AWARDS & WORLD CURRY EXPO SUNDAY 10th OCTOBER 2021 Experience the most inspiring night of the Curry Calendar. Curry Life Awards and Gala dinner is the most important annual event of the Curry Industry. Excellence deserves recognition. Don’t forget to send a nomination for your restaurant, chef or takeaway to get recognition they deserve at the Curry Life Awards 2021. Winning Curry Life Award will put your business or individual in the national spotlight. Join us for the spectacular show at the Curry Life Awards, unlike any you have seen before. Categories: For further details phone or visit our website: BEST RESTAURANT AWARDS TEAM : 07956 588 777 or 07956 439 458 BEST CURRY CHEF www.currylifeawards.com CUSTOMER CHOICE BEST TAKEAWAY Send your nomination now Business Name OwnerName Address Post code Telephone Mobile Email Web www.currylifeawards.com CONTENTS Congratulations from PRIME MINISTER on the Bangladesh Golden Jubilee celebration 6 Food Standards Agency Concerned Indian restaurants wary of pay- 8 About Home Food Sales 16 before-you-eat policy Lord Bilimoria appointed as Visiting Culinary Workshop to focus on life 14 Fellow at the University of Oxford 20 after pandemic Please scan to read magazine online NEWS CURRY LIFE 1 L the spotlight by organising 10 positive outlook, with 85 per cent of A British Bangladeshi Fusion Food the operators randomly surveyed I Festivals in Dhaka, Bangladesh. over the phone by Curry Life in R A decade ago, there was a fantastic March (anniversary of the first lockdown), saying they were O campaign to raise awareness about the authenticity of curry houses confident about prospects. T I 'Dine Bangladeshi.' Of course, the With this positive prospect in minds, Bangladesh Caterers Association Curry Life is planning to host a D (BCA) does a remarkable job to Culinary Workshop and Networking E promote Bangladeshi cuisine and Dinner end of June 2021 to celebrate restaurants. the opening of the hospitality from E Since the independence of lockdown (subject to government Bangladesh as a nation, the guidelines). The focus of the traditional naming of Indian Workshop is on Life After Pandemic Restaurants started to change from and Curry Industry Recovery. Those 'Taj Mahal' 'Bombay Palace' 'Delhi who are interested in attending must Durbar' 'Gandhi" to 'Bengal book early as there will be a limited Dynasty' 'Sundarban' 'Surma' number of spaces. 'Megna' or Royal Bengal etc. Restaurants and bars with outdoor Nowadays, curry houses have seating say bookings are at BANGLADESH taken more neutral names and unprecedentedly high levels before a decors such as spice, cinnamon, possible reopening on 12 April, with TURNED 50 cardamoms, turmeric etc. people eager not to miss their first Hot, Mild, Creamy or Dry, Indian, chance to eat out since lockdown. Throughout the UK, curry houses Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Sri Some local restaurants and pubs here across Britain marked the month of Lankan, Nepalese, any way you made investments to welcome people March to celebrate 50 years of like it, CURRY has come to be the back and ensure safety measures are Bangladesh. It is well known that UK's national food. It outsells in place. One Indian restaurant in most of the curry houses here in every other cuisine. Like cricket, Nottinghamshire has spent £120,000 Great Britain are owned and the Curry Industry is very British. on a refurbishment to ensure it can operated by people of Bangladeshi Bangladesh and Britain are both open in April as per government origin, a historical fact. The curry Curry and cricket-loving nations, guidance. This particular restaurant is house menu has a significant and we are happy to say 'cheers to lucky to have massive space outside influence on the food, ingredients Bangladesh' for reaching 50 and as a car park, converted to a socially and cooking methods of Bangladesh. hope it progresses further and distanced seating area for customers It is estimated that about 600,000 further. to enjoy dining out. However, people in the Bangladeshi everyone is not so lucky. Despite community are historically limited space and resources, they are associated with the catering trade. Sense of doing their best to welcome people Sadly, many of the curry houses do back. Everyone in the hospitality not promote themselves enough as Optimism on industry is ready to jump-start the Bangladeshi Cuisine, despite having economy. many dishes created and heavily the Horizon Professional partnerships are a great influenced by authentic Bengali way to embrace new opportunities. food and ingredients. It was With lockdown coming to an end We hope the Curry Life Culinary highlighted on national TV when a and with vaccinations happening Workshop will create that chef like Rick Stein visited on a massive, national scale many opportunity for everyone. We urge