Topic: Hi all

[Thomasm]

been cooking curry for years and have always been disappointed with the results my curries have never tasted anything like the ones I've enjoyed in my local restaurants(i live in bradford so no shortage of restaurants here or good quality ingredients)
last year a friend i met on a middle eastern cooking course recommended the curry secret by kris dillon my curries were instantly transformed although this was a vast improvement on my earlier efforts Ive now become a bit bored of the taste and increasingly disappointed so decided to have a nosey about and came across this site
going to start with darthpall recipe and see how it goes from there.
ps i am not or ever have been a member of any forum so please pardon my inexperiance its my love of a good curry that has inspired me to join and post
thanks

[seekingcurry]

Hi Thomas,

Darthphall's base is a little out of date in my opinion. I would recommend you start with Bruce Edwards, SnS June 2008 or Saffron and go from there. Enjoy experimenting

[Thomasm]

Thanks for the advice funnily enough i printed off the saffron base recipe after my post so going to start the base tonight cant wait to get home and start cooking.

[seekingcurry]

I would recommend you take a look at the method from this thread; http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2783.msg24753#msg24753

Whilst you may not want to make madras, or this madras, the method is spot on and really helped me achieve a great finished product.

[Thomasm]

Thank you seeking curry for all your advice
i decided to have a crack at both the curry sauce and method you rec comended it was a hard slog i started it at about seven after already making tea so we had the finished product for our supper at about ten o clock but all the work was well worth it the finished curry was fantastic my fiancee was blown away.
the only problem i had was finding a big enough cooking pot but i halfed the mixture at the adding water stage so managed ok so that wasn't much of a problem after all.
the only worry i/my fiancee had was the amount of oil surrounding the finished product shes a nurse and is obsessed with eating healthy etc so would be interested in ways of cutting back on the oil but not compromising on taste impossible maybe but would appreciate any suggestions. 
cheers

[PaulP]

Hi - glad you enjoyed the recipes. Funny enough I had just bought the Kris Dillon book myself about 2 weeks before I stumbled upon this forum. Now after cooking about 35 curries based on recipes from this forum I now look at the KD recipes and can imagine what they might taste like. The KD recipes don't look right to me at all with a lot of flavour coming from garam masalla. I'm sure many of us on this forum have destroyed a curry by using too much GM in the past, usually following a poor recipe.

Regarding the oil, I did some calculations and if you made a single portion chicken madras using the SNS 2008 base and the madras recipe to match you would consume:

20 ml oil from the 250 ml base and 30 ml oil from the final stage cooking assuming 2 and not 3 tablespoons of oil. This makes 50 ml of oil which will weigh in at 46 grams. In calory terms this will add up to approx 396 calories per portion just from the oil. This doesn't worry me a bit as I normally eat a chicken curry with chappatis or boiled rice which don't add any more fat and I don't generally follow it up with a desert.

You could probably remove about a tablespoon of oil after cooking if you allow the dish to settle for a while without ruining the taste and then you would drop the oil content by 13.8 grams or nearly 120 calories.

I think if you reduce the cooking amount of oil you may get into difficulties when you add the spice mix as the mixture may then become too dry to work with in the pan.

Fat can be bad for 2 reasons - 1) Effects on cardiovascular system 2) sheer amount of calories.

1 is down to what oil you consume and 2 is down to your whole eating regime.

After doing some research into edible oils I now do the following:

I use rice bran oil for making my bases - It is said to be as healthy as quality olive oil. Secondly I do the final stage curries using 100% organic coconut oil - this stuff costs 26 pence a tablespoon but it works for me and the wife.

Sorry for the long post - if you are interested google for the health benefits of virgin coconut oil - it has unique properties despite the 93% saturated fat content.

[Thomasm]

Thanks paulp
 lots of good information there ill have a proper read through tonite when i have more time to digest all the info.
I've got buckets of the sauce left from last night so that will keep me going for a few weeks i expect.
just wondering what main dish i should do next with the saffron sauce?

 
 

[PaulP]

Hi Again,

Saffron base should be good for these at least:-

Curry King's bhuna:-

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1914.0

SnS Korma:-

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2408.0

Admin Jalfrezi:-

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2664.0

Cheers,

Paul

[jamesie]

hi there.

personally I like SNS's 08

good luck

[Secret Santa]

SnS Korma:-

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2408.0

Definitely not. The least suitable korma base.