Jerome

I'm sure we have a few curry fans here, so I thought I'd see if anyone can clear up conflicting views on the origin of the name of the infamous phall.

I gather that phall originated from UK lager-louts demanding hotter than vindaloo curries after a good session. Probably mostly bravado/showing off to the mates etc.

An Indian friend of mine told me that phall translated into "ridicluous" in gujarati ('scuse speeling), because waiters in Indian restaurants were understandably fed up with said lager louts and were taking the pi55 out of them when they ordered a hotter than vindaloo curry.

On the other hand, my gf's cookbook says it come variously from the word for "fruit" or the Hindu phrase "Bhuna phar" which means "bottom ripping". It still says that phall was revenge on the "evil" lager louts though.

Can anyone clear this up and settle an argument?

messiah

I don't think you've spelled it correctly - I think it's "Thaal"

i could be wrong...

Suresh

I think the name is fiction, created by UK restaurants much like the "madras" just so that the untrained local "gora" palatte has an idea of how hot the food is going to be. Probably has no authenticity whatsoever.


Suresh,
Doesn't eat in Indian restaurants where they serve madras or phall dishes unless several sheets to the wind

OllyK

Ingredients for a Mohan Thaal, doesn't look that hot to me!
1 lb. coarsely ground besan
2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tbsp. ghee
1 lb. ghee
1 lb. sugar
3-1/2 oz. mawa, crumbled
3 cups water
Yellow food colouring
2 specks of edible camphor (brasso)
6 to 7 almonds, crushed
1/2 tsp. elaichi powder
Silver warq

However Phall:
# Phall curry (the hottest there is) 1.5lbs lamb 1 big onion 8 - 10 cloves of garlic 1 inch peice fresh ginger, finely chopped 3T oil or butter 14oz tin of tomatoes or 1 pint carton of pasata 1T tomatoe puree 1T ketchup 12 - 15 dried bird seed chillies 1t cumin 1t coriander 3t birdseed chile powder 1t dried methi leaves(fenugreek) 1t garam masala

Looks more like the contender: http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/lamb/phall_curry.html
http://www.indianfoodsco.com/Classes/Glossary.htm
http://www.protovale.co.uk/john/curry.html

OllyK

Many of the dishes in an Indian restaurant here are not authentic, Chicken Tikka Massala being the most obvious, which by all accounts has its roots in Glasgow.

douglasb

What's the hottest curry?

In a restaurant the hottest is the Phal. It's a restaurant invention to satisfy 2 types of customer

1) The true Chile-Head who has an unusually high tolerance to chillies and genuinely enjoys extremely hot food

2) The would-be Chile-Head who, after half a dozen pints too many, reckons he can eat the hottest curry in the house. He usually gets about half way and then (multiple choice here) starts crying / passes out / accuses the restaurant of serving bad curry and refuses to pay the bill.

Taken from Curry House FAQs.

Doug

MazingerZ

Yep I believe Phall is from Birmingham....

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Its for the 50 odd year old bloke in the office who has to tell you they have done it bigger, faster, higher, longer. When you mention you had a hot curry they tell you about the Phal they had in 1977 at the Piccadilly Plaza, the implication that your Vindaloo, Jalfrezi etc is for schoolgirls.

Generally nothing seems that hot nowadays, trouble is when I do go for it I get told off for stinking so last night I was on the Chicken Shaslik, very nice but I miss the endorphin rush of some heat.

Leslie

Lucky for J4CKO'S mate then!

Les

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

He gives as good as he gets, in fact usually much worse.

I swear somethings died up there, his daughter had a couple of Hamsters, haven't seen those in a while.....

I think he is out tonight, lock up your pets.

speye91

The Phaal is actually a Bangladeshi curry traditionally served with fish as the main meat.

Vampire

I used to eat Phal's quite often a few years back, usually when I was stone cold sober too. I just went through a phase of really liking super-hot food, it wasn't some kind of macho thing.

I remember going in one place of a lunchtime with a group of friends, and ordered one as usual. When I ordered it I got the "are you sure sir, it's very hot" from the waiter, and when it arrived all the kitchen staff were trying to watch me eat it out of a tiny porthole window on the kitchen door. They looked quite disappointed when I just munched my way through it, chatting away with my friends. My mates girlfriend tried a tiny bit of the sauce on a naan and almost choked.

