Topic: Spices of India and Mr Huda's curry paste

[onion]

Hi all,

I recently went on to the spices of india website to order some stuff, I noticed some nice recipes there and had a look. Among the ingredients were Mr Hudas basic curry paste and the recipe for the base was very simple, soooo I ordered some and made a Chicken Dhansak and a Chicken Bhuna following the recipe exactly.
I am not one for using bought paste but it sounded good. The results were the best curries I have ever made, in my opinion BIR standard, good smell good taste, without doubt worth a go.

Has anyone else tried it?

Onion

[SnS]

Hi Onion

I'm almost sure it was Mr Hudas who had a stand at the recent Lincolnshire show.

I tasted some of their sample curries (with crackers) and found them to be far too raw and not much different to the pre-made stuff bought at the supermarkets.

SnS

Here is their own website

http://www.mr-hudas.co.uk/index.html

... which happens to be in Lincolnshire - so my guess is, it was them.

[onion]

I tasted some of their sample curries (with crackers) and found them to be far too raw and not much different to the pre-made stuff bought at the supermarkets.

Hi SnS

Well all I can say is, the curries I made did not taste raw in any way, they had a mellow sweetness and a smooth creamy texture that coated the mouth, the heat came in slowly without blasting your taste buds into oblivion.

What I was most impressed with was the fact that there are no preservatives in the paste, in fact when you open the jar the aroma is sweet, not harsh, as with some of the Pataks pastes.

Onion

[SnS]

I'm sure you're right Onion.

Just saying it wasn't anything special at the show (maybe because it was at the show and wasn't cooked properly).

As its available locally, I will try some at home ... which one do you recommend?

SnS 

[onion]

Hi SnS

I have tried something simular at the Selby Game Fair, as you say, it tasted very harsh, but I can't remember what it was.

The universal curry paste was the one I used, By far the best result was the Chicken Bhuna recipe, the one thing I changed in the recipe was the cherry tomatoes, I used slightly larger fresh toms, skin on, other than that I followed it exactly.

Onion

[dawn.s]

I added some of the universal curry paste to one I was making for my friends hubby, he doesn't like it too hot. I used the B. E base. He said it was exactly like our local take away, of course now he expects a cuury every time I see him (I'm taking my friend on a trip to the spice shop next week!)

[currywalla]

i'm with sns on this one, i was at the show also and picked up flyers and it is most definately hudas, i also found it raw and not BIR standard. i guess everyone has there own tastes so no doubt you enjoyed it but general BIR standard it is not!

the currywalla

[Secret Santa]

Not Mr Hudas but on a similar theme I was recently given a tub of Madhuban madras sauce which has been mentioned on this forum before. My impression was that it was extremely bitter, as if the spices had been burnt, and a million miles away from any BIR curry I have ever tried.

It was like a Patak's curry sauce only worse. The rawness of the ingredients just stood out. And this guy claims that it is BIR restaurant style. In fact I think he says on his website that it is the same as his restaurant curries. Guess which restaurant is bottom of my 'must visit' wish list!

Rather amusingly on his website it also says that Mr Madhuban personally supervises the cooking of each and every batch of his sauces. Yeah right!

[two-sheds]

i agree with sns and currywalla i bought universal curry base at tescos in boston lincs tried it and found the final curry to be harsh and raw