The perfect curry?

[swanbourne]

No, this isn't a recipe but a question. Like most blokes on here, I'm fond of a good ruby and have been tweaking the recipe for 40 years but am I doing it all wrong?

I've wondered how a restaurant can offer 50 different curries and prepare them so quickly, they surely can't have 50 different pots of curry bubbling away. When I've watched a curry being prepared in an Indian restaurant, all they appear to do is vary the meat and vegetable content, adjust the spices and then add the secret base curry sauce. I think they have 2 or 3 different curry sauces which enables them to quickly prepare individual servings of many different dishes.

So, my question really is: does anyone have a good recipe for the basic curry sauce? I have one in a book but I'm sure there must be a misprint unless you really do use 200 cloves of garlic in 2.5 litres of sauce.

Preparing individual servings would overcome the problem I have now of a curry being either too hot for Carol or not hot enough for me.

Eddie

[Bazzman]

Try the book:

Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon, changed my curries for the better.


Was told about this years ago, when I was using a very expensive book for recipies and every curry turned out not quite right.

Mate of mine told me about this - at the time £1.99 - paperback. I poo-pooed this, as I had a very expensive posh hardback book. Anyway, he bought the Curry Secret for me. Amazing stuff. What I had been doing with my expensive book was making Indian food. Very nice but not what we get in Blighty from a curry house.

I needed a book to show me how to make Indian Restaurant food.

There is a basic sauce which you make and can then freeze. I think the paperback is about a fiver now, but you can get a second hand one from the usual suspects.

Try it, you'll love it.

Barry

[IANAN]

There is a very good book called "Undercover Curry: An Insider's Expose of British Indian Restaurant Cookery" which is written by a someone who worked in Indian Restaurants to get the tricks of the trade. In the book there are a number of recipes including the basic curry gravy which is then individually flavoured to make many of the different dishes. He talks in terms of the BIR (British Indian Restaurant) rather than places which strive for regional authenticity and whilst many of the recipes include cooking a batch in bulk (although not stupidly large quantities) it may be worth a look for you.

[fornowagain]

Try the book:

Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon, changed my curries for the better.

I was just about to recommend the same book. I got a copy a few years back, you basically knock up a large batch of a 'base' sauce and separate into portions and freeze. The various dishes are all variations on the base sauce. Oh, and find a local Indian store for quantity of fresh spices and ghee, makes all the difference.

[village]

Try the book:

Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon,

Barry

A friend of mine swears by this.

£2.80 posted on Ebay or the newer version is just short of £6 on Amazon.

[raysablade]

Try the book:

Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon,

Barry

A friend of mine swears by this.

£2.80 posted on Ebay or the newer version is just short of £6 on Amazon.

It's only a quid on the Kindle.

[SimonH]

Agreed, many restaurants use a standard curry sauce (most buy it in) that is tweaked for the individual dishes.

However...

I lived with an Indian girl for nearly ten years so learned a good few authentic recipes, none of which used this sauce, and which I would argue are far superior and authentic, albeit not the same flavour as in most restaurants.

[Dr Phibes]

Must have had this book for about 20 years and can't recommend it enough.

But use Pat Chapmans Curry Bible a lot more now, gives you not only the traditional but also the restaurant recipe for vast number of rubies.

Get both.

Try the book:

Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon, changed my curries for the better.


Was told about this years ago, when I was using a very expensive book for recipies and every curry turned out not quite right.

Mate of mine told me about this - at the time £1.99 - paperback. I poo-pooed this, as I had a very expensive posh hardback book. Anyway, he bought the Curry Secret for me. Amazing stuff. What I had been doing with my expensive book was making Indian food. Very nice but not what we get in Blighty from a curry house.

I needed a book to show me how to make Indian Restaurant food.

There is a basic sauce which you make and can then freeze. I think the paperback is about a fiver now, but you can get a second hand one from the usual suspects.

Try it, you'll love it.

Barry

[Corporalsparrow]

God, I want a curry now.

I'm still in the office and someone down the corridor is eating spaghetti meatballs. That had me salivating...but this thread has me slobbering like a basset hound.

[IANAN]

I lived with an Indian girl for nearly ten years so learned a good few authentic recipes, none of which used this sauce, and which I would argue are far superior and authentic, albeit not the same flavour as in most restaurants.

Absolutely agree, the first thing I wanted to eat when I got back from India was a British restaurant curry - the food out there was excellent but there is something about our version that is addictive.

Next on the food list was Wiltshire ham as I'd missed that far too much...

[dustybottoms]

Great thread, been wanting a useful curry cook book so have downloaded the recommended book to my iPad via Kindle.

Thanks
:D

[100thmonkey]

Most of the restaurants use Pataks or similiar ready made and just throw the bits in, not hard to have 40 jars in the back is it

[DS3R]

Most of the restaurants use Pataks or similiar ready made and just throw the bits in, not hard to have 40 jars in the back is it

What ARE you talking about!?

That would not be cost effective before you've even thought about it!

[SimonH]

I lived with an Indian girl for nearly ten years so learned a good few authentic recipes, none of which used this sauce, and which I would argue are far superior and authentic, albeit not the same flavour as in most restaurants.

Absolutely agree, the first thing I wanted to eat when I got back from India was a British restaurant curry - the food out there was excellent but there is something about our version that is addictive.

Next on the food list was Wiltshire ham as I'd missed that far too much...

Know what you mean, after my trips to India I would always hanker for a night on the Pride (London Pride I mean :D) and a nice Chicken Tikka Massala to wash it down with when I got back :)