Bangladesh. His 2014 TV series Restaurant and takeaways are restaurateurs to take a step out of 'Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey' “optimistic” about the future their norm and attend this event ends up with a culinary tour of despite the pressures of the Covid- where you can find ideas for your Bangladesh. This generated a lot of 19 crisis, with most expecting business, something that you might interest and curiosity. trading to bounce back by the end not have considered before the of the year. Curry Life tried to put British pandemic. Bangladeshi chefs and their curry in Curry businesses had the most NEWS CURRY LIFE 3 BE BRAVE AND PROUD AND Most of our restaurants are really Bangladeshi – not ‘Indian’ – so are we missing a clever business ploy by not creating a new wave of clearly-branded Bangladeshi restaurants across the country? Could it be the next new trend – and offer a way out of the current pandemic crisis facing restaurants? Lee Lixenberg takes a look... It’s not widely known in the big outside world that known broadly as Indian food – but, as the vast majority of the UKs 10,000 Indian the Observer article points out, restaurants are actually run and owned by there are notable exceptions Bangladeshis. to this general rule. Why has this become such a well-kept secret-and There’s Gram Bangla wouldn’t it give the whole industry a much- and Amar Gaon in needed, post pandemic shot-in-the-arm if efforts London’s Brick were made to establish or rebrand a new wave of Lane and restaurants as clearly, and proudly, Bangladeshi? Kolopata in It’s an especially pertinent question at the moment Whitechapel – as Bangladesh celebrates the 50th anniversary of – all its independence, amidst congratulatory messages advertised from the Royal Family and Prime Minister. as Why there seems to be a reluctance to be ‘up-front’ Bangladeshi about the industry’s Bangladeshi roots was the restaurants – subject of a recent Observer article by restaurateur but generally and poet Ahsan Akbar – which argues that the across the whole industry would benefit from building a bold rest of the Bangladeshi brand nationwide. country there The argument goes that it’s timely for Bangladeshi aren’t many restaurants to come of age - and differentiate others who have themselves from the broad ‘Indian’ brand – thereby ‘outed’ themselves. broadening both cultural and business As for the food, as the opportunities. Observer again points out, True, there’s a case to be made that Bangladeshi there’s no shortage of authentic cuisine can’t be easily differentiated from what’s Bengali cuisine to support a strong 4 CURRY LIFE NEWS and unique Bengali offering to customers. Among dishes cited are kala bhuna and mejbani beef from Chittagong, AMAZING INGREDIENTS as well as chui jhal from Jessore – using piper chaba and Sylhet’s shatkora curries. SHATKORA Then there are mentions for biriyani The shatkora certainly wouldn’t gain any points for its beauty but this and bakarkhani from Old Dhaka, strange fruit lends an exotic flavour to curry dishes. Green and knobbly, perhaps served with tea, which otherwise known as the citrus macroptera, or ‘wild orange’. The fruit is draw on influences of the Munghal about the size of a very big grapefruit when ripe. The variant grown in kitchens. Bangladesh called annamensis is known locally as shatkora. It’s And speaking of influences, why commonly used in the area of Sylhet where the fruit grows on thorny not draw inspiration from the trees which can reach 5m in height. A curious cross between a lemon and homeland – where some bold a lime, shatkora smells like the latter whereas the juice is sour and bitter national social and economic and tastes more like that of a grapefruit. It has a thick, dry pith and the policies have seen Bangladesh outer skin becomes yellow when the fruit is ripe. emerge from the shadows of its two Preparation of the fruit is tricky and requires some culinary skill. Perhaps big neighbours; just as Bangladeshi the easiest way is to cut the shatkora in half lengthways and then cut each restaurants and food can emerge half into three, also along the length. Then the main fruit can be pared from the shadows cast by the well away from the peel and outer pith with a sharp knife. established ‘Indian restaurant’ Chefs recommend the skin is pre cooked to soften the texture. In industry. Bangladesh the rind is eaten as a vegetable and the pulp is usually So all of the ammunition is there to discarded because of its bitter taste. The thick rind is cut into small fire up a bold, strong campaign to pieces and cooked in beef, mutton, fish curries and stews whilst the fruit shine a spotlight on Bangladeshi is often used in shatkora pickles. cuisine in a way that has never Curries cooked with shatkora are now becoming more and more popular happened before.