a curried version of Scotland's national dish - haggis.
"My most popular dish among the locals has been curried haggis, which I make using minced haggis meat mixed with ginger, garlic, onions and spices," Miah told the Eastern Eye, adding that the dish has become so popular that it was likely to feature permanently in his menu.
(IANS)
|
