Let me tell you if i cooked at home the way i cooked when i work in the restaurant my wife would kill me and every smoke alarm in the house would be going off.lol
I dont think there is a secret that you are missing it looks as though its all there.
But how you cook the meals,how many of you but the ghee in turn the gas to full and add the onions, peppers,chillies etc and allow the oil to spill over and catch fire and when its still really hot add the base sauce,What a mess to clean up after.How many of you use woks to cook in?They are good but do not reduce the sauce as good as a high sided frying pan.mine has a long handle and is aluminium which reacts quickly over the burner.
I love to cook Indian food at home and let me tell you that even after 10 years i am still looking for the perfect curry.
The man that taught me to cook told me you never put the same amount of spices in the same meal each time you just use the same large spoon and judge it,so evertime you have the same meal it has a slight deference.This is because we are allways looking for that something extra.
Just recently i have been adding 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic at the add to the ghee part of the curry just before you add the base sauce.And find it to make the curry slightly sweeter and gives it a bit more.forgot what i was asking!!oh yeah
So my question is do you kill your kitchen?  ;D
Thanks andy

my kitchen has evolved somewhat.

i started out on electric hob, then stove, then gas hob and back to stove.

i used parker21's trick for a good while of covering the adjacent work surfaces and floor with newspaper - it works a treat.

on upgrading the stove i found the smoke too much and have since moved my curry kitchen into the garage. for me it's perfect. i did cook outside last night which simplified the fetching and carrying but it's rare that the weather is good enough.

i have a 9" cast steel frying pan. i'd like to c/w an ali pan but in the end not enough to buy one.

hi chilli
it sounds like you cook in an indian restaurant kitchen? or have had the experience.(if you do ) what can you tell us hints/tips/methods/and the biggest one using oil in the base where does it come from? oh and recipe for the base sauce!

the answer to the question yes the kitchen gets killed upto a point but easily cleaned damp cloth and a bit of bleach, the newspaper saves a lot of it but i have to use a camping stove to cook on though because the electric hob is crap and no way near hot enough to cook the curries. ocassionally the smoke alarm goes off but i do have the kitchen door( to the outside open) the window and the extractor fan on the ensure the fumes/smoke go the right way. as you will know that chilli fumes there is nothing like it ;D oh and i m the only one in the kitchen when i am cooking no 1 can stop coughing wife or kids. on 1 memorable time that i still chuckle at was when my mate came round to have a beer and a chat sitting in the kitchen (fool) and i asked him if he was going to be alright there whilst i cooked (being polite) he said yeah, would love to see how i did it. so i put the pan on to heat up added the oil and the garlic to cook out then removed the pan to add the spices just after i put the pan back on the stove the fumes started he was in terrible pain eyes watering coughing loss of breath he swore at me and said he had to go outside and how could i stand it, he went home ;D i was cooking a vindaloo  i am the only 1 that can stand in that room and not be effected by the fumes even though i am standing over the pan, but once the meal is cooked before i can eat it and appreciate the food i have to go outside and clear my airways otherwise i can't taste it properly

regards
gary

The chef i worked with did not use oil in the base sauce but after i had filleted 10-12 chicken breast's on the bone he would boil the carcases and strain this and freeze or use the stock strait away to make the base and pick the chicken from the carcases to make starters etc this is a good economy practise nothing is waisted.
But oil is good if you do not get that much stock.
There was a thread on here where some ask about making a large amount of base sauce and do you double or treble all the ingredient's the answer is no.
  Use less ginger when double or treble
  use less water   "     "     "   "
I gauge my water buy just covering the onions and bring to boil then turn right down and cook slowly for 1-1 1/2 hours
In the restaurant we would leave it on very low heat just a flicker of gas for 4-5 hours sometimes much longer.
A good tip is not to blend to much just a few seconds pour into a collinder above the sauce pan and using the back of a laddle gently rub the laddle againts the side what will not go through easy leave in till the last laddle full is in the blender then scoop out and add blend and put through the collinder if any remains throw it away.
hope this helps
               andy
Its easier to do than say

hi again andy would you post the recipe for you base sauce and any recipes that you cooked using it would be great? you say that the chef didn't use oil in the base, what did his base have as the medium ie water or stock? and what do you believe creates the taste we are all looking for? from what you are saying the base you use sounds like the recipe from the curry secret by Kris Dhillon a book we all have somewhere along the way have tried with varying results, as it turns out we are still looking which is why we are all here
regards
gary

I am away for a few days but will put it on as soon as i,m back,I have read curry secrets and its very similar but there seems to be to much boil this simmer this all i do is let it all cook together very slowly for longer.If you look at most the ingredient for the base its all close to the same.I use the oil method at home but will see if i have the measurements somewhere.but as i remember the stock as enough watery content and you do not need to add much water at all.
I will post next week.
                     andy

cheers andy can't wait. enjoy your break and happy easter
regards
gary

I also look forward to your return, could learn something here.

Hi all I'm back.
    Have had a look and can't find the recipe for the base sauce.but i will get intouch with the chef he lives on corfu and works and owns an indian called the viceroy which is was in kontokali then ipsos and now is near aqua land i worked there for 7-8 months and learn alot about indian cooking and where i was the tandoor chef and then the starters chef and spent one week as the main chef why he was in the uk at a friends funeral.so my main skills were starters and naans ect.
Here is a quick indian summer salad recipe.
1, slice 1/4 lettuce
2, Finley slice 1/2 onion
3, 4 inches cucumber cut thinly sliced then cut through to make half moon then cut to make quarter moon
4, Coarsely slice 1/2 red 1/2 green pepper
5, cut 3 tomato's in to about 6-7 slices through the top
6, a big handfull coriander washed and drained chopped Finley
7, 1 teaspoon salt
8, half teaspoon chille powder
9, 2 large teaspoons mint sauce
10, sprinkle of lemon juice
  put all above in a bowl and mix together with a large spoon or hands. and serve
  all the best andy

chilli head,

the salad looks good to me and will certainly give it ago. probably put it in pitta which i guess u'll be a bit miffed with given your expertise.

anyhow main reason for post - i notice lye in your footnote - is it near stourbridge. if it is then u'll know my fav place the dilshad at oldswinford opposite the cross.