I don't eat them now, stuff like Jalfrezi, Biriani, etc is fine these days.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Well, most "Indian" Resturants are actually Bangladeshi or Pakistani from what I can tell when speaking to the owners of such fine establishments ;o)

I think I've got quite a high tolerance to chillis and generally hot food - but I'd rather have a good Tikka Masala or Balti than some stupid Vindaloo that I just don't enjoy eating.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

I did the phall thing once... bloody stupid idea. I could barely taste the thing and spent the next morning learning why the "put the bog roll in the fridge" idea was such a good one.

I actually had a cold bath to soothe my ring piece.

speye91

LG John

And hence his scoobynet name was born. His name is actually Kie but his ring burns hence.....Kiering_Burns

turboman786

Some retsuarants sell a diesh called the 'bund par'.....eg chicken bund par......this literally means '**** burner' and is a name made up in the Uk to mock the said lager louts mentioned in the 1st post.....

MazingerZ

I remember trying some mexican stuff, the guy said try it it will make you scratch the walls of your bathroom....if you know what I mean

that was hot!

Dan W

If you want to try something super hot get a packet of Bird eye chillis from asda (the red ones) and one of their made-on-site pizzas. chop the whole pack of chillis and sprinkle on the pizza.

I had a Phal wednesday. Not my first either. And I regularly put chillis on a pizza. The Phal doesn't come close. Although a phal is lovely.

Diesel

I have no idea what that is! Seems to be a sugar, ghee and lentil flour dough with moth repellent in metallic silver- yukkkk!!!!

Is there a 'ceylon' curry inbetween vindaloo and phall? Love 'em all and speak as the lucky eater of the winning dish in the hottest curry in Wales contest once. Ohh yes!

D

_RIP_

Massala is the name of the base sauce from which many restaurant curries are made. It's mainly onions, garlic, ginger, a little cumin, coriander and turmeric and some passata. In its base form this sauce is mild and hence probably suits the majority of people.

It's from this base sauce that you can make many other dishes. HTH.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 medium onion - finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic - peeled and sliced
• 1.5 inch piece root ginger - peeled and thinly sliced (it should look about the same volume as the garlic)
• (optional) 2 mild fleshy green chillies - de-seeded and veined then chopped
• half teaspoon turmeric powder
• half teaspoon ground cumin seed
• half teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 5 tablespoons plain passata (smooth, thick, sieved tomatoes, US = purée) or 1 tablespoon concentrated tomato purée (US = paste) mixed with 4 tablespoons water

Method

1. Heat the oil in a heavy pan then add the chopped onion and stir for a few minutes with the heat on high.
2. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilli (if using). Stir for 30 seconds then put the heat down to very low.
3. Cook for 15 minutes stirring from time to time making sure nothing browns or burns.
4. Add the turmeric, cumin and coriander and cook, still very gently, for a further 5 minutes. Don't burn the spices or the sauce will taste horrid - sprinkle on a few drops of water if you're worried.
5. Take off the heat and cool a little. Put 4 fl oz cold water in a blender, add the contents of the pan and whizz until very smooth. Add the passata and stir.
6. Put the puréed mixture back into the pan and cook for 20 - 30 minutes (the longer the better) over very low heat stirring occasionally. You can add a little hot water if it starts to catch on the pan but the idea is to gently "fry" the sauce which will darken in colour to an orangy brown. The final texture should be something like good tomato ketchup. Warning - it WILL gloop occasionally and splatter over your cooker, it's the price you have to pay!

Vampire

One theory I always had about Phall's was that the name was an abreviation for phallus, basically implying that the drunks who come in and order them are pen1s's.

Having said that, I used to like phalls.

Leslie

Les

billythekid

I grew up eating Indian food and I have yet to find an Asian restaurant in the UK that serves anything I had as a kid. I think if I went to a very specialist place then maybe I could but no where near me does anything like. My local is good, but its still not authentic IMHO, but then I dont think the locals would enjoy it too much.

Batatayacha Rassa with Bhaat and some sweet Kheer for desert... could eat bowls of the stuff!!