Genius! Like you I am new, only joined here 2 weeks ago - but having results beyond what I ever expected!

My first base was too spicy - but had great results with the following. I am keeping my recipes in word format, so just pasted what I did for Veg Rogon Josh (I would say as good as TA/restaurant really), could replace veg with chicken (apologise for long post)-

Cory Anders Spice Mix(slightly modifed) -

Ingredients:
                                                 Eighth      Quarter
?4 tbsp tumeric powder                  2 tsp         4 tsp
?3 tbsp coriander powder                1 ? tsp     3 tsp
?3 tbsp sweet paprika powder         1  ? tsp    3 tsp
?2 tbsp cumin powder                    1 tsp       2 tsp
?1 tbsp garlic powder                     ? tsp      1 tsp
?1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves         ? tsp      1 tsp
?0.5 tsp ginger powder                ? tsp       ?  tsp
?0.5 tsp cardamon powder            ? tsp mild madras   1 tsp
?0.5 tsp fenugreek powder            -

Cory Anders Curry Base -

It makes about 2.3 litres of curry base, which is sufficient for about 8 single portion curries.

Ingredients:

?   600g brown onions
?   25g fresh garlic
?   15g fresh ginger
?   40g tomato paste
?   175g fresh tomato
?   40g carrot
?   40g green capsicum (or red if you prefer)
?   20g coriander stalks/roots
?   ? green chilli
?   1 heaped tsp curry powder (any decent mild or medium one will do)
?   3 heaped tsp spice mix
?   1 tsp salt
?   125ml vegetable oil (or sunflower or canola oil if you prefer)
?   1500ml water

Method:

?   Wash and coarsely chop all vegetables, tomatoes and coriander stalks/roots
?   Place all ingredients in pressure cooker
?   Pressure cook for 15 minutes (or boil/simmer for about 1 hour)
?   Cool pan with base in cold water, until warm
?   Blend to a soup-like consistency. If too thick, add a little more water.

Veggie Rogon Josh  ?https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=834.0 (modified)

Serves 3 (or use pre-cooked chicken instead of veggies)

Ingredients 1:-

2 chefs spoon oil/1 tsp curry oil/1 tsp ghee
? onion, finely chopped
8 tsp garlic/ginger puree   
3 dsp tomato puree or 5 dsp tinned tomato
4 heaped tsp spcie mix
1 small tsp powdered chilli (add extra 1 if you want medium)
Approx 12 chefs spoons base (check for correct volume as cooking)
? tsp salt
5 small pre-cooked potatoes
1 large pre-cooked carrot
3 fresh large tomato, chopped
5 mushrooms, chopped
3 desert spoons  fresh, chopped coriander         
1 ? tsp methi leaves, crushed with fingers
1 tsp ground coriander

Method ?

Heat the 2 chefs spoons of oil, 1 desert spoon chilli oil, 1 tsp ghee for a minute on high
Add the onions and fry for till quite soft, transparent
Add the spice mix, chilli powder, fry for about 10 seconds
Add 3 desert spoons garlic/ginger paste and 2 of the fresh tomato, shake the pan vigorously while stirring, for another minute
Add the tomato puree/tinned tomatoes and stir a couple of times
Cook for another couple of minutes stirring
Add 4 ladles of curry gravy and stir a couple of minutes
Add 3 desert spoons fresh coriander, 2 tsp dried methi and just one teaspoon of the ground coriander
Stir for a minute then add 8 ladles of curry gravy
Add ? tsp salt
Add mushrooms
Put a lid on the pan for three minutes to get it really hot

While this is heating, start the second part of the recipe
Ingredients 2:-

100ml + 2 tsp chilli oil, 1 teaspoon ghee   
10 garlic cloves, chopped
3 desert spoons fresh coriander

Heat the 100ml ghee/oil for a minute then add the garlic
Cook for about two minutes until it goes a light brown (not black)
Add garlic/oil tarka into main pan and stir
Add 1 of fresh tomato, precooked potato and veg and stir, cook for a couple of mins
Add 3 desert spoons fresh coriander, 1 tsp ground coriander
Add extra salt to taste if needed

Piccy here - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=11125.0

May seem like a lot of hard work initially, but worth it.

Where has cr0 been for all of my life? Trying out the BIR method and recipes on this forum has changed my curry life!!

Cooked a veg rogon josh tonight using Cory Anders spice mix and base, and petes recipe (https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=834.0) and it turned out just brilliant! As good as virtually any restaurant/TA meal I've had.
I've been using a mixture of veg oil, Asda hot spicy curry oil, and a little ghee for cooking with - seems to work very well.

Pic here, still on stove. Presentation isn't my strong point! 

Tried this tonight for my wife as she is veggie. I cut back somewhat on the spices and garlic as they seemed a bit too much, and it turned out fanstastic! I think adding the garlic tarka makes this dish. For the veg, I used pre-cooked potato and carrot, and also added some mushroom during the cooking. I can honestly say that it was better than virtually any rogon joshes I've had at restaurants or takeaways. And the wife agreed.

Only slight difference I made was that for the oil, I used only 3/4 veg oil, then 1/4 hot curry oil from Asda, plus 1 tsp of ghee. I used this methoid for a chicken korma a few days ago (only 1 tsp of curry oil though), and this turned out very, very good too. Maybe the curry oil adds something a little different to the cooking, I don't know. Anyway, really chuffed!!  ;D

So, my second attempt at a curry tonight. First one last Friday was good, but spice mix too ?cuminy?, and my base was spiced too strong, and that came through in the curry a bit too much. But my tarka dhal was very, very good. See here - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=9035.0

This week I tried to rectify my wrongs. Planned things out in advance.

