i've recently bought a 2.5kw stove and feel it's a massive improvement on my 1.5kw electric hob. cooking curry on electric is a big no no.

i am real envious of this top notch burner and if the budget permits would also recommend it as a key ingredient. it's just like the one used by the Chinese lady in the recent BBC2 programme.

my 2.5kw will not work for Chinese (not enough whumph) so anyone who needs both needs the real McCoy.

i'm thinking about getting a bigger jet for my stove but i need to cook a bit more before deciding - burning the tom puree on the new stove for the 1st time ever still lingers in the kitchen air.

gary,

appreciate you thoughts and understood you prefer the 8.8kw.

i had a few competing needs hence the softly approach of going for the 2.5kw.

1st was it needed to fit over my existing electric hob - the 8.8kw version is much bigger and would have taken up the whole hob space.

2nd need is that i wanted to use the stove to simmer the bases - the 2.5kw is almost too hot for this on it's lowest setting.

3rd i wanted it easily portable if i found i was not able to cook indoors (the heat, fumes, splashes etc)

i'm very happy with the performance of the 2.5kw - i need to cook with it a bit to see if i can improve my technique to even start to think the hotter stove (bigger jet) would be of any use - burning the tom puree showed to me along with the very fast evaporation that i get now get that i'm not that far away from the optimum.

i'm not that fussed on Chinese so i don't have large volumes to cook - just 400ml at a time down to 200ml.

Thanks for this SnS, I have been interested in the success JerryM has been getting with his stove but as yet have decided to delay purchase due to moving home soon. I do a fair bit of Chinese cooking and this will make a huge difference. Up until my visit to The Ashoka I was well up for following JerryM's experience then the Chef tells me that he advises us all to cook on a slow flame just like him. Given my overall experience of the trip and the excellent results I have got since I have been massively influenced by him although accepting either he or I got it wrong regarding the salt content of the Bunjarra. I have also observed contrary to this the high heat even flaming of the dish in other establishments so taking your lead I will purchase one of these in due course to enhance my oriental cooking and further experimentation of Indian too.

With Haldi's excellent post featuring his Tandoor and now yours we are so near perfection. Thanks again Panpot

Hi all, is the general concensus at the mo, that buying a gas burner will give a substantial improvement to the curry taste ? i am currently using electric cooker by the way. cheers DD

i've cooked a test curry sauce on the 8kw stove. i did not have a full set of ingredients so i am very cautious on commenting. i did not have garlic/ginger paste for example and i feel any test essentially meaningless as a result.

the taste was no different than with the 2.5kw BUT i'm not convinced it's towel time yet.

the cooking is very different and i would add not really safe for indoor use - i set fire to the pan twice (and i mean big flames).

what was unexpected was my wife's comment that the place smelled like a TA. she was also not impressed with the smoke either.

for a long time afterwards i could not help but agree - it did smell like a TA (and not just the kitchen but most of the ground floor). this is the 1st time i've got this smell at home. it's difficult to describe the smell - it's the one as u walk in the TA - it's not a spicy smell more like smokey but not burnt.