Hello All
I Have been looking for a site like this for yonks, Splendid!!
I'm an expat who lives in Malaysia and although there is a large ethnic Indian community and loads of good restaurants here it's tough to get a curry that tastes the way you want it from the high street in good old Blighty.
I have been experimenting with curries for about 20 years, especially after visiting the Balti houses in Birmingham in the early 80's. I thought they put heroin in those curries they were so addictive. Big carry out from the offie next door, monster nans, roll the sleeves up ..get stuck in ..brill
One tip I have that you might want to try which certainly adds that extra dimension when creating the Karahi (Balti style ) dishes , ... put about a tablespoon of oil in the Balti pan, heat it till it is really,really hot, I know there are recipes that also say this but I mean SMOKIN!! then slam in the hot cooked portion. Watch out for the flames though. The smell and the taste after you do this is brilliant..I wouldn't recommend doing this inside the house though, as the smoke will choke you ,the kitchen smoke alarm will trigger and the wife will give you jip for stinking the rooms up with the smell of curry.
So if you have a barbeque side burner or camping gas burner that you can use outside, use that. The smell that comes off will make your neighbours think a curry shop has opened next door, and the taste...woooh.