Topic: New arrival, looking forward to exploring new recipes.

[AlooAloo]

Hey all,

I've been lurking on this forum for a while, but the limited page views as a guest finally pushed me to join. As a true-born Brit, I've always appreciated a good curry and I've always wondered exactly what it is that makes that distinctive taste we find in Indian restaurants. Like a lot of people, I spent ages looking for the secret and tried all kinds of 'one-stage' recipes. A lot of them were very nice, but they didn't have that particular taste.

I found a link to chewytikka's base sauce and madras recipe somewhere on the internet and was intrigued by the idea of having a pre-prepared base sauce. I finally got around to trying the madras recipe a month or so ago and I was blown away by the results. I'm not a great cook and I even had to compromise on some of the ingredients, but I found it was astonishingly close to the "real thing". Clearly, you guys know what you're talking about.

I'm looking forward to trying out other curry recipes in the future and branching out into rices, sides and breads.

If anyone has any suggestions on good "next steps" after chewy's madras, I'd love to hear them; the sheer volume of expertise on this site makes it pretty daunting!
 
In any case, while I'm afraid I don't have a lot to offer you all here and might not post all that often, I'm looking forward to being here a lot as a spectator... and I appreciate the time and effort that all of you have put in who have posted recipes. You're truly doing God's work, gentlemen.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some curry base to defrost for dinner.

[london]

Chewy's base and Madras are a good start. Stick with the base and just cook what you enjoy eating, if you usually eat Madras then try a few others from the site until you find the one that suits your taste as everyone idea of a perfect Madras is different. Maybe try some rice and side dishes.

London.

[AlooAloo]

Thanks for the suggestion. That's a good idea.

[Imran the Chef]

Have you tried the all purpose spice mix by Spice-E. They do small sample packets and larger packets. Does give a very good result. For beginners the packaging comes complete with a recipe list and cooking method. I had to add a little extra chilli to mine as I like it HOT!!

[madpower]

imran the chef,what the hell does aloo's post have to do with what you posted to him,he can already make a curry why are you asking him to take a step in the wrong direction,i have used that all purpose spice mix you mention and never again,i suppose they sell it in the shop you mention in your very first post.

[Imran the Chef]

madpower you obviously have had a bad experience. And which spice mix are you talking about? Cooking curries is about experience and experimenting. There is no wrong direction as you put it. There are many all purpose spice mixes out there. The one I used was on of the better ones. A good start for a beginner!!

[madpower]

imran,i have had several different brands off ebay that were supposed to be the spice mixes that are used in indian restaurants for specific dishes,they were all bland,one of them i am pretty sure was just madras curry powder for the madras,i was once lucky enough to get hold of a couple of chefs spoons of mixed powder from a TA( even at the good price i paid he said this time only) i put half in the base and the rest to make 3 dishes,they were the best dishes i have ever made and the rest of the dishes i made with the base were very very good also,but he also rubbed a brown paste into the mix and told me to keep rubbing it in myself until it is dry,i think that is the ingredient we are missing,i dont think i am going to get that in a ?2 bag of spice mix,apart from that time the best results i have had is when using mixed powder recipes from this forum.

[Karahi Master]

Hi there, new to his forum but seems like a lively discussion. I went away to Uni and took some of my mums spice mix with me. Made a total hash of it first time around haha. Gradually worked out how it all works. The chef is right in that it takes experimenting. Not sure about the ebay mixes but I definitely swear by my mums mix. Then again she is my mum so I could be a little biased.

[madpower]

hello and welcome karahi master,your mums spice mix sounds interesting,any chance you could find out what it is please.

[Karahi Master]

I am going to put my mum's spice mix to the test. Will buy a few of those 'authentic' spices mixes you mentioned form ebay and run a competition against my mum's spice mix. STAY PUT EVERYONE!!

Just out of interest madpower how much oil do you use in your cooking. Say for eg you are cooking a curry to serve 4 ppl, about 500g diced chicken with 2 onions. How much oil would you use.