Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: Manly chef conjures up a super-hot celebration curry for Her Majesty
A new blisteringly delicious curry - made with the world’s hottest chillies - has been created by a popular Manly chef to help locals celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We did a taste test
Manly
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I should have twigged that this was going to be a tough assignment when the chef at a Manly restaurant revealed that one of the main ingredients in a curry I was about to taste test was “Carolina Reaper” chillies.
The Manly Daily was at the Ashiana Indian Restaurant on Friday after learning that owner Rajesh Kalra had concocted a fiery chicken and chilli curry so ex-pat Poms could join in the celebrations of the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
Raj, as he is known to his loyal customers, has added his “Platinum Jubilee Chicken Curry” to the specials menu at the Sydney Rd eatery — just near The Hotel Steyne — for the next two weeks.
The award-winning restaurant is the longest continually operating Indian eatery in NSW, Raj said, since it first opened its door in old bank building in 1983.
It used to be called India Experience. Raj bought the business nearly 20 years ago
To give the tomato and onion based sauce in the Platinum Jubilee Curry a bit of firepower, and to lure in curry aficionados with a liking for a searing and scorching taste sensation, Raj added in the Carolina Reapers, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the “hottest chilli pepper in the world”.
Apparently it can reach 2.2 Million Scoville Heat Units on the Scoville scale, which measures the pungency, or spicy heat, of chillies.
Raj told me the Platinum Jubilee Chicken Curry is based primarily on a recipe for phaal, considered the hottest of curries, even more blistering than a vindaloo.
But before I take the taste test, Raj calms me by saying that he will put a glass of mango lassi, made with yoghurt, milk and a little bit of sugar, on the table along with a cooling spiced yoghurt to help balance out the heat of the phaal.
“I have a lot of ex-pat Brits as customers, who love their curries,” Raj said.
“With the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee underway I wanted to give the customers a taste of home.
“It might blow the pants of her majesty’s Royal Guard, but if she wanted the recipe at Buckingham Palace, she just has to call.
“Of course you don’t have to be the Queen to try this dish”.
As well as the new chicken curry, Raj created a sister Jubilee dish, a goat curry with green, Spanish Pedron chillies — another beautifully scalding ingredient.
But for those who don’t want to be blown away, Raj’s signature fish, chick tikka masala, is always on the menu.
And my verdict on the Platinum Jubilee Chicken Curry: fantastic.
Yes, it was super spicy, but once my mouth and tastebuds became accustomed to the heat, the beautifully tender chicken and tomato-based sauce, even wit the reaper chillies, was sensational.
Give it a go.........but don’t forget to have lashings of mango lassi nearby.
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