Used Cory Anders spice mix (less cumin).

Made a new base on Thursday night, decide to give Cory Anders base a try.
The base went very well, and had a pretty nice taste on its own ? but fairly mild as I wanted. Stuck all the main ingredients into the pressure cooker ? done in 15 minutes! The only thing I had trouble with was that the recipe adds the coriander and spices after cooking, and I found this difficult to blend properly ? especially the coriander (not softened by the cooking presumably). I think maybe next time I will add these before cooking (I assume that this won?t really change the taste?). When cooled, I put the base through a sieve ? this got rid of the larger pieces of coriander that did not seem to want to blend. Still slightly ?gritty? I think because of adding the spices after cooking. So today (Friday), after soaking overnight, took it out of the fridge before starting, and blended again for a few minutes ? this helped to make the base smoother.

Daughter loves korma, wife doesn?t and is a veggie so had to do two meals.

Veggie meal was based on Bruce Edwards bhuna. Only veg I had was aubergine and onion ? so grilled the aubergine and pre-fried the onions a little with a small amount of spice mix. For the oil. I used a little less veg oil, and added 1 teaspoon chilli oil, and one teaspoon butter ghee. Fried the spices Bruce Edwards style, then added base and veg. I was very pleased with the result (as was the wife) ? rather BIR style in taste and smell, but not quite there yet. Best veg curry I have made yet.

Chicken korma ? used ? pre-cooked chicken from tesco (!), cut it up. Recipe was based on Georges recipe ( a variation on Ghannas recipe), bit I did add a teaspoon of spice mix to add a little more flavour. This tuned out fantastic! Could not of hoped for better. The daughter loves the local take away korma, and I have to admit, whenever I have tasted it, it really is excellent.  Well, this recipe turned out just as good. I knew it was a hit as soon as the daughter took her first mouthful and started to smile. ?Is it as good as the take away one?? ?Yes? she ginned. A winner! I think what makes this dish, is the addition of evaporated milk ? it just adds the sweetness and taste of that take away meal.

Rice was based on Bruce Edwards pilau ?very good. Added some turmeric to give a little colour.

So, here are the pics. I know, I have to work on my presentation! Sorry it?s a bit long winded 

Veggie aubergene and onion -


Rice -


All together with the korma -

Just wanted to ask the question to experienced chefs - after all the time and effort over the months/years, would you say that you can cook a dish that is as good as your favourite bir take away or restaurant? If so, what would you say is the most important thing you have learned for you to get to that stage?

Ok. First attempt tonight at a veggie meal (wife is veggie), and it came out pretty good - not up tp TA or restaurant standard (apart from my Tarka Dhal!), but better than any curry I've cooked before.

I basically followed Chewys base, with a little bit of the Curry2go base thrown in (!), but only a small portion (2 onions) as for a first attempt I didn't want to make a large portion and find it was no good. Curry2go seems to have more mix powder and spices. However, I think at the end, the base was probably too strong a flavour - I added 3 teaspoons of mix (dipurajs mix).

Anyway, I cooked a vegetable dopiaza recipe (Haldi 2008), with increased quantity for 3 people. My observations were -

Probably not enough onion in the recipe (only 1/3 onion for one portion - dopiaza I've had before seems to have lots of onion.
Think I overcooked the onion and veg - will pre-cook less next time as it cooks more as you simmer for the last 10 minutes.
Curry tatsed a little too much of the base gravy - will have to half the mix next time I think. Also tasted like there was a little too much cumin in the mix powder - might try one with less cumin next time. However I did use some tesco spices I had for 2 parts of the mix (probably not the best).

I also cooked the curry2go tarka dhal (did add 1/2 teaspoon of mix, and a touch of lemon) - this was very good, probably as good as any I've had from TA or reataurant - maybe just a little too thick.

Served with just basic basmati rice (may attempt some pilau when I get more proficient), and also some of the frozen thin puffy breads from the indian shop (not sure what they are called) - just dry fry for a few mins, quite tasty.

So, not too bad for first attempt. I think I need more experience. I think I tend to feel that more spices = more flavour. Looks like it is actually less = more! Just choose the right ones for the recipe and stick to them!

Checked your videos Chewy - very good! Have you bought a new pan since then?   ;D

Ok, thanks for the replys guys.

Was hoping to try something tonight, but didnt have time unfortunately. Hope to try next weekend!

Hello all!

First post. I've been trying to cook curries for quite some time, and never really got close to getting the taste I want. Then I came accross this site, and maybe I will get closer now! In particular, what is very new to me is the cooking of the base prior to making a curry - I think that this is what I may have been missing all of these years! So I am going to try one soon.

My question is this -
My wife makes really good veggie soups (she is a veggie) - better than any I have ever had from purchasing and restaurants - and it is basically lots of veg, with little else apart from stock and a few herbs etc, cooked very quickley in a pressure cooker, then blended. In some ways its seems similar to the base recipes. As traditional base recipes seem to take a few hours - has anyone tried to cook a base curry using a pressure cooker? I am sure it would retain all the flavour and would enable you to cook a base within 15-20 mins instead of hours. This may enable the cooking of a complete curry, including the base very quickley. Any thoughts?

Also, could anyone suggest a good base gravy for a first attemp - one not too complicated, but which is well known for producing good results?

Thank you!!