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Its a well known fact amongst curry eaters, that tandoori chicken is red while chicken tikka and chicken tikka masala - the nations favourite dish,
are orange.Or are they? For one Coventry restaurant, all that is changing. And top curry chef Rois Ali of the Rupali Restaurant is hoping that chefs all over the country will follow suit.
"Currying Flavour with diners. By Ann Evans - Coventry Evening Telegraph."
Its a well known fact amongst curry eaters, that tandoori chicken is red while chicken tikka and chicken tikka masala - the nations favourite dish, are orange.Or are they? For one Coventry restaurant, all that is changing. And top curry chef Rois Ali of the Rupali Restaurant is hoping that chefs all over the country will follow suit.
Following recent media reports that some Indian restaurants are using dangerously high amounts of food colourings in some dishes, which can be linked to hyperactivity, asthma and even cancer, Rois made the immediate decision to stop using any added colourings in his dishes. And he is hoping that his actions will encourage all Indian restaurants and chefs to do likewise.
"These colourings add nothing to the flavour of the dish," said Rois who has won numerous awards for his culinary skills. "If anything they sometimes have a very slight bitter taste. Removing colourings from the food detracts nothing from the flavour, and actually gives the food a more natural look."
Rois, whose future plans include transforming the old fire station in Coventry city centre into a bar, restaurant and Asian food academy, explained that food colourings have only been added to certain dishes in the past because its what the public expect.
"When people order tandoori chicken, they expect it to be red," said Rois
who currently offers a healthy option menu at the Rupali and whose restaurant in 1995 was the first Asian restaurant to get a Healthy Heartbeat Award.
"If they order chicken tikka, they expect it to be orange. If they arent these colours they think theyve got the wrong meal. Its due to public demand that we have been putting colour in."
Media attention was drawn to this problem following random tests ordered by trading standards officers in Surrey. They discovered that 57 percent of Indian restaurants in the county use "illegal and potentially dangerous" levels of dyes to give the sauce its distinctive orange-red hue. Their tests focused on three chemicals - sunset yellow (E110) tartrazine (E102), and ponceau p4R (E124).
But as Rois says: "Indian food is very colourful anyway. The natural spices are colourful - chilli, turmeric - and we blend all our own spices too, so we know there are no added colours to the basic spices either. "If you are a good chef, you create your own colour in your dishes." All meals served at the Rupali are now free from additional colours, and the reaction from the diners has been very positive.
Rois adds: "When we tell people why their meal isnt the colour they expect, they are very pleased as its beneficial to their health.
And everyone has said that the taste is the same. "Ive proved that its not bad for business, so other restaurants can safely do the same. I hope everybody follows in my footsteps."
To prove that additional colouring makes no difference whatsoever to the taste, Rois cooked up a range of dishes, with and without added colour - tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, tikka masala and chicken pathia. He then invited workers from nearby businesses to sample them and see if they could tell the difference.
Kas Ahmed aged 26 from Manchester, is currently working in the Midlands as
manager and locum pharmacist. He sampled every dish, with and without colour and found absolutely no difference whatsoever in the taste. He added: "Im very pleased that the Rupali wont be using colourings from now on. its a step forward. Indian restaurants and take-aways have been available for 30-40 years, but weve only recently learnt about the additives and colorants, so this is definitely a very pleasing step forward."
Ian Cleghorn aged 50 works at the Mortgage & Finance Centre on Tile Hill Lane. "The chicken is superb in all these dishes and theres no difference at all between them having added colour or not," he said. "Having read all of the publicity about the health scares this is encouraging because you know theres no additional colour."
Simon Venters aged 41 works also works at the Mortgage and Finance Centre and says he preferred the look of the dishes without the extra colour. "I always think the red colour makes a dish look a lot hotter. Without it, the food looks much more appealing - it looks a lot more natural. And having no added colour doesnt change the taste at all. This pathia still tastes like a pathia - very tasty."
Rupali Indian Restaurant, 337 Tile Hill Lane, Coventry. Telephone 024 7642 2500.
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Alan McColm is QFOL's Restaurant Critic and Travel reviewer. Alan is working all over the country ... more
