Hi Mamta

I made a simple Chicken Curry the other night using a receipe from your website and it tasted great. Thank you.

I have a question, when we visit restaurants we often order 'Tandoori Chicken Dopiaza' - is this a dish created for the UK?

Just wondering as searching for Dopiaza on your website does not bring up any results. I would love to beable to recreate this dish at home :)

Thanks

Marcus

if I may jump in before Mamta answers, there at least three recipes for do pyaz on the recipe list.

The literal translation of do pyaz is two onions, suggesting either two ways to incorporate onion in the dish, or as some think, use twice as much onion as meat. However, my research suggests that it was originally a dish made in honour of one of Akbar's courtiers (the so-called nav rattan, or nine jewels), a man by the name of, you've guessed it, Dopyaz.

I'm afraid your tandoori chicken dopiaz is yet another figment of the 'Indian' restaurateur's imagination, however lovely it may be.

Do pyaz dishes (there are many) are a kind of korma, or braising dish, and therefore usually made with lamb/mutton/goat. So a dopyaz is a dish of braised lamb and onions.

HTH

Hello Marcus

It is not always easy to decipher a restaurant?s name of a dish, often given because the owner comes from a part of India/Pakistan/Bangladesh it is named after, or simply likes the sound of the word or after the main spices added to it. So, the same sort of dish can have many different names. There are so many meat/chicken/fish/vegetable Do-pyaza dishes, it is impossible to keep track of them. Next time you go there, take a picture and send it to me.

Most restaurants call a dish Do-pyaza when they have a lot of onions in it, usually thinly sliced. My guess is that they make Tandoori chicken (see recipe on this website) and mix it with a lot of fried onions/garlic/ginger etc. just before serving, to give it a bit of gravy. This is almost like the origin of Chicken Tikka Masala; when a customer complained that the chicken tikka did not have any gravy, the chef promptly made a tomatoey gravy and added to it!

Lapis, I like your explanation interesting, though can?t imagine anyone called ?do-pyaz? LOL!!!.

Here are my ponderings on the Tandoori version of the dish....

Most restaurants/takeaways have a set amount of things they make which are often made up from a quantity of already prepared sauces, raw chopped ingredients and pre-marinaded meats. These will probably be done on the day by some of the chefs or maybe the night before.

When you come in and order Chicken such and such they will throw a few raw onions, peppers a good glug of one of the pre-made sauces and some pieces of chicken, run it around the pan until its cooked. Add a few fresh herbs (corriander leaves) and serve...(more or less...)

They are also in the trade to make money and need to entice customers in who may not be as adventurous as others and want things they know of (like chicken tikka or a kebab etc). So as they will also have a tandoor on the go cooking things like lamb and chicken tikka then its not a difficult change to use some of that meat in with the standard mix of one of their other "curries" !

Its not unlike the start of "chicken tikka massala" which as we all know was invented to please someone who thought the tikka should have some gravy with it.

Steve

for Mamta:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullah_Do_Piaza

;?)

This is so funny Lapis, imagine being called do-pyaza! Thanks for the link.

mamta

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't been able to get online until today.

Thank you everyone, for your replies. I had noticed that the dish was spelt differently in various restaurants, I guess that should of been a clue that is was perhaps a creation for the UK market.

However next time we dine out, I shall take a picture for you Mamta - not sure what the restaurant staff will think :) Ha!

Tonight I am making receipe 'Whole Cauliflower, Curried - 1', something a bit different for me.

Marcus

Hello MHPCS

Hope your cauliflower comes out well. take a few pictures for me, if you haven't eaten it already!

taking pictures while dining out !... at one place on holiday I was aloud into the kitchen to take pictures ! lol

Steve