“Juicier” Tandoori

What cooks traditional tandoori better than a tandoor oven? Kadiri’s answer: A Rational SelfCookingCenter® whitefficiency®

Kadiri is one of the best known names in Indian restaurants. Jamal Kadiri founded Kadiri’s restaurant in North West London back in the 1970s and the business is still flourishing. Recently it opened Kadiri’s Events, a central production kitchen unit (CPU) in Park Royal that, as well as catering for events such as weddings at five star hotels, will supply Indian food to other restaurants and offer a training school for would-be Indian chefs.

When it came to specifying catering equipment for the new CPU, manager Mo Kadiri knew that one piece of high tech cooking equipment was sure of a place alongside the tandoor: the Rational combi steamer.

“We have a Rational in the restaurant and it is constantly in use,” he says. “For the events business we went for a 12 grid unit.”

Kadiri’s new Rational is a SelfCookingCenter whitefficiency. “We use it for grilled tandoori items all the time,” he explains. “The Rational cooks lamb, chicken, steaks, everything to perfection. And the meat stays succulent. It can even prepare a healthier samosa, by brushing lightly with oil.”

Currently the new production kitchen uses the Rational mainly for grilling, but they are also experimenting with, for example, rice and bread. “We know from our restaurant that the SelfCookingCenter demonstrates great efficiency in electricity, water and labour. It is ideal not only for cooking rice but also for reheating and hot holding. We are now conducting a procedure to cook and reheat items from vacuum pack bags,” says Mo Kadiri. “Because we’re using the combi so much for meats, we will be investing in a second Rational, which will stack on top of our current one.”

The 12 grid size (Model SCC-we 62) is unique to Rational. Essentially it is a double 6-grid unit, capable of holding up to 12 1/1 gastronorm containers. One of the reasons for selecting it was that it could hold a whole 15kg lamb. In fact, it can hold up to four at once.

The ability to have such a high load is due to Rational’s new HiDensityControl feature. A patented dynamic air mixing technology, it channels the heat and humidity to exactly where it is needed, depending on the state of the product being cooked. HiDensityControl not only delivers outstanding cooking quality, but also allows chefs to load up to 30% more food into the same size cooking cabinet. It also reduces energy consumption by up to 20% and cuts production time by up to 30%, compared to previous models.
“We’re getting a lot of interest in the whole lamb for events. It’s a real centrepiece. We marinade it in herbs and spices. The Rational can cook this on overnight roasting and holding mode and the results are absolutely fantastic. The meat is tender, juicy and falls off the bone,” says Mo Kadiri.

In fact, time saving is another key reason for specifying the SelfCookingCenter whitefficiency. Mo Kadiri says that ultimately the new production kitchen will employ up to five chefs, who will be preparing up to 5,000 meals a day. “Using equipments like the Rational we can produce traditional Indian cuisine more efficiently with fewer staff and there are absolutely no compromises on quality.”

Chefs at Kadiri keep up to speed with the latest technologies and combi steaming techniques by attending Rational events, such as the Expert Kitchen and Cooking Live seminars. “They are very useful,” says Mo Kadiri. “They help our guys get more out of the SelfCookingCenter technology.”

For information and brochures, or to arrange to come to a free SelfCookingCenter® whitefficiency® ‘Rational CookingLive’ seminar, contact your dealer, freephone Rational UK on 0800 389 2944 or see www.rational-UK.com. Visit the iPhone store for the Rational SCC Expert App.