Topic: Newby

[meddyliol]

Hi, my name is Brian and my wife and I have been trying to make a curry from scratch (no shop bought curry powder) but with little success. We like the Patak Tikka Masala paste curry but as I said we are trying to get away from any shop bought stuff (apart from spices of course). I would like a base recipe that would taste similar to the Patak one, or at least, fairly close to it. If there is one could someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Brian

[Garp]

Greetings Brian and welcome.

I haven't been on here too long but, like you, I try to avoid using shop-bought pastes and stuff.

There are a humungous amount of recipes if you browse the forum under main dishes. Someone more experienced than myself will give you some good advice shortly I'm sure.

[Garp]

 

[Stephen Lindsay]

welcome Brian - enjoy

[curryhell]

Hi Brian and welcome to the forum. Correct me if i'm wrong but from your post i'm not sure if you simply want to be able to create your own curries from scratch or whether in fact you are keen to replicate and be able to create BIR curries which is what this forum is really passionate about.  I am hoping its the later 
Make one of the bases and accompanying mix powders on here, use it  with a recipe and you will create something far better than a Pataks tasting curry and soon achieve beyond your original goal.  While many of us accept that Pataks are now a common feature in BIR cooking and are found in  many BIR / TA establishments, this does not stop some of our members from developing and using their own pastes  and ingredients to avoid the readily available commercial alternatives.
Not sure how much you have read on the site or how familiar you  are with BIR cooking.  Apologise in advance if I am preaching to the converted but i'll continue in case you are totally new to this game, as we all were at some stage.
A good BIR curry is the result of various ingredients cooked with a base gravy or garabi or curry sauce as it is sometimes known.  This is simply a flavoursome neutral mildly curry tasting sweet liquid, slightly thinner than soup.  Normally a mixed powder is used which is a combination of spices, as few BIR's use individual spices to create dishes.  There are various ingredients used, prepared in advance like precooked onions and peppers, chicken etc.  All this becomes evident as you trawl through the huge amount of information on the site.  But starting at the beginning, IMHO the key things to get right to start creating home BIR dishes are: a good base, a matched mix powder, technique and loads of practice.
There are some very good bases on here, all similar but slightly different with accompanying mixed powders.  The hardest thing is getting the technique right.
An ideal base to start with is the Chewytikka 3 hour base, unless you have a pressure cooker, in which case it can be cooked a lot quicker.  There are some more slightly complex bases direct from restaurants that members have been able to get into the kitchens and get inside information.
The great thing about Chewytikka's base is that it can be used with the huge suite of recipes which are all in the form of tutorial videos, a great help for those at the start of their curry journey.  Another great source of information is the many posts on here by Currybarkingmad.  He has produced two superb e-books, each available for the price of a pint.  Well worth the investment in my opinion.  Below are a couple of links to bases worth trying along with a link to a visit made by five of the forum members to Zaal in Fleet in 2012 which includes a considerable amount of info and is quite a good read.

Chewy's (CT's) videos
http:_//vimeo .com/21104829

Currybarkingmad's videos
http:_//vimeo.com/45213828

Delete the underscore from each of the links above and they'll work fine as embedding vimeo vids here doesn't seem to work and i'm no techie on how to type the links any other way 
The Taz base -  a different method with a good selection of recipes available on the site by Stephen Lindsey
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,4163.0.html

Cooking lessons with Az at Zaal Fleet
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,7714.90.html

Feel free to ask as many questions as you like.  There are many people on here well able to help in your curry journey.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it all goes 

[rshome123]

Curryhell, I have to say that's the most helpful post for a newcomer I've seen.  Well done.

[meddyliol]

Thank you very much for your extremely informative answer. I was a little surprised as some forums simply give a facetious answer as if everyone is an expert. Anyway, to get to your reply, are you saying it is best to add  shop bought curry powder? I am having a look at the links you provided.

Thank you very much again

PS This might be a stupid question but what does BIR mean? 

Brian

[Les]

PS This might be a stupid question but what does BIR mean? 

Brian

No question is to stupid Brian
BIR stands for "British Indian Restaurants"

Happy Currying

Les

[meddyliol]

Thanks for that. Obvious really 

[fried]

Curryhell, I have to say that's the most helpful post for a newcomer I've seen.  Well done.

Yep, that should be stickied somewhere.