Hi this is my first week on here and I have to admit feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of recipes to try here, and its causing me some anxiety because I want to choose one to make this weekend, and I want it to turn out perfect. 

I need some help starting out. There are no spices in my cupboard this will be a clean start.
I think supermarket spices tend to lack the potency of ones I get in these indian supermarkets. So it will be a long weekend sourcing ingredients as I dont have much local to me.

So whats a good starting out recipe. Something Jalfrezi Tikkaish, very hot.

Hi welcome aboard mate! I would start with one of CA,s recipes, always worked for me, use his base as well.  The vindaloo, madras, and Jalfreizi are some of my faves! Then try his pilau (with all the extra ingredients) once you,ve got some experience under your belt, deelish! Enjoy 

Hi CHH,
I understand your enthusiasm and speaking for myself I wanted to do every curry this site had a photo of when I first joined it.
I hope you understand the importance of the base gravy in these dishes.
I would first get one of those under your belt before getting too out of depth.
Then you can chill out knowing that you have the foundations at your fingertips (well, in the freezer).
I have tried the two on here... "Cory Anders" and  "Chewy Tikkas".

There are many on here and I would hazard a guess that they are worthy of a go at.
At this minute I find a Madras a pretty straight forward recipe.

Hi CHH,

Firstly welcome to the forum and hope you stick with this like the rest of us. You'll soon be serving mouth watering BIR dishes and I would say that you would get from your local BIR, but nowadays a lot of members feel they have exceeded what their local BIR produces! A great tribute to this forum

The crux of of it is, STICK with it. If it doesn't come out perfect on your first attempt then don't worry about it, just keep persevering and perfect your technique for your personal taste. There are a lot of regions/varieties on here and you have to find what suits you best.

Start out with a simple base, you're already on the right lines of where you select your spices, then make a simple dish like a Madras which seems to be your aim, there are plenty on here to choose from.

I would serve this with a simple plain boiled rice rather than an extravagant one, which will allow you to sample your efforts without spoiling them by other flavours.

Then just go from there by adjusting a little at a time until you find your perfection.

There is a lot of experience on this forum to help you in any way you need, so just ask away

the best first read is here

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1848.0

Hi CHH, there are a couple of choices in which way you want to go,there is the traditional way to make a curry frying onions and tomato to create your sauce this is known as ' a curry from scratch ' and here is quite a good recipe - https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5109.0

Or as posted above there is the ' BIR ' way which involves creating the gravy by usually boiling onions,green pepper,etc etc then frying the meat and adding more spices plus tomato puree,garlic and ginger etc etc.
I should have a good read of both methods and then decide which way to go, you do need to follow a recipe though 

Quote from: Unclebuck on June 26, 2012, 08:10 PM
the best first read is here

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1848.0

Welcome CHH.  An excellent place to start if you're after the BIR dishes that you get from your local.  This forum focuses main on BIR methods and recipes but many of its members are equally adept at cooking authentic indian dishes not found in our local restaurants and takeaways. Plenty of help available from most of the members here.  Don't be afraid to ask.  We all had to start somewhere    Good luck on your journey and keep us posted on your results

Hi !

Read this to understand the process:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/22f1oicvdcf21zb/Bruce%20Edwards%20-%20Curry%20House%20Cookery%20%28Complete%29.pdf

Then follow CA's (CoryAnder) base gravy and curry recipes for a first try. They are very popular and have detailed descriptions of the methods (and pictures).

There are many other (very popular) recipes on here but these seem to be the most detailed (and maybe fool-proof) ones for a beginner like you (AND ME). I made CA's base and it was dead easy. This weekend will see me making CA's Chicken Tikka Masala but I have no doubt that it will be excellent since I already tried the Chicken Tikka pieces and even my 3-year old munched on them despite saying they are too hot for her (well, she still has about 6 pieces ...)

Thank you all, especially for that pdf, I feel the anxiety lifting somewhat. I am especially interested in recreating BIR, the motivation being I have moved home near to Calne and there is only one local BIR and sadly not up to my expectations.

Some of the advice is counter intuitive to me (the curry base), but its logical, how else could a curry be turned around so quickly?

I have brought Rajah spice packets in the past are these adequate? My concern in buying spice is that if you get an older packet (as in supermarkets) the potency tends to decrease substantially. I will be looking around the Swindon area to source ingredients.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to avoid nose fatigue? Obviously I will be monitoring my curry intensively but am wary of the fact that over exposure to it will spoil the taste.

On a side, I'm also quite fond of Thai green curry and have had reasonable success in recreating although the approach is very different (all about FRESH), I order my ingredients "fresh" online.

I am surely not as qualified as many of the other members here but Rajah spices are pretty common in BIRs from what I read (as are TRS spices), so you should be fine provided they are fairly fresh (I just get all packets out of a box and search for the one whose expiry date is furthest away).

As for noise fatigue: Cook it, eat some, freeze the rest and eat it when the "dust has settled"