Yopu have, in my 'umble, the best ever recipe book for curries. We have used it so much, over such a long time, we are now on our third copy of it. Particular favourite is Fried Chicken Curry.

We have tried growing our own Coriander, but an inability to remember to give plants water doesn't help. It remains an ambition though. Given we can grow tomatoes outside, we know we have the right weather and climate conditions with us. Trouble is our "garden" is not quite ready yet. Hope to have it started this time next year. Will report on progress from time to time, and will mosty certainly be looking on the Gardening section for help.

Do I wish the curry house 30 miles away did, probably not. From the taste of the two curries (our own excepted)we've had here, they are bland. We did a very mild Chicken in a Butter Sauce to return a favour our neighbour did, and it had 'em sweating.

Welcome to you too. What you up to Curry wise?

sent in error; proper reply to follow

Jerry, first, hello.

Growing our own is an ambition, but our garden is not yet in the sort of state fit for growing, and there is still some pretty heavy work needed, and will not be completed until next year. When that's done, we're up for growing all sorts of stuff. I'll be eagerly searching the Gardeners section for loads of advice...

Re the chillies, I had thought of finely chopping them and sealing them under oil in Kilners, but until I see a proper recipe, I dare not do anything that would get rid of my precious stock. Replacing them here has so far proved impossible. Can anyone help by confirming that chopping and putting in oil will do the job, or doers anyone know a better method?

Hello 976bar

Thanks for you swift reply. The way you describe is just how we do keep them, but I have a tiny wee problem. We live in rural France, so supplies HAVE to obtained from my old Asian shop in the UK. When last there (about 2 years ago)  we bought about 2kg, and whilst we have worked our way through them fairly well, we are now finding that once de-frozen, the insides are going a dark brown. We will continue to use them, but my thoughts were that they may be better preserved by making them into a paste, possibly with oil, and preserving them in Kilner jars.

Do you have any thoughts?

Only me second post, so I hope I'm in the right place.

I would like to know if anyone has any advice on preserving whole chillies? I have thought about making them into Chilli Paste, but have been totally unsuccessful in finding a recipe. Can anyone help us please?

Cheers, oh, and hello too...

We've eaten this at the Karachi and really enjoyed it. Having found the recipe online we just had to give it a go. I'm no pro chef, but was very pleasantly surprised at just how authentic it tasted. I did leave out two chillies, and still found the result to be a mouth-burner, but it still let the flavours through.

The spinach is an essential in my opinion, as a taste, as a texture, and also to add an authentic colour to it too.

I'm a 59 year old expat, living in the non Curry land of France. Been here for nearly 5 years, and guess what? Very few curry houses, and the few I have seen, have (to what I was used to) a very limited and mild range. Plus the nearest one to us is about 30 miles away. So I don't visit them.

However, I eat Curry almost every week, lovingly prepared by yours truly. We used to live just outside Bradford, so access to both great Curry houses, and Asian shops was excellent. We have brought with us all our stocks of spices, and a large range of recipe books, and authentic recipes from Asian friends.

I will be on here regularly, and look forward to getting to know you regulars.

Cheers...