Plaza Cafe, Upper Brook St.

[Macktheknife]

Hideaway69 - this is great!  Thank you - my nostalgia gene just went into overdrive.  How the hell did you manage to hang on to these reminders of a misspent (but happy) youth?  I don't actually remember ever seeing a menu at the Plaza - we always ordered a half-chicken biryani, Charlie's special sauce and a shedload of poppodums.  I didn't know that there were even hotter creations beyond this - love the names!  Definitely curry for dinner tonight - albeit a poor imitation of Charlie's wondrous offerings.

[Hideaway69]

Hi Mack, glad to be able to stir your tastebuds !!, got the menu off the internet, the Plaza seems to be famous Worldwide,imagine if it were open today ? the enviromental health would have a field day  took many a future Mrs Hideaway there for a romantic meal ha ha, then wondered why I got dumped soon after ,probably for the better

[Macktheknife]

Hideaway - I must confess, I never ate there with a woman, only a bunch of drunken lads.  As you say, probably just as well!

[DaveM]

i new Charly every well( Mohamed ) and is son and daughter !!...i was one of a few people to get accsess to the kitchen........he wrote down for me the recipe for is curry sauce but over the years have lost it !!....but i did find a way how to create this from start again...from the sauce right down to the rice..!! in my opinion this is the real thing and i am proud to make this at partys now and then..!! it look like the real thing..and taste like the real thing....Dave M

[DaveM]

Charly (Mohamed ) use to use fresh chicken every day from a jewish company in salford there use to be big pans cooking the chicken in the kitchen..and the chicken's where what people called..old boiling foul's not your normal roasting bird..thats where most of the taste came from in the rice..and he use to use 4 diffrent chille powders for each strenth of curry !! anybody like to know how to get the authentic curry like charleys messeage me...belive me its like the real thing....

[Macktheknife]

I think DaveM should post the recipe on this forum - and thereby gain respect, love and admiration from the entire community of Plaza lovers!

[Hideaway69]

I think DaveM should post the recipe on this forum - and thereby gain respect, love and admiration from the entire community of Plaza lovers!

Or better still, invite us around for a party , i'll wash up 

[DaveM]

yeh shure guy's...i will share my recipe if you follow it step by step !! it is simple. just give m a few day's and ill post it on here...?? this is the way i have been cooking it and belive me its taste authentic..and look authentic...B Dave

[Hideaway69]

That's a great gesture Dave,very much appreciated

[Macktheknife]

Thanks, Dave. 
Wouldn't it be great if the entire surviving army of Plaza-lovers took over a pub (mind you, it would have to be a biggun') got semi-[censored] and were then served half a chicken biryani, Charlie-style, sauce of your choice (suicide for me, please), with lots of raw onion and a shedload of poppadums....message interrupted by drooling noises and sighs of remembrance. 

[DaveM]

ok here we go !!...follow this and you cant go wrong ??....dont worry about the jar of paste trust me it will be ok... you need i jar of Pataks madras hot curry paste( must be madras paste )..one chicken if you can get a Boiling fowl  or one fresh chicken !...bag of Basmati rice..tomato paste..Haldi powder( thats yellow )....boil the chicken in a big pot untill it is cooked...take out chicken when done put it on a plate.....( curry ) put the jar of pataks curry paste in a medium pan with bit of oil..add one table spoon of tomato paste and cook very slow for few mins...then put the chicken stock from the chicken pan into the paste and stir this but leve some chicken stock for the rice !!.....stir the paste untill you have the right thickness of the curry if its to thick add water.....put to one side...The rice wash the rice 5 times put in pan and the rest of the chicken stock then put in a pinch of Halid powder bit if salt then cook rice.....The chicken...while the rice is cooking strip the chicken and put on a plate you can have it hot or cold....Rice..when the rice is cooked serve the rice on a plate and mix in the striped chicken into the rice...Going back to your curry get the curry to your liking thin of thick but you should by now have a good pan full...Hotness if you want it hot just add chille powder the more the hotter use a good chille powder......put your curry in to a bowl and poor over your chicken and rice..!!! Enjoy...Big D

[DaveM]

ok next thing on the menue..papadoms everyone knows how to cook them!!! The onions..chop 2/3 onions up put in a bowl and add some tomato paste and a bit of chille powder mix well and serve with papadoms...Enjoy

[DaveM]

lol lol sorry guy's yellow powder is Haldi powder AKA Turmaric powder...

[Macktheknife]

So...what think you to this revelation, Hideaway, Ginga, and other contributors to the Plaza thread?

[Hideaway69]

Cheers Dave, will deffo give it a go later in the week, I imagined the ingredients to be a mish mash of spices,but it looks fairly basic , must admit i've never boiled a chicken before, perhaps that is where I have gone wrong in the past, plus adding all sorts of powders and concoctions instead of keeping it simple..cheers .

Macktheknife, sounds like a plan, just remember to bring your own bog roll