Have been a big fan of this Eastern Tandoori dish for a few years and was thrilled to find this recipe. I do enjoy cooking and do it a lot but I'm a complete dilettante really and, although I have spent time bothering Indian food chefs in Ireland and India with questions, I have no real expertise in the area.

So after discovering this recipe last week (with Dave's help), I've had two gos at it. First time round I stuck rigidly to the recipe but mistakenly under buttered it. The second time I followed the recipe as is but added a bit of chicken stock to the base and cardamoms to the main gravy. I left out the food colouring in both.

Here's what I found: Both dishes were delicious. I haven't actually eaten a Patala for years because I don't live in Ireland anymore but my memory of the dish is still pretty sharp. My second attempt definitely got close to my memory of a Patala but not quite there.

3 things to say about this though: firstly my lack of expertise could well have been a factor. Secondly the end product may very well be even nicer than a patala. Thirdly, sight undeniably influences taste so the colour (or lack thereof) could well have influenced my opinion.

The reason I added cardamoms to the gravy is that I remember fishing these out of my patala on a number of occasions in Eastern Tandoori. After hassling the owner a few years ago (who also has a spice shop in town) he sold me a sachet of spice mix which he says they use in their patala. I tried to look this up again recently - it was made by laziza, came in a silver packet and was called something like hot and sweet chicken - but couldn't find it.

Just want to say thanks a million for posting this. This is an absolutely delicious dish and by far the nicest curry I've ever made.