Topic: 1Year of curry frustration

[big fella 777]

Hi all just found this site!I absolutely love curry and cannot go a week without it!
I have been trying to cook my own currys for about a year now and although they are getting better they are never really good,every time they always turn out different and Its frustrating.The trouble is I used to work as a bar manager at a social club that was owned by Punjabi Sikhs which also served Indian cuisine.the food served to customers was very nice and completely different to what you would get in a normal curry house but they also used to cook their own food which was only for the family but they used to let me try it and I have to say it completely blew me away I have never tasted anything like it before or since.
I used to watch the Indian mother and daughter in the kitchen and try to pick things up. There currys were always cooked from scratch and the meat was always on the bone.The main things I picked up were
1.Whole garam masala spices would be added to oil,ie,mustard seed,cardomom pods,curry leaves,cinnamon bark.cumin seeds and cloves.
2.Onions were then added and fried until really golden
3.Then garlic and ginger was added,then the powdered spices
4,Then fresh skinned and chopped tomatoes and green chillies it was then cooked until the oil came out
5.Meat was then added and cooked for a while
6.Topped up with water and left to simmer covered
7.Curry was then reduced yoghurt was added and ground fresh garam masala and fresh coriander.
All I can say is this sort of curry is just unobtainable its like golddust this is Indian grandmothers food although I have tried and tried to reproduce it.I think I will try and make some curries the way there made on here using base sauce as I just cannot bear to keep wasting time and ingredients trying to make this curry.
Can someone give me a link for a good base sauce please.

[Panpot]

Welcome big fella, your recipe makes sense and I can imagine it would be a joy to have shared with the family. The community that works in many of the Glasgow BIRs are also Sikhs so I can strongly recommend The Ashoka base with the cooked Garlic/Ginger paste and Bunjarra. The recipes that go with them are all from the chef himself as used in the restaurant however if you are a beginner and don't fancy having to do to much preparation then I can recommend Abdulamed's Base and recipes which are current on the site just now and I have enjoyed the results however I am not sure of the region of India that is influencing his approach. A little warning though, you can get yourself hooked not only on curry but this site itself. Enjoy Panpot

[Ramirez]

Welcome to the forum, big fella.

There a quite a few good quality bases on this site, none of which you can really go wrong with. I've linked to a few below, but your best bet is to have a browse and ask questions as and when needed. Let us know how you get on.

CA's base is very well regarded and has a number of accompanying recipes: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3772.0

A popular base at the moment is Chewy's base: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=5635.0

As PP mentioned, the Ashoka recipes are very well regarded on this site: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3199.0

Index of Ashoka recipes: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3215.0

[curryhell]

Welcome to CRO and all it has to offer - and that is a lot for us curryholics ;D.  Look forward to you posting your results with pictures if possible